Podcast appearances and mentions of rob baker

It's been 10 years since the iconic Canadian band The Tragically Hip performed together for the last time with their fearless frontman and friend, Gord Downie. To commemorate the anniversary, the band is releasing a live album documenting the group's final tour, alongside a CBC re-broadcast of their historic 2016 farewell concert in their hometown of Kingston, Ont. The Hip band members Rob Baker and Paul Langlois join Tom Power to reflect on that final concert, what they miss most about playing with Gord, and how they remember him now, 10 years on.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike is joined by Dr. Milana Hogan, Chief Talent Officer at Sullivan & Cromwell, and Rob Baker, a former law firm hiring committee member and BigLaw attorney, for a conversation about the increasingly front-loaded BigLaw recruiting process and what prospective and current law students should know about navigating it. Rob has held recruiting roles at large, medium, and boutique-sized law firms, while Dr. Hogan has spent nearly two decades at Sullivan & Cromwell working in talent, associate development, and recruiting.  The group discusses how law firm recruiting has shifted earlier over time and the market pressures driving that change (7:41); whether hiring could move even earlier and why first-semester law school grades may serve as a practical stopping point (13:48); whether 0Ls should already be reaching out to firms and how to approach those conversations from a learning rather than a “will you hire me?” posture (17:13); the value of LinkedIn, low-pressure outreach, and building relationships before recruiting formally begins (20:53); and why the current system may create new opportunities for 2Ls and 3Ls who missed out earlier in the process (24:39).  They also discuss how AI is affecting BigLaw work and hiring, including Sullivan & Cromwell's use of AI as one part of its holistic hiring process (28:34); what can turn hiring partners off in an interview and why trying too hard to demonstrate how smart you are can backfire (31:47); the importance of curiosity, humility, and a willingness to learn from more experienced lawyers (34:45); and why students should take ownership of their careers, seek out opportunities, and practice interviewing before the real thing (37:52). Related resources: Mike references NALP Executive Director Nikia Gray's article, The “Cruel” Recruiting Timeline, which examines the history of OCI and the market forces behind the increasingly accelerated law firm recruiting process. He also references a South Park episode parodying Black Friday's increasingly early start as an analogy for how BigLaw recruiting has continued moving earlier.You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode with timestamps here.

