T. Fleury rocks Halifax for Hockey Day in Canada

Six years ago, former NHL star Theo Fleury phoned a friend in Winnipeg who he thought could help him cross an item off his bucket list. What he thought at the time might have been a reach has turned into a new chapter and career for one of the most interesting people in hockey.

Fleury, an Olympic gold medal winner, Stanley Cup champion and best-selling author, is now a budding country music star who is planning to release his first, still untitled, album with his band, The Death Valley Rebels, in May.

Theo Fleury and The Death Valley Rebels were part of the show in the Scotiabank Stolen From a Hockey Card concert at Spatz Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Thursday. The event was part of the Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada festivities ongoing in Halifax.

"My fondest memories as a child are sitting beside my grandfather and listening to him play the fiddle, my dad play guitar," Fleury told NHL.com in a phone interview Wednesday. "I'm an aboriginal person, a Metis, and if you know anything about Metis people, we're extremely musical. It's sort of in the blood, so to speak. It's been a lot of fun. This album is pretty dark, Johnny Cash-esque in rhythms and what not, but at the end, every story has a happy ending and that's the way it should be."

Fleury's music and lyrics are based on his life as an abused child turned NHL star turned alcoholic turned motivational speaker and champion for victims of child sexual abuse.

He documented his experiences in his raw, tell-all, best-selling autobiography "Playing with Fire." Now he's doing it through music too.

"Music is another way to get the message out that no matter how far down the ladder you may fall you can always make it back," Fleury said. "And when you make it back you can really make a difference in this world if you so choose."

Fleury said he's found playing music to be cathartic and therapeutic. He is using his deep voice to be the frontman for his band, but he said he's in the process of learning how to play the guitar.

"I wish I could play a hockey stick on stage because that's a lot easier," Fleury said. "Guitar is a lot more complicated."

Fleury's love of country music goes back to his days with the Calgary Flames.

"When I went to Calgary, it's the home of the Calgary Stampede, cowboys, rodeo, so it was the perfect fit," Fleury said. "I used to always sing when I was out in the bars in Calgary, the country bars. It wasn't outside the box so to speak; it was just a matter of surrounding myself with some good people who know what they're doing."

Fleury got in touch with Phil Deschambault, a singer/songwriter friend of his from Winnipeg to see if it would be possible for him to become a musician.

"I said, 'Would you like to write a song with me?'" Fleury said. "He said, 'Absolutely, yeah.'"

Fleury went to Winnipeg for a week and together with Deschambault wrote a song called "As the Story Goes." That sound can be found on iTunes and a video is available on YouTube.

"He sent it back to me, I listened to it, and I was like, 'Wow, this sounds pretty good,'" Fleury said. "So I called him and asked him the question, 'Do you think this sounds good?' He said, 'Yeah, it sounds very good.' So I kept going to Winnipeg, kept writing and writing."

Fleury then got in touch with an old friend from Calgary, Paddy McCallion. Fleury said he had no idea McCallion was a musician when they were drinking buddies.

"We started writing together," Fleury said. "We wrote about 30 songs I guess between the three of us, found the 10 best, and we just finished our album. It's ready to get into production and we hope to release it in early May.

"I think people will actually be shocked because it's a great album, great songs. We took our time. This has been six years in the making. I didn't just wake up one day and say, 'Hey, I'm going to be a country music singer.' It was a process. We took our time. In the end, we have a really cool product."

McCallion is the leader of the Death Valley Rebels and co-writer. Deschambault is not in the band but serves as a co-writer.

Fleury said the name of the band is a throwback to 1980s in Alberta, when the Edmonton Oilers and Flames were two of the best teams in the NHL.

"You'd come into Alberta and get your [butts] handed to you, so they called that stretch of highway between Edmonton and Calgary 'Death Valley,'" Fleury said. "That's why we named the band that."

They have created their own record label, Hockey Tonk Records, and have a distribution deal with Entertainment One Music, which advertises itself as the No. 1 independent music brand in North America.

"It's been a cool process," Fleury said.

Fleury said he got the gig in Halifax through Orla Lawrie, a contact who works closely with Wayne Gretzky. Lawrie called the organizers in Halifax to let them know about Fleury and his music. They called him and he jumped at the chance to play at the concert.

Fleury said he saw it as another opportunity for him to spread his message, and his music.

"Whether it's writing a book, doing speaking, singing or whatever it is you do it all provides hope and it all provides inspiration, and it also tells people that if you think it you can do it," Fleury said. "Obviously I don't care what people think [of my music] anyway, so it doesn't really matter if it's good or not. I love what I do and we have a lot of fun doing it."

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