If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to hear The Tragically Hip’s music for the first time again, here’s you’re chance. Join music fans Pete and Tim who have never heard the band before on a journey through the Hip’s discography, accompanied by their guide jD.
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jD, Pete, and Tim are live from the stage at the Rec Room for Getting Hip to the Hip - An Evening for the Downie Wenjack Fund.
Transcript:
Introducing The Tragically Hit Experiment
Track 1:
[0:00] 16 episodes ago, I invited my pals on a little experiment.
You see, they had never heard the music of The Tragically Hit before, and I wanted to take them on a journey for the world to hear.
Pete and Tim didn't know what hit them.
Now we're here at the end, and it's time to pack it in. I'm not sure what to expect, but I know it's gonna be fun.
So, as we taxi down the runway, I'll be Captain JD and get you all landed safely.
We want to thank you all for joining us here this evening and throughout this journey.
Now buckle up, put your trays in the upright position and let's land this thing called getting hip to the hip.
J.D. Introduces Himself and Sets the Stage
Track 4:
[1:14] Hey, it's J.D.
Here, and, uh, this is it, folks.
This is where we say adios to getting hip to the hip.
Of course we couldn't do that without my two Brothers in hipdom, Pete and Tim from Portland, let's give it up, they're here!
Settling in and appreciating the DIY pod rooms
[1:54] You guys are here! We're here, we're definitely here.
This is exactly what it looks like when we're, you know, at our own homes.
In our small, tiny DIY pod rooms. Yeah, right?
This chair is much better, actually, than my chair.
It's nicer than my house. These are great chairs. There's no doubt about it.
If we were to even consider a second season of the show, the chair budget would have to go up considerably.
Considerably. So, how are you guys doing? How are your flights in?
Talk to me about what's going on Tim Tim Tateka.
I mean I got in Before the rest of the guys I got to go to a blue jays game.
I got I got to witness hot dog night Wow, I Did the math that was a lot of hot dogs per person, but you know for a dollar And I did bring some amazing.
I brought my own sauce to put on the hot dogs, which is over at the silent auction by the way and yeah it was it was awesome waiting for this Yahoo yeah my So I flew further than Tim.
Flying and Meeting Dan from London
[3:14] That's a fact.
[3:17] Dan flew further than Tim as well, but I flew further than Dan.
You just gave it away, man. Dan from London? Where's Dan from London?
Where is Dan from London? Hey, we're here. There is Dan from London.
Present. Dan from London. Proper and present.
So anyway, I got in and no, you didn't get that warm maple syrup Canadian welcome Canadian, welcome, because I'm at the airport, activate the e-sim, hey, we're at the Arizona Bar andGrill, get the shuttle.
We're at this hotel by the airport.
Yeah, and I'm waiting to get picked up with a fucking, you know, the bat blue in one hand, and you know, Tim Horton's in the other, and I get a text that says, we're at the Arizona Bar,come meet us, take the shuttle.
I was like, so I got there late.
No, I'm not bitter about it. No, no, no, no, the music there was a Good experience not at all.
But then, you know, we proceeded to Does anybody and does everybody know in this room because I sure as hell didn't that marijuana is legal in the country of Canada So I smelled somemarijuana smoke outside the Arizona bar and then proceeded to trip balls and have to go back to the hotel.
Is that correct JD? Sounds about right.
That's how my trip was. I'm pretty sure you were escorted.
[4:46] It was good. It's been a hell of a week.
Memorable Trip to Kingston and the Bathhouse
[4:50] Yeah then we we went out to Kingston yesterday. Yeah. Almost feels like a month ago because it was just so amazing and memorable. And guess where we went? Went to thebathhouse.
Bathhouse, yes. We, it was, I mean, so I told the story to a couple of people.
Does everybody know what the bathhouse is, first of all? Yeah. It's the, the HIP owns a home in Bath and it's where they recorded, where many bands have recorded, and you basicallycheck into this home, live upstairs and record downstairs, record upstairs too, they record all over the place and it was just there was a patina to the whole interior you know it was likemight need to change out some of these rugs I like but it was beautiful I thought it was nice but we all showed up and so we get When we get there, we get to the vat house.
[5:47] And we're just creeping, there's nobody there. We roll up the driveway. We had no reservation.
Yeah, and we're looking around, we're taking pictures. I'm playing fucking horseshoe.
There's a horseshoe pit. Yeah, it's a horseshoe field pitch.
Pete starts playing horseshoes. Yeah, at the bathhouse.
And then we're like, all right, guess time to go home. Fuck it, nobody's here.
Langlois didn't respond. Damn you, Langlois.
And then a car comes up the driveway.
And this guy walks out and his name's Niles and he's cool as shit.
And he gets out with his coffee and we're all like, hey, how's it going?
JD's like, I'm too shy right now, I'm too shy. And Dean says, well, get fucking un-shy.
Full Tour of the Bathhouse by Niles
[6:37] And then Tim walks over, we're literally getting in the car Tim's like, hey, how's it going, man? Cool, yeah, we're just taking some pictures, and then, hey, we'll see you later, but youmind if we just take a peek inside?
He's like, sure, come on in.
And takes us for a full tour, because Tim Lydon has the Cajones.
That's right. I mean, it was like going to Disneyland and being like, dude, it was so cool.
They're sold out, son. You know, we had to go in.
We had to go in. Absolutely. So, why don't we take a minute and look at a little package that was put together by Rainy Media, one of our sponsors.
Yes. And it's our trip to Kingston.
Take a look at the screens all around and enjoy.
I guess I'll watch from back there.
[7:35] Hey, it's J.D. here and let's do a roll call. We've got Spain, we've got Portland, we've got damn fuckin' London in the house, bro.
Let's go to Peakson! Do it.
Idea proposed to city council for approval
[8:45] My co-host thought up of the idea and then posed to the city council, thought it was a great idea as well.
To say You're strong, you're the darkest one, You're the darkest one Come in, come in, come in Come in and we'll get ready It's warm and it's safe here and there.
[9:58] I almost heard you Here in a time and place caught lost on our imagination You don't explain what you're still doing Peace out yo!
The Journey Begins: Whirlwind and Tremendous Moments
[11:57] It has been an absolute whirlwind going through what we've been through.
But this last couple of days has been just tremendous.
And I really want to thank Dean and David for putting everything together.
Absolutely. Please, Randy.
Give them a big round of applause.
A lot of fun was had. But you know, a lot of fun has been had since we started recording, and I don't know if we've ever told this, but we started recording November 28th of 2022, and werecorded through April, and then we recorded bonus content on top of that.
[12:52] But basically, we were were done when we launched on the May long weekend.
And we didn't know whether this was a stone that we were gonna throw that was gonna just go kerplunk or it was gonna skip, skip, skip, skip, skip.
[13:13] And you know what? It fucking skip, skip, skip, skip, skip. And here we are.
And that's pretty fucking cool, right? It's amazing. Well said.
So I want to throw it over to my buddy Tim right now to talk about his experiences with the hip and where he thinks he's landed at this point with this band and this crazy fan base that wehave.
Experiencing Awe: The Hip's Impact in Portland, Oregon
[13:48] I'll just say it's a massive sense of awe.
You know, when you experience maybe someone else's baby or puppy, you're like, oh.
Or you maybe have something bad happen, you're like, ah, shucks.
No, I'm talking about the sense of awe where you experience nature or something beautiful or something amazing that happens where you're just kind of dumbstruck.
You know, you're just speechless.
And that's kind of what this process led me to.
We were, my wife and I in Portland, Oregon, were recently at our neighborhood bar, and it was on my birthday, and there was nobody there, it was kind of perfect, and Monday night, andthere's this, of course, digital jukebox playing, which we never really paid much attention to, probably because on Thursdays, we play bingo there.
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not 75, but bingo's hella fun at a bar, I gotta say.
Anyways, we're at the bar, and I'm like, let's take over this digital jukebox, what happens. So what do I search?
[14:50] Thank you so much and every albums in there so I picked all these damn songs and for like two hours We're drinking listen to the hip Yeah.
[14:57] It was amazing in Portland, Oregon, and I'm kept like looking around I was waiting for the bartender asked me who this band is and but I had to turn it tell her to turn it up Like fivetimes and said and but at one point my wife Amy said you know this this music just feels just right for this place, feels right for right now, it's just like perfect rock here in ourneighborhood bar.
And I'm like, holy hell, this is probably how the hip was for millions of people, am I right?
I mean, we all basically ended up in a moment where we're, you know, you pull over to listen to the song and just sit in it and then play it again.
And that happened to me so many times, you You know, at the beginning of the pod, my son, who's a drummer, 21, he kind of started listening to the music with me, the first EP, and he'slike, Dad, what are you getting into?
You know, are you sure about this? Who's this guy? What's up with the singer?
The drums sound pretty good. But are you sure you want to do this?
How long are you going to do this? And we pretty much had a nine-month baby podcast happen.
[16:10] So yeah, so through the process, really, I got to this point where I was in
Sense of Awe: The Hip's Dedication and Impact
[16:15] this experience, this sense of awe.
I mean, these guys started playing when they were 17, 18, 19 years old.
And they knew that this is what they wanted to do. And they knew that.
They were just focused and targeted and told their parents there's no backup plan.
You know, and they just went for it. How how many of us did that when we were in high school or going into our first year of uni?
How many of you knew what you were set out to do?
So here we are having just a blast with the music and having a blast with this process. And I never would have thought I'd be sitting here today.
We're sitting in stirrups right now, Tim. Yeah, I don't know if I can get out of this chair. Because you said we had a 9-month baby. So right now we're like this.
And this is the baby, man. Yeah, yeah. Silent auction. It took Pete a little while to push him out, but that's what happened.
[17:16] All right, who wants to get into the MVP tracks that these guys put together all year.
And see how they broke down. All right, let's do that then. And we will go to...
Where are we going to start here? Are we going to start with Pete or Tim? Tim, please.
We can start with either, it doesn't matter. I have a hard time seeing this thing so close behind me. We're starting with Tim's MVP tracks.
So here is his playlist, which as you can see is already on Spotify for your edification.
[17:59] And you can grab that and enjoy. And I will throw to my compadre Tim Lydon now and have him explain just what the fuck he put together here.
Why, what? Yeah, so this is my playlist.
I blacked out the amount of downloads. The digits were too long.
That's a joke. Yeah, so I put this together based on favorite songs along the way and just being a bit of an audiophile I kind of tried to experience it as if I was one of you guys maybe on aroad trip or something, and so each song, I hope, kind of ties or blends into each other really well.
There's a little bit of a, you know, cadence to the hips history, but then I mix it up and I think it's pretty good.
I think it's pretty fun. The guys, you know, said a few times God, you really picked a fucking weird song on that album, Tim, you know?
But sometimes the weird ones are the ones that grow on you. Sometimes they're awesome. I mean, All Canadian Surf Club, who does not like that song?
[19:08] Okay, whatever You need to you need to take a trip somewhere warm and tropical Yeah, but yeah I was so fun to put this together and was I was kind of wishing there were moresongs because now I've gone back to many albums of course and I'm finding so many other nuggets and songs that have grown on me and All right.
Bob Rock Records: Revisiting World Container and We Are The Same
[19:27] I have a question about that then I have a question about that then It's been a long time since we dealt with the Bob rock records. Oh Uh-oh.
Have either of those records grown on you since we last...
Now you liked... Now you liked... You liked World Container.
Yeah, yeah. But I'm curious about... I'm curious about We Are The Same.
Have you went back to that at all? I... I only...
I mean, I get caught up in Bob Rock's lovely flowing hair and I just want to be like him. That's where I go. That's where I go.
This is Bob Rock Lock. Bob Rock Lock. No, I have gone back to those albums and I'm still visiting them. All right, that's fair enough.
Maybe that will be something we look at in the future. Who knows?
All right, our friend Pete. Who wants to see Pete's playlist?
[20:24] I'll show you my playlist. I'm gonna just burn through it.
Killing Time, cool song I have heard during the first record.
Blowed High Dough, fuck, come on.
Fiddler's Green, I remember sitting on Avenida de Andalucía and crying as I dropped somebody off on the train station the first time I heard that song. Broke my fucking heart.
[20:58] Courage, Tiger the Lion, Jesus Christ. I mean, that was a great guy.
That was an experience for us. Tiger the Lion, we talked about that on the pod.
We talked about that quite a bit.
It's just, you hear it and it's like...
John Cage or Philip Glass - Trivia question
[21:18] It just rips. John Cage? Was it John Cage or Philip Glass that did the...
Does anybody know the answer? Trivia question.
It was John Cage or Philip Glass that did the song that was seven minutes or so whatever the lore is.
[21:36] John Cage. That's the fucking... That's what Gord is speaking about in that song.
And it's... fuck number 10 the dark Canuck guess guess who didn't know what a Canuck was okay JD we got a lot of feedback on this Canuck thing and I don't I don't know that'ssomething that we really fuck with right like I mean we don't talk about ourselves as Canucks do we like our like are you like I'm a hardy Canuck or are you?
Like if you are, that's cool. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. 85.
I'll take that. I will take that. And that was the year, Marty.
That was a funny moment. Yeah. Yeah. 85.
Back to 55. Gus the polar bear.
Let's keep going. Gus the polar bear. Yeah. Sorry. Anyway, Gus, the polar bear, um...
Animal psychology. Who knew animals had feelings? Depression suite, like... So we're talking about the second Bob Rock record. That's the second one, right?
[22:52] What do you want somebody to say who's been on a fucking drip IV of the tragically hip for nine months? I'd say I'm beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's a beautiful song.
Experience with the tragically hip - Unforgettable journey
[23:10] We feel great. Geez. Yeah, it's just been out.
I'll say more about my experience, but that's the playlist.
Download it. Enjoy it. Whatever. Baptist blues.
Oh, that's all. So they're there for you to enjoy. Yes, absolutely.
Sorry, Pete. The treasure gift gets like point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero three cents per listen. So, go for it.
Every little bit helps. No, I was going to mention something.
I just I want to know. I want to know before we go too much further what your experience has been like. We asked him what your experience is like going through this process.
[23:51] Well, so most people know that JD asked me to just like he asked him and to do the podcast.
And I heard from I heard about the hip since 2007 from Canadian friends.
He's come into a bar I worked at and then 2011 sometime around there.
2018, I was working for Nat Geo and this guy used to come in all the time and they were Canadian, him and his wife, and they kept hammering me about the tragically hip and I was like.
Didn't take. I felt I was getting pushed. Then I meet this son of a bitch, and he's like, let's do this. I'm going to force this. So I'm going to shove this mashed potato down your mouth. Andhe did.
And Tim and I just like fucking Matrix style plugged into it.
And it was just awesome.
Just one of the coolest things and getting to meet and speak with Paul and Gord, Sinclair and going to Kingston has just been an unbelievable experience.
Cultural Differences: Canadian vs American
[25:07] And there's so much I want to say, but you don't want to fucking hear it.
So, but being Canadian, you'll be here all night. Yeah, I'm happy to elaborate.
But you guys are Canadian, you're different than Tim and I.
As much as we speak the same language, the culture is so different.
Take it from somebody who doesn't live in the United States anymore and it's like it's hard you'll never be a part of that culture or club I'll never fucking be Canadian no matter how muchhip I listen to and La Bat Blue I drink.
At least I have a couple.
But that being said it's like such a it's been such an amazing experience to get to know the band and to get to know the catalog and become a superfan.
I told JD this was a surprise but I got a tattoo on my arm that's gonna be there for the rest of my life and it's it's a combination of the any Any UFOlogists or followers in the house?
No? Yes? Not in here, sorry.
Not in here? Okay, maybe next door. Anyway.
[26:29] He'll be here all night. Yeah, be here all night The Fermi's paradox, Federico Fermi, his paradox was that he Didn't know if aliens existed or not and it's you can read up on it whenyou fucking Google it and That's a UFO thing.
And so the lyrics is we live to survive our paradoxes Because it's fucking springtime in Vienna, which is on the list, the playlist.
Fundraising for the Danny Wainjack Fund
[27:00] This is Pete Marchika here.
Love you, too, Dean. If you have not bid on the Pete Marchika package...
Yeah, that's Pete's band. ...in the silent auction, you are a greedy son of a bitch. Thank you.
I'm going to tell you that right now. And you need this album.
All proceeds go to the Danny Wainjack Fund. Directly.
Already over 3,200 bucks.
Oh! So I don't know where we're going to end up at the end of the night, but make me say 3,500 bucks, and I'll fucking love you forever.
Forever. Now, this has been an experiment.
This has been a project. This has been a labor of love.
And we've had a lot of fun doing this.
[27:53] So, I want to thank you for listening.
I had a friend once that said, you know, if you did a podcast and you had, like, five people show up in your living room and listen to you talk every week, that'd be pretty cool.
We had over 20,000 downloads.
Setting the Stage for an Exciting Event
[28:19] That doesn't even include all the streams, either. In three months, that's not so bad.
But what I want to tell you right now is how proud I am of my two friends, Pete and Tim, and all the work that they've put in.
I want to encourage you to bid in the silent auction.
I want to encourage you to drink long slice beer tonight. Yes, long slice.
And without further ado, I want to introduce our good friend to convocate these two gentlemen.
I want to invite our good friend to the stage, Dan from London.
Yes, Dan from London. Here we go.
Celebrating the Completion of the Exercise
[29:15] Tim, get on your feet, you son of a bitch. Come on up.
You can convocate them. You can convocate them. You can read if...
Do you want to read it? Do you want to read it? Yeah, I've got the reading glasses on. Hang on.
Remember, proper British. Timothy Edward Lydon.
Getting hip to the hip. You have completed the exercise and now are considered official fans of The Tragically Hip.
Thank you so much. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Amazing. I'm honored.
Peter Natale. You motherfucker. Getting hip to the hip. He used my middle name.
Sorry, continue. You have also completed the exercise, and now, I have no idea about this bullshit.
Most fucks given, I think. Of the tragically hip. Yes. I give this to you, sir. Thank you. I accept.
Introducing Jamie Du, a Special Friend
[30:20] So none of this would be possible without this guy. You guys know Jamie Du, right?
Jamie and I met through another podcast of his, Pete also, through a podcast about the band Pavement.
And then I met him in person, first time in L.A. We went and saw a pavement show, which was a hoot, and then we went and did it again and again, really.
And it's just been so fun to just have this guy in my life. You know, Jamie Du, I've had no other friend like him.
So thanks, thanks to Jamie. Otherwise we all wouldn't be here.
And well, the hip, you know.
Do we do it now or do we wait till the end of the show? What?
[31:07] Do we drop a pick up your shit now or do we do it at the end of the show?
We do it at the end of the show. All, right, I real quick. I just want to say one thing. To compliment what Tim said, like avocado spread on toast. J.D., you're a fucking great dude.
And all this is this guy.
The reason even the two gals who I met who are really sweet, I can't know where you are, but they didn't even know shit all nothing about the podcast They just found it on Facebook andwe're like three weeks ago.
Hey, sweetie. What do you want to do on Friday three weeks? And then they found this fucking amazing And again would not have happened if it wasn't for this guy.
[31:55] So give JD a big hand for Cheers, cheers, cheers.
Cheers. Woo! Do you guys want to hear some more fucking live Tragically Happy music?
Oh yeah! Enough of this shit already. Let's do it! Oh yeah! Okay, we gotta move some gear here and then we are gonna welcome back to the stage for another set, 50 Mission! Oh! Boom!
jD, Pete, and Tim are in learning mode as they speak with Sarah Midanik from the DWF
Don't forget to get your tickets to the event this coming Friday at gettinghiptothehip.com
Transcript
Track 2:
[5:23] Hey, it's JD here and we are back with another episode in our Talking With series.
So far we've talked with 50 Mission, Trevor Stickman, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair, and today we are really thrilled to be joined by the President and CEO of the Downey Wenchak Fund,which we are supporting with our event tonight, if you are listening to this on Friday, September 1st.
We have with us Sarah Medanek and I'm really thrilled to have you here with us. How are you doing?
Track 3:
[6:03] I'm good. Thanks so much for the invitation to join.
Track 2:
[6:09] Yeah, we're thrilled to learn more about the organization and your role in it and all that good stuff. So without further ado, let's go.
Tim, do you have anything? Hey, Sarah.
Track 5:
[6:22] Good to meet you. Yeah, I'm just curious about the kind of inception of the fund and how it all kind of began.
I watched some of the videos on your site and read quite a bit.
But I'm curious about how it all really, kind of the conversation started with Gord and then when you came along, if you don't mind touching on that.
Track 3:
[6:43] Yeah, for sure. So, I've had the great pleasure and slightly intimidating responsibility of being with the Gord Downie and Chani Wenjack Fund from the very beginning, so beforeGord passed.
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Getting Hip to the Hip - Sean Cullen announcement
Tuesday, August 22, 2023 • Duration 07:37
jD, Pete, and Tim are back and they want to you to come to the finale with special guest host, Sean Cullen.
jD, Pete, and Tim welcome Trevor Sticket to the pod to dicusss the artwork that he donated to the Finale, his start in art, his Hip influences, and much much more.
jD, Pete, and Tim welcome Paul Langlois to the show to talk about his new record Guess What.
Tracks
Will to Fight
Desperation Calling
638 Main
Guess What
Transcript
Track 1:
[0:03] Well, I would see him working away in Timothee's from time to time, like I would walk past Timothee's and there would be Gord Downie sitting there on a laptop and, you know,my reaction as a super fan is like, I got to go in and say hi.
And then, and then as the same super fan, I'm like, what if he's writing?
Well, what if he's writing the next fucking great song? And I'm the asshole who interrupts that, right?
Track 6:
[0:28] Well, he would have been writing something, but he kind of put the songs together after.
Track 1:
[0:35] Oh, gotcha. Okay. Okay, gotcha.
Track 6:
[0:38] So, how is my signal? Because I can hotspot. It could be better.
Track 1:
[0:41] No, this is good. You're coming through great.
Track 4:
[0:43] It's great.
Track 5:
[0:44] Okay.
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Talking with Pete Van Dyk
Season 3
Friday, July 7, 2023 • Duration 39:14
Ready to decode the legacy of The Tragically Hip and the enduring impact they've had on Canadian music and culture? Promise us your ears and we'll share an exciting exploration of the band's influence, creativity, and unique place in the hearts of their fans. Today, we're joined by the Emcee of Longslice Presents: Getting Hip to the Hip - An Evening for the Downie Wenjack Fund, Delhi stand-up, Pete Van Dyk. Today he plays the host on his podcast, "Live from the Dutch Hall." And he's invited jD, Pete, & Tim along for the ride. Together we reflect on our personal connections to The Hip, discuss the band's Canadian roots, and consider why their sound may not have resonated as widely beyond Canada's borders.
Make sure to get your tickets for Longslice Presents: Getting Hip to the Hip - An Evening for the Downie Wenjack Fund today: https://bit.ly/GHTTHTickets
Transcript
0:00:10 - Speaker 2
Long Slice Brewery presents Getting Hip to the Hip.
0:00:27 - Speaker 3
Hey, it's JD here and I am sans Pete and Tim at the moment, but they'll be joining us in just a few minutes. I am here to set up what is a new series within Getting Hip to the Hip. It's called Getting to Know Your MC And there will be a second installment of this called Getting to Know Your Band, And basically these episodes are designed to allow you to get inside of Long Slice Presents Getting Hip to the Hip an evening for the Downy Wend Jack Fund before that event even occurs. That way, when you buy your tickets and you can buy them at GettingHipToTheHipcom and clicking on the ticket button From there it's easy peasy you just have to show up at the event. So there's that.
I would say that Pete van Dijk is a great stand-up comedian and he will be emceeing us. He's also a podcaster, hosting a show called Live from the Dutch Hall, And just recently he had Pete and Tim and myself on as guests And he graciously gave us a copy of the tape. He had it flown in live from Delhi and I'm going to put it up on our feed. It's going to be well. It's going to come up to you in just a second, So why don't I stop Blither Blathering and we'll get to Live from the Dutch Hall with Pete van Dijk and our friends Pete and Tim, as we discuss the podcast on Live from the Dutch Hall.
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Getting Hip to the Hip - An Evening for the Downie Wenjack Fund
Season 1
Friday, June 9, 2023 • Duration 01:50
Hey, it's JD here.
Hey, it's Tim.
And Pete.
Fellows, I'm really excited that you're flying to Toronto on Friday, September 1st for our big party Getting Hip to the Hip - An Evening for the Downie Wenjack Fund. We just need to sell some tickets. How are we going to do that?
Go to our website GettingHipToTheHip.com and you'll find a link to get tickets to our event at the Rec Room in Toronto.
Early bird tickets are $35. If you go to GettingHipToTheHip.com and click on the bonus feed, you get 10% off, which means tickets are $31.50 right now. If you were to join the bonus feed and buy tickets. You'd literally have to be stupid not to do that. Definitely join us on September 1st, I'll be at the bar putting out the vibe jD. Where are you going to be?
I'm going to be watching 50 Mission perform some Tragically Hip songs and I'm really excited for you guys to see them.
Yeah, and we have a silent auction in which we've garnered some great prizes so far. It's amazing what people are donating. Some hip fans are really coming forward with some great donations And again, all proceeds are going to the Downie Wenjack fund.
And the Longslice beer will be flowing because Long Slice is stepped up and they are our title sponsor for the event. How cool is that?
I cannot wait to drink some delicious beer and also watch the comedy of Pete Van Dyke too, because that guy is a side-splitter, that's for sure. September 1st, live Toronto, Be there, B-square, gettinghiptothehip.com, Click on the bonus fee, get 10% off the tickets and we'll see you there.
Get ready for a deep dive into the Tragically Hip's iconic 1992 album Fully Completely with hosts JD, Pete, and Tim as we explore the evolution of the band's sound, the polished production, and how it aimed for mainstream success. Share in our personal listening experiences and how this album resonated with us in different ways, from car rides to gym sessions.
Join our lively conversation as we analyze standout tracks and Gord Downie's lyrical brilliance, including the catchy chorus of "Courage for Hugh MacLennan" and the various definitions of courage presented throughout the song. Discover the numerous Canadian references sprinkled across the album that give it a distinct cultural flavour, as well as discussing the impact of these songs on a personal level.