The review ran with no star rating. Infinite stars out of five. Four fans who were inside the MTS Centre explain why that was the only honest math.Episode summaryAugust 5th, 2016. A Friday night, show eight of the Man Machine Poem Tour, and the MTS Centre sits smack in the middle of downtown Winnipeg with no room to breathe. The Tragically Hip open with four straight from "Fully Completely", and the second song is 'Pigeon Camera' - a tour debut nobody in the building saw coming. Ten years on, four fans who were there pass the night around the table with jD.Nicole from Winnipeg raised three daughters on this music and lived her whole life in Thunder Bay before Winnipeg claimed her. She loaded two teenagers into the car and drove eight hours west so her girls could finally see the band she had been singing to them since the car seat. Somewhere in the causeway, the opening notes of 'At the Hundredth Meridian' hit, and the cranky seventeen-year-old looked at her mother and got it.Kim from Cambridge has 41 Hip shows on her card, and Winnipeg came with a bonus night. Same hotel as the band, a waiter's tip to come back to the bar later, a hundred-dollar bar tab worth of nerve, and then a gracious Rob Baker outside the bathroom, a sit-down with Gord Downie's bus driver, and a photo with Gord Sinclair. The guitar picks Bernie Breen handed over are framed with her tour poster.Dave from Montreal got the email on a beach in Crete, day two of a vacation that never recovered. He went to seven shows on the final tour, and this one meant the most - August 5th was the one-year anniversary of his mother's passing. He landed from Calgary on a WestJet flight full of Hip fans, caught the band's tweet about seats beside the stage, and cabbed straight from the airport to the box office. In the hotel lobby he told Paul Langlois that 'Three Pistols' had dodged him for 65 shows. "I can promise you you're going to hear it," Paul said.Alicia from Winnipeg heard the news before almost anybody, because breaking news was her job - she was the editor at Metro Winnipeg. She reviewed the show on deadline, one ticket, scribbling in a row of stunned critics, and filed it with no star rating at all. Infinite stars out of five. You can't score a goodbye.They talk about the four-song "Now for Plan A" block and what it asked of the room. About Gord Downie stopping the show to thank the Winnipeg people who built the band an audience, and a local music writer's phone detonating in real time. About the scream at the end of 'New Orleans Is Sinking' that shut an entire arena up, Kim's Periscope stream that died the moment 'Springtime in Vienna' made holding a phone still impossible, and the moment Dave realized the rants were gone - no workshopping, because there was nothing coming next. And about August 20th, which found them in a second row in Kingston, a basement watch party, and a raucous Thunder Bay bar called The Foundry.Nobody at this table claims the full picture. They just know what that room felt like, and ten years has not dulled it. This is the Winnipeg night, told back by the people who lived it.Key takeaways• 'Pigeon Camera' and 'Streets Ahead' were both tour debuts that night, and the setlist held five songs from "Road Apples" and nothing from "Day for Night" - Calgary got that block two nights earlier (source: setlist.fm).• Kim from Cambridge spent the night before the show in the band's hotel bar. Rob Baker was gracious, a bus driver made the introductions, Gord Sinclair posed for photos, and Bernie Breen handed out guitar picks.• Dave from Montreal traded up to seats beside the stage the day of the show off a band tweet, then put his spare pair on StubHub at face value. He did it again in Hamilton and Ottawa. Ten years later, he is finally telling that secret.• Gord stopped the Winnipeg show to thank the local supporters who built the band an audience there - the panel can only remember it happening one other place, Hamilton. One Winnipeg music writer's phone exploded on the spot.• The night before the show, a Winnipeg lawyer fighting the same brain cancer threw a fundraiser - and the man Nicole from Winnipeg would marry years later was onstage in the band that played it.• Alicia from Winnipeg filed her Metro Winnipeg review as infinite stars out of five, and a Winnipeg Free Press reviewer independently refused to put a number on it too. https://web.archive.org/web/20160807202054/http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/08/06/review-at-the-hundredth-meridian-tragically-hip.htmlQuotes“I always thought we had more time.”Nicole from Winnipeg“I said, infinite stars out of five, because there's no way to do it, whether you're a Hip fan or not.”Alicia from Winnipeg“When he stepped out in that green suit and just commanded that stage, it ended all of that. All of those nerves that I had before the show, they were gone in the first few notes.”Kim from Cambridge“I just had this moment of heartbreak of, oh, he's not workshopping because there's nothing coming next.”Dave from Montreal“If he saw me, I wanted him to know that Dave from Montreal was staring back at him.”Dave from MontrealGuest information• Nicole from Winnipeg - Thunder Bay born and raised, Winnipeg for the last six years. Raised three daughters on The Hip, and two of them made the 2016 drive with her. Her husband plays in Retro Radio, a Winnipeg classic rock band, and their love story runs through this music.• Kim from Cambridge - 41 Hip shows, Kingston included, second row, in a shirt she made herself. Drove out in a new Jeep with her cousin, camping at Pancake Bay and Sleeping Giant on the way. Keeper of feathers, tour-suit leather patches, and a Six String Nation story.• Dave from Montreal - Montreal journalist. Seven shows on the Man Machine Poem Tour, 65 Hip shows deep by that August. Wrote a pre-tour love letter in the National Post and a Rover essay on cover bands. A book is on the way, and that is all he will say for now.• Alicia from Winnipeg - journalist and then-editor at Metro Winnipeg, who reviewed the show that night. On weekends she fronts Whoopsie Daisy, a Winnipeg classic rock cover band, where 'New Orleans Is Sinking' gets the rage out the healthy way.  https://whoopsiedacey.wordpress.com/Resources, links and references• setlist.fm - the full Winnipeg, August 5 2016 setlist, including both tour debuts.• David Bastedo - The Tragically Hip's official concert photographer. His Winnipeg crowd shot is the one Dave found himself inside.• Dave's pre-tour love letter in the National Post. https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/music/the-tragically-hip-gord-downie• Dave's Rover essay on cover bands, The Strictly Hip, and letting the music live on. https://therover.ca/searching-for-the-tragically-hip/• The bands keeping the music live, named on mic: Killer Whale Tank (Winnipeg), The Incredibly Hip (Brandon), The Hip Experience (on tour across Canada), The Strictly Hip (Buffalo), and Whoopsie Daisy.• "Secret Path" and The Downie Wenjack Fund - the work Nicole's daughter carries forward from the final tour.Calls to actionMeet us in Kingston. The Gathering runs August 20 to 23 - a mixer at the Merchant Pub, Choir! Choir! Choir! in Springer Market Square, a first listen of "The Tragically Hip Live, July 22 - August 20, 2016" the day it drops, a Long Time Running screening, and a farewell brunch at Morrison's on the way out of town. Get on the list. email jd@tthpods.comGEDfest comes to Toronto. October 17th, the anniversary of Gord's passing, at the Horseshoe Tavern with Grace, 2. Nine years running, over $750,000 raised, and this year it is for Campfire Circle and the Murphy Family Fund in Precision Medicine in Pancreatic Cancer. gedfest.caBuy jD a coffee. Editing four loquacious guests is a labour of love. Tips only, no guilt. So there's that. [hyperlink: Buy jD a coffee - buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40Related episodes• Yer Hipstories - Edmonton 2, July 30, 2016 https://kite.link/Edmonton2• Yer Hipstories - Victoria, July 22 2016 https://kite.link/Victoria• Now for Plan A - Redux https://kite.link/nowforplanaClosing paragraphNicole, thank you for the sixteen-hour round trip and for the image of a two-year-old singing 'Boots or Hearts' from a car seat. Kim, thank you for holding your nerve at that hotel bar until it turned into guitar picks. Dave, thank you for bringing your mom into the room with you, and for owning every emotion Gord taught you to own. Alicia, thank you for infinite stars out of five, the only rating system this series recognizes.The band takes an extra day off, then it is Ontario the rest of the way home. Come back on August 8th for London, August 8 2016 - new building, new panel, and the home stretch beginning. If you were in one of these rooms, leave yer Hipstory. This series is stitched together from them.Socials and community• Facebook: facebook.com/groups/tthpods• Instagram: @tthpods]• YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods]• Email: jd@tthpods.com]#TheTragicallyHip #GordDownie #ManMachinePoem #FullyCompletely #RoadApples #NowForPlanASupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Episode DescriptionNumber 31 on the countdown. First zoo animal on Prozac. JD is joined by Duxoop from Toledo — broadcasting from the actual birthplace of Gus the polar bear — plus Andrew from Winnipeg and Dave from Montreal to dig into one of the most quietly beloved songs in the Hip catalogue.The panel gets into the Adam Kasper production that makes In Between Evolution sound the way it does, Rob Baker's untouchable outro solo, the Hip Museum's wonderfully unhinged George W. Bush theory, and the wordplay hiding in plain sight — because it was never what's troubling Gus. It's what's troubling us.Fair warning: this one gets emotional. Duxoop tells us what the lyrics did to him last year from a nursing home wheelchair, and Dave tells us about his friend Al — nickname Gus — and the cover band he's fronting at Al's memorial this Friday. Then the whole thing derails beautifully into a full inventory of every animal in the Hip discography.Explicit language. Recorded live on YouTube.On the PanelJD — hostDuxoop from Toledo — self-described part polar bear; born-in-Toledo credentials, same as GusAndrew from Winnipeg — arrived with facts and a News Radio shirt; host of Soup Full of RadioDave from Montreal — saw the Hip in Central Park; frontman of brand-new Hip cover band Colonel MustardTale of the TapePulled from The Hip Handbook, which amalgamates HipBase and setlist.fm data. Album In Between Evolution (2004) Producer Adam Kasper, recorded in Seattle Single Third single from the record Countdown position No. 31 on the Top 40 Times played live 327 First played October 27, 2003 Last played August 18, 2016 — the Ottawa show As an opener Once As an encore Five times Poll Results Love it 52% Like it 36% Tolerate it 10% Skip it 1% Never heard of it 1% Possibly the most varied — and most indecisive — poll spread of the series so far. Duxoop's verdict: "That's crazy to me. These numbers should be way more lopsided toward the top."Live Version FeaturedOttawa, 2004 — the Grey Cup halftime show. Andrew remembers watching it live and everyone around him asking why the band was opening the biggest gig of the year with a brand-new song. (They went into Courage right after.)What We Talked AboutThe Album That Everyone Slept OnIn Between Evolution debuted at No. 1 in Canada on roughly 22,500 first-week copies — then got knocked off the top by Avril Lavigne's new album.Certified platinum in Canada that September. Dave notes it was one of the last Hip records to move real units.Where does this song sit in the career arc? The panel lands on "the end of the middle" rather than the dawn of the final third.Andrew's take: Gus is the first song on the record that sounds like the Hip you already knew — you lean back in the chair. Heaven Is a Better Place Today, Summer's Killing Us and Vaccination Scar are louder neighbours, so Gus hides in the first five.Adam Kasper and the Seattle SoundAndrew looked up Kasper's credits and it clicked: Soundgarden's Down on the Upside, Queens of the Stone Age's Songs for the Deaf, Pearl Jam's self-titled (the avocado one), Foo Fighters' One by One.Same studio was hosting