Kraken veteran Brandon Montour admits serving as the de facto locker room DJ isn’t as simple as hitting the “play” button.
Montour told the weekly Kraken Home Ice show on KING 5 TV that a lot of what he sends pumping through the dressing room sound system has to do with time of day and the “mood” players are trying for. Sometimes they’ll need a pick-me-up, while other times just something to keep things level.
“I change it up a lot,” Montour told KING 5 producer Brianna Vasquez.
The defenseman said two of his top-played artists are rappers Lil Baby and Gunna, but he’ll often switch it for more tech-centered fare with Australian musician Timmy Trumpet or someone like Lesso, who he’s started playing more recently.
“It changes,” Montour said. “In the morning, you’re not listening to that – maybe in the gym a little bit. But it changes. Before games, right when we get to the rink, Turbo (Brandon Tanev) likes to throw on John Summit. And then I get to the rink a little later, and I throw on something a little easier.
“And then once we start getting dressed, getting ready for warmups, it turns into a little more rap and louder base. And then, obviously, after the game, we have a certain couple of songs when we win.”
The team’s go-to victory song is “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5. A second victory song – picked by Montour directly – is “Parking Lot” by Mustard and Travis Scott, while the team occasionally throws in old-school classic “Who Let The Dogs Out?” by Baha Men.
Montour has been one of the Kraken’s on-ice leaders all season, topping all defenders with 30 points after scoring his 11th goal in Saturday night’s 6-3 victory over Vancouver to tie Vince Dunn for the team-high amongst defensemen. But Montour had also envisioned himself taking on a leadership role off the ice, including the supervising of music, when he signed a seven-year deal here last summer.
He told Bob Condor of the team’s seattlekraken.com website last fall that, upon arriving at the Kraken Community Iceplex for informal workouts ahead of training camp, he noticed “the gym was a little quiet, the tunes were a little odd.”
So, Montour set about changing them, figuring music was a huge part of everyone’s day.
“Nobody else was doing it,” he said. “I waited a couple of days. I didn't want to come in too hot. I didn't want to be that guy ... Then, I think on day one of camp, there was no music on. I’m like, 'alright, this is day one; it's still nice outside.’ Music brings a lot to a day. And especially as you go through seasons -- maybe you’ve lost a couple of games -- you don't forget about the past, but you’ve got to move on. Music helps with that.”
Montour puts work into his duties, researching his music choices extensively before forming playlists with songs for set times. While handling dressing room music in past seasons for the Florida Panthers, where players had wide-ranging musical tastes, his selections ranged from rap to easy-listening, country, rock, and other genres.
And now, nearly half a year since those initial Kraken workouts, the general sentiment is that the music choices should be left mainly to Montour.
In fact, Kraken forward Chandler Stephenson told the Kraken Home Ice show that defenseman Ryker Evans and goalie Joey Daccord should never be allowed to choose anything to play. Evans himself said Tanev and defenseman Adam Larsson also shouldn’t pick songs – despite Tanev’s affinity for blaring out American DJ and Coachella and Lollapalooza festival mainstay John Summit’s music upon arrival at the rink.
“They’ve got some absurd music,” Evans said.
Montour told KING 5 producer Vasquez that banning Tanev from choosing music would probably be a unanimous locker room choice.
“Every time he has the (choice), he plays three songs, and they all happen to be from John Summit,” Montour said with a grin. “It seems like they’re on replay.”
Montour also doesn’t think second-year forward Tye Kartye should be putting anything through the dressing room speakers. Known to dish out player nicknames, Montour refers to Kartye as “The Pathfinder” – explaining that: “At one point it was ‘Kart Path’ and then it went to ‘Path Way’ and then it ended up being ‘The Pathfinder’ because I think he’s interested in buying one of those vehicles.”
Kartye, for his part, denies he’s in the market for a mid-sized Nissan SUV.
Montour also claims he doesn’t know exactly who started Kartye’s nickname or those of others he often tosses around. He refers to Evans as “Booger” while Jaden Schwartz is “Schweeburger” and former Florida Panthers teammate Josh Mahura is “Muzz” or “Muzztard”. Yanni Gourde is “Gourdeasy.”
As for fellow dressing room DJ Tanev, he’s merely “John Summit” to Montour or else “Binski” – a nickname shortened from “Turbinski”, which itself was an offshoot of the more fan-recognized “Turbo”.
Then again, some teammates might have a different nickname than “Monty” for Montour if he dared bring some of his top hits played at home over with him to the rink. Which makes sense, given he and his wife, Ryian, have a 21-month-old son, Kai, and a 4-month-old daughter, Maison.
“A lot of ‘Ms. Rachel’, a lot of ‘Bluey’ a lot of ‘Toy Story’,” Montour said of that homegrown playlist. “And ‘Moana’ right now.”