Whether you're a longtime fan of the Tragically Hip or just discovering their music, this engaging and insightful episode is a must-listen. Don't miss our in-depth discussion of Fully Completely, as we explore the band's attempt to make their sound more mainstream, the slick production of the album, and the car and computer time that really made this album come alive. Tune in now and become a part of our musical journey!
Transcript
0:00:01 - Speaker 1
When I think back to the fall of 92, everything was coming up JD. I was dating a real-life girl who also liked the hip. I was elected class president with my friend Tim under the efficiently executed two is better than one campaign, and I got a new hip record. While I love student government, the main thing the election provided me was an office in the high school for the student council, which acted as my locker and my rehearsal space for jamming the new hip album with my buddies Kirby and Dean. There was rarely a day that passed that someone wouldn't stop by for a version of pigeon camera locked in the trunk of a car, or courage. It was great fun and an experience I'll definitely never forget.
Fully completely is what I call the last record of the early era, where the hip sound is more or less matured and they're writing an embarrassing number of stone-cold classics. The idea that the production keeps getting tighter and more precise sounding is worth noting as well. Working with the late Chris Tegeritas, the boys locked in on the task at hand, even if it wasn't their favorite recording experience, and they delivered MCA, an album brimming with singles and sing-along courses. This was a band that knew its groove and walked with a comfortable stride inside of it. Simply put, fully, completely is a rock and roll record at its finest Bar none.
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3. Everyone wants to see the Lion Tamer!
Season 3 · Episode 3
Monday, May 29, 2023 • Duration 01:26:53
The boys are back and this time their discussing the 1991 LP Road Apples.
In this special episode of the podcast jD, Pete, and Tim sit down with Gord Sinclair for a broad conversation about touring with the Hip, the future of Rock music, and his new record In Continental Divide.
Stay tuned for the big announcement following this episode. If you know you know.
RateThisPodcast.com/ghtth
Transcript
0:00:00 - Speaker 1
Well, we're really, really thrilled that you could take some time with us today. This is a pretty exciting And this is my pleasure.
0:00:07 - Speaker 2
I appreciate it I.
0:00:09 - Speaker 1
Don't know if you know what the premise of our podcast is, but I want to give you a. Snip it so you get a. You get an understanding of who these two gentlemen that you're, that you're with, are sure.
0:00:21 - Speaker 3
Maybe you should tell them at the end JD, let's get the Way.
0:00:28 - Speaker 1
No way, no way, i'm sorry out. So I did a podcast called meeting Malcolm s and it was about pavement and I met these two guys in Europe last year Going to see pavement a bunch of times and we got talking about music And I really love the way they talk about music, the thoughtfulness and the way they understand it and so, naturally me being a very big, tragically hip fan your, your name came up and Them being from Southern California, one by way of Malaga, spain, and one by way of Portland, portland, oregon. Now They hadn't, they hadn't had much experience with you. So I thought, dreamt up this idea of the podcast taking them through your discography, one record at a time, so that The listeners can experience, can experience what it's like to hear your music for the first time. Again, cool.
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It was, you know, it was a really unique sort of moment in time.
There was, of course, all of the momentum of the HIP's final tour and, you know, very public shout out to Trudeau around reconciliation by Gord to do more as Canadians and how wecould do better.
Of course, that was coupled with the work being done by...
[7:32] The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the release of the 94 Calls to Action, and also the Secret Path Project, which tells the story of Chani Wenjack.
And so Gord had done a series of concerts playing the Secret Path album with the Secret Path Band.
And for anyone who hasn't seen The Secret Path, you can visit that material on an art website.
It was, of course, became a series of poems which became the album, which became the graphic novel, which became the animated film.
So there's a lot of really incredible material to visit there.
And so there is sort of just a unique moment in time where there was a lot of momentum and a lot of, you know, people in Canada wondering what their role was in reconciliation andwhat they could do, to contribute in a meaningful way.
And so that's really the root of Downy Wendjack is, you know, there is all this momentum and there is all these folks wondering what to do next and our programs and the work we do isreally based around that, the pillars of awareness, education, and action.
[8:54] And so we have two national programs. One is Legacy Schools and so we are in 6,000 schools in every province and territory with over 7,000 educators and we provide them withfree educational tools and resources to be better equipped to teach about the true history and legacy of residential schools and the true history of Indigenous people in Canada, but to alsobe able to incorporate strength-based learning and Indigenous ways of knowing and being into core curriculars.
Because you know there is sort of that, that sentiment, you know, well, we didn't learn about this in schools.
There was still like back when we were getting started, I would say there was still a pretty big gap in people's general awareness and understanding around residential schools. And that'schanged a lot in the past five years.
But curriculum doesn't necessarily get reformed that quickly.
Track 5:
[9:53] Right, right, yeah.
Track 3:
[9:57] So we still see the need, and of course we do lots of really cool stuff in the Legacy Schools program. We have the Artist Ambassador program, which brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous musicians, artists, role models into classrooms.
And the Youth Ambassador program, which is a four-week leadership program that we run and every summer, we had 105 youth go through it this summer where they learn how to bechampions for reconciliation within their schools and communities.
And we do a lot of programming in which we bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples together.
We had a big music festival here in Toronto this spring called Siguan, which featured incredible Indigenous artists, and we always do a ton of programming for June, for NationalIndigenous History Month, and for Secret Path Week, which is coming up here right around the corner from October 17th till the 22nd, and of course, the National Day for Truth andReconciliation on September 30th.
Track 2:
[11:08] Wow, that is a lot.
Track 3:
[11:10] Well, that's just one program. We also have the Legacy Space Program.
So when I talk about what we do at Downey Bunjack, I call it the sandwich, which maybe I should find something a bit more.
Track 4:
[11:24] Everybody likes sandwiches. What is wrong with a sandwich?
Track 5:
[11:28] We've had many food analogies on our show. Right?
Track 3:
[11:33] So it's through Legacy Schools, we educate the littles, the young people, so that the next generation of people in Canada understand the true history.
But for those folks that are not in school, where do you learn?
And that's often through your workplace and professional development opportunities.
So the Legacy Space Program really leverages the concept of indigenous placemaking to create physical space within an organization, a corporation, a community that is representative ofthe internal commitment to do the work further reconciliation.
And, you know, from a corporate standpoint, is that, you know, equity, diversity and inclusion, hiring and retention practices for Indigenous employees, you know, reconciliation plans,procurement, right, working with Indigenous businesses, so.
I always say, you know, we educate the littles and we try and educate the bigs.
And in the middle is all the, you know, fun stuff that we get to do in terms of, you know, amplifying Indigenous voices.
Like we're taking over almost every radio station in Canada again this year on a day to listen, which will be September 30th.
[12:52] Yeah, if you haven't checked it out, this will be our third year, which is very exciting.
And we do a series of interviews that amplify indigenous voices each year.
And they're, they're really powerful, powerful stuff. So I'd, I'd encourage everyone to check it out.
Track 5:
[13:12] Do you have any kind of standout examples? I don't know, in the past, you know, summer or this year of working with specific businesses, small businesses or specific schools, justto kind to give our listeners like an example of like anything that really pulled on your heartstrings of seeing action in work and just, you know, when you when you do volunteer time,you spend so much time on your own.
And then when you kind of finally get out in the field and away from the computer, you get to experience some things. I'm just curious if you can give us like some standout example ofsomething that happened.
Track 4:
[13:48] Oh, gosh.
Track 5:
[13:48] Could you put you as many as him is my my questions are going to be super softball, so don't worry I was I was watching the the, the film last night the graphic novel film and youknow some of the interviewing at the end I think it was with Pearl, you know Pearl said Channy's sister right she said you know we need schools in all of our communities, not just publicschools like outside our own communities.
We need schools within our own communities. She said a few things that just really made me, you know, kind of more realize what's been going on up there.
And even from the U.S., you know, we never had heard of any of this stuff.
Track 3:
[14:36] Well, and it still happens, right? Like a lot of youth have to leave their communities to go to high school still in their village.
The model, the experience that indigenous children experience in residential schools, that model still exists, but it's perpetuated in different systems, whether it's child welfare or justice, ormissing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Residential schools don't operate anymore technically, but how are there still those systems of oppression, right?
And I think that's something that, you know, we try and help to unpack and, you know, the content that we share because, you know, when you look at, you know, the social indicators ofhealth for indigenous peoples compared to non-indigenous and the disparity is so great, you need to dig a little deeper and ask why, right?
Track 5:
[15:45] Sure, sure.
Track 3:
[15:46] Yeah.
Track 4:
[15:51] I... Oh, go ahead.
Track 3:
[15:51] Go ahead, I was going to say, but to answer your question about heartwarming examples, Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's tough, I think, for me to answer that question because literally every single day there's something that is just really beautiful.
But maybe I'll just say it Because I flew back from summer vacation, my family lives in northern Alberta, and taking the UP Express from Pearson Airport.
We have a partnership with Union Station, and we have a Legacy space there.
[16:31] They're featuring an installation by one of our artist ambassadors, Blake Angeknyb.
These incredible panels featured in Union until the end of October.
The art is so beautiful and so powerful. There's actually a piece that he did of Gord in the series.
Just seeing tourists, people not from Canada, but there's such high volume of traffic through Union Station, you know, interacting and learning and literally like tens of.
[17:26] Thousands of impressions the opportunity to work with a partner like Union Station in a space like that.
Because reconciliation isn't going to happen overnight. I always make the sort of joke that it's slow pressure applied over time, right? Like we're talking about systemic change.
So, you know, creating these learning opportunities in our everyday existence.
So it's not a question of are we contributing to reconciliation in a meaningful way? It's just a part of our practice.
Track 5:
[18:04] Yeah, that's great.
Track 3:
[18:05] That's great.
Track 4:
[18:09] I want to, I feel like I should break up some of the things I was gonna say to you and some of the things I wrote down, because I feel like it's just gonna be too much of a mouthful.And you'd be like, what was your question again?
But I, so I haven't had time to watch the film yet.
Because these jokers know I've been traveling all weekend. And I, I just, I'm going to probably watch it if I get a chance to download it on the plane when I'm on my way over to Toronto.
But I've done a fair amount of research and I watched the ceremony where Gord was, I don't know how to properly say it, but invited into the community.
Track 3:
[18:51] Given a traditional name.
Track 4:
[18:57] Which like was a, you know, whatever. It was like a super, super duper emotional to even watch it.
And a friend of mine had sent it to me. She's from, she's from Canada as well.
And she, we talk about her on the show a lot. She's a huge hit fan.
Sent it to me after the fact. And I was like, Barb, I've watched it.
It's, it's just, and one of the things, sorry, this is a side note.
Not related about what I was going to ask you but one of the things I loved about Gord's response in that video or when he spoke afterward he didn't say much and I think he was verycognizant of the situation in that a lot of people would go up there and kind of pontificate and make comparisons and say yeah this is like this and like but he kind of got the The fact that,like...
He's like, there's nothing I can say. Like, in a sense of like, like, I can't even relate to some of the suffering, the things that have gone on.
I'm just, you know, grateful to be invited into this community and to be a part of it and to do whatever he can.
That was one of the cool things, side note.
But what I, I guess what I was going to ask you was was because we've talked about it a lot on the pod.
I don't know if you've ever, you're aware of at least the concept of this podcast and like, how it came about.
Track 3:
[20:23] I was creeping you guys this morning. All right, I got to listen to a couple.
I got to listen to a couple.
Track 4:
[20:33] Well, because of JD, like, yeah, this is about the tragically hit, but like, you know, take the snowball effect over time.
Like, I had no idea. I mean, honestly, I had heard mutterings on political podcasts and things that I listened to about reconciliation in Canada.
But other than that, it's like a of the surface of what your average American would even know.
It's like you hear something in passing at a coffee shop, and that's it.
Other than that, I would have never known about the Downey Wendzik fund and all this story of Chani Wendzik, Nothing.
I don't know, because I feel like Gord, especially when he called out Trudeau, at the concert, he looked right dead at him.
[21:26] I took some guts, man. and you know, the call to action, which I love the education aspect of it, but I feel like that call to action is such an important factor when it comes to thework that you guys do.
And like, you know, I guess my question is like, is, do you think, is there anything that you would think if like there's Americans listening to this right now we can do other than just talkto people and be like, Hey, do you know this story about this kid?
Do you know, and like share it? Because we learned about it by listening to the tragically hip. That's the only other, there's no other reason we would have, we would have figured this out.
Track 3:
[22:10] And I mean, the experience of Native Americans, uh, is mirrored closely to to that of Indigenous people in Canada too, right?
I would say, yeah, I find that in our work.
So we have some of our legacy space partners, you know, have offices in the U.S. and, you know, our, you know, North American companies, I guess.
And, you know, what's been expressed to us is just like how far behind work around reconciliation and even just any awareness at all of like the true history of indigenous or NativeAmerican people in Canada and the US.
And I think, you know, there's really important work being done in the US too that I think will come to the forefront.
It just it takes time, right? Like it's, you know, it's by design in terms of how that's been set up.
That's right. But, you know, as Indigenous people, you know, as we become lawyers and doctors and politicians and you know, learn how to fight for, you know, rights and restitution,these things has come up.
Track 2:
[27:30] I really like, you know, you're talking about the call to action a minute ago, Pete, and I like the messaging around your current call to action, Sarah, the do something.
The do something hashtag is like, I've used that in an email just that I sent out today, you know, reminding people of this event, that that's one way you can do something, You can come toour event or you can donate directly to Downey Wenchak Fund through a link that we have.
What was the genesis of that sort of campaign and idea?
Because it's very bold. Do something can be very bold, I think.
I'm just interested in learning.
Track 4:
[28:21] It's sort of aggressive, which is maybe it's not by design, but it's good. I like it.
Track 2:
[28:26] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Track 4:
[28:28] It's almost aggressive.
Track 3:
[28:31] I think there was sort of this feeling of like, well, you know, that happened a long time ago and you know, I was, I, I was not responsible for the creation of residential schools.
So like, what is, what is my role or responsibility?
And to that, I would argue, if you live in Canada, if you are part of this society, then you have something that you can do, and that social contract of what we all agree to live here together,that's part of it.
And whether it's just learning so that you're a little less racist, a little less ignorant, it's not a bad thing.
It's not harmful to you and it only creates a more just and equitable and safe society for indigenous peoples in this country.
So, you know, the do something was A.
Don't be immobilized by this sort of deferral of responsibility.
Don't feel like you don't have a role to play or something to contribute.
And seriously, do something because those small actions, we call them reconcili-actions or meaningful acts that drive...
Track 4:
[29:58] That's a cool, cool word, man. Reconcili-action.
Track 3:
[30:03] And it's, you know, it makes a difference, right? Even if it's just, you know, talking to your kids and finding out what they're learning in schools, or, you know, going, looking atwhat's happening in the company that you work for, or, you know, maybe just one of your buddies is, makes a slightly offside joke, and you're just like, dude, that's not okay, right?
It's, you know, taking that step to, you know, lean into the discomfort and just do something that creates meaningful and positive change.
Track 2:
[30:38] Yeah, that's beautiful.
Track 3:
[30:42] And it's an excellent hashtag.
Track 2:
[30:43] It is an excellent hashtag. Yeah.
Track 5:
[30:47] That's good. I'm finding kind of a lot of what you're talking about being being executed the smartest way by younger people.
You know, my son is basically studying sociology and social issues in university right now and he schools us all all the time.
You know, it's just he born and raised in Portland, Oregon, probably the most progressive city in the US really.
And it's just so reassuring to hear things from him. He had no idea about the indigenous struggles in Canada, but it wasn't necessarily news to him.
He was kind of half expecting what I was talking about as I was talking about it.
And it's just so good to share these ideas and share these issues, especially with the younger folks, because they're the ones who have to continue living it.
Like you said, all of these things become pandemic across all these other issues.
Even though the system may have ended, it's still alive. So it's so good to tap into the younger folks with all this stuff. It's just really.
Track 2:
[32:02] I've done all my learning through my oldest daughter. She's 13.
So I'm one of those people, Sarah, who was like, my eyes were widened.
And it was like, we didn't learn this in school, Riley. Like, we didn't, like, you're talking to me so matter of fact right now, and I'm so happy to hear you talking matter of fact, but it's like, Ididn't know any of this, you know?
Track 4:
[32:31] Sarah, I wanted to ask you something too, And this is more, and I don't know if this is like a.
Opinion of like Donnie Wendjick or your opinion, or feel free to like, be like, this is Sarah speaking and not Donnie Wendjick's being or whatever, however, but I feel like, because youmentioned earlier about the, the kind of this, the same sort of dynamic in terms of the United States and indigenous Native Americans in the United States and, and kind of that struggle.
But in terms of the call to action, and I'm sorry if this sounds like a very complex question, but I'll try to be articulate.
[33:17] I think when it, because a lot of conversation that I see and occurs in the United States in terms of indigenous people, minority and underrepresented groups in the United States.
A lot of times there's the education of it and I feel like the United States is more or less good at educating people and that awareness is there.
But in terms of connecting the dots, there's not a really good way that we do it in in the United States.
And one of the things that always comes to mind when I think about this issue is a speech that Martin Luther King gave at the Riverside Church one year to the day before he died, right?
And you know who Martin Luther King is. You're not living under a rock, but I don't know how much you guys study him in your schools and who he was and what he was really actuallyabout, because they've got statues of him in Washington DC now, but during the time where he was most powerful, people hated him.
[34:30] And this particular speech at Riverside Church, he talked about the relationship between the imperialist power of the United States and the military, and how that relationshipdirectly affected the oppression of minority and indigenous groups and civil rights in the United States. He made that connection.
Whereas I don't think people, meaning that like, okay, yeah, we can be all for it here, but when we're doing it in other countries, it's like, what's...
[35:05] How does that change? And as you know, Canada is very supportive of the United States in many of its overseas conquests, so to speak, as we say here in Spain.
So I guess the question I'm asking is, do you even personally, and again, you don't have to speak from Danny Wenjack perspective, but do you, because that's something I talk about withpeople.
Do you guys have that connection? Do you guys see that? Is that something that you hear whispers of within this conversation?
Because I think it's important. I feel like it's important. I feel like there's value in drawing that connection between oppression and past crimes of a country and what the country's doing atthe moment.
And it helps speed along that process of the call to action, as we said. I don't know, does that make any remote sense of what I'm trying to say to you?
Track 3:
[36:03] Yeah, well, I would say, I would say yes.
And I can say that is Sarah or as Downey Wenjack. I think, you know, I think that connection is really what allows an organization like the Gord Downey and Chani Wenjack Fund toexist, right?
If you think about, you know, What is the true role of rock stars, right?
Typically, like political activists, right? Or, you know, poets, but they've always pushed, right?
You think of all the greats, there's a social commentary there that's, you know, reflecting on the choices we make and how we live.
And sometimes they explicitly call out the Prime Minister, right? You know? And I think.
You know, there's been so much work done by incredible Indigenous leaders to ensure that, you know, this didn't stay hidden, like the injustices inflicted upon Indigenous peoples in thiscountry, you know, came to the forefront of, you know, the general understanding of our history in this country and our identity as Canadians, and what that means, and how do you workthrough it, and what does that mean really from a policy perspective.
[37:32] I honestly, I've seen so much change in the last five years even, where people actually want to know what the platforms are of politicians with regards to indigenous relations andreconciliation, whereas I would say ten years ago, you wouldn't even be able to find anything.
[37:57] On their web pages or whatever around that.
That speaks to how far we've come, but there's still a long ways to go.
It's just continuing to look at the systems themselves and saying, does this still serve us? Does this still make the most sense?
How can we continue to evolve and grow as we evolve and grow as humans and societies?
And, you know, it's important for us to be intentional and reflective and sometimes critical, right?
We've, you know, I, my sister and my niece came to visit and we were talking about, like, you know, the show Friends and how, like, it has not held up to, like, the test of time, like, it'sextremely homophobic and it's, you know, like, you see a show like Seinfeld, and those jokes are still, they're still funny, right.
But, you know, some of the that content that you know, the big hit show, and you're just like, this is so cringy. I can't even like watch this stuff anymore. Right.
Track 4:
[39:18] And I think sitcoms are the lowest common denominator, right of the day when it comes to comedy. So yeah, For sure.
Track 3:
[39:26] But I think, you know, to wrap it all up, I think those connections are pretty prominent in Canada, but I think that's also a byproduct of the fact that Indigenous Peoples have rightsand are, you know, title holder to treaties and also land, right?
And getting land back after being displaced, or having the land back.
The terms of the treaty is not honoured, right?
And, you know, as we become more sophisticated and become fancy lawyers, you know, these things work their way through the justice system and you see Indigenous peoples andcommunities winning those cases.
And so it kind of also comes to the point of, like, we have to care about this, right?
Track 4:
[40:28] Yeah, you, I mean, you, you summed it up and I think the, the, the thing that I, that I like about, like you guys, you said sometimes even being critical, which is really cool because alot of, I feel like not, I wouldn't even say a lot, but I, I, sometimes there are examples of organizations that it's weird, like, you know, they, they, they get a win or they get a big win.
And then after that, it's kind of like, yeah, we got to win, win for the day. Like, let's, let's pack it up, go home for let's take a vacation or something. No, no.
And, and when you talked about like, having the indigenous and non indigenous events, like that's the that's this, that's the again, the call to action, because what you're doing is you'rebringing people together.
You know, when you hear people's stories.
Everybody can relate. You know, it's easy to say you're so different than me because you're this, you're that, you speak this language, you're born to here, your skin colors that whatever.But like everybody's the same dude.
We all try coming out of our mama. We all poop when we're kids.
And we all cry the day the moment before we die.
You know, everybody's the same. Everybody wants the same. I feel like when you have those, you make those connections with people through those events is really important.
Track 3:
[41:52] When you create cross cultural understanding, it's really hard to other each other, right?
Track 4:
[41:59] Totally.
Track 3:
[41:59] Because there's an appreciation and a respect and an understanding for the strength and beauty and resilience of Indigenous peoples and cultures, right? So, yeah, it's...
Track 4:
[42:11] You recognize the human being in front of you and you're like, Oh, we're literally the same thing.
Track 2:
[42:16] Yeah.
Track 4:
[42:17] Where are we? Where are we? Yeah, dude, that's, that's cool.
Track 2:
[42:23] Is there anything else that you want to add, Sarah, about Truth and Reconciliation Day or the Secret Path Week? Oh, yeah.
Track 3:
[42:34] Well, I guess sort of the thing I always say is if you don't know where to start on your own reconciliation journey, or you know, you haven't really engaged in the conversation thatI'll always say, that's okay.
You can always do something, right? And Downey-Wenjack makes that pretty easy, for people to have a place to start.
You know, we have the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation coming up on September 30th.
So we have a bunch of different webinars and learning opportunities that we're doing ourselves.
[43:12] You know, whether it's like for parents about teaching your kids about residential schools.
We have one of our team members at Downey-Von Jack, his whole family is talking about intergenerational resilience and sharing stories from families of residential school survivors.
So, you know, we have a whole bunch of different opportunities to learn and engage and so I just really encourage everyone to follow us on socials if you don't know where to start.
Start. And, you know, when you're doom scrolling, you'll see some content in between, you know, the recipe for next week and some push notifications for waterproof shoes.
And maybe that that one that one post will be the one to inspire you to to join us in this path towards reconciliation.
Track 2:
[44:07] That's great. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
It's, It's really nice to get a better understanding of both the Downey Wenjack Fund and your story, to hear your story.
We're grateful that you made some time to join us today. So thank you very much.
Track 3:
[44:29] Well, and thank you for supporting our work at the Downey Wenjack Fund through the event. I think it's happening tonight. Yes.
Track 2:
[44:37] Yes.
Track 3:
[44:38] And thank you. Thank you for everyone who's listening and coming out.
[0:49] These are my little sister's paintings. Yeah, I sort of had a thing built where I can live outside and just be Oh, man Shelter shelter up there, you know, yeah So I spend a lot of time outhere.
So I'm in downtown Kingston ish like about five blocks from the center of downtown and Cool.
Yeah, so I like it here. We've been here like five years ever since the kids left Nice, nice.
Track 5:
[1:23] Just the two you have? Sorry.
Track 6:
[1:26] Two girls, yeah. And they're both kind of making their way in Toronto, 27 and 23, and in their separate career paths.
Track 5:
[1:34] Okay.
Track 6:
[1:36] So they're kind of, you know.
Fairly entry-level and where they're working, but Sure.
All right, and we just thought we Give them a break and they pay us far less rent than they would have to pay.
Track 5:
[1:49] Yeah.
Track 6:
[1:49] No, that's good I said and we've actually used the place because I have to be in Toronto More than I ever thought I thought I was retired and now I have to be in Toronto all the timeand So we stay there every time Cool.
Ah. Toronto hotels these days, you're saving 600 bucks every time.
Track 1:
[2:07] Toronto hotels are insane right now. They're totally insane.
So the premise of this podcast was, I found these two friends of mine that are from different parts of the world, but they both grew up in Southern California, and they had not heard ofThe Hip.
So this is getting hip to The Hip, where we're taking them from not having heard them, and We go through the discography and sort of get their reactions as to what they're hearing.
Because you know, you guys are a cultural phenomenon and it's strange sometimes when you meet people who aren't aware of this thing that is like 11 million people watched the lastconcert. You know, that's staggering when people don't know.
Track 6:
[2:51] I've got to say, great concept for a podcast. I did notice the title and I didn't really catch, like I didn't really know what it meant.
Yeah, I love it. I love it.
Track 5:
[3:03] We're of the we're of the same generation pretty much here And you know Pete and I grew up with Southern, California radio you know, that's what got us into music and You know80s 90s.
Track 4:
[3:15] Yeah the radio.
Track 5:
[3:16] Yeah, I was making mixtapes off the radio and Middle school and yeah, you know, we didn't we didn't have the the hit playing on 91x in San Diego No, not a lot of radio play inCalifornia.
Track 6:
[3:28] There's a San Francisco station, uh, K-Fog?
I forget the name of it. That's not K-Fog. There was a San Francisco station that played us, which is why we were able to, you know, eventually play the film or, you know, a couple,couple of days in a row kind of thing and sell that out.
But that, I think it's K-Fog, something like that.
Track 1:
[3:50] It sounds very San Francisco. Yeah. There you go, actually.
Track 6:
[3:55] Our radio play was random. Dallas, we got played in the early days, and Chicago, we got played.
So all the non-border towns, like, you know, Buffalo, they have Canadian radio.
So we're always, we ended up in arenas there.