the Big Fish and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtracks around the time this record was being made.The panel agrees Gus has a "weirdly familiar, warm Hip sound" — it could have sat on Day for Night with different production, or on Music at Work. Maybe it was on the shelf a while.Rob Baker's OutroUniversal agreement: whichever live version you pull up, Baker is on fire. "A real showcase for him."Dave's sharpest observation of the night — Gord never rants over this solo the way he does over others. It always gets its space, and that may be the only ad-lib that separates the live song from the record.Gus HimselfBorn 1985 at the Toledo Zoo, died August 27, 2013. A 700-pound icon of the Central Park Zoo, seen by over 20 million visitors.Began swimming obsessively — up to 12 hours a day — in the 1990s. Reporters called him neurotic, depressed and flaky, and he became a symbol of the stress of living in New York.The first zoo animal in history to be treated with Prozac. Also got a jacuzzi and, at one point, two girlfriends. Duxoop: "Why is he the one on Prozac and not me?"Gord wrote the song in 2004, nine years before Gus died — so this wasn't an obituary. He'd seen the bear and then done the second-sourcing, as Gord always did.There's a children's book called What's Worrying Gus? The True Story of a Big City Bear. On Amazon, the cover has Gus on a therapist's couch.The Toledo ConnectionThe Hip played the Toledo Zoo twice in the '90s — where Gus was born.When they played Toledo in 2004, Gus was the show opener. The stats say it only ever opened once, so that was absolutely on purpose.The Bush TheoryThe Hip Museum reads Gus as partly about George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq. Andrew read the paragraph aloud; it describes the two as "lovable, loutish, and incredibly accomplished guys… not bad for a pair of dudes with limited mental capacity."JD's verdict: lots of love for the Hip Museum, but that one's a reach.Gus / UsDave's thesis: he doesn't hear a bear at all. "It's not what's troubling Gus. It's what's troubling us." He's been on that line for twenty years.JD points out the Gordism that makes it work — dropping the G, so "troublin' us" and "troubling Gus" are phonetically the same thing.Duxoop extends it: we've all watched a zoo animal pace or swim figure eights, and that should be troubling us.On the lyrics generally: Gord's word-smithery rewards straining to hear it, and the panel confesses to mumbling through parts for two decades. Compared to Nautical Disaster — all story, no chorus, no pattern — Gus is manageable, but only just.Duxoop's StoryLast year, when the countdown hit No. 31, Duxoop was three months into a nursing home stay with medical issues. Twenty-odd years earlier he'd started going to karaoke — big, scary-looking, socially awkward, mistaken for the bouncer. Now he was in his 60s, in a wheelchair, and the line landed like a ton of bricks: old and grey, and no one's afraid anymore.He sang it at the nursing home. "I don't think I've ever sung a Hip song with more feeling than I do with Gus." Grace, Too he can't fake — he feels like a schmuck trying to match Gord's intensity. Gus he doesn't fake.And after a week of thinking about it for this episode, he made a bold statement: Gus is now his favourite Tragically Hip song, over Grace, Too.Dave's Story — Al, Gus, and Colonel MustardDave's friend Al Morton died suddenly last November. They bonded over the Hip and golf at Dave's club. Al's nickname was Gus.In their fantasy football pick'em league, Al's picks stayed on the board for the rest of the NFL season. "A real lump in my throat."Al's memorial is this Friday at the Dunany Country Club in Wentworth, Quebec — halfway between Ottawa and Montreal. Ashes scattered around the course in the morning; speeches and a gathering at night, billed as his "after par-ty."The family asked for seven or eight Hip songs. Dave and friends have twenty ready, after two nights jamming at his buddy Chris's place. He made them learn Gus — he couldn't imagine doing a show for Al without it.The band is named Colonel Mustard, after Al's imported 1970s Mercedes. Wentworth, Quebec's Tragically Hip cover band. Dave waited 45 years to do this.His approach: very much not trying to be Gord. "I'm just trying to sing it with my truth."Hardest songs to sing so far — Fireworks (the National Fitness Program cadence) and Fully Completely (Gord's offbeat entrance in the middle section). Bassist John Roy has been cueing him in.Also on the setlist: Grace Too, Wheat Kings, The Good Life, Three Pistols.One BucketDave loves the way Gord says "whippoorwill" — audible in the Grey Cup version JD played. He'll be attempting it Friday."Used to be enough to make every bird stop singing." There's a lot of beauty in this song.Dave also went to bat for Sharks as an all-time Hip song — lyrically perfect, everyone gets to shine — while fully admitting he's a party of one on that.The Countdown NeighboursNo. 30 The Darkest One · No. 31 Gus · No. 32 Emperor Penguin — with Pigeon Camera at No. 28. As JD put it: their arctic phase.The Animal Album (An Idea That Got Away From Everyone)Duxoop floated it — Weird Al did a food album and a TV album, so why not a Tragically Hip animal album? The panel then attempted a full inventory:Emperor Penguin · Pigeon Camera · Dire Wolf · Problem Bears · Thompson Girl (polar bear reference) · The Bear on Music at WorkTiger the Lion · The Luxury (zoo lion) · Little Bones (a teeny tiny little cat) · Sled Dogs After DinnerWheat Kings (loon at the beginning) · Bumblebee · Leave ("in this contest, a concave nest") · Sharks · Piano Spider · I'm a Werewolf, Baby · the killer whale tank one on the box setVerdict: someone needs to make this playlist.Quotable Moments"It's not what's troubling Gus. It's what's troubling us. And that's just the best." — Dave from Montreal"Gord Downie sells the fuck out of this song. He sells the flakiness of the bear. He sells the confusion of the person watching it being like, why aren't you like a real bear?" — Dave from Montreal"It's funny — we're happy to hear a song about a sad animal." — Andrew from Winnipeg"Gus is like you're leaning back in your chair and relaxing a bit." — Andrew from Winnipeg"Grace, Too I feel like I'm faking it. Gus, man, I don't fake that one." — Duxoop from Toledo"It's up to us now to keep these songs alive." — Dave from Montreal"I live for that rare occasion where somebody goes, who was that song by? I got to look up that artist — and I get to make a new Hip fan." — Duxoop from ToledoMentioned in This EpisodeThe Hip Handbook — free Top 40 breakdown with episode links: thehiphandbook.tthpods.comHipBase and setlist.fm — live-stat sources behind the Tale of the TapeThe Hip Museum — source of the Gus / George W. Bush readingWhat's Worrying Gus? The True Story of a Big City Bear — the children's bookHipeponymous — where the Summer's Killing Us video ended upAdam Kasper's discography — Down on the Upside, Songs for the Deaf, Pearl Jam, One by OnePlugs & HousekeepingDuxoop from ToledoA friend of Duxoop's was hit hard by the death of Glen Hansard, who was killed in a motorcycle crash outside Dublin on July 29, 2026, at 56. There's a local Toledo tribute on Friday collecting donations for the Dublin Simon Community, the homelessness charity Hansard cared deeply about. Duxoop, who was himself homeless for a couple of years recently: "I would definitely promote that."Andrew from WinnipegSoup Full of Radio — weekly on UMFM in Winnipeg. Every episode is the next letter of the alphabet. Next week: songs starting with "the." The week after: all covers, all Tom Jones covering other people.Head Full of Radio — the podcast, where Andrew plays Radiohead to a guy who's never heard it. Google "Soup Full of Radio" and you'll find both.Dave from MontrealGoogle him for his Hip-related writing; Instagram @DaveKaufman1Dave used his plug to point people at JD's buy-me-a-coffee instead — noting how many unpaid hours go into this and how much the shows are worth to him. JD's reiteration: this stuff is free forever, don't worry if you can't swing it.The Gathering — KingstonRegistration deadline is Friday for all activities. (If you're hearing this on the podcast feed, you've likely missed it.)Three days in Kingston for the 10th anniversary of the Hip's final show: a brunch, an album listening party, a first-day mixer, and hotel blocks. Come for one day or all three.On the 22nd, the national celebration screens in Springer Market Square — side by side with other fans, the way everyone watched it ten years ago.Live stream of the final episode of Your Hipstories: Reflections from the Final Tour. Location to be announced in the coming weeks.Panel call-out: three spots on that final panel go to people who submit a video under one minute explaining why they should be on it, by sharing their favourite memory of August 20th.120 people signed up so far. Kingston is finally embracing and showcasing this band — the banners are up, and JD hopes they're permanent.Next WeekPigeon Camera. Brand new panel, brand new song, a biggie. Live on YouTube, Wednesday at 8 o'clock.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Ten years on, jD sits down with three fans who were there the night the Tragically Hip played Vancouver on the Man Machine Poem tour — the second stop of Gord Downie's final run across Canada. Tina, Joe, and Shaun walk through the whole arc of that evening: the scramble for tickets when floor seats and Ticketmaster luck meant everything, the electric-but-apprehensive mood in the building as everyone wondered how Gord would hold up, and the moment his shaking hand during "Three Pistols" turned nerves into relief.The conversation ranges from the emotional gut-punches — "Grace, Too," "Bobcaygeon," "Tired as Fuck," and "At Transformation" — to the craft behind the show: the band huddling close around Gord like a bar band again, the retrospective set lists that pulled from nearly half their catalog, and the stripped-down staging that only fully landed watching the final concert on TV. Along the way there's talk of secondary-market ticket gouging and dynamic pricing, the pride of a country coming together over a rock band, and how each of them found their way home that night carrying a feeling Tina sums up perfectly: "How can you feel so empty and so full at the same time?"Next episode: July 26 — Vancouver Night 2, with a new panel.Tina from VancouverA devoted Hip fan (by her own admission the bigger fan in her household) who scored floor seats, row 26, through Ticketmaster while nearly everyone she knew was shut out. "Grace, Too" was the song that hit her hardest that night. By day she works for a Canadian pet-treat company.Only One Treats — Canadian-made pet treats with a single ingredient. Find them on Facebook, Instagram, and other socials, and in local pet food stores.Joe from VancouverA lifelong musician (playing in bands since he was 15) and an entertainment-lighting professional — a rental account manager for a major North American lighting company. He got into Vancouver Night 1 on a spare ticket from his cousin's daughter, sat on Rob's side of the arena, and has played Rob Baker in a Hip tribute, which shaped how closely he watched the band that night. "Bobcaygeon" is the song that still takes him back.Blue Collar Overdrive — his Bachman Turner Overdrive tribute band (Joe on bass, handling the Fred Turner vocals).Website: bluecollaroverdrive.comFacebook: facebook.com/bluecollaroverdriveUpcoming shows: Kamloops Rib Fest (Aug 9), Langley Rib Fest (Aug 14), Retro Fest at Sun Peaks (Aug 24)Shaun from VancouverA big fan who first heard the news — Gord's diagnosis and the one last tour — while riding the SkyTrain out to Surrey. He got a ticket on the first crack through Ticketmaster and watched from the rafters, just happy to be in the building. "Three Pistols" is forever linked for him to the image of Gord's shaking hand. Outside the music, he runs a pair of travel websites and recently drove an EV across Scandinavia to the top of Europe.thislifeandtrips.commyevtrips.comConnect with the PodcastWebsite: home.tthpods.comReach jD: JD@tthpods.comA presentation of the Tragically Hip Podcast Series.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