Seattle, not as much, but then it was just random.
You know, we'd get play in some American cities and no play whatsoever in others.
So it takes so much longer by word of mouth than it does if you've got a song on the radio.
Track 4:
[4:29] Sure, you know, so so so Paul, this is something that I are you guys recording, by the way?
Track 1:
[4:35] Sorry, recording? Yeah, it's right.
Track 6:
[4:37] Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you're not losing all the all the goal.
Track 5:
[4:42] Okay, so we pretty much hit go and do no, no.
Track 4:
[4:45] Um, because we're talking about this too. And this has come up a number of times on the podcast, right?
And obviously, you just were talking about some radio stations, you got random and play in certain cities, this and that. And Tim and I grew up at a time prior to streaming.
We saw that switch. So essentially, whatever we were listening to, unless you were in some like super niche underground group with the cool kids and shit, you were listening to what wasbeing played on the three main stations, right?
And we saw all the takeover with Clear Channel. We saw all that shit happen. Yeah, us too.
The thing that I noticed, and I'm not trying to blow smoke up your ass here, Paul, but I'm going to maybe do a little bit, so clench if you got to.
[5:39] I thought about a lot over the nine months we've been recording this podcast, is that good music is good music, and there's probably so much shit that falls through the cracks.
Here you got Tim and I, who never heard of the hit before.
We both have a lot of similar bands in common that we like, but J.D.
Put us on this mainline IV drip of the Tragically Hip since we started this, and at first it was a slow burn, but But now it's like, I cannot imagine my life without your guys' band.
And again, I'm sorry to blow smoke at you. No, that's not. I'm not trying to do that. No, I love it. I love it. But it's just like, good music is good music.
And I had a deep dive into Guess What too, and we'll talk about that, I'm sure.
Yeah, just it's if you're not exposed to it, man, then you're not exposed to it.
Track 6:
[6:43] You know, I really appreciate that like it's it's like and And the slow burn part as well.
Like I think It was a slow burn for many people just because I Don't think it was that obvious like, you know, the early days were kind of like Oh, it's kind of like more a barroom bumpkind of you know know, um, really kind of not boring, but, you know, simple.
[7:15] And so, but I know that when we were writing and recording, When we were writing and recording, we meant to do that.
For these songs, the songs that we chose for each record, we believe that they would stand the test of time, that you'd probably have to listen to it four, five, six times before you start to,before it starts to grow on you, as you said, slow burn.
And I think that's better. I mean, there are certainly songs I love that immediately it's kind of like, wow, okay, that's a hit.
But a lot of times there's, even back then, you know, in the 80s and 90s, sometimes it's kind of spoon-fed stuff. I mean, it smells like Team Spirit right away. I loved it. That's not spoon-fed.
We're just doing this thing. They're doing their thing.
But there's many more examples of where it's more spoon-fed, where it lasts about nine or 10 listens, and then it's like, okay, I've had enough of this.
Track 4:
[8:18] Moving on, when I do when I when I press play on in violet light, I remember and I told JD and Tim this I was like, dude, I'm not I this is not gonna work. This is gonna be a shittytwo weeks. We're listening.
And then like it ends up like, I just it just starts. It's like a cicada man.
It just burrowed its way into my head.
And then, like, at some point a week and a half into it, I'm rolling down the highway here in Spain, just like fucking windows down just like what?
Where have you been all my life?
Track 6:
[8:50] That starts with Use It Up, right? Oh yeah, Use It Up.
Track 1:
[8:54] Oh yeah, yeah.
Track 4:
[8:56] Oh dude, Use It Up. Oh fuck.
Track 1:
[8:57] That was the song he picked. Yeah. Because every album I make them pick a song and Use It Up was for that record.
Track 6:
[9:05] It's so funny because I didn't like that song at first. I was like...
You didn't? Yeah. Now what?
We're reaching here, it's no good. And then it grew on me as we were sort of all learning our parts and playing it together. It was like, oh, I get it now. Use it up. Yeah, this is the best thingfor later.
But at first, I was just like, this is going to be a horrible record.
Track 4:
[9:31] Oh, dear.
Track 5:
[9:32] Well, I even said to my kid, I have a 21-year-old, I have 21 and 18-year-old sons, and my 21-year-old plays drums and an amazing drummer and he's getting into other stuff too.
But I played him some of the, you know, I don't remember which album, but he looked at me and he's like, are you sure you can do this?
What is this band? And the guy, does he sing weird? What are you doing?
And I'm like, I hope so, bro.
Let's see what happens. But no, since then, I've played in bits here and there.
And my whole family, of course, has been subject to the hip.
Yeah, same here. And they're now recognizing the hip when they come on.
I haven't forced them to sit down and hear an album, but that'll happen eventually, I'm sure.
But yeah, the slow burn has been awesome. And for you guys to accomplish that, I mean, you were in high school, right? When you...
Shortly after high school?
Track 6:
[10:34] Just after, yep. So there's a university here, Queen's, so three of the guys were at Queen's. Johnny was still in high school, drummer.
Okay, that's right. He was in grade 13, which they don't have grade 13 anymore, but...
Yeah, so it was kind of Yeah, a long long time Yeah, I mean for that to happen.
Track 5:
[10:55] It's like you know I have a My brother-in-law told me at one point like what are you gonna?
Do bro? You know you're 19 You're not doing anything is like I'm gonna be a pro skateboarder And I'm like dude you got a one and what 40 million shot to be a pro skater Yeah, come on.
I mean, but you guys you guys were young and you kept at it, and you didn't go after careers I don't think I mean, I'm sure some of you held like part-time jobs or something But you guysjust kept going at it.
Track 6:
[11:24] We all had parents that were kind of like very supportive but at the same time everyone was in University and You know, what's the backup plan my dad said all the time and I'mlike no backup plan dad These guys because I joined a bit later like a year and a half in they were covered in And I love them and Gord Downer is my best friend and he asked me to joinbasically because I was Leaving.
I mean I didn't think of it as a threat, but he thought it was a threat that I was just gonna go down Try my luck as a songwriter and He was like he didn't like that at all.
And so that's the other And when I joined, my dad was like, yeah, but, um, you're going to go back to school and you'll have a backup plan.
I'm like, I don't need one.
Track 1:
[12:20] And so I'm just going to ask you what's the moment, what the moment was where you knew you didn't need a backup plan. You knew that early on, like that it was like you guyshad lightning in a bottle.
Track 6:
[12:31] I knew when I joined, I went to all their gigs and, um, but whenever I could, like I I was driving cab, but Gord would always have me on the list.
And they were just like small in-town gigs, either at the university or at a biker bar or whatever, a few bars that they were playing. And...
I knew, like, and it wasn't just Gork. I knew that Robbie and Johnny and Sinclair, like, that they were just doing something different.
Now, mostly they were playing covers, but they had songs that never made it even to our first baby record.
Great songs, Heart Attack Love and Baby Blue Blood and, you know, all these songs were Reformed Baptist Blues, which was on Thaskadelphia, but surprising.
[13:21] But it was just like, God, they know how to write songs. Gord is unbelievable.
Nothing like the friend I had. Like as soon as he got up on stage, it was just kind of like, wow.
And so I just felt like, you know, they have it. And word of mouth already just in Kingston.
You know, they say you can't, if you're in a band and you can't draw a crowd in your hometown, then chances aren't great.
[13:53] But if you can, you can take that. And so we just would just gradually take it to the next town over, Belleville or, you know, Brockville, then Cornwall and, you know, Oshawa, justsort of like just took it up and down the 401, which is a highway around here.
And just, we relied on word of mouth. And then we started booking things that way.
Let's do three nights. So we'll play Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and by Saturday we'll have it full because everyone's gonna be going home saying, okay, the singer's crazy and the band isheavy and tight.
And so we built it up that way. I'm not sure if you could do it these days.
I mean, there's still venues. So I think you actually could still do it our way. It was the only way we knew how to do it, but we always felt like, we were always like.
We all had a couple of hundred bucks in general, you know, so it wasn't like, um, we were, we weren't, uh, not making money, you know, we were able to, and our parents weresupportive, you know, Gord's parents got us a van and et cetera.
It just kind of, um, we knew very early on that we could just keep doing it.
Let's just keep doing it until it goes south. And it never did.
Track 1:
[15:10] I guess not.
Track 4:
[15:11] Holy shit.
Track 1:
[15:11] Amazing.
Track 4:
[15:13] It's an understatement.
Track 1:
[15:14] Yeah.
Track 4:
[15:17] So I want to, I don't know if it's cool fellas, but I want to dig into the to guess what a little bit.
Track 1:
[15:23] Yeah, let's do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Track 4:
[15:27] So first off, you guys recorded the bathhouse. Yeah, we talked to we talked to Gord. What was it like three months ago? We talked to Gord.
Track 1:
[15:35] Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Track 5:
[15:37] Let's go. Yeah.
Track 1:
[15:39] When his record dropped, he came on.
Track 6:
[15:41] Pardon me?
Track 1:
[15:41] When his record dropped, he came on.
Track 6:
[15:44] I really love that record. I've told him many times. He's so funny.
You know, he's just like...
He's such a sweet dude. Yeah, he is.
And he's, you know, we complain mutually about having to be the singer and, you know, and just all the complications.
But I love his record. I've told him all the time. It's just like, it's classic him. just such variety.
But we're not talking about his record, I guess. Sorry.
Track 4:
[16:15] No, no. No, he kind of said some of the same stuff, but your vocals on, I love the vocals on it.
And then I was kind of reading about what you did with the, in terms of choosing the band and what's his name? His name is, oh, Billy Anglin.
That dude is a, he's a freak on the drums, man.
Track 6:
[16:45] Desperation calling oh yeah yeah when he does that yeah like what the hell is that he's a giant in real life I don't know if you knew that's crazy he's like I don't know I think he's sixfive Oh he's easily 250 must be I don't know how much away but well hey he's a giant and he was a kid that we heard about Johnny mentioned him to me.
I remember back when we first started, Johnny was like, there's a kid over at Elsie, which was another high school.
We were at Casey and they were at Elsie and there's a kid, Billy Anglin, and he's like five years younger than us.
He's like, they had the same drum teacher and he's like, that kid's really good.
And he played into his 20s and then he started a construction company and hadn't played for 20 some years.
And another The other guy in the band, Joe Carscallon, is kind of like a family friend of his.
And he was like, you know, Bill Anglin would do it if he asked and I'm like, seriously? And anyway, he is great. We just played a show just out of town.
There's a little quaint little town, Guananacue.
I'm not sure if you've been there, JD, but it's a beautiful little summer town, Thousand Islands.
Track 1:
[18:00] Okay.
Track 6:
[18:01] And we played a gig on Saturday night. And I was just like, for some reason, I was just kind of really focused on Bill and the stuff he was doing.
I'm very lucky. And the same with everyone else in the band, of course. Oh yeah.
He just hits them so hard and he's so big. And he has a huge drum kit too, like huge.
Where it's like, oh my God.
We pull into a little club a couple of weeks ago just to have a warmup show.
Track 4:
[18:32] And the club owner's like, You know, the drums basically took up the whole, it's like, is this a Russian, is this a Russian cover band? Is Neil Curtin? Yeah.
Track 6:
[18:43] Anyway, I'm going to tell Bill you mentioned him because he's amazing.
Track 1:
[18:49] The big toms at the beginning of Will to Fight as well.
Track 6:
[18:52] Right. That's what I thought. That's what I thought Pete was going to say.
Track 1:
[18:55] Those big toms right off the start, it's like, oh fuck, this song has a bone to pick with me.
It's like, it's challenging me right now, this song, it's.
Track 6:
[19:09] We've been opening with that one. Oh yeah. And Bill loves it, you know, he's had a setlist.
Track 5:
[19:14] Cool.
Track 6:
[19:16] Oriented and I always put Will to fight first and he's quite happy with it, he loves starting.
Like he is not short on confident. For a guy who hasn't played, he's played on his own but who hasn't played with anybody for 20 years, It's pretty amazing.
Track 4:
[19:31] That's crazy, man. You know, you, well, it's because we're talking about drums.
This is something that's that came that came up a couple times in the podcast.
I don't know what record it was that we're talking about.
But I had mentioned and I said it and I said it exactly like this.
I was like, Paul Langlois is a fucking drummer.
Track 1:
[19:52] Yes. Yeah. I remember you remember that?
Track 4:
[19:55] Yeah. And and I said that because I don't remember what song and what record it really hit me like a Like a freight train, man.
Track 1:
[20:02] It was in between evolution is what you said it. Was it?
Track 4:
[20:06] Was it in between evolution?
Track 1:
[20:07] Yeah.
Track 4:
[20:07] Yeah. Just your, the tone of that, bless Paul, and just the chunk, chunk, chunk that was, I can't remember the song that it was on where it hit me and I was like, dude, I don't knowwho's drumming here.
Is it Paul or is it Johnny? Because I'm getting, because I've done that.
I've done that thing where you listen to each member of a band individually.
Like, I don't know if you've ever done that, like next time you, next time you want to have a good time listening to your, if you like Rush, I mean, I like Rush. Who doesn't?
Track 6:
[20:40] I love Rush. I love Rush.
Track 4:
[20:42] Take it, take a Rush tune or watch maybe a live, live recording and focus on one.
Watch it three times and focus on one musician each time. And you'll just see something new every time.
Track 6:
[20:54] I love that idea. Yeah. I love that idea. And thanks for that.
On my first solo record, because I always thought...
I got a drum kit when I was 30 as a birthday present, and it was Johnny's kit.
Well, he set it up. And so my wife got it for me, Joanne.
And then, so I was just drumming secretly in the basement, just because I always wanted to try it.
And so my very first record, Fix His Head, which was like, I don't know, 15 years ago or something.
Track 1:
[21:27] 2010, yeah.
Track 6:
[21:30] Yeah, so 13 years ago and...
I was just on my own. It was just me. And really, I was in there, in our studio, just with the engineer. Like, it's quite awkward, really.
Because it's just the two of us, you know? I'm like, Aaron, you go outside or go do what you're going to do.
Just give me the song on a loop. And I'm just going to play the song.
And if I get a good one, I'll run into into the control room and push the space bar and stop it.
And so that's how I drummed, really, because I just didn't like him kind of just being bored in there, probably on his phone. Yeah.
Track 5:
[22:10] Hovering.
Track 6:
[22:11] So anyway, I did all the drumming on Fix His Head. And it's not stellar drumming, but I was happy enough with it that it passed.
I mean, it would have been way, if Johnny or Billy Anglin was playing, obviously, it would have been way, way better.
But I wanted it to be a private record. I didn't really want to put it out.
Track 1:
[22:33] That's crazy. That's so crazy. But it's interesting you say that.
I have a question for you that's been bothering me since your new record came out. Your new record is called Guess What, and it's the Paul Langlois band.
But I go back into my old records that I have. I have them in Apple, so they're digital.
And they say, like, fix this head, says Paul Langelois band now on it.
But wasn't it just Paul Langelois before?
Track 6:
[23:02] Yes.
Track 1:
[23:03] Oh, so I'm not going crazy.
Track 6:
[23:06] Yeah, no, you're not crazy. You're not going crazy.
I mean, it drives me a bit crazy, really, the thought. And Joanne hates, hates Paul Langlois Band, hates that there's no the. Oh, really?
Track 1:
[23:19] She's like, Jake.
Track 6:
[23:22] Yeah, the hips are my manager. My manager is also the hips manager, Jake Gould. He does a great job, but he was kind of, he was very in favor of just Paul Langlois Band. And I'mlike, okay, that's awkward, though.
Wouldn't you say the Paul Langlois band?
Track 1:
[23:39] Yeah.
Track 6:
[23:40] Two guys in the band, Greg Ball especially, was like, no, Paul Langlois.
Don't say Paul Langlois band, your first two records were Paul Langlois, so just Paul Langlois.
And through the agents and all the people booking and stuff, it's like, well, the Paul Langlois band would probably be more appealing as an act to book, because I was trying to playfestivals this summer.
And so I was like, okay. And then it's like, oh, by the way, we gotta go back.
And it's all because of Spotify. Everything's because of Spotify these days.
Track 1:
[24:15] Oh, God.
Track 6:
[24:17] You gotta go back and call your first two records Paul Langlois banned because if someone searches, I don't understand it, but the algorithm, whatever it is, if someone searches,guess what, Paul Langlois banned, my first two records aren't gonna come up.
And so that convinced me. I'm like, I want my first workers to come up.
Track 5:
[24:36] It happens.
Track 4:
[24:37] But that's the same thing with Malcolmus and the Jicks. Do you guys, I don't know if you guys know that. He has the same, that's a weird thing on Spotify.
They want it to come up.
They wanted to come up the other records so everybody can access all the music.
And I get it because you also want people to listen to your, you know, your other records. But it's also like that.
Track 6:
[24:59] Yeah, I would like that. But I get it. But I hate it. You know, it's, it's, it's silly. It's silly.
Track 4:
[25:04] Me too.
Track 6:
[25:05] Paul Langlois would come up. Just if I call this the Paul Langlois band, which is- Change the algorithm, man.
Track 4:
[25:13] Change the search bar. Like make them both come up.
Track 1:
[25:16] Jesus Christ.
Track 5:
[25:18] That's funny you mention that Paul, at one point during our discography review of you guys I said, yeah, I love this whole process but the hip has totally fucked up my algorithm inSpotify.
Like every time I play something now it's like something associated with the hip. It's like all these other bands but I have discovered some other bands.
Track 1:
[25:39] We were talking one day, Tim and I were talking, I was out for a walk and he's like, you're going to get a kick out of this, Paul, cause he's like, who is April wine?
Oh, really? And I was like, April wine is like a seminal Canadian.
Track 5:
[25:52] Absolutely. Many, many hits.
Track 6:
[25:53] Big band. Good hits. Good. Yeah.
Track 5:
[25:59] Yeah, they're, they're fucking cool. Like I would, that was a fun surprise for me. That was, you know, thanks to the algorithm.
So, but that, but that was, that was one of those things, you know, So 10 years, 10 years between Not Guilty and Guess What?
Track 1:
[26:18] Yeah. Not Guilty was 2013.
Obviously that was a fucking giant 10 years in your life.
What changed singer-songwriter wise? What did you take from that 10 years of experience and put onto this record?
Is there anything you can lay down for us?
Track 6:
[26:47] You know, I think I got the… Lyrics are my toughest.
That's the toughest. It's like finishing the bathrooms, you run out of money.
And so, oh yeah, let's go for the vinyl shower.
And so that's what I would do with lyrics. I'd kind of almost get, I get somewhere, but then I just stop and I didn't know where to go.
So I think time passing more than anything.
Gord, Gord passing.
Track 1:
[27:18] Yeah, yeah, of course.
Track 6:
[27:19] Time passing, the way the tour was so special, such an achievement on all our parts, but especially for Gord.
Of course. The achievement on his part was unbelievable.
It was unbelievable to watch, like from the inside, just how hard he worked and how driven he was.
Was, like he didn't stop. And so I think that kind of affected, that helped me just with lyrics. Time passing, the girls moving out, my daughters, you know.
And you know, now it's like in my 50s. And it's kind of like, I think that sort of just came through in the songs, Will to Fight, you know, just anything, just kind of like.
So there was that. I didn't think I would ever, like I just was not interested in songwriting until I got offered a gig.
And it was a few months away.
And Joanne said, well, you've got to do it. And I'm like, well, I've got to put a band together. I'm not fucking into that. Who would I get?
[28:34] Anyway, so then I thought of they're all buddies, Kingston buddies, and musicians, but they all have other jobs. And, um...
Yeah, and then we started rehearsing and playing and and It was fun and so I decided I had a couple of songs Okay, maybe I'll finish those and we'll have a couple of You know new recordsongs.
I was just playing my first two records kind of thing and then that was the end of August last year and and I booked the studio for November 7th, I think or 8th and And so then I had adeadline, so in September and October, I just kept throwing songs at them and I kept writing.
And so it was the first time I'd written anything in 10 years.
Like I just, I hadn't written anything. And then it was like, oh, wow, this is fun.
These guys are good. And so the whole record is live. I mean, I play guitar and at the same time, I didn't do anything except one scratchy vocal.
I redid one vocal, but we're playing live and there were very little fixes and very little overdub. Joe overdubbed a couple of solos.
[29:54] So it was just kind of exactly how I wanted it to be and it was very reminiscent of how the hit recorded.
You know, we like to not make mistakes, go into the control room and be like, yeah, this is a one.
Of course, we'd leave it mostly up to Johnny, because the drums have to be right.
He would always pick the ones that we wanted, without even talking about it.
Okay, we like take number three.
That was a very similar process to recording in the hip or in the bathhouse, so it was all very inspiring.
So I'm a new person, honestly.
I really thought I was done. Gord died, I just thought, well, we had a good run.
It's sad. Yeah. But it was like 32 naturally years actively together.
It's been longer now, but you know, all of us together playing and it wasn't like a five-year run, you know? And so I just thought, okay, that's good. But you know, yeah, we did it.
And I'm just going to move on and come up with other things.
Track 4:
[31:07] I just didn't come up with anything else. No, but 638 Main says, like, I got a window into the song where you were at with this record and what kind of the question that JD asked.
Like that I was like, okay, I see kind of where Paul's Brain was at with this record and like that's fucking cool, man. I'm so happy for you, dude I don't know.
I had the same shit too before we recorded like before I Jumped in with this band that I'm in man.
I was just kind of like, all right, I'm done playing music and then you fall in and then you get a band together and then you're like Like, oh, this is fucking, this is fun, man. This is rightwhere it should be.
Track 6:
[31:52] Yeah, you forget how fun it is. I did. And it's funny you mentioned 638 Maine.
Not many people, but I have a couple of quirky friends that are like 638 Maine, man. I love that one. Whereas most of my friends, I'm sure they've never mentioned that song.
I don't think it's necessarily a skipper, but it's an odd one.
Track 4:
[32:14] And basically- That's what's cool about it.
Track 6:
[32:17] Yeah, it's, you know, to me, it's cool, because I made it up on the spot.
I didn't have anything written down.
And I just pictured myself.
Track 1:
[32:26] What?
Track 6:
[32:26] Like I'm talking about what it's like to be in a studio. And we were in there eight days. And Greg and I, those guys were going, like there's a firefighter, construction, a factory shiftworker.
Greg's a waiter, so he took the eight days off. And I don't have another job, so I did too. So Greg and I were out there the whole time. And a couple of nights, it was late. They were all latenights.
And I was just sitting there, just like, oh, it'd be good if I could set myself in a bar to describe what it's like being in a studio.
I didn't know if it was Monday or Tuesday. It was kind of like, you're lost in the music. You're lost in the recording.
So I thought, and we only had nine songs, or nine that I liked.
And so I was like, I want to try this one.
And I just made it up. I just like set myself on fire. And then I'm kind of chasing the song.
You know, it's all turning out like it should or whatever the words are.
Track 4:
[33:29] But it paints the picture, man. There was a hip song like that too.
Do you remember, Tim, the apartment where Gord was describing the apartment?
You know what I'm talking about?
Track 1:
[33:40] Apartment song.
Track 4:
[33:40] But that 638, man, it paints the picture, man.
Track 6:
[33:44] Oh, well, thanks. Thanks. Yeah. I was, I was very, uh, very happy with that.
And Greg and Joe were asleep on the couch in the control room.
So it was just, I just laid it down on acoustic and then, um, and saying it. And...
And Bill and Matt, drums and bass, they played. And Joe and Greg were kind of pissed off because I missed it.
So I allowed them to add a guitar and backup vocal.
Track 4:
[34:23] So anyway, I'm glad you mentioned that.
It's cool, man. It's a deep cut. Deep cut. Yeah, we're going to Kingston.
And for the finale we're doing is September 1st, but I think the day before or the day after we're going to Kingston. Yeah, August 31st.
Track 1:
[34:41] We're doing it. They're flying in August 30th. And uh, we're doing a road trip to Kingston.
Track 6:
[34:48] You're kidding.
Track 1:
[34:50] No. Oh, yeah, we're gonna do it. Yeah. I've got it right.
Track 4:
[34:54] Like I mean, yeah, I'm gonna be so dragon ass, man.
Track 5:
[34:59] It's all part of this process.
Track 6:
[35:00] That's what are you? Are you kind of Just doing it for fun.
I'll meet up with you either way whether you're recording something or not That would be amazing to buy you a beer yeah, yeah, that would be absolutely amazing Yeah, we check the redhouse. Just get in touch with me.
Track 4:
[35:19] All right Let's do it, man. Let's do it.
Track 5:
[35:22] Let's do it Yeah, we're flying into town and we have an event at the rec room in Toronto on September 1st.
So that's that's like our Our grand finale of the pod is we're meeting up and there's a tribute band, 50 Mission, playing at the Rec Room and we're doing this fundraiser for the DanielWinsor Fund.
Track 6:
[35:45] Oh cool. And so are you going to be, is it an event where you're not sort of talking together or are you guys going to get up and sing?
Track 1:
[35:54] We're going to record the final episode of the podcast at this event.
Track 6:
[35:58] Oh cool.
Track 1:
[35:59] So they'll finally reveal whether or not they're hip bands, which they've done a poor job concealing it.
It's so funny at the beginning, they would be like, Pete would be like, oh, yeah, there's this lick that the rhythm guitarist plays.
And you know, then later on, it's like, Paul Langlois, am I saying his name right? And then later on, it's just Paul. You know what I mean?
Track 4:
[36:21] I had no concept of your existence, man. I mean, I was like, what's this guy's, who's this guy's name?
Now it's like, everything's off the tongue, man, but I, by the way, I gotta ask you, and I know they're for different things, but what do you prefer about it?
Do you like your telly or do you like the Les Paul? What's the, what's the one that you're, that you, if you die with the guitar in your hands, the one you want in the hands?
Track 6:
[36:45] I mean, it would kind of, it would have to be to tell you, I'm playing the telly on the solo band shows. Okay. So, I've gone back to the telly.
I don't regret playing a Les Paul. I started Les Paul day for night on.
And that was a black one, Black Beauty.
But then I switched to a Sunburst, which I love that guitar.
That's my second favorite.
That's my second favorite. But the Tele for sure. That was the first electric I bought, like officially bought to play in the band.
And I'm using it now. And yeah, it would be the Tele for sure.
Track 4:
[37:28] I never played a telly ever until about six months ago when I visit my family in California. I walked into a guitar center and I went into the expensive room that you're not supposedto go in.
I sat and there was nobody there. It was just a ghost town. I sat with a telly for like an hour and I was like, jeez, man.
I got it because I always played a Strat. I got a Jazzmaster, and an SG, but I never, and I've never played, I mean, I played a Les Paul once, twice, but I never owned a Les Paul. That's thenext on the list.
But a Tele was, I liked it.
Track 6:
[38:05] Yeah, well, see, it's funny, because I find a Strat the most different guitar, and because Robbie played it already, and he was like, he had 15 years of experience on me, because Ididn't start playing until I was 19, and he started playing, he was small.
And he was playing a Strat.
And so I was like, I mean, I started out playing acoustic and after a while I was like, fuck this, I can't fucking hear.
And I had a big train ramp and it was just like, it was impossible to, I'd turn it up to, and I got electrocuted all the time because it was a old shit.
Well, I finally said, I'm playing electrocute It's a lot of telly and because I figured that telly is kind of the opposite of a strat almost and I've never really ever tried to play a strat, like Ireally honestly never have.
Les Paul's and Telly's I find are way more similar. The Strat to me is a different one. It's super cool, but it's just not my thing.
Track 4:
[39:13] I just like the pickups, man, like that Steve Miller tone, that Buddy Holly, those 57s and those 59s, those pickups are just so tinny and, you know.
I don't know, I like that. Yeah, no, it's amazing.
Track 5:
[39:31] So, when we were just getting into Saskadelphia, right, and I'm listening to Crack My Spine the other day with my headphones on, you know, because I want to hear everything, andyour guitar on that was just like, it kind of just sounded like, it reminded me of the Ramones, like you were just kind of playing some power chords through there.
It just reminded me of like 80s kind of punk rock, you know, and I just, I just loved that about it and it's been such an interesting thing hearing you guys playing guitar because, you know,most bands you got bass and drums kind of linked up as the backbone and you might have a lead guitarist but you might not or a rhythm guitarist but you guys were just like playing guitardoing your thing and it works and I think that's just such a cool rare thing about a band that you guys pulled off.
And then it's been so fun to then go on and listen to your solo stuff and hear your evolution too, because we don't get this opportunity with bands very often in general.
Like how many bands are still around or guys still around? Well, that's so cool to hear.
Track 6:
[40:43] You know, what I would credit that the most, or whom I would credit, is Don Smith, who produced Up to Here and Road Apples, because he handled us, he hard panned us, left andright, Robbie and I.
So listen, I listen to ACDC, and sorry, but Malcolm Young isn't loud enough.
Like, it's like the guitars are like this.
Track 5:
[41:12] It's true.
Track 6:
[41:14] So Don panned us. And so then every producer after that, and our guy, Mark Breakin, who actually helped us produce our only record we did without a producer was Trouble at theHen House.
And Mark Breakin still mixes, you know, he mixed Saskatoon, he's been our sound man and our live sound man for the whole time.
Although he did leave to bigger and better things for a good chunk of 15 years or so, but he's back with us and he pans them too.
So he, so you can hear one in one ear, one in the other. I'm deaf in my right ear, So I have to listen to it twice just to.
You know, hear what Robbie's doing, the odd time I'm interested.
[42:03] But I credit Don because Don did that and he was super cool and we were so, he was unbelievable and we couldn't believe we were working with him.
He'd done Traveling Wilburys and he did everything and he was Mr.
Cool and he was just like, you guys just do your thing.
And this is when we were young, impressionable, you know, we wanted to do our thing, but we figured, you know, people are going to tell us, you know, you should be a bit more countryand people did, you know, a bit more country, maybe or something.
Don was just like, just do your thing. And he panned the guitars.
So basically, he, he, I credit him with my job.
Because people can hear me if they want, you know, if they're taking a closer listen, and like you guys do, it's kind of like all my parts are just naked on one side.
At one point though, I made a list, and it's an ongoing list of songs where I'm in the right speaker if you're looking at it.
I'm always on the left, and Robbie's always on the right.
Except more and more, I'll check it, and I have like a list of about 12 songs where I'm on the right and Robbie's on the left.
My producer decided to switch it.
Track 1:
[43:20] Oh, funny.
Track 6:
[43:23] Which is curious to me. Because when I put on headphones, so I can only hear out of this ear, 100% deaf in this one. Wow.
I always put the left ear, because that's me. Oh, shit.
Track 4:
[43:37] And then you go.
Track 6:
[43:39] And then the odd hit song I'll run into, and it's kind of like, that's not me. That's Robbie.
Track 4:
[43:44] Who's this shitty guitar player?
Track 6:
[43:46] We didn't listen to each other at all, by the way, not at all.
Track 4:
[43:53] It's funny, dude.
Paul, when you guys did Trouble, man, and that was a record, I think Tim and I, I don't know, I'm speaking for Tim here, but for me, that was the record where I was like, it finally openedfor me.
And I got everything prior to that too, but that record was like, okay, this band doesn't give a shit about what anybody thinks, man.
Just gonna do their own thing. And that's where I was like, you guys grew into this just animal that nobody knew existed.
I don't know, man, that was a that was a break. That was the record that JD when JD flew to Malaga for primavera sound last year, he brought a vinyl and this is me still not knowinganything about you guys.
And he brought me trouble at the house. And I was like, Yeah, I do you remember?
Track 1:
[44:48] Do you remember I mailed you trouble at the hen house on CD.
And you're like, I don't have a CD player. I was like, who doesn't have a CD player?
Track 4:
[44:56] We moved here and I and then yeah, because we moved from the state. Anyway. Yeah, yeah.
Track 6:
[45:07] It's it's funny. Just to add something, because I thought of it earlier, very early on this chat, you were saying something, Pete, that I thought of, and I'm like, oh, fuck, I thought ofsomething good to say, and I forgot, but now I remember.
So there was this band, there's this, I don't know that they're a band anymore, they're from Philly, and they're called Marah, M-A-R-A-H.
[45:36] And they're a couple of brothers. And anyway, out of the blue, the day after our last show, the singer writes Robbie a letter.
And he's like, and he describes, the letter makes me cry. me cry like it he describes his life and you know they got signed to, Maybe Steve Earle had a label, someone like that.
Oh, nice. Nashville person. So they had some success, but they just ruined everything all the time. That was just their nature. You have brothers, and any time things started to go well,they would kind of blow it up.
And then he described, he goes on to describe, he was out in the country on a TV at a cabin he doesn't use, but he happened to throw on the TV, and the CBC covered that show live, youknow, so it was live on the air, and he describes, you know, watching the show and what's about to happen, and what was my point?
Well, there's this thing in the doc that Robbie quotes him, like, what's going to happen here?
You know, are they gonna all bands either explode on the way up or on the way down everything?
[47:01] Burn out nothing works out and What are you telling me?
These guys are gonna pull the he compared it to a You know an air balloon, whatever they're called parachute No, like a balloon, you know, oh, yeah hot air balloon what they're all gonnapull it down and and land safely, like win rock and roll or something.
It's just kind of like, anyway, it was just an amazing letter years ago.
And I've always had the intention to kind of reach out to him and say, fuck your letter, man. Cause he, it's way more than that.
Another thing he said is he would try, cause this is quite like this podcast that you're doing JD.
He would, he learned not to play the hip to people, to his friends, to anyone, various girlfriends. He was like, I'd never do it.
If he found a real hip fan, he said, like because they're touring, right, in New York or London or wherever, as soon as he realized it's a real hip fan, they'd be at the back of the bar.
He'd take them to the back of the bar, and they'd have pints, and they'd talk about all things hip.
[48:18] And anyway, so he said, if someone came over to my house, and I trusted them enough to play the hip, And they started talking over the music.
That's it. Christmas lights off. Everyone's going home.
[48:34] He's an amazing writer.
Track 4:
[48:38] It's so true. I said that to JD a couple of weeks ago when I was in California this last time in May.
We were driving to Joshua Tree. And I fucking hate when people put on music and they're like, listen to this band.
You're going to love this band. And it's like, you build it up, right?
I didn't do that. I grabbed my buddy's phone, we're driving down, I don't know, 64 or whatever it is, down in Joshua Tree, 29 Palms, and I just grabbed his phone and I put on Trouble atthe Inn House.
Yeah. And he's like, who the fuck is this?
Track 6:
[49:10] That's how to do it. Yeah.
Track 4:
[49:12] That's all I did. I played a couple tunes and he's like, who's this band?
I was like, oh, it's... And then, you know, cause you don't set the expectations. Yeah.
Track 6:
[49:23] Yeah, no, exactly. That's how to do it. That's the downy way, actually. Did Gord and all his brothers.
You surprise somebody. If you give people warning, it's not the same, you know? Yeah. It's just like, no, no.
Track 1:
[49:38] Expectations.
Track 6:
[49:39] Yeah, and when Gord was sick.
Track 5:
[49:41] It's true, it's true.
Track 6:
[49:42] His brother was looking after him mainly, and I was mainly there to help Pat.
Someone would be, I wanna come over and see Gord, you know, because there was no tour in the future. Like, we all just thought this is it.
And I was like, oh, this guy wants to come by. And Pat's like, well, just don't tell Gord about it.
Tell them to come but we won't tell them about it. It'll just get surprised.
That's how the Downies do it. It's like, oh we're here.
Track 5:
[50:10] That's cool.
Track 1:
[50:15] Paul, I know we said 45 minutes and we're over so I'm sorry for taking more of your time than we should have. No problem.
Track 6:
[50:20] I still got seven minutes before the next one.
Track 1:
[50:26] Oh wow, you're on junket mode, eh?
Track 6:
[50:28] Yeah, three today.
Track 1:
[50:32] Oh wow. Well, any chance we'll see you on the road in the fall?
Or is it just take it as it comes?
Track 6:
[50:43] Take it as it comes, yeah. Sort of trying to stick to festivals, but obviously they start disappearing when the fall comes. So, unknown.
So, I've got two more gigs in August and like one in Windsor-ish, Kingsville, and one in Bath, where our studio is, and those are both in August.
Track 1:
[51:08] It's been great talking to you. So great.
Track 6:
[51:10] Yeah, great talking to you guys. It's nice to meet you too, as well.
Track 4:
[51:13] Nice to meet you, Paul. Thanks for your time, man.
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Welcome everybody to the Dutch Hall. We're coming to you live from the Pool Shed in Pine Grove, ontario, for episode 445, believe it or not. 445 times we have done this stupid thing, and this time we have roped two people from different parts of the planet and one person who was from here but had to come back here on a long journey today. That's right, and I'm very happy to have them in. All first timers, all Dutch Hall virgins, and they're here to promote a podcast, which is a really interesting concept, especially for a guy like me from Southern Ontario.
The hip is really was really a band that was pivotal, pivotal, pivotal Is that right? That's right. Pivotal to a kid like me. It came up at the right time. They were like hitting it the same time that I was getting in to be in the most awesomeest part of my life, you know, and these guys, two of these fellas have no such experience at all. One of these fellas would have a very similar one, and the idea of the podcast is to let these two guys understand what us two guys feel about this band. And so I entered with these myself. Yet, jamie, yeah, you haven't really now.
Oh well, i'll start off by introducing myself. I am the host of the show. In two time You're supposed to say two time, two time. There you go. President's Club Award winner, pete Van Dyke No applause, no applause. And our guest today, the one that's come from Waterford, ontario. He's a. He's a Waterford native, that's right, norfolk County boy. But he's moved to the big city and he's made a life for himself. First time here in the Dutch Hall, ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Jamie, do everybody, jamie do.
0:04:40 - Speaker 3
It is great to be back. Great to be back to Norfolk. I mean great to be back in Ontario's garden. Oh yes, Thank you.
0:04:49 - Speaker 4
Shout out to us and our guests And you're going to have to help me, jamie, on the last names here, let's try, i will. From San Diego, california, is Tim Lion, lion, everybody, i'll take it Yeah.
0:05:07 - Speaker 5
Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
0:05:10 - Speaker 4
Thank you, Tim, And coming from Malaga, Spain.
0:05:14 - Speaker 3
Malaga, spain. This is Pete from Spain. He doesn't have a last name. Yes, of course he does Marchica, pete, marchica, everybody.
0:05:22 - Speaker 4
Pete Marchica.
0:05:26 - Speaker 1
My middle name is is is from Spain. What's your middle?
0:05:29 - Speaker 4
name From Spain. Oh, i'm joking, i'm your. You know, actually I have a. I have a nephew and his middle name, his name is this is seriously, his name is Adrian adventure Pitaski And, like it's just so, he could go around his parents name on that So he could tell people my, my adventure is my middle name, right? Wow, i love it. That's my nephew, that's real, that's my nephew, like that's that is cool.
Like you want to get named. It's like your parents just made you James Bond, yeah Right. Like it is major, coolest. No, this kid's got to live up to that middle name. He's got to live life, yeah Right, yeah, hopefully he's not trepidatious of everything, yeah.
0:06:10 - Speaker 3
What if he's just like an accountant, You know?
0:06:14 - Speaker 4
it'll probably be cooking the books. Yeah Yeah, the name like adventure.
You know that's a, that's just a gift, that's a gift from your parents, so uh, I think it's a little bit of a, a little bit of a, a little bit of a. It's a gift, that's a gift from your parents. So, uh, i want, I hope so, yeah, yeah, i hope so, or curse, or curse. Um, i wanted to say the band we're talking about is tragically hip. That's right. The band, uh, that, uh, if you the credit tragic lips, from Kingston, ontario, and for some reason the tragically hip have been a band that have uh made it in Canada. They were enormous in Canada, but as much as we tried to explain them to the rest of the band, we tried to explain them to the rest of the world, the rest of the world just didn't get them.
0:06:57 - Speaker 3
No, Would you agree with that, Jamie? I would agree with that. And uh, these two are the avatars for the rest of the world.
0:07:03 - Speaker 4
Yeah, And now is there a. Is there a band, uh, either in the United States or in Spain, that you would say would be like a band that is beloved in your country, but the rest of the world doesn't get it, You know.
0:07:21 - Speaker 1
Tim, you want to take that one for the US Oh tough one, Yeah that is a tough one for US actually.
0:07:26 - Speaker 5
Yeah, yeah, i have no idea, because I feel like if you break, i'm going to have to do some homework.
0:07:31 - Speaker 3
I feel like if you break in the US, part of that breaking in the US is breaking internationally.
0:07:37 - Speaker 4
Yeah, like the rest of the world will like what you guys like. Yeah, there's not much that you guys like, unless there's some guy like you know, like what's the name of that fella? He's, like you know, proud to be an American, or like the, or like one of those country guys who were really like patriotic and over the top. That might be a little bit. That's the country singer.
0:08:00 - Speaker 3
What's his?
0:08:00 - Speaker 4
name. That might be too much for like people outside the States.
0:08:04 - Speaker 1
Yeah, that's true. No, I know what you're saying.
0:08:07 - Speaker 4
You know what's the guy's name The big? Yeah, i know who you mean. See, that's me. We're from Canada. We don't know the guy's name? Danim Vast. Yeah, we got tons of them. You know how? about Spain?
0:08:22 - Speaker 1
You know there's a band here called Los Planetes, which translates to the planets, if you will, and you know they're extremely popular. I mean they've got like there's a couple of the members have spinoff bands. I mean you can't you can't go to any corner of this country and not know somebody who knows Los Planetes. So they're like sort of as an indie rock band, sort of like I guess you'd say the hip did. But but yeah, dude, outside of if you mentioned Los Planetes outside of Spain, nobody knows what they're talking about.
0:08:54 - Speaker 3
Yeah, i've never heard of them, yeah.
0:08:56 - Speaker 4
I know that the tragically hip themselves were friends with the band the real statics out of England because they had the same issue as them. They were huge in England but the rest of the world Real statics are from the town. No, not real statics, stereophonics They say those bands were on. Oh, it was about to correct. Yes, i apologize. The real stacks actually open for the hip, yeah, but the stereophonics, and so they'd always, if they came out with an album, the hip would give an album to the stereophonics, stereophonics would give an album to the hips when they came out with a new one, because they had this mutual like kind of like, you know, like sister cities and stuff like that.
0:09:36 - Speaker 3
It was like the same thing, but like sister bands, you know, i feel like the last time stereophonics played in Toronto it was post score dying and they played a hip song. Yeah, that would make a huge sense And I didn't. But I didn't know that there was that connection.
0:09:47 - Speaker 4
I just thought they were just doing a tribute to oh no, they were big fans of it, like big fans of each other, and they both had the same thing. They could never break in the States and they were like huge in their own countries And even in Canada the stereophonics didn't really make too much of a splash. I just remember that having a stay song. Yeah, i like that band actually. Yeah.
0:10:07 - Speaker 5
I can only think of bands from the U S that have done well outside the U S. You know like bigger tours outside the U S, but there are a ton.
0:10:16 - Speaker 1
There are a ton of like Canadian bands that like have had broken through to me, for Christ's sake. You got Neil Young, you've got the Lannis, you've got Brian Adams, right, nickelback, you know.
0:10:29 - Speaker 5
Nickelback. Yeah, that one band Rush. is that what they're called?
0:10:33 - Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, i mean one of the greatest bands of all time. It's a real crowd splitter rush.
0:10:41 - Speaker 3
I agree Because. I've never I was never a Rush guy.
0:10:43 - Speaker 4
If you don't, if you like Rush, you really like Rush Big time. I think it's like Bruce Springsteen. You know, bruce Springsteen, the guys that like Bruce, they love Bruce, Like they really like Oh my gosh.
0:10:54 - Speaker 5
Yeah, we have a good friend who follows Bruce and I just Yeah, they're like, they're you and Target on that. God bless Michelle.
0:11:02 - Speaker 4
Yeah, and my cousin's husband is like that, he's traveled all around to see Bruce, eh, and he knows him Like it. Just it means so much to him. Man, i envy that about him, but I just don't get it. Yeah, it just doesn't.
0:11:18 - Speaker 3
I like Springsteen, but I'm not. I wouldn't do a follow along, or Yeah.
0:11:23 - Speaker 4
You're in camp too, like either you love him or you're like oh, he's the boss, you know he's good.
0:11:29 - Speaker 5
Yeah, i like a couple, you know I like it enough It's fine, there's lots of bands I would go see perform live if I got a free ticket.
0:11:38 - Speaker 1
Right, yeah, i got free tickets to see Springsteen. That's the only reason I saw him. But back in the day I think we told this on the pod or I may have mentioned it on the pod when we did some, when we recorded, but back in the day, when I started playing in bands, like 25 years ago, you were, if you were a Rush fan, you were closeted. Like and I'm not even like joking Like in the US like if you liked Rush and you had Rush records, you were closeted. You didn't talk about it. I remember I was playing in a band with a guy named Jason Hirsch and he was our bass player and we played in a band for like seven or eight months and then one day it went over his house and it was like I found a bunch of porno mags in his corner. Like he's like, yeah, dude, i like Rush, and like the same was for Zappa, and I was like, dude, it's cool man, this is a safe space.
0:12:30 - Speaker 4
I have a huge kit set up in the closet. I drummed a new apparel. That's funny man, but it was kind of that. There was like you just didn't know if you're, because they split the room, you either love it, like people hated Rush, or they loved Rush. You know, even in Canada, even in Canada, they're hardcore. I don't get it, you know. I think some It might be musicians though too, because like Rush, right, because they're technically Yeah, i mean because you just.
0:13:01 - Speaker 1
The work of like the musicianship is like the fact that Geddy Lee can play His multi-instrumentalist on stage and singing is fucking stupid, yeah, like you know It's like Radiohead too.
0:13:16 - Speaker 4
Right Like Radiohead, like Yeah, if the musicians get them more than the non-musicians, would you say that's true.
0:13:26 - Speaker 5
I don't think so. I think Rush had a special kind of nerd dump. You know, like, if you ever knew, like a group of kids that played D&D, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you know, like I don't know, rush has their own collective. Like, i have lots of friends who are radiohead fans and many of whom are not.
0:13:44 - Speaker 1
We now ostracized the Rush crowd from Pete's podcast and now ostracized the D&D.
0:13:55 - Speaker 4
I don't know.
0:13:57 - Speaker 5
I saw D&D. friends, we're all good with each other.
0:14:01 - Speaker 4
I've never played before. Have you done that Never?
0:14:05 - Speaker 5
I won't touch a 12-side. I tried, like, when it became a thing, i tried with some kids in my neighborhood and I sat down with them and I was like are we going to drink some wine? Or you know, and that was the seventh grade Like it just felt like we were supposed to be naked or I don't know. It was just weird. Yeah, like It was really weird. I was like how far can we take role play right now?
0:14:26 - Speaker 4
Yeah, you were an advanced.
0:14:27 - Speaker 5
There's too much of a tease for me.
0:14:29 - Speaker 4
No, i was like you were saying Dungeons Dragons makes a seemed a little like they was going to get a role. Did people wear costumes for that stuff?
0:14:37 - Speaker 5
Well, no, i just felt like it was this level of intellectualism, you know, like that wasn't it being experiencing games and rush was kind of the same way, and maybe, you know, maybe the hip was too smart for the US, maybe it might be.
0:14:51 - Speaker 4
It might be like there's, but I don't know how smart it was. It was like there's a. It's an interesting thing because I've only because of this podcast started. You know he's kind of reflect on you know I was a hip like, i am a hip fan and it, but I don't know if I'm associating it is just because they were around through a good part of my life. You know what I mean. Yeah, like I was young and having a good time and every show I went to or I could see them a lot, you know. So they were at a lot of like festivals and concerts that I would get a chance to go to.
0:15:25 - Speaker 3
They were always on the bar, like whatever bar you go to, they were playing hip, you know yeah.
0:15:30 - Speaker 1
They were like the LA. They were like Canada's version of X. If you live in LA, right, sure They were. They were still playing Cause like yeah, right, i know, but actually you could like go to any club on a given night in the 80s and 90s and that band was playing, and they're still playing.
0:15:51 - Speaker 4
Yeah, they're still playing, and then I never seen a.
The other thing that I think was was interesting about the hip, when you'd see them live, is like I've seen a lot of bands that would jam, you know, like they would like jam out a song, so it didn't sound like a radio version of it, like, but the hips the only one I can really say that vocalist was doing it too Like where the vocalist was jamming vocals, you know, and so you'd go to see them at a show and he'd be like gibberishing up there, you know, while they were like jamming something else out in the middle of a song, and then you'd go see the next tour and it would actually be a song that was on that album, you know, and like, do you remember seeing that too?
Absolutely, yeah, i was called it breadcrumbs, right, like it was like little breadcrumbs and you're like that's going to be something like. I remember nautical disaster before it was nautical disaster, right, and then like, so, like I thought that was kind of cool, cause you kind of I don't remember another band that kind of let you in on the what's to come, you know, like, and and and let you watch the creative process, like the writing process, on stage, you know as obvious.
0:17:05 - Speaker 5
Maybe the, maybe the doors, yeah, yeah, that's what's good. Jim Morrison did a fair amount of that, but there's not many. I mean, that was like lead singers riffing Yeah, there's not. Not many people are able to do that at all, is this?
0:17:19 - Speaker 4
douchey. It really like it has the potential to go a little bit yourself in grandizing. You know, like, where it's like. Look at me, i'm an intellectual and you know even Jim Morrison and then Gord Downey. They both kind of you know they're like I'm not gonna do that. Their critics could accuse them of that, of being a little bit like you know in their own head or like too impressed by themselves. But I didn't get that impression from either of them but because I liked them.
0:17:47 - Speaker 3
Yeah, me too.
0:17:48 - Speaker 4
But and I like watching the creativity of it, you know, But doors is a perfect example, because that would be, I would say, the closest which I never got. to see them, So yeah.
0:18:00 - Speaker 1
Pete, did you have you? because I don't know how much you dug into the pod, but we you know, one of the things that Tim and I struggle with is that you know, when we did the, when we did the pod, we recorded everything, because everything's recorded up into this point. Pretty much We're just kind of trickling the pods out leading up to the finale.
But like a lot of folks, like you know, we had a week to digest the record and then it was week over week over week over week And, like so many people, like dude had fucking a year or two years to like and it had their whole lives to get to know this band. I think it's, you know, i'm not gonna we'll smoke up my own ass, but maybe I'll hold a little Tim's ass. But we, you know, i think it's, you know, i think it's, you know it's a little bit of a Tim's ass, but we, you know, i'm. I think it's pretty impressive because at this point, now that we're kind of all done, i fucking love this band. I mean, i've gone back and listened to the records we weren't super keen on and they're just dude, they're. I don't know what American rock fans were fucking thinking back in the day when this band was like pinky.
0:19:14 - Speaker 5
Is that why? Yeah, i really think that a big part of why they didn't quote make it in the US, which they did to a degree, they just weren't selling out stadiums. But I think a big part of it had to do must have had to have been because of ill attempted marketing. Like, like, when bands go on tour, there are people behind the scenes that are doing promotions in every city. They're hanging posters, they're giving away tickets, they're talking about on the radio all of these things. You know everybody in LA who does this for a living And I talked to him briefly about it and he said marketing probably was marketing, i and can't.
And I'm like, oh, you know, and the labels, when the hip was on with labels who weren't promoting them in the US, like, oh, they're gonna play in these six epicenter cities, we're gonna sell out them, sell out them more, maybe if all the Canadians show up, sure, that was, that was what happened. But man, if they were promoted more in a real way, like other bands on their US labels which I can't remember right now, i think they would have totally hit it. When they were on in my house the other day I said to my wife if this was playing in 1992, i would have been totally into it, cause we were talking about bands we were into in 1992. And some of them, like right now, i might have thought they were pretty good back then, but some of them right now I absolutely do not listen to.
But if I would have, heard the hip in 1992, I would definitely be going back to albums right now, I believe.
0:20:48 - Speaker 4
Yeah, it's interesting, that's really all.
but with both what you guys said, it's really interesting cause I it's not what I expected, like number one, you've just let my audience know you've been, you've been through the entire catalog of the hip, which, when you said it takes you time to process a tragically hip album, i mean I remember like in real time, when these things came out and we would like line up at sunrise at midnight to get the new road apples or whatever you know.