If the pandemic years saw the office become a 'blank space', the hybrid era gradually witnessed that space fill up again through return-to-office mandates. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Rob Baker joins us to continue our 'Eras Tour'. We discuss: how the pandemic created an opportunity for 'job crafting', and what's changed since we've come out of lockdown whether job crafting has lost relevance since the pandemic, or just gotten harder to realize what new research tells us about the impact of job crafting on performance and wellbeing. You can find out more about the work Rob does at tailoredthinking.co.uk. See also: Tailored Thinking's series of articles on Work and Job Design (including AI crafting): Building Better Work by Design Rob's book, Personalization at Work: Personalization at Work In 'What I Learned This Week', Rob discussed the art of subtraction, including the Lego experiment explored in this video. Ross G referenced an article in People Management on the challenge we may experience fulfilling AI roles in the future. Like the show? You'll love our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch now. And if you want to work with us, please do visit mindtools-kineo.com or find us on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you. Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Dickie Ross Garner Rob Baker

Hello. This week's episode is our recent show recorded LIVE in downtown Toronto. After discussing the possibility of nuclear annihilation and being interrupted by an erotic tour guide, Chris, Mike and James dig into the life of comedian/bourbon salesman/MAGA enthusiast Rob Schneider. Woody Allen and Nosferatu also make some unforgettable appearances. Thanks to everybody who came to the show. Enjoy!Cast:Erotic Tour Guide - Aaron EvesErotic Tourists - Jan Caruana, Rob Baker, Joel EdmistonWoody Allen - Sam BurnsNosferatu - Nicole PassmoreEvilometer - Isaac WinterRecorded live at Comedy Bar (Bloor Street) in Toronto on April 10, 2026 by Stephan MacLeod.Photo by Aaron Ulledal ***Keep your ears open for James Hartnett's second album, It's Not Looking Good available most places now! And don't forget to subscribe to the Evil Men Patreon for bonus episodes every week! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, Mike has a conversation with Rob Baker, a long-time practicing entertainment lawyer who has served on hiring committees for multiple law firms, ranging from biglaw to mid-law to a small firm, and who leads Spivey Consutling's new employment coaching and law school mentorship program. Rob discusses his law school application process (3:49), what it was like starting 1L year (5:18), how law school prepared Rob for practicing (12:16) and how it didn't (16:18), how legal employers view rankings (10:00), whether law school is “fun” (19:07), what makes a good lawyer (21:32), one key talent of the highest-earning lawyers (15:15), the one trait that can make all the difference in excelling in biglaw, becoming an entertainment lawyer, or getting admitted off the law school waitlist (17:28), and more.Mike mentions our podcast episode with Jeff Chapman in this episode, “Interview with a Biglaw Partner (Jeff Chapman, Gibson Dunn Co-Chair of Global M&A),” which you can listen to here.If you're interested in learning more about Rob's coaching and mentorship services, please reach out to info@spiveyconsulting.com.You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode with timestamps here.

With just a couple of days to go until racing kicks off on Saturday, join Fergus Mainland, Camilla Hadland-Horrocks, Tom Morgan, and Ed Evans for the only preview you need to listen to ahead of this weekend's Boat Races. We give our predictions and thoughts ahead of the flags dropping but we've also got some great guests too.Hear from OUBC President Heidi long and Austrian international Julian Schöberl as well as the two Cambridge coaches Rob Baker and Paddy Ryan alongside Gabriel Obholzer who makes his Cambridge debut.Send us Fan Mail

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream: 'Vapour Trails'Episode Date: March 19, 2026Panel: Ryan from Toronto • Patrick from Toronto • Adam from TampaIntroThere's nothing uglier than a man hitting his stride - and there's nothing better than a panel that doesn't agree on what that line even means.This week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, jD pulled ‘Vapour Trails' from “Phantom Power” - track eight of twelve from The Tragically Hip's sixth studio record, produced by Steve Berlin, recorded at The Bathhouse in Bath, Ontario, and released July 14, 1998. It was a promo CD single that never got a video. It ranked #72 on the TTHTop40 Countdown. And for a song that lives in the shadow of ‘Bobcaygeon' and ‘Poets' on the same record, it had absolutely no problem holding its own for an hour of live discussion.So there's that.About This Episode‘Vapour Trails' is a road song. Or a loneliness song. Or a song about Gord watching Mexican farmworkers from a highway somewhere in rural Ontario and being moved enough to write it down. It might be all three at once - which is, of course, exactly how Gord Downie worked.jD is joined this week by Ryan from Toronto - a first-timer on the show and a veteran podcaster whose ear for music analysis makes itself known immediately - alongside returning panelists Patrick from Toronto and Adam from Tampa, both of whom came loaded with research, opinions, and very strong feelings about the back half of the “Phantom Power” discography.What followed was one of those conversations that starts with bass and drums and ends somewhere near ephemeral, the Canadian spelling of vapour, and whether Rob Baker was playing a Rickenbacker. Coming UpNext week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, jD hits shuffle again - and this time it landed on ‘Train Overnight.' Three new panelists. Wednesday night. 8 PM. You know the drill.An Evening for Sara JBefore you go - An Evening for Sara J is happening Saturday, April 11, 2026 at Firkin on Yonge, 207 Yonge Street, Toronto. Doors at 7:30 PM, live podcast at 8, Forever Hip takes the stage at 9.Sara is one of our own, and this whole night is for her. There's a live podcast with Patrick Downie, a 50/50 draw, a raffle, and every dollar raised goes to Sara's GoFundMe. Go to tickets.tthpods.com to get yers now!Early Bird tickets are $20 - and they won't last. After March 25, it's $25 general admission or $30 at the door.Stay ConnectedFacebook Community: community.tthpods.comInstagram: instagram.com/tthpodsYouTube: youtube.com/@tthpodsEmail: jd@tthpods.comGet Yer LetterWant Hip news, album anniversaries, episode recaps, fundraising updates, and early previews delivered straight to your inbox every month? Subscribe to Yer Letter - the official community newsletter of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series. When you sign up, you'll also get a free copy of The Complete Hip Discography v6.0 - every studio album, every solo record, every side project across all five members of the band.Subscribe here: subscribe.tthpods.comThe Tragically Hip On Shuffle is part of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series - Est. 2018. New episodes every Wednesday at 8 PM ET, live on YouTube and Facebook!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Fully & Completely: redux – Music @ Work Guest: Rob Johannes

Spiv Noir.According to the billing, the stars of 1948's Noose (known as The Silk Noose in the US) are Carole Landis, Joseph Calleia & Derek Farr, but the real star of the film is Nigel Patrick who is cast against type as Bar Gorman, a sharply dressed, fast talking spiv.Set firmly in Soho, it tells the story of how the police, the press & a group of normal citizens, try to loosen the choke-hold of gangsters on the city. The film is one of a group of films known as "the spiv cycle".The director, Edmond T. Gréville, also directed Beat Girl which is straight from the fridge daddio.Dr Josephine Botting, curator at the BFI, joins us to talk about Noose, Edmond T. Gréville and the spiv cycle.Interesting article about the spiv cycle of films.In the first half of the show we were joined by the mighty Steve Hayes to talk about the life and death of Carole Landis.Steve has a brilliant YouTube channel, Tired Old Queen at the Movies and, rather like Morgan Freeman, George Burns and John Huston, he once played God in a movie.In our interview, Steve mentioned those two famously bitchy and competitive Hollywood gossip columnists, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons.Here's the listing for the 1947 stage version of Noose on the Theatricalia website and also a copy of the programme.We're fans of vintage lobby cards on Soho Bites - here's a couple of colourised ones for Noose.Friend of the show, Rob Baker, wrote an article about British post-war gangster films on his Flashbak website.A

The Tragically Hip On Shuffle — “You're Everywhere” (In Between Evolution)Episode SummaryWelcome to the very first episode of The Tragically Hip On Shuffle — a weekly live-streamed conversation where host jD and a rotating panel of fans spin the wheel, land on one randomly selected Tragically Hip song, and discuss, debate, and dissect it from every angle: lyrics, themes, musicality, album context, and the personal connection that makes Hip fandom feel like home.For the premiere episode, the shuffle lands on “You're Everywhere” from In Between Evolution (2004) — a loud, sharp, post-9/11-era record produced by Adam Kasper that captures The Tragically Hip in full rock-and-roll form. From the opening riff to the vocal urgency in the chorus, this track becomes the perfect test case for what this series is all about: thoughtful takes, layered interpretations, and the shared realization that there's rarely one “right answer” in Gord Downie's writing.Panelists this week include:Tim (Columbus, Ohio) — co-host of the long-running music podcast Dig Me Out, and a proud defender of deep cutsRyan (Victoria, BC) — frontman of Nautical Disaster, a Tragically Hip tribute band, with a vocalist's ear for emotional deliveryJustin (Vermont) — longtime Hip fan and Discovering Downie alum, bringing album-level context and a sharp eye for lyrical subtextTogether, the panel explores why “You're Everywhere” feels both deeply personal and uncomfortably political, how In Between Evolution balances big guitars with uneasy undercurrents, and why this song—despite being lesser-played live—hits with the kind of emotional pressure that grows louder the longer you sit with it.And yes: the episode also features the first official On Shuffle tech gremlin moment, a brief detour to the green-room snack table, and a laminated birthday card signed “No.” So there's that.In This EpisodeThe On Shuffle format: one random Hip song, one hour, zero forced takesFirst impressions of “You're Everywhere” and why the groove is deceptively simpleThe vocals: urgency, desperation, and that “live-in-the-can” feelLyrics + themes: layered meaning, media saturation, democracy, identity, and memoryThe line “when I reel my Irish in” — and why it can mean 10 different thingsAlbum context: where “You're Everywhere” sits in the In Between Evolution tracklist and why it works as a centerpieceRare live sightings: an early “workshopping” version with a different working title and lyricsProducer talk: Adam Kasper (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden connections) and how the Hip chose heavyweight producers across erasThe show's mission: The Hip as refuge, ritual, and community hangKey Quotes“There are no wrong opinions. There are no wrong takes. But my hope is there will always be a moment.”“It's a simple song structure… but it's how they play it.”“Gord layers ideas — the subtext can run through the entire album.”Featured Song“You're Everywhere” — The Tragically HipAlbum: In Between Evolution (2004)Next Week on The Tragically Hip On ShuffleThe shuffle chooses the next track live at the end of the episode.Next episode song: “Leave” from In Violet Light

Join Fergus and Ed from Thames RC to dissect all the action from the 2025 edition of Trial VIIIs. On day 1, we chatted with Light Blue coaches Rob Baker and Paddy Ryan as well as athletes Gabriel Obholzer and Charlotte Ebel. From Oxford we hear from coaches Allan French and Mark Fangan-Hall and Presidents Heidi Long and Tobias Bernard.This episode is sponsored by Filippi Boats.Filippi are one of the most instantly recognisable rowing boat brands in the world. Since inception in 1980, they've carried crews to over 400 medals at World Championship and Olympic level and have a network of dealers across the globe.They pride themselves on an ability to custom-create shells of the highest specification, suitable for Olympic champions and novice athletes. Today, the running of the boatyard is undertaken by David Filippi; the yard employs 60 technicians and produces just over 1100 boats each year which supply Federations worldwide.Visit https://www.filippiboats.com/to learn about what they can do for you.Send us a text

This week, the Countdown goes visual. Joining me is Richard Beland, concert and music photographer, Hip historian, and all-around good dude from Bright's Grove. Richard's camera has been a witness to some of the most iconic moments in The Hip's career — from sweaty club gigs at Fanshawe Pub, to international festival stages alongside Metallica and Neil Young, to that final August 20th show in Kingston. He's shot Gord, Rob, Paul, Johnny, and Sinclair from every angle, and he's here to share his Hipstory.Richard takes us through his early days sneaking into pubs on a scratched-up license, the serendipitous connections that led him to London and Europe with a camera in hand, and the near-miss that almost kept his work out of the book and the doc. He shares the story behind his most iconic photograph of Gord Downie — the toque shot that's since been tattooed on bodies, blasted on TSN, and memorialized in magazines. And yes, he tells us about the time Rob Baker rode shotgun on a milk crate while the band's own song played on the radio. (Waffle butt confirmed.)From the Grateful Dead to The Hip, from fish-eye lenses to stage risers, from Sudbury snowstorms to late-night alleyway portraits — Richard's journey is a reminder of how music, photography, and fandom intersect to tell stories bigger than any one of us.And then comes the big reveal: Song #4 on the Countdown. It's a track that swells with atmosphere, memory, and melody — one Richard says feels like “warm water filling a cold glass.” It's the song that can soundtrack both a snowy walk into Sudbury Arena and a lazy summer night at the cottage, arm around a friend, eyes to the stars. You know it. You love it. And now, you know where it landed.This episode is loaded with Hip history, fan parallels to the Dead, and stories you've never heard before. And if you want even more, Richard will be joining us live on October 4th at A Celebration of The Hip for ALS at The Rec Room in Toronto, opening the night with a special photo presentation before The Strictly Hip take the stage.Next WeekWe head into the Top 3. One more regular episode before the live finale. Get ready.Get Involved:

Today on a special episode, Ali and Asif interview comedians Rob Baker and Jan Caruana about all things Improv. They start off by asking Jan and Rob about how they originally got involved with improv and if there is a type of person who is drawn to Improv. They discuss what makes good improv and differentiate between short and long form Improv. They then go over “dramatic” Improv, the relationship between sketch comedy and Improv and “Whose Line is it Anyway”. Ali then asks Rob and Jan about the key role of the audience in Improv. Finally, they ask Rob and Jan about their favourite medical topics (and then they go into a digression about the other Rob Baker from the band The Tragically Hip)!The opinions expressed are those of the hosts, and do not reflect those of any other organizations. This podcast and website represents the opinions of the hosts. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content here is for entertainment and informational purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions. Music courtesy of Wataboi and 8er41 from PixabayContact us at doctorvcomedian@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, Rob Baker, founder of Baker Contracting Incorporated, shares his journey into the construction industry, the importance of home inspections and renovations, and how simple changes can significantly increase home value. He discusses current trends in home renovation, the challenges of building a successful contracting business, and offers valuable advice for aspiring contractors. Rob emphasizes the importance of problem-solving and building relationships in the construction field.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true ‘white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a “mini-mastermind” with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming “Retreat”, either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas “Big H Ranch”? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Nivi Manchanda, a reader in international politics at Queen Mary University in London.First, a moment when two cultures clashed in 1985 at Stonehenge.We hear about an English language novel from 1958, called Things Fall Apart.Then, the 1992 creation of the iconic Champions League anthem.Plus, how police raided the popular but controversial file-sharing website The Pirate Bay in 2006.Finally, how Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip went on one final tour, after their guitarist was given months to live in 2015.Contributors: Helen Hatt - one of more than 500 people arrested at the Battle of the Beanfield. Dr Nivi Manchanda - reader in international politics at Queen Mary University in London. Nwando Achebe - Chinua Achebe's youngest daughter. Tony Britten - composer of the Champions League anthem. Peter Sunde - co-founder of The Pirate Bay. Rob Baker - lead guitarist in the Tragically Hip.(Photo: Stonehenge protests. Credit: PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

In 2015, rockstar and Canadian icon Gord Downie was given months to live, after doctors found he had a terminal brain tumour. But instead of quietly exiting the stage, Gord and his band, the Tragically Hip, came up with a plan to play 15 shows across 10 of Canada's major cities. Megan Lawton speaks to lead guitarist Rob Baker about the tour and the remarkable final gig that was watched by millions across the country.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic' and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy's Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they've had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America's occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo: Gord and the Tragically Hip performing on their final tour. Credit: Andrew Chin/Getty Images)

This week on The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown, jD is joined by Sean from Vancouver — a Hip superfan whose personal stories span from watching Gord Downie in Yellowknife to following the band from coast to coast. It's a heartfelt, often hilarious deep-dive into what makes The Hip more than just a band — they're a lifeline, a soundtrack, and for many of us, a guiding presence.Sean shares stories about growing up in Yellowknife, the music video that pulled him in, live show memories (including a wild urinal encounter with Rob Baker), and the time he may have opened for Gord himself at an open mic. This episode is about community, memory, and the shared connection we all feel through The Hip.

We take the trip to Iowa to talk with Rob Baker of R & R Promotions to talk about Border Wars 2025 and their push to make their youth show as great as they possibly can. Hope you enjoy the listen

Ben chats with filmmaker, actor, and comedian Rob Baker about his CBC documentary series, Locals Welcome, his short film, The Light Before The Sun, and why he fights someone every day. Plus they share hilarious riffs on suffering through terrible comedy, disease, and dead dads.

The Tragically Hip Interview Series 002Welcome back to The Tragically Hip Interview Series! Episode 002 is a jam-packed double feature that's sure to delight any fan of The Tragically Hip and beyond. This episode showcases TWO incredible conversations that explore the intersections of side projects, legacy, and the evolution of Canadian rock.First, jD and Greg LeGros dive into the creative world of Stripper's Union, the side project of Rob Baker of The Hip and Craig Northey of Odds. Together, they break down the band's unique sound, discuss their albums Local 518 and The Deuce, and highlight hidden gems like “Shake It Off” and “The Bear.” Learn how these musical veterans brought their distinct talents together in a polished, boundary-pushing collaboration.Next, jD is joined by Pete Marchica and Tim from Portland for an intimate chat with Gord Sinclair. Gord opens up about his solo career, his innovative recording process using a mobile Airstream studio, and what it's like playing alongside his son. He also shares heartfelt reflections on The Hip's journey, the challenges of the live music scene, and the enduring power of music to connect us.Time Stamps:• [11:00] Exploring Stripper's Union: Rob Baker's creative partnership with Craig Northey.• [26:07] Robbie Baker takes the mic in “Sweet and Low.”• [56:27] Nostalgic dive into 80s and 90s Canadian rock, including The Odds and Doug and the Slugs.• [1:30:25] Rob Baker on balancing side projects and the legacy of The Tragically Hip.• [2:01:11] Gord Sinclair on Canadian music, touring challenges, and his Airstream studio.• [2:07:14] Insights into the Kingston music scene and must-see spots for Hip fans.