And but each album like road apples compared up to here and day for night compared to road apples, or like, or fully, completely, you know they were. they were as soon as you put in the new album you were like, ah, like this is, this isn't as good as the last stuff, and then you'd listen to it like a hundred times and then it would become your favorite album. you know, like totally. And I find Jack White like I'm a huge Jack White fan and it's the same thing with his stuff, cause he's pushing himself and he's growing, you know, and then it kind of takes you a bit to get your head around what he's trying to do And then after a while you start digging it, you know.
That's a good example And I think that's. That's the kind of like I. You never liked the hip album when you first got it. You always liked it a couple of weeks later. You know, Like Is it.
0:22:15 - Speaker 5
Sorry, is that true? Is that true for you, jamie? Were there any albums you just were like just had on repeat, psyched, go, go, go, go listen to it a hundred times a week.
0:22:26 - Speaker 3
I was in love with like from the moment I heard it Like. So There you go, but and fully, completely too Trouble at the hen house. The first time I heard it I was like I'm not sure about this, but you're right, it was, it was, it was different, they were, they were, you're right, They, they were growing and I was stuck behind. Yeah, yeah, now that's like my favorite record.
0:22:46 - Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah.
0:22:48 - Speaker 3
Like like hands down.
0:22:50 - Speaker 4
Yeah, and then, like I, yeah, cause yeah up to here was the only one I would say that I was like I'm in, this is everything's great. And then the only thing is that a lot of songs kind of sounded similar maybe, but but but then everything I was comparing everything up to here And then, and that's just. And then I just wasn't like like you said, i just wasn't developing like the. That's why it takes me a bit just to catch up, cause I'm slow, i'm just. You know, you're just a consumer, you're being fed, fed shit, you only know what you know And then get something new and takes you a bit.
0:23:28 - Speaker 1
But you also never know how long it's going to take. I had a. I had a record I won't need to mention cause it's just not even important, but the record from a band that I really liked And when they're it took seven years. Seven years. It came out in 2007 and it wasn't until 2014 when I picked it up again And I literally thought this was the shittiest record I had ever heard. And I picked it up again and it turns out being my favorite record And it was like like it takes time, but for for what, tim and I? the gauntlet that fucking JD's put us through the last seven months, like how many?
0:24:05 - Speaker 3
albums There's 14, 14 hours, 14 or 15. Yeah wow.
0:24:11 - Speaker 4
And then, uh, yeah, that's crazy, man, that's crazy. So the what was I thinking? Oh, you're to um, you know, david Bowie's black star, that album, last album, yeah, yeah, same thing. I was like you know, i wanted Ziggy Stardust and I got black star. I was upset. And then, uh, you listen to it and you're like this is the greatest thing he's ever done. This is man. That album is incredible. Oh, yeah, and uh, yeah. And then the more you know the fact that he, uh, he doesn't, he, he leaves on an open note Like he doesn't, uh, he doesn't end on the top, on the home note, the number one, the one he doesn't end on, the one you know that's a and he knows he's going to die.
0:24:53 - Speaker 1
You know, that's crazy, That album it's funny because I remember when I bought that album right when it came out, right after he died, because he died a couple of days before my birthday, because he died a few days after his birthday, which is January 8th Mine's a 16th and I bought it and I just didn't. I wanted to get it, i couldn't. And then a friend, when I moved back to Spain, explained to me that it was a lot of the songs are built on flamenco chords, spanish flamenco chords, and I was like get the fuck out of here. And then I we listened to it together and explained it to me And I was like, because a drummer of our band? and I was like, oh, that makes sense. And then the whole record made sense to me.
0:25:33 - Speaker 4
It took years, isn't that great. That's a beautiful thing about music, our art in general. You know like, no matter what kind of the art, the comedy is the same way you can work your whole life. You're never going to know all the risks and all about it You're never going to. It's just so infinite in the amount. So like, that's what I like about it, about it, you know, like you can, you're never going to feel like you've got all the answers you know, when you find art, when you find art like that, that's timeless, that's, that's, that's the best stuff I think you know.
0:26:04 - Speaker 5
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, something you can put on, i mean, just at any point in time. It's just that's, that's. Those are the keepers. Yeah, i don't know if we'll feel the same way. Pete, have you gone back to any any? Bob Rock produced albums.
0:26:18 - Speaker 1
You know it's funny. I haven't yet, tim, but I really am looking forward to it because I think it's going to happen. I think eventually all end up like sending a letter Is Bob Rock still alive?
0:26:28 - Speaker 5
Yes, oh, my gosh Yeah.
0:26:30 - Speaker 1
Okay, then I'll send him like an apology letter and like be like Bob, i'm sorry, cause there are people that love.
0:26:36 - Speaker 3
We are the same now And when it came out it was pretty universally derided. And there are people that absolutely adore that record now And I'm I'm one of them. Like, like, i really did not like that record the first time I heard it. Like I remember meeting Greg in the grocery store We were doing fully and completely at the time And I was like, so I did some pre listening and uh, wow, every song sounds the same. It's all droney, it's you know. And now I think, like depression suite is amazing. I love morning moon, um, queen of the Furrows is like weird and out there. But I but I dig it, but it's not, it's not. It still doesn't feel quite like a hip record because there's no Lang Lawn and St Clair backup vocals. You know it's, it's, it's just different.
0:27:24 - Speaker 4
Yeah, do you hear that? Uh, i think it was at the Gino's or something. Uh, after CORE Downey died, uh, muse filled in and they did um, it's a, she did a cut. No, it's not, it's not. I said the wrong name FIEST, fiest. Yeah, fiest did, uh, did the vocals and it was for it's. Uh, it's a good life if you don't weaken. Yeah, it's a good life if you don't weaken and uh and. But like when the background vocals kicked in and then it was like, then you're like Oh, this is the hip. Yeah, cause before it was just a cover, you know.
And then, as soon as you heard St Clair's backing, it was like Oh man, this is, this is cool, you know, yeah, yeah.
0:28:07 - Speaker 5
Um, yeah, i was. I was asking Pete, because this morning when Amy was making coffee, I was like coffee girl. It just happened. So, bob, bob is coming in. Hey, knock on the door.
0:28:23 - Speaker 4
Hey, i was hoping, uh, we, so this has been. This is really cool. If you guys, uh, who are listening to this show, if you want to check out this podcast and see how these two people were converted to the ways of the tragically hip um, uh, how can they find the show, jamie?
0:28:39 - Speaker 3
go to getting hip to the hipcom and, uh, you can go anywhere that you find your podcasts you'll get getting hip to the hip And it is.
0:28:49 - Speaker 4
It's going to all uh, culminate with a grand finale live show in Toronto on September 1st. Yes, sir, and people can get tickets for the show Same place.
0:29:00 - Speaker 3
Getting hip to the hipcom and, uh, click on tickets and, uh, you know, uh, we'll get a great host for that evening.
0:29:08 - Speaker 4
Well, thank you. Yeah, i'll be hosted by myself and uh, we have uh the finale of the podcast and you have uh entertaining the audience of uh. was it 50 mission cap or? 50 mission 50 mission, which is a hip cover band. They'll be playing, and where is it?
0:29:25 - Speaker 3
It's at the rec room in Toronto on Bremner, right across from the sky dome.
0:29:29 - Speaker 4
Oh sweet, it's going to be super fun. So please check us out And, uh, we will be running a uh draw here at the Dutch hall for a listener to get a free uh free ticket to the event. How about?
0:29:40 - Speaker 1
a pair A pair.
0:29:41 - Speaker 4
You can bring a friend. Thank you, that's nice, yeah, and I can even give you a ride if you want, if you're local. So we got all those things working for us, and there'll be details on that at the end of the show, but I don't want to keep these guys any longer doing business. Um does.
0:29:59 - Speaker 1
This is the sky down where the blue jays play. Yeah, Oh fuck, that'd be cool. They're playing a game that they're not, they're out of town.
0:30:08 - Speaker 3
Are we taking a game? for sure, yeah, Hey, pete.
0:30:12 - Speaker 1
Pete, i've been wanting to tell you a joke, man Come tell you a joke, yeah, please do, just to turn After he's done.
0:30:20 - Speaker 5
Then, pete, you play guitar to Pete and see if you guys can trade.
0:30:25 - Speaker 4
Yeah, you have to do that. Okay, I'll trade your talents. I know two chords.
0:30:30 - Speaker 1
So so you know Creedence, right. You know Creed's Clearwater, right. Yeah, yeah, ccr yeah. Yeah, so do you know what the difference between John Fogarty and Marvin Gaye is?
0:30:43 - Speaker 4
No, I don't.
0:30:45 - Speaker 1
So Marvin Gaye heard it through the grapevine, but John Fogarty played it through the grapevine. Yeah right, Tim, just snickered at that one. It's one of my all-time favorites Whoa man, don't tell that at the finale. Pete, let it sit there.
0:31:09 - Speaker 4
Only if I'm really stuck I'm going to pull that one out of the toolbox. You're not going to speak to people like this. No, guys, i want to thank you for spending this time with me and getting to, for taking the time to get to know me and my audience. I really am excited about the podcast And I think it's going to be interesting. Yeah, i hope so. You guys got you guys did kind of shit on them a little bit right. Oh, yeah, they hold back. Yeah, but I think it is interesting to know that even some of the opinions that you held not so long ago may have already changed by the time the finale is going to be For sure. Yeah, Totally have. Yeah, yeah, that's cool, man, and I think that's kind of a testament to why I think they're worthy enough to still be concentrating on.
You know is because this shit can happen. This stuff can really happen where people can be turned on to something new and it's new to them. So who cares if Gord's dead? you know, like these guys, never. You know, if you never heard it, like my daughter's. A perfect example Her and the bass player in her band. The bass player in her band said did you hear. Remember when the hip came out with those new tracks? Yeah, and they were all like 90s era sounding.
0:32:27 - Speaker 3
They were like road apples.
0:32:28 - Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah, they were great, you know, and my daughter's friend brought that to me and they're like, have you heard this? And then they started getting into it and it was brand new to them. Oh, that's hilarious, and so like to watch my kids get into it. What I was into is really a kick. So like, and then like, i think that this is a great example of it.
And one time I went fishing in BC and the guy was Australian. That was like running our tour And I asked him about the question what in your country is the band that you guys would love and nobody else gets? Do they say midnight oil? He did say midnight oil And I go well, we all know midnight oil. You know, like beds are burning. And he goes like fuck that song. You know, like you guys don't know midnight oil. If you think it's beds are burning, look into their back catalog when they're a punk band, you know. And then, and it was way different, really Way different, and nothing like anything that made them popular, but it's so, it's. maybe there's bands like this everywhere. You know you can.
I never knew about like all all that old good soul music because it never played on any radios that I got to listen to. You know, like I just found out about Al Green like five years ago, like that breaks my heart. You know where was Al Green my whole life? But so there is a lot of good stuff out there And I think this podcast kind of shines a light on that. So I think it was going to be, while we're checking out, so getting hip to the hit, check it out. Everybody And Tim, thank you very much for, for, for the, for doing this for me.
0:34:03 - Speaker 5
Yeah, thanks, pete.
0:34:04 - Speaker 1
Thanks Pete. Thanks JD, Good to see you guys?
0:34:07 - Speaker 4
Good to see you guys. Yeah, and we will see you on September 1st Sounds great.
See you September 1st, can't wait. All right, take care, guys. Okay, this show would be nothing without our sponsors at CleanFlow. If you'd like to support them, go to cleanflowcom That's K L, e, e, n, f L O dot com and check out all the great products. Lube up your life with clean flow. And if you'd like to support our show, go to patreoncom. slash dutch hall And you can join our queen, jen Husko, and being a part of dutch hall royalty.
And if you're a business that's looking at any sponsorship opportunities, you can also look on Patreon and look at options there. And every time someone on our show gets a little tight ass about what we're putting out on social media, i will put that on Patreon. There was one just recently that Kevin made me not agree not to put out, so I put that on Patreon. And we also have the one that Charter's obviously banned us from putting out. It's on Patreon, so all the band materials on there. So it is well worth the money. There'll be content And you'll also get invited to special events, like my 50th birthday show that's going to be happening in October. This will happen if you are joining our Patreon, or if you even are too cheap to do that. You can go and give us $5 a year. Just E-transfer that to the dutchhallgmailcom and you will become a shareholder of our program, and shareholders get the same rights as the Patreon supporters do. So that's a way you can help us out as well.
And lastly, oh, it goes to Port. Johnny's show at the Lazy Flamingo and Hus Village and Hamilton every Monday starts around 8.39 ish around there. Go to see Johnny at the Lazy Flamingo and I will be headlining there tomorrow. And that is it. That is all of our sponsors. I think you can give us some feedback at the dutchhall gmocom or we are at the tall on Instagram. That is it for sponsors, jamie. That is it for sponsors. I promise that's everything.
And, of course, you got to keep getting hip to the hip. What You got to keep the lights on. I keep the lights on exactly getting hip to the hip and the go get some tickets to the grand finale, the rec room in Toronto on September 1st. Jamie, thanks again for coming in. Thank you very much. It's been really nice And, as I said, you, i've been watching you promote this thing, i've been watching you put it together and the way that you have curated it, the way that you've cared for it and the way that you've, like, put thoughtful effort into every step of it. It shows through This is being done at a high level, and I'm really proud of the effort you put in. So keep it up, and I'm going to continue to support everything you do, cause I'm real happy to know a guy like you. So thanks for coming in, buddy.
0:37:18 - Speaker 3
Thanks for having me. It's great to be here. Finally, yeah, finally We worked it out.
0:37:22 - Speaker 4
Yeah. So everyone that's been our show 445 tele friend shared around, be nice to each other And until next week we will see you and T see you next Thursday.
0:38:01 - Speaker 3
Thanks for listening to getting hip to the hip. Please subscribe share rate and subscribe podcast, some such.
I'm actually feeling really excited for Pete Tim on this one. Their first experience outside of this project would have likely involved listening to this record as some kind of jumping off point, but that's not how we chose to do this. This is one album and episode, one chance to make an impression. Will this record stand up to the scrutiny that our protagonist will most certainly have for anything this anticipated? Let's find out. On this episode of Getting Hip to the Hip. Long-sliced brewery presents Getting Hip to the Hip.
Hey, it's Jay Dee here, and welcome to Getting Hip to the Hip, a weekly podcast about the tragically hip and getting to hear their music for the first time through the ears of my friends, pete and Tim, who are here with me as always Pete from Malaga, making his way to us via LA this week, and, of course, Tim from Portland. Being from Portland, as it were, i'm excited, frankly, from a logistics standpoint, that we only had to deal with two time zones this week. That makes my job a lot easier, but I'm curious how are you fuckers doing?
0:02:51 - Speaker 3
Doing great, doing good. It's well. It's, you know, december in Portland and we have a freeze happening, so we're hunkered down. It's a good day to be podcasting.
0:03:03 - Speaker 1
Sounds good.
0:03:05 - Speaker 4
It's snowing there, i take it.
0:03:06 - Speaker 3
Almost.
0:03:07 - Speaker 4
Okay.
0:03:08 - Speaker 3
Almost.
0:03:09 - Speaker 4
I'm dragging ass, man. I woke up around quarter to four this morning. I've gotten about four hours of sleep in the last. I want to say 36 hours. Yeah, so the jet lags hit me hard. Nine hour time difference sucks, but it is what it is for the hip anything.
0:03:33 - Speaker 1
Holiday travel, man Everything.
0:03:36 - Speaker 4
Fully and completely for the hip.
0:03:38 - Speaker 1
Well, that's what we're talking about today. We're talking about the October 6th 1992 release produced by Chris Sanjiris. It's a 46 minute long CD at this point because that's where still around but it was a CD. It included singles, six singles, and it was rated 4.5 out of 5 by all music. So that's a great score and there's some good background information there. But I'm curious if you want to just get right into it and tell me how you experience the album.
0:04:14 - Speaker 3
I like the evolution. This really helped me with where the albums have gone thus far, just having fully, completely be be where it's at in our, in our process, definitely.
0:04:31 - Speaker 4
I mean, i agree with Tim the evolution I love. I clearly see this going somewhere. It's strange. I think I don't want to put the car before the horse but you do it, don't?
0:04:44 - Speaker 1
you put that car as a horse.
0:04:45 - Speaker 4
No, but I feel like this record may be the dark horse If we're going to stick with the equestrian analogies in that of the four records was the fourth one. We've fourth one. Yeah, i feel like this is my least favorite, although I do have some great notes on it. But there's so many album songs, artists over the years I've disliked at first and they end up being my favorites Interesting. Oh. Yeah, i've talked with you about a few things like that before, jd, but yeah, i feel like this might be the one.
This might be the one. So, we'll see.
0:05:28 - Speaker 3
You know, conversely, for me this one, like right out the gate, was the winner of what we've listened to so far And I went into the mindset of okay 1992, what was happening in my life when I got a new album and it usually was going straight in the car, you know, straight from the record store in the car. So I just had this one mostly in the car all week. I listened to it at the gym a little bit, but it was mostly car time didn't take notes until recently on any of it and just kind of jammed out to it. There's, you know, as expected, there's definitely some I like more than others, but of course I was, i was digging it.
0:06:11 - Speaker 1
This to me was the band really trying to go over the top in terms of landing mainstream appeal. To me, that's what this record is always This record is. This record is that sound that they've been working on the last two records, that that bar sound. You know that that really tight and nifty blues, bass guitar sound, and this is just a really well produced version of that really slick. It's a slick sounding album and they haven't sounded slick up until this point. So to me, i've always thought of it as a record that was was trying to shoot for them, shoot for the moon. So I'm real surprised to hear you know Pete's analysis off the bat. Did you listen to in your car? because I do know that you have a premium audio sound system.
0:07:10 - Speaker 4
I mentioned that and you've experienced it. I did listen to in my car and there were, there were tracks that really stood out that I really did like I don't want to say I didn't like this record, but there were tracks that really stood out and, like I said, i'm really glad I didn't listen to it on the plane, because associating this record with you know, a 12-hour flight after you've been at the airport for seven hours because they delayed your flight, would have, just you know, i probably just wouldn't have shown up today. I would have just texted you guys and said you're on your own, you know. So yeah, but it's. I mean computer time and car time was what was, what did it for me, this one.
0:07:52 - Speaker 1
Alright. Well, do we want to get into the songs? Let's do it Alright. The first song is called Courage for Hugh MacLennan.
0:07:58 - Speaker 4
I am Okay, bring up notes. So obviously I'm. I'm doing research on Hugh MacLennan and who he was because I want to know what the history of that is. The chorus is just catchy as fuck. It is just it, just it, just I don't know. It feels like there's a change of tempo, but it's not. But the lyrics just make it so sweet. The squeaky backup vocals that you said were going to eventually make their way in there. It would be the staple of, i believe, the bass player.
0:08:38 - Speaker 1
The rhythm guitarist, rhythm guitar player. Yeah, all along.
0:08:42 - Speaker 4
Those are all over this record. And then, kind of looking at the lyrics, which I did a lot more lyrical analysis for this record than others His Gord's definition of courage as opposed to MacLennan's definition was something that I really haven't pieced together yet, but I dug it. I yeah, i'll talk about more because I think this record is thematic in that sense because there's just a lot of Canadian references. Obviously There are, oh a ton. What about you, tim?
0:09:16 - Speaker 3
Yeah, I was excited right out of the gate. Playing this song in the car I thought, okay, song number one for this album. If you know I'm a fan, starting at the beginning of this band or just really even coming into this album. This first song is a great first track of an album. The tempo is good, you know it's, it's singable parts. you know it's just a good, simple rocking tune and just as far as. Yeah, i had no idea who Hugh McLennan is or was. You know that looked him up and definitely feel like I need to read at least one of his books. So probably get a suggestion from you, mr JD. But you know it's this song about consequences and facing the light or the dark. You know it's just, it's a great, a great kickoff for the album. I loved it.
0:10:13 - Speaker 1
This to me has one of Gord Downey's absolute best turns of turns of phrase or lyrical works of art. You know, it's a feat of strength, almost what he does with the text of McLennan's work. It shouldn't be as effective as it is, but it is. It works so well and all he does is read the lyric into the melody. The lyrics are there's no simple explanation for anything important any of us do. And, yeah, the human tragedy consists in the necessity of living with the consequence under pressure, under pressure. But the way he phrases it and the way he the music in the background is building up, it's so powerful and so such a great bridge. And then, you're right, it goes up up against that banger of a chorus to outro the song. Really fucking strong, strong work. This is a karaoke staple of mine as well, so perfect, yeah you mentioned the phrasing.
0:11:22 - Speaker 4
It's funny because I thought the same thing and I think I put in. It's ironic. I'm showing this. People can at home can't see it, but this is just sitting on a thing and I'm thinking about it because of amazing it's a copy of Life magazine with Sinatra on the front yeah, sorry, sinatra.
So I think people like Sinatra, i definitely think other musicians from the 90s, but this puts him, this record put him lyrically in that category for great phrasing. Not many people. People can put lyrics to songs and it sounds cool and they can sing harmonies and melodies. But when you can phrase a song like you just said so well, it just makes the song so fucking cool, brings out the lyrics in the melody so much better yeah, i agree.
0:12:12 - Speaker 1
so next up we go to a real interesting song. this is something that Gord would carry with him, especially in his later years, and that is like the crisis in Canada's north crisis with our Indigenous people, and this song takes a look at that. It's called Looking for a Place to Happen.
0:12:38 - Speaker 3
I thought this one started off running, you know, felt really catchy, without knowing what the lyrics were or background or anything. It just starts off really well. But eventually I realized, okay, this is something about taking away or taking what's not yours. You know I hear guilt and sorrow in here. It's just full of emotion. So as I looked into it I realized what it was basically about It.
Even I don't know it got me when I got to the end of the song I heard Gord kind of singing through the outro Like it doesn't it carries on into me. That resembled like something around the fact that the invasion just is continuing on. You know, the taking away is continuing on, the pain isn't going to end. You know this, this and I think he he harkens that so well in this song for what the content is It? just it kind of it kind of floored me. It felt like a lot. And you know their songs I'm experiencing over the course of this catalog is you know some of them? I feel like, oh, this must be fun in a bar. You know people buy. I love the song and some songs are like fuck me. You know this is heavy stuff that we all still need to deal with and think about and realize, and just such a, such an impactful band.
0:14:20 - Speaker 1
Yeah, and as they got bigger, they, you know, they, they took that to heart. you know that they had that, they carried some clout and they used that, and you know to, to a really good degree.
0:14:33 - Speaker 3
Well, even even some of their. You know, some of the lyrics and some of the storytelling is just very North American based. It's, you know, often very much Canada for sure, specifically. But it did, and also, you know, at times made me again think about what the fuck? why didn't they resonate more in the USA? because I identify with a ton of it. There's so much there, i think that crosses over.
0:14:58 - Speaker 1
Yeah, borders. How did you feel about looking for a place to have a beat?
0:15:02 - Speaker 4
It's funny because the the what I said before about this record being thematic and and very, very Canada, kind of picking up where Tim left off. In my research of the first song and my research of who Hugh MacLennan was, I remember his wife saying to him, because I think his first couple of books were like flops, like you need to write about what you know, write about Canada. And that book, the third book or whatever book, the his book that he finally wrote about Canada and what he knew, ended up being really, really successful. And I feel like the hip kind of played around with that. This first, their first few times out, their first two or three records, but this one is just all Canada And it's just it's Canada threw up on this record, And in a good way, Jacques Cartier is mentioned.
Jacques Cartier is mentioned in there. So, yeah, i think it's. It's cool because for and Tim, maybe you can speak to this because as Americans, we get a, we get. We have this polite maple syrup, like I said, but LeBat blue version of who Canadians are and what Canada is free healthcare, marijuana, everything's great north of the border on the roof of the US. But I think only probably in the last six or seven years has it really entered the American consciousness of the plight of indigenous folks. And in Canada, in the north, i don't think it's something that, tim. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm just ignorant, but I feel like it's not something that's been talked about, at least in the mainstream for Americans until recently.
0:17:00 - Speaker 3
I think you're right. I think you're right. We've we've definitely have talked about it more USA, regionally specific.
0:17:06 - Speaker 4
But, but to know it was that this was being.
0:17:09 - Speaker 3
This was in mainstream rock music in 1992 is cool, right, exactly, yeah, yeah, we weren't necessarily singing about that in 1992.
0:17:20 - Speaker 1
Yeah, No, certainly we weren't here either other than other than through this. Yeah, and a lot of people. you know, for everybody that does like dive deep into the lyrics and and and wants to analyze you know what it all means that there is an equally large or maybe bigger cohort that is just wants to fucking dance to some music. you know, like they just want to rock out And they get to do that with our next song at the hundredth meridian, where the great planes begin.
0:17:51 - Speaker 3
Ready Mark.
0:18:08 - Speaker 5
Roll it And take my life with my hands Where the great planes begin, at the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, where the great planes begin, driving down a part of our road, we stand in a shoulder high. The road is crusted Of wind and dust. At the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, where the great planes begin, let alone the dead chapter, car and train hauntings. A generation's almost done with any of these great planes. King crashes with the wind and The greatest planes along the line of old road, car and train out of Mali outskirts. The world is so very cruel, but I've done the best thing.
At the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, where the great planes begin, at the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian, where the great planes begin, and remember. I remember above and low, and I remember a thing about, it seems to me I don't ever, ever say no to everything I know. I don't ever, ever say no to everything I know. I don't ever say no to everything I know. If I don't walk on the road, i've seen a promise. Maybe I'll need some place. I don't want to be a dead man. I'm a dead man, i have to transport. I can't say I'm on this sleep. I've borrowed the keys. I've been listening to some songs and the tracks. I don't want to be a low on the shoulder. I've been listening to some songs and the tracks. I don't want to be a low on the shoulder. At the hundredth meridian. At the hundredth meridian, where the great planes begin. At the hundredth meridian, at the hundredth meridian. At the hundredth meridian, where the great planes begin. When the planes begin, oh, Love this one.
0:21:05 - Speaker 3
All things backups. Can we do karaoke with this one?
0:21:09 - Speaker 1
This became a lot. Yeah, i would do karaoke this. This became a life staple, for sure as well.
0:21:13 - Speaker 3
I'm sure, yeah, garbage red sheep, garbage red trees, whispers of disease driving down a corduroy road. I had to look up corduroy road. I was like what the hell is that? So that was a really interesting Find right there. What is it? What is it? references. You know Laying down logs along waterways so you can keep on your journey. You're basically walking down logged paths. So, yeah, that's that's what a corduroy road is.