The Tragically Hip Interview Series 002Welcome back to The Tragically Hip Interview Series! Episode 002 is a jam-packed double feature that's sure to delight any fan of The Tragically Hip and beyond. This episode showcases TWO incredible conversations that explore the intersections of side projects, legacy, and the evolution of Canadian rock.First, jD and Greg LeGros dive into the creative world of Stripper's Union, the side project of Rob Baker of The Hip and Craig Northey of Odds. Together, they break down the band's unique sound, discuss their albums Local 518 and The Deuce, and highlight hidden gems like “Shake It Off” and “The Bear.” Learn how these musical veterans brought their distinct talents together in a polished, boundary-pushing collaboration.Next, jD is joined by Pete Marchica and Tim from Portland for an intimate chat with Gord Sinclair. Gord opens up about his solo career, his innovative recording process using a mobile Airstream studio, and what it's like playing alongside his son. He also shares heartfelt reflections on The Hip's journey, the challenges of the live music scene, and the enduring power of music to connect us.Time Stamps:• [11:00] Exploring Stripper's Union: Rob Baker's creative partnership with Craig Northey.• [26:07] Robbie Baker takes the mic in “Sweet and Low.”• [56:27] Nostalgic dive into 80s and 90s Canadian rock, including The Odds and Doug and the Slugs.• [1:30:25] Rob Baker on balancing side projects and the legacy of The Tragically Hip.• [2:01:11] Gord Sinclair on Canadian music, touring challenges, and his Airstream studio.• [2:07:14] Insights into the Kingston music scene and must-see spots for Hip fans.

Paul goes home to Canada for Christmas, and the maple syrup is flowing. We close out 2024 with a snow-covered treat, a special celebration of Record Store Day Canada's Ambassadors for 2024, The Tragically Hip. Celebrating their 40th year, the band were the subject of a retrospective 4-part Amazon Prime documentary, The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, and a commemorative book, This Is Our Life. Paul chats with No Dress Rehearsal director Mike Downie (brother of the Hip's late lead singer Gord Downie), and then guitarist and founding member Rob Baker. There's even a (singing) cameo from Feist! If you love the Hip already, it's a celebration, if you don't know them, it's an education. Happy New Year!  The Record Store Day Podcast is a weekly music chat show written, produced, engineered and hosted by Paul Myers, who also composed the theme music and selected interstitial music.  Executive Producers (for Record Store Day) Michael Kurtz and Carrie Colliton. For the most up-to-date news about all things RSD, visit RecordStoreDay.com)   Sponsored by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (dogfish.com), Tito's Handmade Vodka (titosvodka.com), RSDMRKT.com, and Furnace Record Pressing, the official vinyl pressing plant of Record Store Day.   Please consider subscribing to our podcast wherever you get podcasts, and tell your friends, we're here every week and we love making new friends.   This episode dedicated to Jimmy Carter, Rock & Roll President (1924-2024)

Check Playlist This episode of The Five Count featured an exclusive interview with musician Rob Baker. Rob is best known as the founder and guitarist of the band The Tragically Hip. He's also a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. During the show he discussed the longevity of the band, the new deluxe boxset for the album Up to Here, and the new documentary series The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal. Get your copies today!During the rest of the show we received a call from the assumed-dead Twitter Lori, Ton explained his love of Claymation, and Dustin told a story about inviting Hulk Hogan and Yngwie Malmsteen over for Thanksgiving. It came crashing down and it hurt inside! https://youtu.be/Jeu8A3mUG3E?si=a_XnAkbI8O0yfaYU

Rob Baker joins Frank Mackay on this episode of The Frank Mackay Show!

Send us a textRob Baker of The Tragically Hip joins Matt to discuss the 35th anniversary of the band's 1989 debut, Up to Here, which is being celebrated with a lavish box set featuring a wealth of previously unreleased content. The box set is available today digitally and will be released in a variety of physical formats on Nov. 15. You can order your copy of the box set here.The conversation with Rob was wonderfully free-flowing and numerous topics are discussed, including of course, stories from the time period that Up to Here was in the works. But also, Rob and Matt dig into the band's early struggles before they secured their first label deal, the challenges they've had in locating and preserving their archival material, recording in unique locations and even a humorous Rush story, just to name a few things.In addition to the new box set for Up to Here, fans can also enjoy No Dress Rehearsal, the new four-part documentary on Amazon Prime. There's also a new book. So it's a good time to be a fan of the Tragically Hip and it was a real pleasure to speak with Rob to hear some stories. Fellow longtime fans will enjoy this conversation and we appreciate Rob's time!P.S. Our comrade Allison Rapp also had a recent conversation that will be of interest to Hip fans. She spoke with bassist Gord Sinclair to discuss his love of Joni Mitchell's music for her Joni podcast and it's a chat you won't want to miss!Support the show

Rob Baker from The Tragically Hip to discuss the new box set, Amazon Prime documentary and bands 40th anniversary‘THE TRAGICALLY HIP: NO DRESS REHEARSAL' RELEASED ON PRIME VIDEO GLOBALLY ON SEPTEMBER 20 2024 MARKS 40 YEARS OF THE TRAGICALLY HIP, A MILESTONE YEAR HONOURING FOUR DECADES OF MUSIC, FRIENDSHIP AND PHILANTHROPY  DELUXE BOXSET OF DIAMOND CERTIFIED DEBUT ALBUM UP TO HERE,AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 8At Toronto International Film Festival, they won “The People's Choice Award”. This was a first in the history of the festival for a docuseries. At Calgary International Film Festival, they won “25th Anniversary audience award for top overall score”Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes”.Check out our segment Positively Pipeman dedicated to Business, Motivation, Spiritual, and Health & Wellness.Check out our segment Pipeman in the Pit dedicated to Music, Artistry and Entertainment Subscribe to The Adventures of Pipeman at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-...Would you like to be a sponsor of the show?Would you like to have your business, products, services, merch, programs, books, music or any other professional or artistic endeavors promoted on the show?Would you like interviewed as a professional or music guest on The Adventures of Pipeman, Positively Pipeman and/or Pipeman in the Pit?Would you like to host your own Radio Show, Streaming TV Show, or Podcast?Contact the Pipeman:Phone/Text Contact – 561-506-4031Email Contact – dean@talk4media.comFollow @pipemanradio on all social media outletsVisit Pipeman Radio on the Web at linktr.ee/pipemanradio, theadventuresofpipeman.com, pipemanradio.com, talk4media.com, w4cy.com, talk4tv.com, talk4podcasting.com. Download The Pipeman Radio APPThe Adventures of Pipeman is broadcast live Wednesdays at 1PM ET and Music & Positive Interviews daily at 8AM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) and replays on K4HD Radio (www.k4hd.com – Hollywood Talk Radio part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). The Adventures of Pipeman TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).The Adventures of Pipeman Podcast is also available on www.theadventuresofpipeman.com and www.pipemanradio.com, Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-adventures-of-pipeman--941822/support.

An interview with Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip about the box set release of their debut album "Up To Here." He talks about the legacy of the music, recording the album, reactions to the new band documentary on Prime Video ("The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal"), and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Double T Mornings is the morning show on 96.7 The Eagle in Rockford, Illinois. Not only does Double T play Rockford's favorite Classic Rock each day, he's also joined by many fascinating guests including music legends, comedians, pro athletes, and his own stable of experts on random subjects. Plus, it's a local show, so he's all in for Rockford.

In the week since the presidential debate, former President Donald Trump's lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have sown chaos in the small city. Members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, started showing up. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said more than 30 fake bomb threats have been called in, forcing schools, government buildings and stores to close temporarily. Dr. Robert Baker, a political science professor at Springfield's Wittenberg University, talks about how Trump's debate comment is disrupting life in the city. Later, Miami Herald Caribbean correspondent Jacqueline Charles talks about how the situation on the ground in Haiti is driving people out of the country. And in headlines: House Speaker Mike Johnson failed to rally his conference to pass a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, the U.S. Justice Department filed a $100 million legal claim against the owner and operator of the cargo ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order banning the use of conversion therapy on LGBTQ minors.Show Notes:Check out Pro. Rob Baker's book – https://tinyurl.com/d9mjshysSubscribe to Priyanka's newsletter –https://www.shitiboughtandliked.com/Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

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We are back from an amazing Border Wars show in Iowa. We recap the show with Rob Baker of R&R Total Destruction Promotions who talks about the show with us over the phone. Hope you enjoy the listen!

A truly international band composed of a Brit, a Frenchman, two Americans and two Canadians, The Wilderness formed in 2015. The Wilderness is the lifelong dream of six rock n' roll devotees based in Kingston, ON. Together, they bring the piss and vinegar of young DIY road-dogs, the lyrical eloquence of Canada's folk heroes, and the musical grandeur of your dad's favourite arena-rock band to any stage they can find. Think the belting poetry of Sam Fender, the lush vocal harmonies of Hozier, the driving guitars and soaring saxophones of Bruce Springsteen, and the effervescent choruses of Noah Kahan, held together by an unmistakable bond of brotherhood and a shared love of rock n' roll. A musical tapestry of truest Canadian fashion, the Wilderness sounds like nostalgia, feels like camaraderie, and looks a lot like a band you should watch out for.Since 2015, The Wilderness have been earning their following by cutting their teeth over countless long nights and hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Their debut album, “Until Tomorrow” was produced by Rob Baker (the Tragically Hip) and charted on the NACC's top 200 list for seven consecutive weeks. Their forth coming 2024 LP, “Strangers I Used to Love” was written in collaboration with JUNO panelist Steve Foley, Brett Emmons (the Glorious Sons), and Chris Koster (ex-the Glorious Sons) and sits poised to take the band to new heights and highways. With almost 600 independently booked shows across North America under their belt, and an independently released discography to their credit, the Wilderness are a formidable musical force and an unmistakably human band working hard to keep their dreams alive. Thanks for listening!!! Please Follow us on Instagram @hiddentracks99Pre and Post roll music brought to you by @sleepcyclespa

This week we finish coverage for Spring Ex and Dixie Destruction. We get to talk to Marty Million from Wyoming who proudly represented Team Hard Nose Derby Podcast at Dixie Destruction. We also hit on the Smash it for Skinny benefit derby that took place in Kansas and the Southern Number 9 show in Griggsville Illinois. We also start our journey into Border Wars with Rob Baker of R&R Promotions. Hope you enjoy the listen!!

Since 2018, Correspondent Michelle Miller and Producer Greg Fisher have reported on the murder of celebrity hair stylist and beauty executive, Fabio Sementilli. They go behind the scenes of their jailhouse interview with Rob Baker, who is serving a life sentence for murder, the love affair between Baker and Fabio's wife, Monica, and her alleged involvement in the plot to kill her husband.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today Robert Duensing takes a deep dive into the legendary Gilbert Robinson Restaurants. My guests are led by Ken Hill, former president, his son Mike, Bill Latimer & Rob Baker. They share stories about Annie's Santa Fe, the Bristol, Houlihan's Old Place and more. This will obviously lead to more shows and more rabbit holes about the restaurant scene in KC.

We explore the concept of "job crafting," where individuals reshape their roles to align with their strengths and passions, ultimately boosting job satisfaction and performance with Rob Baker. Key topics include:

jD, Pete, and Tim are back and this week they're discussing the EP Saskadelphia. TracksMontreal - Studio outtake Ouch - Studio versionCrack my Spine (Like a Whip) - Live from Halifax 1991Reformed Baptist Blues - Studio versionTranscriptTrack 1:[0:00] If you're a fan of the Tragically Hip, this is your hip fest. Getting Hip to the Hip, September 1st at The Rec Room. Celebrate the music of the hip with a live tribute act, the finale of a hip-based podcast, and a silent auction with amazing hip prizes, with all proceeds going to support the Gord Downieand Chani Wenjack Fund. If you're a fan of the hip, you need to be there. Tickets available now at gettinghiptothehip.com. Track 2:[0:28] The first, and to date, only posthumous release by the tragically hip is 2021's marvelous EP, Saskadelphia. [0:37] Borrowing its title from the original name of Road Apples, this record packs a punch in under 20 minutes of non-stop rock. Even the chilling theme of the song Montreal moves mountains with its haunting chorus. I remember downloading Saskadelphia on the mail-on weekend in 2021 and I was immediately transported back to 1991. [0:59] In some cases, we're even invited into this studio with banter between Gord and someone named Bruce. It was a total trip hearing these songs from a bygone era with a pair of ears from the 21st century. In some cases it was familiar, as I own bootlegs of Crack My Spine Like a Whip and Just as Well, but these new versions were bursting at the seams with nuance that only a studiorecording can offer. I felt nostalgic and sad listening, but by the end I was grinning ear to ear. This was a fantastic hip experience, and it's one I hope we get to enjoy with the upcoming re-release of Phantom Power, and I'm calling it here first, but I think we see an Up to Here boxset celebrating 35 years sometime in 2024. But don't quote me on that, unless I'm right of course. At any rate, I'm nervous about giving this one to Pete and Tim. Although they both enjoyed Road Apples initially, will they appreciate the significance of this EP? Will nostalgia be a factor for a pair of people who only first heard the band in November of 2022? [2:08] What kind of impact will this have? We'll have to wait and see on this episode of Getting Hip to the Hip. Track 5:[2:40] All right hey hey it's JD here and we are back again for another uh well let's call it the penultimate episode of getting hip to the hip i'm here as always with my friends Pete and Timto discuss Seminole Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip we're going through every album and we find ourselves at the last album. An EP as it were, Saskadelphia. It was released for the May long weekend in 2021 and it's a it's it's a trip back to the road Apple days. Before we get too deep into that discussion though, how the fuck are you guys doing? Well you know I'm a little a little of a Climbed a little tongue-tied. I don't know. I told my kid, Sage, this morning, I was like, this is sort of one of the last recordings. It's about 20 minutes of music. [3:41] And he was very encouraging on moving on to more pod stuff, because he knows I've totally loved doing this. But at the same time, I'm like, do we have to do this today, guys? Can we postpone it? Pause right here and do it later. Because it's like the last bunch of songs, really. The problem is, in a week, you'll be here. It's true. It's true. You'll be here, and we'll be doing the For Real last episode. Hope to see you there at Getting Hip to the Hip, an evening for the Donnie Wenjack Fund. Tickets are $40. You can get them on gettinghiptothehip.com. [4:20] Slash click the ticket button. Do that. It'll be good. Pete, how are you, man? I'm good. Um, your cadence threw me off there at the beginning, JD, because when you said I'm here with my good friends, Pete and Tim to discuss, and I thought you were going to,you're going to say two disgusting fucking individuals, but just to discuss. And then you were like the penultimate record. So, no, I'm good. Everybody knows that by now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kidding me with our link or that way. We fucking two sailors, three sailors here. That's right. With your captain Pete who we've gotten, I think we've gotten, uh, we've gotten a couple of emails from people saying, do you haveto use the F-word so much? You swear like sailors, ahoy motherfuckers. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm still looking forward to the, to the, uh, to the live event. I cannot wait. It's going to be so much fun. I'm I just I just hope I hope people are that show up want to that want to just talk about the hip. And I'm like, I'm wondering what other people say because I only know you guys. [5:37] Like, I've only I only really well my friend Barb too, but like, like, yeah, I don't talk about the hip, but I'm gonna be surrounded with a shit ton of people who fucking love the hip. It's going to be cool, man. Has Barb, has Barb confirmed? Barb's not confirmed, but Barb's on the fence. She's, she's, I think she just, we need to, we need to push Barb over the edge. How do we do that? We're pushing her right now. Barb, if you're listening. It's a, it's a love push, Barb. Barb. We're just giving you, we're just giving you a little, little bump you need. You need to be there, Barb. Careful, one person's love push is another person's incarceration, so you want to be careful with that. Well, I said bump, I meant like a little tiny, you know. Was that a Burning Bush reference? Is that a Bible reference? I missed it, went over my head. I'm out of swords today, gentlemen. [6:37] Are we gonna tackle this record? Well, let's talk about where you guys listened to this record for the first time. Where did listen to it, give me the environment, give me the background, give me the details, and then we'll go song by song. For me, no, my car is not a Yugo with the premium audiosound system. Surely it is not. Surely it is not. They're out of business. No, I listen to it in the car a lot, listen to it on my computer a lot. I've been doing a lot of work at the desk and was really surprised with this record, really surprised. kind of. [7:18] Yeah, I'll save all that, but yeah, listen mainly at the computer and in the car. All right. How about you, Tim? I'm the same. Same exact. Yeah. Sitting down. Sitting down. And it's a quick one, right? It's like 20 minutes and you're through. Yeah, 20 minutes. Right. Yeah. It's a tupper. When they first released it, they called it an album. I'm pretty sure they said it was an album. And a lot of people bitched. A lot of people were like, this isn't an album, it's an EP. It's six songs. Who called it that? I believe they did centrally, but even on the wiki page now, it's listed as an EP. So I don't know if it's been officially changed or what, but I'm calling it an EP. And it's a nice bookend. You get the EP at the beginning and you get the EP at the end, you know, in terms of bookends. Unless there's other music out there. But this came out after Gord's passing. This did. Yes. Yeah. 21. Yeah. 2021. People are bitching after the fact. Way to go hit fans. What a show. How about you? How about you, JD? JD, where, what was your experience when this came out? Oh boy. [8:25] Uh, did you grab it? Yeah. Um, I bought the 35th or the 30th it's yeah. The 30th anniversary of road apples, a box set. And it came in that box set and it came with live camp. It was a great box set because it came with a remastered road apples. It came with Saskadelphia. It came with Live at the Roxy and I want to say another record so it was chock full of cool cool shit for me it was just it was just a trip because it was like the last we heard of this band. [9:03] Was Man-Machine-Poem and it's very different from Road Apples, very different from Road Apples. And all of a sudden I was listening to brand new hip that was 35 years old, you know? So it was like, it was really, it hurt my brain a little bit, my brain was doing spirals, you know? Like it was like, this doesn't make sense, this is new, but this is really old. So I don't quite understand what this is all about, you know. But very much enjoyed it. A little disappointed that the version of Montreal is a live version, but I like the live version. It's good, you know. There's a reason. Yeah, there's a reason. And we'll get into that as we go. Should we start with Ouch? [9:54] Well, let's do a little more backstory. Yeah, go. Because in my experience of this EP, I went really quickly to YouTube and ended up watching some of the mini episodes that featureJohnny Faye in the Universal Warehouse finding the tapes. That's crazy. And all that stuff. And it was really interesting to go through those and hear him talk about Universal claiming the fire they had in the warehouse that was, I think he said they found out about it, the NewYork Times article. Yeah. Yeah, that's all I remember. And it listed all these bands whose tapes burned, and they were on the list. And so... [10:42] Johnny, I think. I forget who else. Johnny and somebody else immediately, it sounds like, really quickly went down to hunt down the tapes and they didn't burn. And he even had a comment, or most of them anyways, he even had a comment about how universal they thought. Actually, this was Baker in a different interview, because I watched a bunch with him too. Baker said that they thought that maybe the fire and the tapes were this multi-mega cash-in on getting assets destroyed that weren't really destroyed. But ultimately, they've said that they found 45-ish of 60-ish tapes and there's still potentially more out there. [11:29] So, there's some great interviews on this stuff. I probably watched, I don't know, six interviews. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah, I was kind of laid up one day and just had some time to kill and watch them, watch them interview. So yeah, so it's, maybe there is more out there. I mean, they pulled together, what is this, five songs? Well, six with Montreal, but yeah. Six. Yeah, six. And, you know, if there's, if we get six more eventually, that would be awesome. Yeah, because they are, I mean, there is talk of Phantom Power being reissued. They announced that last year that Phantom Power would be reissued this year. The 25th anniversary has passed, but I suspect it'll be a Christmas release, you know, but I don't know anything beyond that. [12:16] No, the cover of Phantom Power was actually done by Rob Baker. Really? That's a fact. Oh, wow. Rob Baker studied graphic design, I believe. Graphic design. Oh, yeah. University of Queensland? Queens, Queens University, yeah. Queens. Yeah. near the Bronx. Yeah, right now the Bronx just a hop, skipping the jump away. I'm skipping a jump. I had not, I had not heard or watched and heard interviews with him really yet. And man, I want to hang out with that guy. He is so. Baker? I don't know. He had so many. He had, yeah, he had so many fun, not fun. It's somebody wise one-liners just in the course of conversation with interviewers. Like he's just fucking Zen dude. So chill. Sorry. Some of it was during COVID and he was talking about like during COVID, how his son moved back home and they were, they had set times during the week where theywere jamming together and ah, man, it just. That's very cool. It's just a rad sounding dude. Yeah. Yeah. Well, get in line, Tim, because. [13:26] I'll be behind you. Yeah. Yeah. Rob Baker and I, we go back. We're gonna, I'm in Kingston. We got a we got a couple of beer dates Talk gear. I think it was I think it was ouch That Johnny Fay one of the YouTube video the one of these little mini episode things that Johnny Fay He's listening. There's a video of him listening to ouch. I believe it was out and And it gets to the end, and it stops. And he's so elated and excited. And he said something like, it even has an end. So stoked to find a complete song. Before we jump into the record, did you guys see the, Tim, I didn't watch all the interviews, but what's his name? Craig Rogers sent that email with the videos from the Cineplex event they did. Right, yeah. They did an event at the bathhouse. I didn't see that. Oh, dude, it's fucking cool. I mean, the only videos that he could find were... Or Bob Cajun, Escape is at Hand, Country Day and Coffee Girl, but they did this live event at the bathhouse. [14:44] During Bob Cajun, Rob Baker's just playing guitar. I don't think anybody else is in the video if I remember correctly, and Gord Downie's just shooting pool and singing this songwhile he's shooting pool. It's the coolest fucking thing. Oh my God, I got to see this. It's so cool, man. It's one of the coolest fucking, he's just like, he's, and it's a weird, like, I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not, when, you know, when we go to the bath house and eventually record there one day, I'm not going to piss and moan to the guys about the pool table. I hope it's a bar size table, but I noticed that the balls in Canada, they weren't like, you know, the color balls like we have in the U S or like red balls. And then maybe a different color. Were they playing snooker maybe? Maybe it was like a snooker table but yeah. Yes they are. They are. They're playing snooker. I just pulled it up. I did this. Sorry Craig. I didn't I didn't I didn't go through. I saw it Craig. Thanks. I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to respond. I've been busy working this week. Yeah I haven't. [15:51] Sorry Craig. Very cool. Yeah. Got something new to check out. That's great let's dive in ouch ouch ouch. [19:12] Go ahead, Timmy. Take it. Well, this one kind of brought me back to Born in the Water. And back then, when we were talking about Road Apples, if I recall correctly, I had some comments about it being bluesy, and George Thurgood, whatever. I had some comments like, why are these guys? They're a rock and roll band, but they're in different buckets of genres within rock and roll. And not many bands can do that and do it successfully. A lot of them try, and I think don't do as good of a job. And so listening to Ouch made me realize, it just brought me kind of full circle on The Hip's abilities and their skills and their talents and brought me to this kind of new level of fandomof thinking about that. [20:18] And like I imagine I have some friends from back in the day who are big time music guys and I imagine that what they would would think about listening to different types of songsby The Hip and how some who are not Hip fans might think it's kooky or why they're doing this. Or it's kind of out of a comfort zone. But listening to Ouch and going back to Road Apples and Born in the Water and songs like that, like it just, it brought me kind of, It completed the circle of thinking. [20:49] These guys are really talented they can do whatever they want to do they're they got the they got their driver's licenses they got the keys you know it's it's just like god what couldwhat can they not do at this point you know and the the song is we could talk about the song and all the aspects of it and gourd's growly singing and you know all the things but this onejust kind of it just kind of hit me full circle with the band and it made me think like at one point i was like thinking about you know in the u.s, raiders fans or fans of certain teams or youknow i bleed whatever i don't know it's all these stupid things of these allegiances to to cultural items and how, or genres or arts and how some people can be like, just so narrow within acategory of something that they really love and how, like, I don't know this. If you opened up your mind a little bit and accept things a little more, why are you hiring now? [22:04] Have more enjoyment. No, no, you can have more enjoyment. No, seriously, I had a moment with this song. Wow. Really fucking solidified why I like The Hip and why I could argue to the end of all day is about how they're fucking better than youtwo. How's that? Yeah. You know? Yeah. So there. That's what happened to me with this song. [22:29] That's far out. Probably led to so many video watchings because I was like, Like just give me more at a personal level of these guys. It's 9.53 in the morning for fuck's sake. It's not even 10. Can I wait till 10 to get high? 20 somewhere, baby. That's right. What about you, Pete? [22:52] Um, I, I dug this song. The only thing I, you know, can kind of gather that, you know. [23:00] I, I agree with Tim on, um, not that I disagree with him on what else he was saying. But you know, just kind of one of the points that he made was that this kind of brought it full circle. Like, I think when we started out with road apples, Tim and I were both kind of like,where are we going with this? And then even when we talked to Paul Ling Wah the other day, how he was, you know, we were talking about, you know, everybody has a different entry point to the hip, you know, westarted from the, from the very beginning. You know so maybe that wasn't our destined entry point, but it was the entry point nonetheless. And we kind of came back full circle because now we got this similar sound of what road apples was without and My only comments on the song itself, which I loved It just painted apicture And I'll read it to you It's 11 15 p.m, The bar is dirty and it's dingy the happy hour crowd has gone home drunk already The band's starting to get into its back catalog and angrytunes. And the close the bar down crowd has just showed up, you know. The guy with the pull cue in the fucking case, a couple of bar room hustlers, a couple of hot chicks that um... [24:29] That frequent the bar. Everybody showed up. Barkeep's getting surly. Barkeep is getting surly. [24:39] Everything about this band, this song, gave me the vibe like they're just up on stage playing and they don't give a fuck. They don't care. They've done it so many times, It's just, it's like muscle memory to them. And they're just, rock and roll is just fucking in their veins. And it's on display for everybody who's probably taking it for granted at the bar. It seems that way. Yeah. Yeah. Because Lord knows, I mean, I took Road Apples and that shit for granted. Did you guys go back to it? Like, after listening to this record, did you go back to Road Apples? To Road Apples, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like to try and see what like to me I did the same thing and it was like it was to try and see where these songs would have fit in because like asmuch as it's new material we all have to understand too it's material that they felt wasn't up to snuff to make the actual record, right? Yeah, which is weird to me like but maybe it was just a time thing. Yeah, yeah. Because I thought the majority of these songs on this record were great. [25:51] Yeah. Yeah, I tend to agree with you. I enjoy it. It's not long enough to be offensive. Even if it was offensive, you know? You're in and you're out, and it's done. Yeah. What it did for me, I mean, I went back to Road Apples, but I also, again, went. [26:12] To video stuff like i hung out on youtube more with this one and pete it's funny you mentioned kind of a bar scene because the video for this song it's kind of all about a bar sceneit's it's a fun it's a really i didn't know there was the videos for a few yeah there's videos for a few of these yeah jay baruchel's in that video right ouch ouch is it yeah yeah ouch is a hootit's got like all these hidden nuggets through the video with references to other songs or albums. Yeah I think there was like 20 of them. It's a really good video. Yeah, yeah. It's a really, really good video. I