0:21:44 - Speaker 4
Pretty cool, no idea, no idea, i Dude this, this tune, i would probably say I probably say this tune is my favorite on the record. I think The the like the, the borderline wrap, that um, that that gordon He's doing, and it um just Fucking amazing.
The the the guitar, wah, um is is nasty, um, i It fits though, right, it's, oh Yeah, totally more than more than past songs I've heard No absolutely the realizing the again Going back every song, i think there's a, there's a reference, a historical reference, that the hundredth murdering was the, the separation of the united states through between spain and france and later between the us and spain, after the louis excuse me, louisiana purchased from um france and then from uh, and then with the united states of mexico, like that historical reference of it. But this song is just, it's a fucking Banger. It is a banger, right, it is a banger, absolutely, absolutely. And there's, there's, by the way, um, um, this song Has that line you mentioned it, tim garbage bag trees. I think that is in the song before looking for a place to happen that same, there's another reference to garbage bag trees, and so jd, or anybody, give me a line on that garbage bag trees.
0:23:24 - Speaker 1
I wish I had one to me. It just, it just reminds me of one of those old derelict areas where you see, like debris caught in the, the fences, you know that's been blown around, wind strewn. I picture, you know, like a garbage bag tree to be a plastic bag that is fastened itself into the tree And, uh, it just looks, you know, more depressing by seeing it but I don't know that's. That's just my thinking. If you've got an angle on this, send me an email. Jd at getting hip to the hip calm.
0:23:59 - Speaker 4
Put to be, to put that in two songs in a row on a record got me something.
0:24:04 - Speaker 1
Yeah, agreed. How about you, tim? What did you think of this one? Oh, i guess you already. You spoke first, didn't you?
0:24:11 - Speaker 3
Yeah, i mean I dug it. I I thought, uh, overall I I felt the anger in here. There's so much self expression which you know they're definitely feeling. so many songs, um, i, i love the refer, the reference or the declaration of have right cooter, you're seeing it, my funeral, you know that's in just going back and listening to some Rai kooder songs, i mean there's a lot of influence there for the band and it's I dug it. It's a great song, great tune.
0:24:42 - Speaker 1
Now, did you recognize that lyric from anything?
No so the live version of highway girl He. He says that at one point He says get mr Rai kooder to sing my eulogy, all right, fun. And then boom, it shows up in this song, like two years later, like it was just a, it was just a throwaway phrase in a, in a story, in the middle of a song, and then it becomes, you know, this end of this epic rant, uh, end of this epic rap, rather, that he sort of does this, this rap piece. Yeah, i think it's fucking cool. They started using this song to jam out songs in the middle of as well, and then it would. It would always lead up to that, that part, that that bridge part.
Now, all three of these songs that we've talked about so far Are singles. Courage was the third single, at the hundredth meridian was the fourth single, and looking for a place to happen was the fifth single. Well, so they're. The records got legs. I mean, they really tried to leg this one out and and see if anything would stick. The next song is our first album cut of the Of the fully, fully, completely record, and it's an interesting one as well, title wise. What the hell is the pigeon camera, pete?
0:26:04 - Speaker 4
So it's um, i had to look this one up too. Um, i guess back in the day 1909, there was a scientist or an inventor who Who thought that strapping cameras with time delays on them to pigeons would be a great idea, and so They kind of took off for a little bit. I would love to see actual Photographs. I that's something I I didn't.
0:26:33 - Speaker 1
Sit. The birds took or of the birds that the birds took.
0:26:36 - Speaker 4
There's a lot of pictures of the birds with the camera strapped to them but that the birds took, um, they were going to do it for you know, military purposes, for reconnaissance, but then planes Came and they started being able to mount cameras on planes, so it kind of, you know, went by the wayside. But, um, yeah, this song I liked it. Um, it didn't do A ton for me, but the guitar solo was very redeeming. It, it, it, i this is going to sound really strange because it's well, obviously so many years left kind of very sublime feel the band, sublime from that guitar solo, the tone That the guitar that was being played or the notes that were being played. It just sounded like it was uh, it was a.
It was a Soul taken from the band sublime, but I liked it. It worked. It was really cool. Well, you got Yeah whoo-foo fight.
0:27:35 - Speaker 3
I did not go to sublime and That band just just makes me. It makes me cringe. I just Hear it and it's changed the station as fast as possible because I only ever hear it. When I'm in southern california driving around listening to the radio, some stations are playing that band, like I swear, every 17 minutes. Oh yeah, oh terrible.
0:27:57 - Speaker 4
Anyway, it's against the law to play that at a bar in long Beach. Yeah, it's against the law.
0:28:03 - Speaker 3
It should be. It should be. Yeah, they should sell the. Anyways, uh, pigeon camera, i, you know it's. I think it's a good Slot four slowdown It's. There's this kind of calm, serene guitar riffing in there. Um, it's. I guess there's a lot of references when you look up actual pigeon cameras and kind of dive deeper into that.
As you touched on Pete, i did find, you know, as you said, pictures of pigeons with the cameras strapped on them and Kind of thought about what, what, what is that? and you know, carry, the carrying of information, the passing of secrets. You know the, the, i don't know. It just seemed like a wartime era thing. I wasn't really sure why This song was in there, conceptually, lyrically, everything you know there was.
It was a head scratcher. But the coolest thing about it was finding out about fucking pigeon cameras, simply like I'm glad the songs there, because, dude, you got to look up pictures that they took. There's a few online And they're fucking incredible. Like there's portions of wings Surrounding a landscape, you know it's, it kind of worked, but who the hell knows, like when you got, when you develop this film and you're printing these old black and whites and seeing all this abstract shit, like You know it's. It's so bizarre and weird. Let's write a song about this Very fascinating thing, guys, like did you know that these pigeons to carry and take cameras or take pictures? Like what the fuck? why not write a song about it?
0:29:54 - Speaker 1
So weird, yeah, fun song we go to another album track, and this is one called lion eyes.
0:30:01 - Speaker 3
So this one in the car was Fun and so sing along. You know, it's like simple, easy to get along with. It's a rock song, it's a good jam, like I imagine people just belting this out at live shows, maybe even almost annoyingly. If you're ever go to shows and you hear people singing like a little too much, yeah, sure, bands love it when it happens and they can, yeah, i just this is just could be one of those songs. The the parts about When he sings From the cleftab low variant. You know these, these film references are really kind of that. That was all this added Kind of mysteriousness to me. the cold wind blowing over your private parts. I'm like, is that you know? I, i was really trying to driving around listen to this over and over Because it's so listenable. I'm trying to decipher, you know, heads or tails of it and couldn't, couldn't get much, but overall It's an easy song to consume. Yeah, storytelling wise, i wasn't so sure, but overall it was like man, this is a jammy, easy one for sure.
0:31:18 - Speaker 4
It's funny you say that, tim, because it's for me, storytelling wise. I found it way more interesting. I mean, i like the tune, i Like the turnaround after the chorus on the bridges, wildly out of place, like I just It, just it. It shut my brain off for this song. I was like, oh cool, i'm into this bridge comes. I'm like what the fuck is this? Is this like the same band I'm listening to, but the the references to tableau we've on which I had to look up. I was like a nativity scene even.
More or less, i would assume. And then the other one, romana, clef, oclef, all these French references in there seemed really cool. Like this is again Because I think musically I liked the other ones. They stuck to me much quicker. I did a lot more digging in the lyrics for this one. I really liked. I really liked All the lyrical references Reveal more as the songs go on.
0:32:27 - Speaker 1
Yeah, it's pretty loaded, it's really loaded Yeah okay, so we go next to a pretty menacing song, and especially menacing when you consider this one was a single and And it's fucking tremendous.
0:33:15 - Speaker 5
Some. The truck's gone. The wind overlanded a real rainbow, like a new much star, when you could see everything but a logical factor. But ten bucks in just to get the tank chopped Oh, dang it. I found a place to stop and infrared it. It's a truth. We had a place where the copters won't spot it And I destroyed the man. I never even thought I'd forgotten. However, every day I'm dumping my body. If they better for us, they don't understand. If they better for me, they don't understand. Oh, dang it. I found a place to stop and infrared it. It's a truth. We got a place where the copters won't spot it And I destroyed the man. I never even thought I'd forgotten. However, every day I'm dumping my body. If they better for us, they don't understand. If they better for us, they don't understand. If they better for me, they don't understand. Let me out.
0:36:43 - Speaker 4
Let me out, let me out.
0:37:28 - Speaker 1
Let me out.
0:37:53 - Speaker 4
I just love it. The second solo is just like towards the end. It's so awesome and I'm gonna pull a tim from Portland right now. The fucking fade kills me. Like it's so fucking cool man. The guitar solo is so awesome. I'm just like just fucking end it, guys. And they fade it and I'm just like you motherfuckers I never noticed it before you said it's him and then I start listening to songs like these. Or I'm just eating up the guitar solo at the end, like it's fucking mac and cheese And they just take the plate away from me. Dude, it's like eating a mac and cheese. There's some on the plate and the waiter just comes by and fucking takes it and says Sorry, here's the check.
0:38:51 - Speaker 3
I hate to say it, but these fade outs make me pissed on a couple of levels. I mean the song Courage. The very first time I heard it in the car it fades out. It's an okay fade out, though, but as I heard it fading out in the car, i cranked the volume all the way. So now get the last, as I wanted to finish the song, you know, and the other part of it that pisses me off, it makes me frustrated, is never having heard them play live. I mean, they didn't fade out songs live. So it's like I wish I could hear the song live and hear how they ended or see what happens. So that's, you know, that's a don't want to spend so much time on that, but yeah, i feel that this song is.
It's so heavy, it's pretty gnarly. The lyrics are crazy, you know, the storytelling is very sinister, dark, dumping the body. Be better for us if you don't understand. And then you know, after diving into this one further, i read about the story about Caroline Case, which, judy, i'm sure you know, this Toronto mother of three whose car was found overturned and wrecked and the bodies didn't show up. And there's this whole story that ties in with the song. That's just amazing. It's just such a dark song. It's cool. I mean I appreciate the level of storytelling and kind of malice and all of those things with us.
0:40:38 - Speaker 1
Yeah, it's really fascinating that they can go to these dark places. You know, the last couple records have been have been chock full. This one so far is a more lively, less dour sort of record, but we get our first taste of it here and, yeah, maybe it is better for us if we don't understand.
0:41:01 - Speaker 3
Yeah, agreed, it's just dark on many levels, you know. But again, when I read the story about Caroline Case and that whole tragedy and mystery, it's like fuck, what Amazing bits of information to call together to create a song about. Pretty cool.
0:41:24 - Speaker 1
They've all gone and will go too.
0:41:27 - Speaker 3
I thought maybe this was about like the difficulties of being on the road and traveling and playing gigs, setting up, tearing down. You got this massive country to drive across zigzag. You know it's kind of a. To me it was kind of a filler song with a long ending. You know it has like a 30 second ending, which is a little unusual, so I didn't listen to this one. A whole lot, a whole lot of extra times.
0:42:00 - Speaker 1
How about you Pete?
0:42:01 - Speaker 4
I'm in a second-day emotion Smokey And I say the opening guitar lyric was interesting, although very 80s, 90s. You know they, somebody in that band loves John Cola from Huey Lewis in the news because that guitar tone is just, it keeps showing up, it just keeps showing up. I think I don't know that Alanis ever listened to much Huey Maybe she was a hip fan, but I a lot of her music too, that I listened to that. Those, what are they? it's like a univive or something that he's using on the guitar, just keeps showing up And it just sounds a little dated. Because I feel like back when people were using those effects, they didn't have anything cool to play on the guitar, they just had a cool effect. So like playing anything was like, hey, be impressed because I've got this amazing effect. I'm not playing shit on the guitar, but it's a cool effect, right? Right, guys, you know so. But yeah, the song all in all doesn't do a ton for me. So what about you, jd? I don't know.
0:43:19 - Speaker 1
Well, i think it's fascinating that this is the first mention of production really that has been brought up. I mean, you've mentioned guitar tone a couple times. but yeah, it's a slick, it's a slickly produced record. This guy who produced it produces a lot of like metal And if you know about the production of metal, oftentimes it's got a real clean well, real clean and focused kind of sound, very precise, and I think we get a bit of that on this. I'd almost love to hear what this record would have sounded like with Don Smith producing it, who produced the last two. But we get a taste of that when we go into the next record and they start to self-produce and they start to. it's almost like this record. they go as far as they've ever went production wise, and then they go completely the opposite direction, you know, for the next swath of records, and go sort of back to basics.
0:44:30 - Speaker 4
Feels formulae And that, like, like I heard on the first couple couple records, like I felt them like really trying to go into the space of of being obscure and trying their own shit. And then maybe the record label was like All right, guys, enough, your crap, we're going to get a fucking big time producer. And then he's gonna you guys are going to be staws. you know, like I don't know what the fuck they were thinking. I feel like this is kind of that, although it's a good record. But yeah, i hear you JD.
0:45:02 - Speaker 1
You know, for many fans this is their favorite record, so it's it's. It's tough. It's tough to be objective about it. It's not my favorite record. I've got another one that's my favorite And we'll get into that soon, but I hear that I I could.
0:45:18 - Speaker 3
You know it resembles a following an athlete who goes amateur to pro. Yeah, this, this felt like this album. You know I don't want to get into it as if we're ending, but I agree with that JD.
0:45:31 - Speaker 1
Well, the next next track we get is the titular fully, completely.
0:45:37 - Speaker 3
As a title track, accidentally listened to the song first, instead of the first track, you know, searched the album and this thing came up. And I was getting ready to drive, to sit in way and then realize it was the title track and I was not, i wasn't 100% sold, i wasn't a kind of questioned certain things about it as a title track.
Or I heard, like Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam in there, you know there's just it's this kind of never ending guitar riffing. If you listen to it really closely, there's a right channel tambourine happening. There's a total afterthought production thing. It's like, hey, let's just add in some tambourine, like it's there If you really listened closely and it's it's. That made me like the song more because it added this kind of fun element to it. But I I thought it was not the strongest for a title track. I thought it was just okay.
0:46:38 - Speaker 1
This is our first title track we've ever got as well Right. Yeah, can I?
0:46:44 - Speaker 4
ask you, JD, was this a single?
0:46:46 - Speaker 1
This was. This was the last single on the record.
0:46:49 - Speaker 4
Okay, because I I have the same Tim. You mentioned something about the tambourine. I think that's so funny, because I I felt the same way, of course, about the tambourine, but also the, a lot of the guitar licks. I feel like if the song was just raw, maybe, maybe, maybe Gord Downey stepped on the gas a little bit harder with the, with the vocals, it would have been a totally different sounding song, but I think it was recorded. And then afterward producers like Hey you, you guitar guy, come in here, throw some more licks down here. What do you want me to play? Just do something.
0:47:26 - Speaker 3
Yeah, and it's like Hey, who's your friend over there in the corner? Can you play tambourine? Come on over here.
0:47:32 - Speaker 4
You know, but like I, i yeah, i feel the same way. I couldn't like super get into it, but I thought the guitar solo at the end was a huge, was really like the slide all again, all the licks. In the beginning, like I didn't dig that, but the solo at the end was really big payoff And I could see how this song at a show. Jd, maybe I'm wrong, but I could see them taking this at a show and just fucking do a 15 minute version of it.
0:48:01 - Speaker 1
That's what I was going to say. I was going to say this song was one that wasn't my favorite for a long time And then it grew on me And now I would say it's like a top three on this record for me. Live It just slayed Yeah.
0:48:15 - Speaker 3
Just slayed Again, where I had the same sentiment, pete, where I just wished I could have heard this type of song live version, because you hear certain things when it's recorded and you wonder, like, why was it produced this way, or why was this thrown in, or why this or why that? And you know that there is a more raw version of this out there And it's like you got to get through the, the, the meal that's prepared for the pictured menu item, when you walk in the restaurant and you think, okay, that's, that's supposedly what I'm going to get, and then the live version is like nah, here's your fucking mess of a meal. It's going to taste the same way, but this is actually what it looks like. That's, that's, that's what I thought about this song.
0:49:02 - Speaker 4
Tim, i couldn't, i would not to take it a step further, but I'm going to take this stuff further. It's like getting through a shitty Thanksgiving dinner because you want to go out drinking later And then and then, after you've been out drinking to like three or four in the morning, then you hit up Taco Bell or whatever it is, and that's where the that's where the real joy of eating comes in. And that late night meal is the fucking live version. It's 100%. We're at where I die on this one.
0:49:30 - Speaker 1
All right. Next up, we go to 50 mission cap.
0:49:59 - Speaker 5
The barilco disappeared that summer. He was on a fishing trip, the last goal he ever scored. They didn't win another 1962. I stole this from a car. I worked it in. I worked it in to look like that. It's my fifth mission. And I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in to look like that. The barilco disappeared that summer. He was on a fishing trip, the last goal he ever scored. They didn't win another 1962. I stole this from a car. I worked it in. I worked it in to look like that. It's my fifth mission. It's my fifth mission. It's my fifth mission.
0:53:45 - Speaker 3
It's my fifth mission. I worked it in.
0:53:54 - Speaker 5
I worked it in. I worked it in, i worked it in.
0:54:07 - Speaker 3
I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in.
0:54:42 - Speaker 1
I worked it in. I worked it in, i worked it in.
0:54:58 - Speaker 3
I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in. I worked it in I worked it in.
0:55:17 - Speaker 1
Basically, just put a melody to this hockey card, sentence or paragraph rather, and boom, there's the verse. You know it's crazy, like I've seen the card before. And then you get this brilliant anthemic chorus 50 mission cap. But even it is a little deeper than just a brainless chorus because it's a 50 mission cap. And then the next lyric is I worked it in, i worked it in to look like that. So is the protagonist here somebody that really truly is wearing their 50 mission cap, like with pride? or are they trying to sneak by, you know, to make somebody think that they've been in their 50 missions? I don't know like, but I fucking love thinking about it. How about you, Pete?
0:56:08 - Speaker 4
Okay, so the lyrics certainly seemed like he was reading from something Clearly. yeah, that's what it was, and I don't know if that's a if. when he said JD, you mentioned like I made you think that or something. What was that You said a second ago about the lyrics?
0:56:27 - Speaker 1
like Oh, I worked it in to look like that.
0:56:30 - Speaker 4
I worked it in to look like that. Like maybe he's referencing people who you know. unfortunately there are those people who, who would wear a 50 mission cap and never, you know, completed a mission in their entire lives. you know those, those fakes. But the song wise is just, it's an amazing song Looking at who Bill Barilko was And ironically, his body wasn't found until the years that Leafs won the cup next.
0:57:04 - Speaker 1
They found his body, and then the Leafs won it.
0:57:07 - Speaker 4
It's almost like he was cursing it right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's yeah. Sorry, that's what I meant to say, sorry, no, no, no, it's so cool And I took a deep dive into this. You mentioned all the other stuff already about the amazing chorus. I love the squeaky back of vocals made an appearance again. The guitar lyric, or the guitar after the chorus, does this thing where it goes up and down by half steps and it's just so. It doesn't sound like it fits the song, but if it's the song perfectly, and Tim said this is clearly a hip song, because it is And it again might be my favorite on the record, but other stuff, that it's a staple at the home games when the Leafs are warming up, and also, what else did they say about it?
Oh, that in the like the private lounge. I'm not a big hockey fan because I grew up in Southern California. You are Tim? No, i'm Tim Brown. Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, it just, it's just hard. But even though we had Wayne Gretzky, but that there's a, there's a handwritten lyrics signed by Gord Downey in the players lounge, it where the players hang out, and that Bill Barolko. Anyway, and when the when the hip would play the Canada Airlines Arena or whatever, they would leave up on Bill Barolko's jersey his number.
0:58:50 - Speaker 1
Yeah, they were tired.
0:58:53 - Speaker 4
But that was the only one they left up, like kind of when they, you know, change the arena for the hip show. From what I read, i don't know, but it was really cool just for that particular reference. It's what a song, fucking awesome song.
0:59:09 - Speaker 3
Loved it. Loved it And it made me think about also, you know, kind of tying in with sports and war, like seeing your favorite team do so well and also knowing that they have fallen, or have you seeing them fall? There's just, there's a tone here that's like defeated but also like quit while you're ahead. I don't know. It's kind of a bit of a surrender thing. It's a great tune. I enjoyed it.
0:59:39 - Speaker 1
Well, it's followed on the record by yet another tragically hip ballad slow song that you probably don't want to slow dance to once you find out what it's about, and that's weakings.
0:59:53 - Speaker 4
You want to take it to him.
0:59:55 - Speaker 3
I mean, it's a hell of a mood song, right? I think there's some banjo in there. Is that what I hear? Some? banjo Doe bro.
Doe bro, some doe bro plucking. I maybe gave it three listens and, as not being a diehard hip fan, it's one of those placements in the album where I get it and get why it's there, but also just I move on. It's. There's a couple. There's some good lines in there. Can't be fond of living in the past, you're not going to last. It's like someone getting caught or being in the middle or guilty or jail time or yeah, it didn't, didn't move me. Oh Tim, oh Tim. It's probably Pete's favorite.
1:00:52 - Speaker 4
I couldn't disagree with you more. I wouldn't say it's my favorite. I will say this song and this band continues to amaze me with its ability to just be super heavy and then go into these little acoustic tunes that they throw. I call this. You know, this is like when they're in the studio. They're like okay, this is going to be the acoustic song, but it reminded me of how great I felt when I listened to Fiddler's Green on Road Apples.
1:01:22 - Speaker 3
I thought of the same. I thought of the same.
1:01:24 - Speaker 4
Yep, had that vibe, yep, the intro with the sound effects and the animals and the birds, the bluegrass vibe. There's a line in there that I love is so good. I can't remember the first part. The second part is hung with pictures of our parents, prime ministers, as just such a fucking cool line, and I did some a little bit of research on what was going on with the reference of. You know they were watching the Held, their Breath or Whispers, and the CBC News, that's right About a guy named David Millard who was served like 21 years for a crime eating committee. You got it. It was like you know. There's a lot of that in the US justice system too.
1:02:19 - Speaker 1
Oh, right Yeah.
1:02:20 - Speaker 4
It just was such a cool fuck Like what. I don't know if the guy's still alive. I don't know if you heard the song when it came out, but what a fucking.
1:02:29 - Speaker 1
Yeah, i mean coincidence, i think, is the word you're looking for. So this record comes out in 92 and in 91, millard and his people are granted the ability for a clearing of his name And it was 20 years that he was in prison for a rape that, a rape and murder that had occurred in 1969. So basically, the guy is born in 51. His almost his entire life is around this, this tragedy. Right And Gord took, you know, a simple acoustic guitar line and turned it into an epic story of the beginning of the exoneration of David Millard.
1:03:29 - Speaker 3
So I hear the reasons why and I understand, i get it. I guess there's just for me, okay. I guess for me experiencing an album and thinking it as like a book, and you're going through the chapters and you know some, some chapters, you're like, oh man, i love where the character development is going And then all of a sudden you experience this, this downfall, this, this unfortunate event. You know, and it's the wild ride And I'm trying to. I honestly thought, okay, honestly thought Pete probably loves this song, fiddler screen, etc. Everything you said. You know why.
Why is it that this is triggering for me personally, in the cadence of an album, to hear something like this and be like, come on, you guys, let's just get to more good jam and stuff. I don't know, maybe it's the time of year, maybe it's winter, maybe it's the holidays, which I like have a love hate for. This is just. This is just one of those tracks that I was waiting for in the album. It's like, okay, here we go. Who's this song about? That was fucking kind of real. What did he not do?
1:04:44 - Speaker 5
What did he not?
1:04:45 - Speaker 3
do? to go to jail? God damn it. Fucking injustices in the world, All these things. It's like fucking, another fucking ballad about God damn it. You know just, it's just like this emotional roller coaster. It's like, okay, what else we got, What are we moving into next? You know that's in the hip albums. To get to this type of song, I'm always like, okay, there's only a couple left. Where are these guys going to take me?
1:05:15 - Speaker 1
And where do they take you next?
1:05:19 - Speaker 3
Where with all? so where with all you know, you jump and straight into some jammy chords. The scene's pretty calm, i thought for kind of the guitar progression. The, the baseline, really hit me as like 80s metal, rat motley crew, maybe G&R.
1:05:43 - Speaker 4
I.
1:05:46 - Speaker 3
This song, JD the producer what you said. His name? Christiane Arias.
1:05:51 - Speaker 1
Yeah, right, it's a Greek last name.
1:05:53 - Speaker 3
He can ever say eat all over this one, i Guarantee it. You know so it's. I thought you know there's some single, maybe some single potential here, but wasn't really sure. It's fucking short. I Read up on it a little bit with the Richard Dawson controversy and references towards Nixon and Those kinds of things, but this song overall and the band was like fine, you can have it. We're making it less than three minutes long, interesting track.
1:06:30 - Speaker 4
Yeah, i said the same. I mean I had the same. I'm feeling about it, the private thing that I that stood out most because the guitar was just so prominent. It's easy to say the guitar was awesome and heavy and all that, but I really like the drums, really dug the drums in this one. I thought the drums drove it.
I was interested in the Nixon reference because I didn't really know what the song was about. I did a little bit of digging and, tim, i don't know your, your thoughts around Nixon. It's crazy because My dad liked Nixon, like he was very sad when Nixon died And I know a lot of people who hated him. And then I, you know, when I grew up and kind of learned about who he was, i was like if not really That great of a guy, especially when all the tapes came out on everything. But Yeah, it's funny too, because if it is about Nixon, i'm like where does where do Canadians? That's like. You know, what do I think about a former Canadian Prime Minister? I don't think I can Name a former Canadian Prime Minister before Trudeau. If you had a gun in my head, jd, i'm sorry.
1:07:49 - Speaker 1
We're used to it up here on the roof. Yeah, man, it's, but I am getting a little concerned about all the guns to the head references. That's like your fourth in terms of the podcast. Just Just you know. Checking you out, just make it sure everything is all groovy over here.
1:08:13 - Speaker 4
Yeah, so, so, that's, that's what I got.
1:08:16 - Speaker 1
Okay, so that brings us to the last song on the record, and that is El Dorado.
1:08:44 - Speaker 5
El Dorado, when It's a man's size 10 times. Look in here. It's all hard work. What's that smell? Smells like coffee. It smells like coffee. If you regret it, please say something Like I know, jesus, the evil makes me calm and I know it makes me calm and I'm a loving. Ring a brother in love and ring A brother in love and ring a brother in love and ring It's a man's size 10 times. It's a man's size, elder of all. I don't know what it is. You can't take it. You can't take it. Where we going. What's that taking? I tell some men shed a hood and makes me sexy. Where we going makes me sexy. I'm a loving. Ring a brother in love and ring A brother in love and ring a brother in love and ring It's a man's size inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside, inside.
1:13:16 - Speaker 4
Wow, you know what? I was always because my buddy had a Ford Ranchero, Which was the Ford version of the Opium, And he had a champagne colored Ford That he sold to some guy in Denmark. It was a 76 or 74 and he sold it And I'll never forgive him for it because it was the coolest fucking car And it just smelled like gasoline and it was loud And it handled like a fucking tank And it was just Oh yeah, mine didn't have power steering.
1:13:49 - Speaker 1
Oh no, none of that Dude.
1:13:51 - Speaker 3
My uncle, chris, had a light blue Ranchero I don't know early 70s And it was so large for two doors and seating maybe for two and a half people It was the biggest vehicle. When I was 16, he had me drive it from his house to my folks house And I remember scared to death that I was just going to hit a parked car Because I felt like I was driving a car that was two cars wide. It was so gigantic. But fast forward, i guess maybe My grandparents owned Eldorados.
They had two specifically. I remember A Block 4 door and a White 2 door. They had like a Coop early 80s Eldorado And those were. I mean they were like Rolls Royce's to us As kids. We thought they were, we were riding around in limos, you know these were like the nicest cars. So I totally get the car reference, 100%. The 2 door one that my grandparents had. I was in the back seat trying to get to the front seat, dropping my grandmother off somewhere, and she closed the door on my leg And I thought I'd never walk again, i mean those cars were just behemoth.
I was like I was like 7, maybe 7 years old, But the reference is here just to get into the song, and less about cars, you know, But World War I in Canada, basically coming over to serve the motherland And fight Germany, it's just, that's all just so heavy. You know the line Berlin makes me sexy, making me sexy. That one tripped me up a little bit, You know. I was like okay, are they implying This kind of glorification of war? you know, are we now, is Canada now I say we as a full Canadian are we now in this kind of limelight Because we came across the pond to fight, you know, And we're going through Berlin And we're seeing the separation there And we're hanging out at where is it? Where the US had their base in Berlin, Oh gosh.
1:16:07 - Speaker 5
It's um.
1:16:09 - Speaker 4
I don't know, were you born in Canada too? No, oh.
1:16:15 - Speaker 3
What was it called?
1:16:18 - Speaker 1
His pick Canadian accent, doesn't it? Come on, tell me voted guys. I'd have to edit that out.
1:16:25 - Speaker 4
Hey now, hey now.
1:16:27 - Speaker 3
But anyways, like the Berlin making me sexy part Just makes me think like maybe Berlin was the shiny object Kind of around that time. And it's this beautiful song. There's this amazing bass, there's these big fat toms going on with the drums. You know, i imagine that was just at their recording room to kind of reel those in. I thought it was a good closer for the album.
1:16:59 - Speaker 1
Yeah, I do too. Pete, where are you with this one?
1:17:02 - Speaker 4
I well, definitely we need to continue our conversation in a later date About Alderados and Rancheros, but I dug it. I really liked it. Probably my favorite part about it was the second verse. There's some really cool like sharp guitar licks in there And the lyrics are really syncopated. The where, when he, when he's I can't remember the, i can't quote the lyrics specifically, but the syncopated lyrics are really cool. Again goes back to him being I'm sure it'll just get better like a fine wine Out. What a great phrasing lyricist. He is a singer, but I didn't.
I was a little confused about the Berlin makes me sexy to Tim And I dug in some like forums and I just thought the funniest thing was And, by the way, i know we apologize to the listeners and I won't do that anymore But I really want to apologize to the band because I love this band, like I love this band, and I hope that if anybody ever hears even a fucking sentence of this podcast from that band, that I have the utmost fucking respect and admiration for them because they're fucking cool. But that being said, somebody said this song was written under the influence of little bat blue and Jack Daniels And I just was fucking rolling in my chair. Hilarious but cool. Good tune to end the record, yeah for sure.
1:18:41 - Speaker 3
I got the Berlin reference around Berlin making me sexy. Maybe that had to do with, like checkpoint Charlie, right That's. I don't know. I was not really.
1:18:53 - Speaker 4
Wasn't Charlie Vietnam.
1:18:55 - Speaker 1
No, no. Charlie in Vietnam referred to what the Americans called their enemy on the Vietnamese side. They called them Charlie. No, it's the crossing point between East and West.
1:19:11 - Speaker 3
Yeah, it's the crossing point between East and West Berlin Shows my World War II. It still exists.
1:19:16 - Speaker 1
It still exists my Hey, pete, your World War II knowledge isn't that bad. You just don't pay attention to sequels. I don't watch that. You read about World War I and you were like, yeah, man, i don't need to read the sequel.
1:19:29 - Speaker 4
Seriously and everybody's paying attention to the possibility of World War III right now, and I was just like guys, i don't care, this is stupid, it's all about WWI. Anything they make after that sucks.
1:19:46 - Speaker 1
It's all computers now. You haven't seen a war until you've seen a horse full of wagon in beautiful black and white Double speed.
1:19:58 - Speaker 4
This podcast took a really dark turn. I love it.
1:20:01 - Speaker 1
So I have a question for you. This is their third full length record, But this one came out like less than a year after Road Apples. Road Apples was 91 and this is 92.
1:20:21 - Speaker 3
Which was unusual for them, right.
1:20:23 - Speaker 1
It's unusual for any band like at this point, but like, certainly, if you were going to do that, you think you'd do it in your first and second record, not your second and third. You know that's. It's just interesting to me that they were able to come up with 12, like, like, pretty great fucking songs and put them to wax, you know, so short of time after Road Apples. I just wonder if.
1:20:48 - Speaker 3
Why the hustle I?
1:20:49 - Speaker 1
don't know, i don't know, was it?
1:20:52 - Speaker 3
a. Was it a kind of a I hate to say it, but like a cash grab to get them to next size venues on tour, because man traveling across that country to only hit like 200 to 1,000 or 1,200 fans and then to go to like 3,000 to up to 5,000 fans per show. That's that's a hurry go. What were they doing back then?
1:21:18 - Speaker 1
They played Maple Leaf Gardens on this tour and then they opened their Canada Center on this tour, which is the where the Leafs play and the Raptors play, and then they started a summer festival. They did a summer festival across Canada and maybe a couple cities in the States called another roadside attraction And that's where I first got to see them on my 19th birthday, july 24th 1993, in Markham Fairgrounds. I I got to see them live for the first time And it was almost like out of a storybook, because I got so incredibly drunk and high and I passed out during the band that went on before them and slept, slept basically the whole time on the ground, and then woke up magically when the, when the hip went on and I was fine.
1:22:15 - Speaker 3
Oh, i would love to go back to that moment, the three of us with JD right now, that would be so fun man. JD come on, bro, it's time, wake up, yeah.
1:22:26 - Speaker 4
I don't know if you, i don't know if you asked your question, jd, but I was going to comment on what you said Because I feel kind of the same thing. I don't know if it was a cash cash grab either, tim, but I feel like this was the push where the record label finally said look you, fuckers, we've, we've put a lot of money into you. You're going to make a hit, and they brought in this big swing and dick of a producer And we're going to fall through the roof, so to speak, and being as. That never really happened. Maybe that's where, you know, we lead into their fifth record, which will be next week, to to kind of start exploring their own, you know, being more themselves instead of living for you know what they, what they think they should be commercially.
1:23:21 - Speaker 3
Yeah, i think so, maybe, maybe. I mean, this was an era where bands were not getting paid enough but making a living off of selling albums, selling CDs. Yeah, you know, i mean we're. We're years away from MP3.com kicking off. Yeah, that's right. And so anyone anyone in the biz back then who saw this band doing well and saw fans at shows across Canada going bunkers and knowing that people were doing the tour or doing all the West Coast shows or doing all the East Coast shows, you know, like any, any band manager would have been like let's knock out another album I know this one's going to kick ass. Let's get this metal producer in to you know, organize everything and let's keep keep it all going. And I guess this is the album that made them realize they could do it on their own, which is fucking amazing, because a lot of bands in the 90s would not even step out, no way.
1:24:31 - Speaker 1
Yeah, we're going to find a market shift in the sound and tonality of of this band starting with the next record, day for Night. If you've got anything you want to say to wrap up this record.
1:24:46 - Speaker 3
I just wish I had my grandparents El Dorado, out front with some hip on the eight track. Did they ever make eight track tapes? Oh man, wouldn't that be cool? I'll just, i'll just fantasize about that with what JD passed out in the back and P all hyper in the front seat. That's, that's. That's, that's my, that's where I'm going to leave it.
1:25:09 - Speaker 4
Same here, man, same here. I wish we wish we had a wish we were driving around in the champagne colored Ford Ranchero with a, with a 24 pack of the bat blue on the on the floorboard.
1:25:24 - Speaker 3
Love and the smell of fuel.
1:25:26 - Speaker 1
Yeah, All right, as we do every episode of the show, we are asking each of you, fellas, to choose your MVP track for the record. Fully, completely, tim, let's start with you. You, son of a gun.
1:25:46 - Speaker 3
Yes, So my favorite song off this album was definitely El Dorado. You know, went back and listen to it a little bit more And there's even some. there's some Michael Steip feels in there, just literally.
1:25:57 - Speaker 4
I can't wait, man.
1:25:58 - Speaker 3
Just with with the way Gord sings, you know they're so. They're so much from the nineties going on on these albums. It actually makes me miss the nineties. I often think of the eighties as being just so spectacular, but the nineties were for music. It was so good to, and this, this is just one of those songs that maybe you also want to listen to. Just a bunch of other stuff. So I'm going with El Dorado.
1:26:23 - Speaker 1
Cool. What do you? what's going to be your playlist song there, pete?
1:26:33 - Speaker 4
The hundred meridian hands down, the phrasing in it, the historical content of it, how I'm aware that that line physical line, not lyrical line, the importance of that and how it will eventually play into other hip references in the future too. It's just, it's fucking cool man, It's going on those for sure.
1:27:03 - Speaker 1
Awesome. I can't wait to hear these lists as they as they grow in stature. All right, that's what I have for you this week. So there's that. Hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did. See you next week, fellas, pick up your shit.
1:27:24 - Speaker 2
Thanks for listening to Getting Hip to the Hip. Please subscribe, share rate and review the show at GettingHiptotheHipcom. Find us on Twitter and Instagram at Getting Hip Pod And join our Facebook group at Facebookcom. Slash groups slash fully and completely. Questions or concerns. Email us at JD at GettingHiptotheHipcom. We'd love to hear from you.
It's been. It's been a journey man, it's been really.
0:01:31 - Speaker 2
What do you guys up to now like record-wise? is it still work in progress or we have just released up to here.
0:01:39 - Speaker 1
So Okay. Here's a fun fact for you. Did you know that if you take your entire catalog and Release them, starting on May 2 4 weekend, and release one a week for the summer, it ends on Labor Day?
0:01:58 - Speaker 2
Oh, no, I didn't know that you're your catalog.
0:02:01 - Speaker 1
Your catalog is perfect for the summer man.
0:02:03 - Speaker 2
Okay, great, well, that's, that is kind of appropriate. For sure We're, you know, sir It. We're unlike Southern California. We kind of lived for the for the three or four months where You can actually sit outside and play guitar with it, your fingers falling off, you know.
0:02:21 - Speaker 4
That's, that's definitely me. in Portland, oregon, we had the the soggy a spring I could remember in my 22 years here.
0:02:28 - Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, that's a great town. We we played Portland a bunch, the Aladdin theater, remember that place.
0:02:36 - Speaker 4
Yeah, it's an awesome theater.
0:02:37 - Speaker 2
Yeah, it's great Yeah.
0:02:39 - Speaker 4
Yeah, it was. It was a cool room. It was fun to play that. We'd love to have you back there with your your current gig. So it would be yeah well, it would be great.
0:02:48 - Speaker 2
It would be great. Things have changed for the live music business. Unfortunately, Do it for the most true.
0:02:56 - Speaker 1
Yeah, so for now, the tour, the tour that you're doing In Toronto and like Southern Ontario, yeah, is that? is that what we're expecting to see for now, or will there be more dates in the future?
0:03:10 - Speaker 2
I mean it's still. It's still up in the air. I I'm certainly not averse to doing more dates, but we, you know, yeah, but, but we'll, but we'll wait and see. You know it's it's it's not an easy proposition. Taking the show on the road, i mean the expenses are kind of through the roof from, just in terms of putting the boys up. That's why we're staying pretty close to home. To start, not only on my band leader now, but I'm also a father. My, my youngest son, is Playing bass in the group and he's got a day job, so I got to get him back. It would be irresponsible for for me to have him run away to the circus like I did, you know. But what it needs to be seen, you know it remains to be seen.
0:04:03 - Speaker 1
So how is that turn? turning around to your left or right and seeing your son, you know, in your familiar spot?
0:04:08 - Speaker 2
It's, it's, it's, it's pretty great, i gotta say it's pretty great. He's a On his own. He is an amazing musician. All my, all my kids can play, but but he, this one's got a particular Ear and talent Guitar and piano or his principal instruments. He's not really a bass player But he can play just about anything. He's just one of these kids that can hear a melody on the radio or on record and sit down the piano and play it back to you. So, on that regard, it's really, really great to see him actually playing the. The flip side of it is as a He's a singer, songwriter in his own right and it's in the process of finishing a record that he did while he was at university, mcgill.
And it's tough, you know, it's tough for young kids starting out today to get that, to get that leg up.
You know that opportunity to that a group like ours had, you know where we, you know We were able to start playing gigs while we were in school, you know, and and kind of built it up from there very, very, very organically.
We got better as we played more and and and as we played more, more people came and Then we got more gigs and it sort of snowballed from there and, like we like most, we started as a cover band And, crazily enough, like back in the 80s when we were playing, they didn't really want original artists in the clubs in Canada. So we would, you know, we would we were playing mostly kind of B sides of old stone songs and pre things and Kinks and stuff like that and then thrown in on, and so when we played at our song we said, oh that's, you know, that's from an old Damn record from from 1967, just absolutely bullshitting our way because there's some clubs that you had to write down your set list, make sure you weren't playing original material, bizarre. So. So now it's yeah, it's just a different scene. I'd love to see him working and playing, making it, taking a go at it.
0:06:18 - Speaker 4
Yeah, i kind of feel like this day and age to Make it in a band and get on an actual tour That's further away than your closest region, it's like, it's almost like becoming a professional athlete. Yeah, you know, it's just like your chance. Yeah, getting that notoriety and getting embraced and carried through it, it's, it's just tougher. I have a close, close cousin of mine is in a band here in Portland and They're going at it so hard and you know they're lucky to get, i don't know, the six, six or eight West Coast swing. Yeah, and happy about it, but I tell you the cost for them and all that. Just like you said, it's, it's, it's, it's a tough, that's a tough go.
0:06:58 - Speaker 2
Yeah, it's, it's. It's very much the same here. It's like anything, you know it, that You put a group together, you just, you get that, jones, you know, you do it for the love of it, and if you see a little glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, it's enough to keep you going. Right, the one gig leads to the next, the next, but, but, boy, if you get continued roadblocks thrown up against you, it's a little demoralizing.
And certainly up in Canada the live music scene Was in a tough spot even before COVID, and COVID really, just, you know, cut the head off the vampire It was. It was just made it so, so difficult, particularly at the at the early stage gigs, like in most downtown cores They've been. You know, the small rooms where it would be your first gig when you came to Winnipeg, or your first gig when you came to London, ontario, those rooms don't exist anymore. Yeah, you know, in fact I was talking to my agent a little while ago and Again, it's been a while since I've been out to Western Canada But he was saying that there's not really a gig in Vancouver and Calgary, you know, you know, in a 500 seat capacity and that's, and that's tough when you're just coming through town for the first time. I mean it's tough is on a regional level. If you're a young band story or a colonial, let alone From Kingston, ontario, you know, which is a real shame. I mean, the great thing about being from Canada, you know I The biggest obstacle to touring in this country Is actually our greatest assets, the sheer size of the country.
You know, once you, once you kind of break out of your region and play in the crap little clubs around your hometown, then you've got eight, ten, twelve hours in some cases driving in between The, the gigs and you learn really early and really really quickly How to play. You know an empty room on a Tuesday night and a shithole on a Wednesday night With the object of getting to a win, a peg, you know, for Friday and Saturday night and maybe selling some tickets. You either You either fall in love with the lifestyle and the guys in your group or the gals in your group is the case. Maybe you're you bust up before you get you out of our problem, yeah, ontario. And so you get a lot of hearty souls that are doing it and then in the meantime, during all the traveling, you just develop this rapport with your bandmates and if you're a composer at all, it's great.
You have so much time sitting in the band or sitting hotel room. You, just you're right, shoot the shit and Become what you become. It's true for musicians, it's true for crew people in this country as well. You know, you look at any international group and their crews are populated by Canadians. Because they have that experience, you learn how to travel. You know, get along with people in a confined space of a Band or tour bus, and it's a real asset that we have. The, fortunately, is getting more and more difficult.
0:10:17 - Speaker 3
It's a bummer, because I love you guys you guys own your, i mean, and I we know this. I know this because We've pretty much gone through the, the majority of the discography, at least for the hip, and You guys really honed your skills of those Tuesday, wednesday night shittles, yeah, that you're playing To get you know, you can either take those is like Oh man, there's, there's five people here. What do we do? Like let's, let's, let's, let's treat it like a really tight rehearsal. Yeah, you know, whatever, and it it shows, at least from my perspective, on those records, those early records, and like to you guys just peak and just, you know, coast at 35,000 feet, so to speak.
But it's funny you mentioned about the touring scene because I live in Malaga, i grew up in Southern California but I live in Malaga, spain and I We had a record come out last year and we're getting ready to do a second record And it's in the city center. They don't want anything original, they want stones, beatles, you know, maybe a couple Zeppelin tunes thrown in. They don't, they don't want they, they want cover bands, that's all they want.
0:11:39 - Speaker 2
Yeah yeah, it's, it's tough, it's, it's a funny time And in a lot of ways I think it's a kind of a dangerous time from a cultural perspective. I mean, i, i'm a Stones fan and I'm a Beatles fan and I'm Zeppelin fan, you know, got it second hand from older brothers and sisters, you know. But but I, honestly, you know, i honestly believe that every generation needs their own stones. They need their. They need, like I grew up on the clash, right, you know, and the jam and and that was I was able to define Myself away from older brothers and sisters because of the tunes that I was like. And then, you know, and I've been Quite honestly, i've been waiting around for the next Nirvana and honest believing in my heart that's somewhere in the world, in some mom and dad's basement, there is the next Nirvana, working it and learning how to do it. I just, i really honestly believe it. I mean, again, i we're very fortunate Over the course of our career, touring, you know, we have Mums and dads that are bringing their kids to the, to our shows, and now those kids are, you know, so great, right, stealing to the hip and stuff, which is awesome.
But but I worry, we're For Canada anyway, where that next hip is actually gonna come from. You know, and it's again, i think it's a cultural thing and, and you know, into your point about the Learning how to play the empty rooms, i mean That's what allowed us to. We were back and forth across Canada a number of times before we got the opportunity to Make that left turn and British Columbia and start playing in the United States, and it was literally like starting over. So by that point we were playing like larger clubs and doing really, really well. And then You know, you go down to Seattle and you're back to, you know, 20 to 50 people and and It's actually it's really informed our career. You know, we learned really early on to play to each other, it totally, and and how to play on stage and we always had this mantra we learned to play The hockey rinks like they were clubs and we learned to play the clubs like they were hockey rinks. You know, and Cool, cool.
0:14:08 - Speaker 4
I love it.
0:14:08 - Speaker 2
And we were really. We were also really really fortunate that we would go to a region like the Pacific Northwest In the States and, you know, at the club live and you could look out and you could see familiar faces, the folks that were really into it, like maybe it actually bought the records and you can see them in the first couple rows and and It was the same when we started in Canada. So we would change up the set every night. You know, try to throw in as many different tunes and we wouldn't open with the same tune, we wouldn't close with the same tune and to make it look like we were Not even look like we were trying, we were really trying to entertain these folks. You know, and you guys are all music fans and there's nothing worse than you know, you catch an act and you catch the, the acclater and the tour and it's like Hello Cleveland on the teleprompter.
You know yes, agreed, agreed 100% and it's kind of like If you avoid phoning it in, consciously avoid phoning it in, then you're not phoning it in and You're not thinking about your laundry or the fight you just had with your partner. While you're out on the road You're actually engaged with your fellow musicians and particularly with the crowd. And, yeah, it's important to me as a music fan, you know, i just think it's really when there's still groups out there, you know, at the rink level, that do that, you know.
0:15:29 - Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah, to comment quickly about your, your wish for the new Nirvana, like I think it's happening in in these sub capsules, like these regional areas. You know, i, i, i hear about bands doing a West Coast tour and doing in small clubs, smallish clubs, but also doing house parties along the way. And When I first heard this one band, i followed when I first heard they were doing, you know, in between, let's say, san Francisco and Eugene, they're doing house parties in Arcada, california, or Eugene, you know, south of Eugene or in Ashland is like. So they're doing house parties, like people are showing up and getting shit-faced and rocking out and in. To me It was kind of brilliant.
It was very old-school feeling like you know, i remember stuff like this happening in the 80s, but at the same time I'm like, Well, if that's a way to hustle and get more fans to support you know, your, your venue climb, then that's that's just amazing. So I think it's happening with, you know, some of these kind of post-punk, kind of yeah, yeah, art rock bands. You know it's, it's happening, but it's it's so, it's so capsule-based, yeah.
0:16:45 - Speaker 2
Yeah.
0:16:46 - Speaker 4
So to break out of that, it's pretty tough.
0:16:48 - Speaker 2
Yeah, i mean that that's my understanding of it as well that the first show I've got is part of a festival in our hometown called Spring Reverb and we again, it's a very, very local promoter who who's, you know? God bless them there. They're all in on live performance and they're they're they're like the Don Quixote's of music in this particular region And they'll do whatever it takes and there's tons of groups on the bill That I haven't heard before. It's and it's an exciting, you know, and it's a. It's a really, really good thing. But I think for your average music consumer, my age, it's like No one's trying to Pitch new music to me in any way. You know which is a real kind of drag. I, i have the dough to buy the records, but I don't know which ones to buy. You know, and it's I Still it's a. It's a bit of a problem.
0:17:47 - Speaker 4
I'd love to send you a list. I'm bugging these two guys all the time. Hey, you gotta. You know. I told these guys all the time Hey, please, listen to this. There's one band in particular. I told them three times listen to it. Just make me a playlist. Maybe I'll listen to it later.
0:18:02 - Speaker 2
And it's cool. It's never been easier to produce a record, like again when I started. Recording was expensive and you had to have a deal to do it and Someone had to invest the money in it, which, again, was maybe part of the advantage that we had that we did have some resources behind us with our first, even with our first DP, private resources and but you know that that patronage system is, i mean, kind of goes back to the Mozart days where you know folks that had the resources were able to Have house concerts, just happened to be in Palaces, right, right, but right, it's a good thing. I mean. I think you know the kids will find a way. It's just, it's just how, how to take it to the next level. I mean we, when we first started touring the States You know it was still regional radio was a real big deal.
It was just before Ronald Reagan and the clear channel days kind of ruined it so many ways where you And it's a real shame as a music fan and as an artist you know you could be stiffen in one market, but then you go to like Austin, texas, for us it's like holy crap, where did all these people come from? And then you find out that a local DJ's got an affection for the band and they're kind of, they're kind of paving the road for you in advance And it was such a great. It was a great time. It was a great time for music.
0:19:48 - Speaker 3
It's about what's played to you, gord, because I mean I just want to you talk. You mentioned the Clear Channel thing, but it's about what you're exposed to. Like you said, the DJ, that it's got a, that's got a. You know, it's got an affinity for your band. I know, joke. I'm in California right now because I'm visiting family out here And I saw two of my best friends. One flew out from Texas, the other one lives out and he's got to play some Mexico but he works the train. And so we all met up and on separate occasions I told him about this podcast and we listened to, to some hip tunes and they're like who the fuck are these guys? And and like immediate fans. Strangely enough, and because we have the same like taste in music, the three of us we grew up we played in bands the others were five, but never, never were exposed to it. Yeah, Yeah.
Never had it.
0:20:44 - Speaker 2
Yeah, we would get that a lot over the course of our career. You know, we've always benefited from really passionate fans that that they would, they would get it, and just the old fashioned word of mouth thing, you know, we would come back through town like 18 months later and they, they would have brought all their friends and maybe got turned into some more corded music, but then they would see the band play live and it would all make sense Like live music is supposed to. It's just like, oh, i didn't even think of that song on the record, but when they play it it's like, ah, you know, that's my new favorite song. And then it grew just really, really organically. You know, we, we never really had the benefit in the United States of a single that was big enough to open up like a national type of market, but we, we, we maintained this ability to tour around this, the circumference of the country, you know, and, um, yeah, and you know, wherever they had a professional hockey team, we would do pretty good, you know, right?
0:21:56 - Speaker 4
So And I will say, though, i read, i read, i read you know something about you guys playing the, the Fillmore in the nineties in San Francisco, and there was some comment. It was like, yeah, they always do, they always have a big crowd here because every Canadian in California comes to the show, you know. so it's, it's hard to, it was hard to get tickets because all the Canadians would show up. So, you know, i love, i love the story of how everything happened organically and you guys kind of started from playing small clubs and what have you, and cover songs and how it. that rise is just totally remarkable And it's, you know, it's obviously worthy of of sharing, which we're we're doing now. I I gotta fast forward and ask about this. this uh, air stream, though, and you guys recording and you tell us about that.
So cool. We have our own fantasy in our minds right now. Well, it was really it was a.
0:22:54 - Speaker 2
Again, it's a kind of a a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a. It's a COVID based reality that that I faced, sure, the group myself, we, we own a recording studio in in Bath, ontario. It's a residential studio. So, um, COVID, it was really super busy because you know, artists, musicians, could, you could test up and and you'd live there. You didn't have to go anywhere and and as long as our, our engineer, um, you know, was safe.
It was, so I I couldn't get into it, you know, like I just couldn't. It was booked out and and, um, i had, uh, you know, i'd I'd put out a record called taxi dancers previously And it's one of those things like I had tunes left over from writing with the hip and stuff. She got years and years to do that and then. But COVID was great for me as a, as a songwriter. I was locked down in my home with my family and um, and I was writing and using the guitar and and and writing lyrics as my means of journalism journaling really And I wrote this record fairly quickly.
My buddy James, who played with me a bunch, i produced a bunch of records for his band, uh, peterborough, called the Spades, and so we've just always had a really close relationship, And he is an engineer and producer in Peterborough, um, and had this great idea this summer, before COVID, and he bought up an Airstream trailer And he rigged it up so that he was able to strip down his gear from his studio space and transplant everything into the airstream and go completely mobile So he could record live shows and, you know, any sort of situational stuff which I thought was a genius idea. And then COVID hit and it kind of you know, it kind of went on the back burner and then we got talking and said, you know I got enough tunes for a record And you know he played with me on the first one and engineered, so we want to try to do it again. And so he literally recorded it in my house. We parked the airstream in the driveway and ran a snake underneath my garage door and plugged in And it was kind of great. I hoofed my family out and it was just. It was just James and Jeff Housechuck and I are a drummer And we kind of stripped things down.
We learned all the songs as a three piece, you know, with me playing the bass and then and then tracked kind of pretty much live And Jeff and I would play together and put the bed tracks down to like a scratch guitar, scratch, vocal and kind of did it like that. It was really kind of wicked and and not only in office is recording is, you know. We learned the songs and we kind of had all the beds done in like three, four days. It was just bang bang bang, kind of like that It was. It was a lot of fun, like kind of old school recording. You know We trying to almost emulate it doing its 16 track. You know, really minimal overdubs and just to get that sound. You know we spent the majority of our time miking up the drum kit, you know, so that we could. You know the Jeff Housechuck the drummer is just a fantastic player, jazz guy, and he decided to slum it with us rock and rollers And he brought that, that complexity and the touch where you could actually hear the notes on the drums.
0:26:48 - Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah.
0:26:49 - Speaker 2
I could hear it. That's great. We actually ran into him. Ironically, james and I were supporting the group classic Canadian story. but our very first show of the tour that we were doing supporting the troops got snowed out. We got to the bottom of George and Bay and the road was closed. It was drifted in. and so we drove back down to Toronto and went to this great club called the Rex Jazz Club And and Jeff was playing with this organ trio you know like real kind of like just fantastic player and had a couple beers with him after and said, hey, do you want to want to do this If I ever make another record? he said yeah, tommy, and the rest is kind of his. Yeah, it's wicked, yeah actually the phone.
0:27:34 - Speaker 3
Yeah, Yeah, No, like, for example, the song over and over. I think it is Yeah.
Yeah you can tell. I mean you can tell throughout the record, but like that one in particular. Like, however, because once you lay down your initial, you know your drums and bass, your guitar, your bones you start playing with arrangements. And that I was wondering, like thinking about your process, you know how you go about recording and once you get stuff down, but the way you explain the Airstream that had to have promoted like some level of like creativity, like where you see something you're like let's do this, let's try this, because you're not sitting in a traditional studio, yeah, you know, with four walls, yeah, and a window and like do you know what I'm saying? Does that? Yeah?
0:28:29 - Speaker 2
no, 100% That's. That's exactly what we were able to do, you know, within the confines of the house, like I have a small home studio, i have an open house, so I got curtains everywhere to kind of allow, you know, for not only privacy but to kind of the dead and the sound and stuff. We had to be creative with what we were doing and trying to figure out where we're going to put drums and what we're going to do with bass. And it was literally because of the way Jeff played And my natural affinity for records that were done in the 70s that we wanted to, instead of getting the big, boomy Bob Rock kind of like we're going to play in the cabin, smash, smash, smash drum kit, we wanted to, like Jeff plays with jazz sticks, that's, you know it's with.
Well, let's put them in this curtained off room where everything's totally dead and and do the do the Jeff Emmerich, you know and kind of play and play and play and move the mic and move the stand until we got the kit sounding perfectly. And then in the meantime, you know, we're rehearsing And James is playing with us, and then we, you know, we get tempos down and stuff and, and you know, do a scratch acoustic guitar and vocal. So we know the arrangement And then Jeff or James would go out into the air stream and we counted off and Jeff and I would play together, you know. And the bass amp is elsewhere in the house So there's no chance of it bleeding in, but we didn't have walls or rooms or anything like that. And again, it was the same process. Most of the bass is not DI, it's, it's.
I've got an old, you know, portaflex B15 from 1965, the James Jamerson right And it was kind of like you stick the right mic in front of it And it sounds like, it sounds like Motown, you know, and and that's that's kind of the way we get it And obviously I knew the tunes real well And Jeff is just such a good enough player. That was like, oh, you know, you kind of get it in one or two takes and go out and listen to it. And then again is a cool thing that we go to the driveway, to the air stream, which was really our control room, and you listen to it all stripped away or it's just bass and drums And it's kind of like, oh, it's got even without a lyric and without a guitar or even a music Or even a melody. It's like, oh, this sounds pretty wicked.
It's kind of the inverse of being a songwriter where I've always believed if you can sing a song around a campfire, and it can, and it can exist on that level and subsist on that level. And it's like, oh, okay, this is a decent song. And we kind of combined those two ethos and to make this record And it was again, it was just because of the circumstances of making it that you know, we all had to be tested up And we, you know, it was just the three of us and we were also living together and eating together and drinking beer together and playing pool pool table in one part of my house And it was great. It's like it's the band camp, you know it's the hardest way to kill time
0:31:49 - Speaker 1
you know, sure, gord, i have a question from somebody on Twitter. We let them know that we were meeting with you And he said it's Craig Rogers from Twitter. And he said, curious if he curious of Gord finds himself writing on guitar or bass more often, or a mixture both with this album and when he wrote for the hip. His bass playing is very melodic, so does he have a chord progression in mind first and then works out a baseline, or does the bass melody come first?
0:32:17 - Speaker 2
I primarily write on on guitar, for sure, you know, certainly with the hit, even the songs I would bring to the hip, i would have written riffs and started out on acoustic guitar, not all the time Like they were. on occasion I would try to do something on bass. Bass is kind of tough to sit around on your own. Keep yourself entertained. You know you can play along and stuff. But certainly like my main contributions writing with the hip because we had developed that cooperative songwriting style where you know no one in the group would bring a finished idea to the band. You know we would basically throw out a riff, be it a guitar riff, in some cases a bass riff, and we would start playing together And Gord would start putting a melody on top and a lyric on top And it was great that way. As the bass player you'd like oh here are all these holes all like add melody in here. Or in a lot of cases it was from the middle of songs while you were jamming or sound checks. You know we were always playing And but yeah, it was great fun.
I miss making music with those guys big time because it was as a songwriter. It's different now, like you, never when you're, when I was in the hip, you never had to finish an idea And even if you had writers, if you were stuck with something, we would get together frequently And someone always had something new and fresh And that would, you know, cause a light bulb to come on And it would suggest a change that maybe the guy that brought the briefing hadn't thought of it Meanwhile, gord just being Gord, he would be riffing on top and his melody would suggest a change that he would make. And it was great.
I loved being in that band And I miss it because it's like you know, like, yeah, you start, i still start the same way, i start with the riff, but man, it takes a lot longer, you know, to come up with complimentary parts and the lyrics and stuff. And again, i credit Gord. I really, you know, i tried to bring some heft to the lyrics that I was writing for this project and my previous one as well, cause he's, you know, he set a pretty high bar as a songwriter you know and can't really you can't really put out a solo record I've said this a few times, but it's absolutely true Like you can't write.
Yummy, yummy, yummy. I've got love in my tummy, you know, and feel good about yourself with some of the lyrics that Gord has, Yeah. So yeah, the writing's a, it's a. It's a, it's a fun, it's a fun process. I'm not a sit down and write every day kind of guy. I don't do the Stephen King and lock myself in my studio for 2,500 words a day. You know, I kind of sit around and watch hockey playoffs or baseball playoffs and with the guitar in my lap and noodling all the while, and then you're like, oh, and The cascade begins from there. You know, kind of not really paying attention to either, and It's amazing if you're receptive to the idea, It'll come from somewhere. It's, it's great fun, It's great fun.
0:35:47 - Speaker 1
Gordon, i'm so thrilled that you laid down in 2020, you laid down get back again. Yeah, so it was. So we have a like a proper studio version of that song, because I gotta tell you, that was one of the hip songs that I came to early on and in my young hip career, and I was like whoa, this is something that's not on the record. It's like this is like a bootleg, or this is so cool And I gotta I gotta wonder, though, how did it never end up on a record like that? It's such a phenomenal song.
0:36:17 - Speaker 2
It's, it's a funny one. I mean that it was That's. It's an old song. I mean that was back from the day when we were we were kind of clubbing it, he just kind of in southeastern Ontario and and we were all learning how to write and we were Writing a little bit together. You know Gord Downey and I would and Paul were living together at a student house But yeah, and it it was kind of a mainstay when we would play live and it was in the running, you know for for up to here for sure as a song.
But interestingly enough we We recorded a demo version of it. That was just dynamite. Like You know, the performance across the board is great, particularly by Gord, like he just sang the song beautifully. And it was one of those circumstances where the The, the guy that was helping us the demo, said, oh, that was really really great, one more time just like that and we'll run tape. And we're like, oh, what do you mean? you weren't running tape? and oh, tried it again and collectively we were so disappointed. You know that I don't know we never, we never seemed to Capture that vibe that we had on this unrecorded Demo.
You know this is again, we were really young, we were still learning how to play in the studio where it sounded like us and Again it sounds old-fashioned and everything, but it was back in the day We recorded live like we would, you know, put the bass somewhere and you know, drums are in a booth and gorge in a booth And we were learning how to do it, but still get that feeling like with headphones on that, we know, you know It sounds like awesome. We're listening to each other Again and then, yeah, it just never. It just never made the cut. After that, i guess I mean there is a version of it somewhere, at least I thought we had reported it for up to here There is some kind of version of it somewhere.
We're finding it Odd with. We've always been signed to Universal in various shapes or forms. We were signed to MCA back in the day. But the tracking down on old tapes, a little demo stuff And studio stuff, is proving very, very challenging from an archival point of view. Like stuff is You'd think it'd be, you know, t, hip or Or it would be alphabetized or the Dewey decimal system or something, but it seems pretty random and stuff is in different storage area Areas and our drummer John has just been. He's just been like a dog on a bone tracking down Material and just relentless trying to find stuff.
We kind of process kind of started for us with Road apples and but we were still. We were only able to manage to find Two-thirds of the tapes. You'd think they'd all be somewhere together. You know, when we heard about that fire on the universal lot we hit the panic button like right. You know, wow is our? do you think some our stuff is in there? and then read the list in the paper and there was our name. You know, in between Mel Torme and the down Trop family singers, you know it's like oh crap, i hope we do, because that, that, because, to your point, that's exactly the kind of stuff that we were looking for. Turns out there were dupes and some of its backup in Canada. Definitely Yeah, it's a.
0:40:11 - Speaker 3
I just I'd be remiss if I didn't ask a gear question What, what, what, what, what? what type of guitar do you do you like to sit in? Because when you're sitting watching a ball game and you're just noodling or you're just whatever like what's your go-to?
0:40:26 - Speaker 2
I, honestly, i've got a. I've got a few favorites, in fact, like there's a song on this, this latest record called change your mind, i I bought a. I bought an old Martin D18, saw it. I bought it sight unseen because it's just always wandered one and down. I Picked it up and Literally pulled it out of the case and it became my main guitar for about a week and that was that that. I Written that song on it within Got probably a day or two, you know it. Just it felt right, sounded right.
0:41:08 - Speaker 1
What's that? there's sort of like a dreamy stony sound on that song.
0:41:11 - Speaker 2
Yeah, and I would credit the guitar. You know, i guess I I Have a lot of, i've got a lot of instruments laying around the house and I will, you know, i will, i'll trick myself and I'll keep one guitar With a capo on the second fret, you know, and thereby changing the key of the song. But you just, in certain cases, different chord shapes and different you know, composite chords, like you know, a D over G or whatever to sound different in a different key or it'll trigger something melodically and then that will Send it in a different direction. So I I kind of rotate them in and out. You know I I Got an old the first kind of cool guitar about was an old J 160, you know mid 50s old beaver of a guitar, and it's always out on a stand somewhere and I'll Pick it up and I'm playing.
Right now I'm going out and playing this old, the ES 125, like a, like a hollow-bodied arched top, electric and And it's been laying around and it's just, you know It sounds kind of got a little more sound to it.
Yeah, i just kind of believe in the magic of it. You know that it's just like oh, this, you know it's rules right and sounds right in the. The tones of these older instruments, to my ear anyway, are so nuanced that that each one has a different character and Suggests different things, you know, and some chords sound better on them than others. And yeah, it's so, so it's cool. I like I say, i trick myself and I mix it up.
0:42:50 - Speaker 3
That's the per. That's the perfect answer. Had you said this is the guitar, that's trick Bs and me bulls it me right on that school Yeah my question was more what kind of beer we were you drinking where you were recording and the Not as young as I used to be, so I.
0:43:13 - Speaker 2
There's always a case of the in this kicking around here, for sure, but I'm more of a light beer guy now. Unfortunately, i just I can't afford to Drink the loaf of bread like I used to when I was a young man. Live to tell it.
0:43:29 - Speaker 4
I'm right there with you. Yeah, i'm right there with you, gord.
0:43:33 - Speaker 2
Yeah, I'm pretty much a logger and a Guinness guy.
0:43:36 - Speaker 4
Yeah, sorry.
0:43:49 - Speaker 1
Well, I'd love to talk more about the. I'd love to talk more about the. The record sure. You gotta ask the video to man and we haven't touched. We haven't even touched on the video.
0:43:59 - Speaker 2
Yeah, I'm glad you like it. I, i yeah, that's a friend of my, my youngest son's It's aspiring filmmaker and videographer and, obviously, videos on what there used to be. I'm like I'm a survivor of the MTV era where You just saw your recoupable account go up and up and up with your record company because you'd spend more money making videos And you would make the record. But it's. But he's a creative young guy having feral is his name and I I Was reading the newspaper And there was an article I can't think this one Facebook change just named in Metta, and Mr Zuckerberg had proclaimed that the future of the world, the future of reality, is going to be virtual reality.
And They ran a little clip of the journalists were testing it out with the, with those goggles or that, whatever that is. I said, wow, this is the future of reality. The graphics are kind of shitty, you know, and and And I bounced it off heaven and I want to make this video about these tech guys that are kind of changing the way we interact with each other and getting rich in the process. And could we make a virtual reality kind of video for this song about kind of love in the VR world? and and man he ran with it. He was like I know exactly what you're talking about.
0:45:34 - Speaker 3
And it's clear who everybody is. It's very clear who everybody is.
0:45:37 - Speaker 2
He ran into a little problem with the record. Here it was, it was clear, still in the legal department And hit the panic button real quick. But we just, i think.
0:45:52 - Speaker 4
You know, it's a good thing when that happens And it was fun.
0:45:55 - Speaker 2
The song I think Google Guy has a bit of a sense of humor to it And yeah, i got when all that stuff was going on, when they were talking about how their algorithm there were purports to bring people together was actually the algorithm itself was based on making people butt heads, because there was more engagement when the conversation was contentious, as opposed to fluffy, puffy stuff. And that young woman, francis Hogan, really kind of went official with it. She kind of blew the whistle on these, these guys, and I thought right away to myself like oh, what would what would Joe Strummer do with a concept like this? You know, like you wouldn't know all have very much and try to call the guy out. And it was actually the last song I wrote for the record And it came real, real quick because I kind of got my dander up just a little bit.
I'm not a social media guy. I understand how people do it. It's a great way to stay in touch with friends all over the world and stuff, and I get it. But God, imagine if you're Instagramming or Facebooking with your pals. But there was a artificial intelligence kind of trying to get you guys to fight about something you may have said to each other in high school and dragging that your relationship through them.
0:47:21 - Speaker 3
I'm sure it's already there.
0:47:22 - Speaker 2
Exactly, you know. I mean, i'm in a. I was in a band with my high school friends and, oh my God, we fought about crap that was 35 years old. You know, sometimes it was kind of anyway, yeah, so I yeah anyway, i glad you liked the video. It was fun to do. I'm going to do a follow up. He's one of them for call Yeah, but I don't know, i haven't seen it, yet I'm dying. He's okay. I'll be anxious to check that out.
0:47:56 - Speaker 4
I enjoyed the video and the song and the song. Honestly it brought me. There's this kind of 80s feel to it, like it's it's interesting kind of the juxtaposition of I don't know had money for nothing Yeah yeah, and then what? Yeah, I'm not, i'm not sure, yeah it's. Yeah, it's reminded me of I don't know a couple of things, but anyways, the the video is great, and it was just I love the personification of the characters, and it's just.
I just really related it. I was, i was in, i was in Italy recently. We were staying with family and I'm kind of a handy guy, so I was helping them do some stuff and I said, well, can you work and we get this? you know, we needed something in particular. My aunt there says, well, we could just order it on Amazon, and sure enough it was there the next day. And I'm like I mean Italy and Jeff, jeff, still knocking on the front door delivering, yeah yeah, it's not so I conveniently unbelievable.
0:48:57 - Speaker 2
I totally understood. And obviously the pandemic Unbelievable fall for those companies because all the stores are closed, you know, but Massive. You know I'm from a small, small ish city. You know we got 150,000, 200,000 people here. You know, if the if you don't support your local hardware store owner, who may very well be your neighbor down the street, you know it's, it's kind of like the kind of the 100 mile Right Diet approach to living. You know where you live in a community and if you got a couple Extra bucks for things like I get it like people go to the big box stores to buy 10,000 rolls of toilet paper and junk like that. But but you know I go to the local record store and my local stereo shop and my local guitar store and we shop at a small little market And it's important, you know it's. It's important if, if the pandemic taught us anything, it was to kind of value community Because we would support each other more. And meanwhile, that's what I love to do.
Devon's portrayal of the of. They call themselves founders. I understand the founders in the orbiting space station above, above the world, that slowly falling apart. And frankly, that's what I try to articulate in the, in the lyric of the songs, that we all know the reason, and the reason is really us. It's up to us, you know, to build community and to support community And and everyone wants to save a buck. I understand that stuff, but at what cost, you know. And what cost? Yeah, in many cases, like mm. Hmm, there's a lot of each cylinder vans all over North America as we speak, idling in people's driveways dropping off stuff that they ordered on Amazon last night, you know, and there's a cost to that, ever, you know. And that's what I was trying to articulate anyway, yeah, yeah.
0:51:21 - Speaker 4
What I notice nowadays on, i mean, i'm in Portland, we're in the city, you know, downtown Portland is about three miles away, and what I notice is, when we don't have any deliveries, like, i'll just stop, i'm mostly home. I'll stop in the house and think, boy, it's actually been quiet today. You know it's. You have to wait for the white, the white noise to go away in order to I have a Kingston question for you.
0:51:45 - Speaker 1
These gentlemen we are recording, we're doing a live finale for this podcast in Toronto on September 1st. So Pete is coming from Spain and Tim is coming from Portland and we're doing it at the rec room in Toronto. We're doing like a live podcast. There's going to be a standup comedian, There's going to be a hip tribute band, et cetera. But as part of their coming to Toronto, I've booked us a day in Kingston and I booked an Airbnb just yesterday. What are some? what are some hip, hip must see spots, Some you mentioned a record store earlier, a guitar store. What are some cool spots that we should go when we're? Yeah, I got to hit the store.
0:52:29 - Speaker 2
You know what there's there's. so there's so many of it like this. First off, about Kingston. You know I'm born and bred and raised here.
I went to university here and you know, like most young men, like Rob Baker and I, grew up across the street from each other And all through high school together and you know, gordon, Paul and I lived together in university And John was a little bit younger than us behind us, but all went to the same high school Parents, on to each other, and nonetheless, like most young men, we couldn't wait to shape the dust off this one horse town off our boots. You know, move on, or big city, and as it turned out, you know, our career took this home, over Europe and North America and traveling all the time And we kept coming back home And because it was home, you kind of learn to fall in love with where you're from By leaving it, you know, and you kind of realize, oh, there's no better place to come back to. And it still is a really, it's a really special place. Even even with the, the dearth of of live music venues and various cities and stuff, we still have five, six places in town that run live entertainment nightly. You know, and I think that's a big reason Kingston is as it is is produce so many great recording artists, you know Sarah Harmer, headstones and the Glorious Suns, and because they all came up the way I came up, you know, you kind of start playing in downtown Kingston and you play the bigger bar and the bigger bar after that. So there's, there's some great live music venues. The place I'm playing in town is called the, called the the Brune factory, which is kind of a multi multimedia approach to live. It's a film place, it's comedy, it's an office building for the local promoter during the day And it's, it's great. It's very DIY in town, you know it's. Also Kingston is an interesting place because it's a university town, a very large, very good university here. So we kind of punch above our weight for for restaurants and actually activities to do. We have a local symphony orchestra to symphony halls.
You know it's just there's, it's a, it's a really special place And it's also it's right at the confluence of Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River. So it's where the Great Lakes kind of funnel all down and the area just east of us is the start of the Thousand Islands, which is again it's we kind of take it for granted. But you guys coming from out of town, you know it's worth jumping on a, on a boat, and you've never seen anything like it. It's, it's just absolutely spectacular, you know, and it's, yeah, it's just really, really cool.
There's so many great rooms. You know, the club that we played our first gig was called the the toucan, but it still exists, you know, and it's still still there. It's not a great place to see music or play music, but it's still running live. It's pretty wicked. There's another place called the mansion. That that they're again. They're fighting the good fight. They're trying to bring acts in all the time and get people a place to play. You know, and it's in, it's kind of great. It's kind of a great place to be. I feel very comfortable here. You guys are like it.
0:56:15 - Speaker 3
If people, if they have places to play there and there's places that they make available, i mean there's. there's no doubt that's why the city thrives.
0:56:25 - Speaker 2
I really think so as well, because people, obviously they people get used to live music being a viable option. You know, that was something that we experienced as young musicians First time we went to Europe. You know, it was again like starting over. But we got to the Netherlands And it was like that was. It was the case of like, where are all these people come from? how do they? but it's because the the nature of the culture and it was back in the CD days, when they were Ridiculously expensive, you know. So you'd have to pony up whatever 30, 40 Gelder's they were called back then so people would literally would go see a band play live before they would pull me up for the record, which was perfect for a group like us, because you know they huh, there are all these Magnificently tall people standing there and all speaking English, hang them boards, every word, yeah, it was great. It's all like. That's all about the amazing thing. I am such a such a believer. It's just so important.
0:57:36 - Speaker 1
I I totally feel the song sometimes. Yeah, did you write that? like thinking, live in mind, like, like that feels like a live song.
0:57:46 - Speaker 2
Yeah, i Did it's, it's, It's for sure, it's. There's an anger to it for sure, and it's it's not the easiest thing when you're sitting by yourself in a pandemic to To write an uptempo song. But like I, like I was seeing earlier, i was using that experience, i would close the sliding doors of our family room and, and, like everybody, there were moments during when I was locked down or where I was Wasn't quite myself. You know I was feeling. You know, being locked down in the middle of the winter in Canada is You get some dark days for sure, not only Physically dark days, but but the mood kind of translates on you and that's that's really what that song's about.
And and I Attempted to turn that frown upside down and kind of went back to the old punk rock me, and It's basically like a confessional more than anything, because it was true, sometimes I felt like I was losing my mind, you know, and and sometimes you know, weed, weeds legal up here and and and so maybe sometimes I'm they've, you know, smoked a bomber a little too early in the day, you know, or maybe a little Bailey's in my morning coffee just to take the edge off. Even quite confessional about that as well. Much sugar in, yeah.
0:59:23 - Speaker 3
That's really cool of you sharing my songs with us Share.
0:59:28 - Speaker 1
I mean, for me it's been. It's been 38 years of you sharing songs with me, so I really appreciate that and Love that you made time for us today, well.
0:59:39 - Speaker 2
I appreciate that. I appreciate that I'm a music fan as well and I and I I Made music with guys I know really well, guys I love, you know, and and We always took it really, really seriously and we always never took whatever success we may have achieved, we never took that for granted, you know, and we knew it was because of the people that liked our music and that supported the group and we, you know, with the past, you know Gordon Lightfoot. It was also such a huge believer in live performance and the love and respect for his audience. you know We came up, you know, very much the same way, just like getting our getting in front of people and, you know, and thanking them.
You know, and being truly grateful and trying to allow the music to reflect our growth as people and but our commitment to making really good music and you know I'm I Love it I'm still trying to do it on my own. You know, i'd give anything to have gourd still here and be working my, my normal day job, you know. But but In no small way he still is. You know, he wouldn't have wanted any of us to stop playing, you know, and to stop making music and Yeah, and so I'm kind of doing it to honor him, but it's also it's because it's the only thing I know how to do. I kind of They caught into my, it's my, my yearly cycle of like, oh I'm, you should be making a record soon. I think the song start pouring out. Anyway, i'd go on, but I appreciate you guys for doing this and listening as it is intently, as I Listen to music like that's the way I listen to it too, you know I turn it up.
1:01:31 - Speaker 3
Yeah, pleasure's our pleasure We've.
1:01:34 - Speaker 4
we've got great time, so thank you so much.
1:01:37 - Speaker 2
I'll get a list of places to see in Kingston, and there's some that would be great. It's a pretty, it's a pretty special. It's a pretty special little town. You'll, you'll get the vibe right away. You know, september is a great time of year. Kids are just coming back to school and the and the sailors are still hanging around. It's a touristy town. So there's a. There's a good, it's a good vibe here. It's a nice place to visit. I can't wait. Yeah, i can't wait awesome, awesome.
1:02:02 - Speaker 1
Well, thank you so much Thanks for a pleasure, guys.
1:02:06 - Speaker 2
I really really appreciate your time. It's fun.
1:02:08 - Speaker 3
Yeah, thank you boys.
1:02:10 - Speaker 2
Okay, take care, we'll see you real soon. Yeah, thank you.
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