watched it a couple times. Super interesting. Yeah, a lot of fun. So check that out. All right, let's move to Not Necessary. Not necessary. [27:01] Um, again, this is just like, I thought this song would have fucking cooked live. I mean, like, like most of the songs on this EP, just like pictured sweat just fucking pouring off of everybody's foreheads. And just, yeah, it was just a good time record, man. A good time tune. Chorus was super hooky, just like, had a great, like it did sound, the chorus sounded like it was, you know, crafted in that time. Like if you saw a TNC Surf t-shirt, somebody was wearing it walking down the street, you'd know what like year that kind of came from. I don't know if anybody remembers TNC Surf.Do you remember that company? Well, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, um, TNC Serpent Skate it was called. But yeah, it's just like, yeah, that would be, you'd know what era it was from. And definitely this song was a bit of just, they were justhaving such a fucking good time. It was kind of a window into their youth. Yeah, yeah, that's good call. Life on the road in the van, you can almost smell the inside of the van, stinky and, you know, sweaty and lived in. Yeah. How about you, Tim? [28:25] I agree with Pete on all that. I don't have much more on the song. I dug the song. I really no qualms about it. [28:37] This one I went faster to video. I hate to say that I just watched videos on all this shit, but I watched a lot of videos. And this one's cool. It's like bank robbery gone wrong. It's got a total plot, to it that somehow ties into the song. I haven't seen the video for this one. It's a really... Oh man, it's killer. Check that out. It's got a cliffhanger at the end. It's a fun video and I just... It really... I don't know, just after listening to so much music by these guys with cans and not having much visually other than some live stuff, like it was fun to find videos from this EP. So, definitely watch Ouch and watch Not Necessary. Great song. Right, we move next to the very solemn song about the École Polytechnique massacre that happened in the late 80s in Montreal, where a young man brutally murdered 14students and the Tragically Hip wrote a response to that it's very loosely based in that although it's bang on at the same time like there are lyrics in it that give you chills, you know? [30:05] But what did you think of Montreal, Tim? [30:11] It's a heavy one. I think I read that 27 people were shot, 14 died. You know, it's one of these songs that you could throw in a bucket by the hip that aren't something I reach for just because of the subject material. You know, it's like one of those heavy things that's Marked history and something uncomfortable and something that we we still deal with Every day, you know like the like a few othertheir songs in this this whole Tragedy, I don't know it's it's a It's you know our Mind may be privileged to listen to it and feel unsettled and move on and put it in a drawer You know,because it's fucking tough history and a tough topic and all the things. And yeah, it's also like, I commend The Hip for and Gord for writing it and them playing it live. Like it's this song is brave, it takes courage and I don't know, I just I don't have a lot of music, just actual tune. Sure. Comments about it, just because it's like, you know? [31:40] Because, I mean, just also being in the USA, I mean, we deal with this stuff all the time. So it's just like, you know, it's probably a song that everybody should hear and play. [31:55] Let me just tell a quick little anecdote before we come to you Pete. I remember my friend Jeff who was older than me and he drove to Toronto for a show, a hip show at the old Ontario Place Forum and I remember him coming back and saying there's thissong called Montreal I think it's going to be on the next record like it was so great like and I got to hear it again And this is back in the day when you just couldn't hear it again. That was it. He heard it and that was his memory of it. And that's the end. He didn't get to hear it again until years later. You hear traces of it on Live Between Us during Courage, I believe. They start singing the tail end of Montreal. Pete, what did you think of this live version? I really liked it. I did. I thought it was very haunting. Those little, you know, cool guitar licks. Those little, you know, I think they're arpeggios or something. And then when the chorus just switches over to a major, it's like a, you know, beautiful. [33:12] What's the way it kind of puts into a happier space, but then it just gets dark again. It was just a bit of a seesaw feeling, this song, but it's definitely something that I, again, I mean, I don't know if it was because of it was a live version, but, you know, I would probably, if Iheard the studio version of this tune, I would want to hear it live too, because it was really a really pretty song, but it was, Because of the six songs on this record. [33:45] I would say it was, you know, I would say it was not my favorite, but I really liked it. I think just because it starts off so heavy. Yeah. Record, you know? Yeah. So. All right. No. JD, if you checked out JD, I guess there's a DVD of that show at the Metropolis. Oh really? That's available, yeah, there's a DVD that's available for free, like via the Hip Fans webpage. I haven't gone back to checking that. Yeah, you might. Check that out, because that sounds pretty awesome. There's some fan... They don't tend to give things away very often. There's some fan footage that... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, there's some fan footage that somebody produced a DVD. Oh, wow. Okay. Well if you're interested in the 7-inch of Montreal, we have an autographed copy of the 7-inch of Montreal and it'll be at the silent auction of the event so that's kind offun. That's a fun one. Yeah, and I should note it's auctioned by the four living members of the band. Like it's not a complete, you know, Gord is not on there. But you get all the living members of the band and that's pretty fucking cool. You get Pete, Tim and JD to sign it too. That's right. That was a joke because it'll be devalued if that happens. [35:14] So we flip the record over and we get the fucking electric, crack my spine like a whip. [38:30] This song fucking melts, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. [38:35] You know, this is the one, this is the one that Johnny Faye was like, it has an ending too. This was the one he was so psyched about. This is over here in my notes, I'm finally getting on that. And this is the song that led me to ask Paul about he and Baker's guitar playing and he noted how they're who was it Dan Smith Don Smith who also makes this yeah how he channeledthem yeah how he channeled them and put one in the left and one of the right and the hard pan yeah so this song made me yeah the hard pan this song made me realize I don't know it wasit It was a complete picture in my brain of what these guys were doing on guitar. And I even said to Paul, I tried to get into it a little bit, but I would love to talk to him in person about it. But this song, Paul on guitar, he's just got the, just reminds me of 80s power guitar chords, just like Ramones and 80s bad religion. And he's just going through it. It's like he's the fucking locomotive of this song, which also ties in with Pete so many times, how you've said how Paul and Johnny are like a unit unlike any other, cause it's usually drumsand the bass player, you know? [40:02] But these guys have such an interesting compositional makeup within each other, you know? This song to me, like, it kind of personified their abilities And, you know, they're I don't know, just this this song is killer. I just loved it. I listened to it so many times, so many times. It's just killer. Good one. Good song. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you, Don Smith. I mean, you you nailed it with these guys not being rhythm and lead or lead and rhythm. You nailed it with these guys being guitarists. So just let it ride. [40:39] Well, I thought this song it fucking cooked. I mean, I don't have much to say about it, other than the fact that, um, I, you know, to your point, Tim, to add on to it, I think it was more than just Paul and Johnny, I think, Paul, Johnny,Gord, and Rob Baker, are all like, on stage in a fucking musical orgy. And strangely enough, I feel like Gord is in background of the song. He's not a I mean he's there but I wouldn't call him the star of the show for this song. That fucking band like just stepped in front. Gord's like you know in the back like, you know, Maybe changing Johnny's fucking crash cymbal because he broke it so many times duringthe song. He's there and it's good and not trying to take away from Gord's vocals, but the band just fucking destroys this song. You could tell they were having a blast when they recorded it. Hands down. They just take over, you know? Yeah. So yeah, good song. [41:56] One of the YouTube videos on this, I just went back to it. They're called the Saskadelphia Minutes. And there's like five or six episodes, but not all of them are posted. But there is a one minute, they're all short, there is a one minute version of our video for this song just as well. And it's got some fun live footage of the guys. is one thing I think Baker was talking about in a video is how a lot of these songs they did play live and he didn't really have many answersor questions about like why didn't they make it or where did they go or what happened you know he was just like we had a lot of songs and he one cool takeaway of these songs inparticular and just as well was that they didn't rehearse much He spoke at length about how they didn't rehearse much and they road-tested new songs. He said often they'd come out and whatever new song they were working on, they'd play first. Like that was their warm-up, was road-testing a song. And like bands don't do that. Like nobody does that. You know what I mean? It's like you play first base for whatever. [43:16] And coach is like, hey, you're going out, move to left field. And it's like, OK, I'll play left field. I think I can do this. And it's just gnarly what these guys were capable of. It's pretty awesome. And just to back up to our last pod, it's about the absolute opposite of what Mr. Bob Rock these guys do one. You know? It really is. It's like if they could go out and road test a song, first show, the first song of the night. Yeah. Phew. you, Yeah, rather than work on something for a couple ofmonths. It's I think road testing was the way to go. That's the unique gift there to us as listeners and fans. You got to just see your favorite band jam. [44:09] And sometimes they'd come up with something, and you're just like, wow, what is that? I got to hear that. Like my friend with Montreal. Yeah. You know? And then when. Yeah. Yeah, Baker said, you know, we played 200 plus shows a year. We knew each other. We know each other. We're all best friends. We could do it. We could just sit down and figure something out. And if we liked it, we'd go do it. Goddamn. What a gift those guys had. So you merged into Just As Well there, Tim. We were talking about Crack My Spine Like a Whip, and you've brought it into Just as Well, so should we stick with Just as Well for Pete? Or do you have more to say about Just as Well? [44:55] I mean only about picking scabs. All right. Yeah. Because that's the line in Just as Well. For the love of Pete. It's going to keep getting infected. It's going to keep getting infected if you keep picking at it. Oh, Pete, they knew. Yeah, right, right. Sure they did. I love the ready Bruce right at the beginning. That was fun. [45:23] Hmm. This was one I genuinely was like, what the fuck? Why is why was this not on the record? Oh, wow. This was. Hmm. Hundred percent. Hundo. This was probably my favorite tune on the record. Got a lot of Stones vibes. Yeah. I mean, super big. Everything from the guitar tone to just the song itself, just rolling stones. Yeah. And I don't know, man, the more it ebbs and flows because, excuse me, the longer I listen to this band, the more I just understand each and every member, because specifically thissong, Gord Sinclair's bass stands out so much because it follows, I think, Rob Baker's guitar licks. And it just, yeah, what a talented fucking band, man. At this stage in the game they were. [46:31] You know, yeah, what do you, I mean, what a fucking jam. What do you want me to say about the song just cooks dude you know the hook turn around it's just it's so good it's a pop tune, rock pop tune fucking formulaic yeah it is a good one it is agood formula right like it's like original coca-cola it's like it's a formula but it's it works it's it's yeah but there's a lot there's a lot of coke out there there's a lot of soda there's rc there's youknow there's shasta There's that store-bought shit, but this is original fucking recipe, man. This is, maybe even a little savour original. [47:13] Listen to that rolling R's. You like that? Yeah. So, the next one is... [50:44] I just thought, let's go get in the car and go for a drive, you know. It's just reminded me of like my teenage years as a Catholic youth and having a driver's license. I literally had a time in my life and it was like with that summer where I was to go to church and I would just pick up my buddy Dave and we'd drive around for an hour and smokecigarettes and go back home. How was church? It was great. That's what this reminded me of. [51:13] But again, it made me think about the band and the various aspects of rock and roll they could go after, which, you know, we have in our time, you know, we had The Stones whocould do that. We had Zeppelin who could do that. Maybe Queen. Definitely The Beatles. You know, there aren't many bands who can go after kind of different aspects of rock and roll and do it really well and still remain respected and still keep, you know, selling out stadiumsacross Canada or whatever. But this song, it's huge. It hits the two-minute mark and it felt like it could kind of be done or not, and it just keeps going and that's awesome, you know. [51:53] Yeah, I just, it's got like a 15-second fade out. That works for you, doesn't it? And it's cool. Oh my God. I mean, this is this is a killer song. It's the live versions of this song are amazing. This song live is yeah, that's what I'm saying to you. It's alive. It's it's a cooker. It's out there live. I don't know, man. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm sure I have no doubt that the song cooks live, but you cannot debate that the song does not cook on the fucking studioversion. Because Because it's, it's, I mean, dude, it, it's, this song, if it was like, it's a, it's another bar brawl. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, everything is so filthy, dirty, the guitars, gourds, gourds, who's, you know, Cheers. [52:46] There used to be this bar, nobody knows where this town is, it's in Cedar County, Missouri, near Stockton, it's about 70 miles from, Jesus, where would you fly, what's the gamblingtown where they got the riverboat? It's a shithole town, apologies if you're from there. Oh, God, Branson, it's about 75 miles from Branson, yeah. [53:16] And Cedar County, a town called Jericho Springs, I can't remember the name of it, but everybody called it the Purple Unicorn, because there was a purple unicorn out front. And this was a bar where like you would, 90% of the jukebox would be Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson, and that's it. Nothing else. You wouldn't you would not find anything else on there. And this band would like maybe, you know, be staying in town and play a show there. And it would just the place would erupt in a ballroom, ballroom brawl, cops, which cop cars blackand whites all over. Fucking people getting fucking taken out of their Bottles getting broken over people's fucking heads. Then them just fucking smoking a cigarette. The only way I would want to hear this song live would be with at least a fifth of Jim Beam in me or some shitty whiskey. Not even Jack Daniels, just some shit whiskey. I do like this song. [54:27] It's a barroom brawler too. That's awesome. Yeah. And that's how the record ends. That's, you know, as far as we know, that's all the hip we're gonna get. And that puts us in a position to pick our last song for our playlists. You guys each get to pick a song and it'll be the last song in your playlist and you'll debut your playlists at the last episode. So in the proper order that they belong in and everybody will get to see your playlists. What are you choosing? Well, I know I said before that Just As Well was probably my favorite tune, but then I'm taking that back because I just painted that picture in my head so well. I would say Reformed Baptist Blues, man. Oh, wow. That's gonna be it. Yeah, 100%, dude. That song is fuckin'. [55:32] You know like where they get the guy and they throw the guy on the bar and they fucking they shovel him down the bar and he slides and he breaks a bunch of glasses and his headgoes into the jukebox like that's this song and the band's still playing they're still finishing the song because if they stop playing they don't get paid exactly exactly Cool cues gettingbroken over people's fucking heads. What about you Tim? What's your track? I love that song. Yeah, I love that song as well, but I'm going with Crack My Spine. I love the guitar. Yeah, I love the guitars in that one. They're rhythmical like a whip. That song did it for me. Well, your lists are now complete. I will send them to you so you guys can sequence them and maybe you do that on the plane ride over. Who knows? You'll listen to it to see if it works. [56:31] But that's what I've got for you. I want to thank you as always for doing all the heavy fucking lifting and listening to the music, having to describe it, answering my stupid assquestions, all that shit. Guys are fucking gold to me and I can't wait to see you next week and uh, and share you with the world so there's that peace out guys peace out see you in canada pick up your thanks Itwas... It was... You stepped on my fucking line. Fuuuck you Tim how could you? Pick up your shit! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gettinghiptothehip/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, jD, Pete, and Tim embark on a deep journey into the musical saga of the Tragically Hip by shining the spotlight on their 13th full-length album, Man Machine Poem. We uncover how the band unknowingly crafted their last album and created a memorable and satisfying conclusion with this profound piece. Tracks Man - Studio versionIn a World Possessed by the Human Mind - Toronto 2016Here in the Dark - Studio versionOcean Next - Edmonton 2016TranscriptTrack 1:[0:00] If you're a fan of the Tragically Hip, this is your hip fest. Getting Hip to the Hip, September 1st at The Rec Room. Celebrate the music of the hip with a live tribute act, the finale of a hip-based podcast, and a silent auction with amazing hip prizes, with all proceeds going to support the Gord Downie and Chaney Wenjack Fund. If you're a fan of the hip, you need to be there. Tickets available now at GettingHipToTheHip.com. Track 2:[0:28] What was I listening to? That's the first thing that went through my mind when I experienced Man Machine Poem's first track, Man, for the first time. Although my love affair with the hip was back in full gear, I don't remember really digging into this record when it dropped. I was in and out of the hospital dealing with my mental health when I underwent ECT, electroconvulsive therapy. You know when you get a full list of the worst things that can happen during a procedure because the doctors have to tell you, even though the odds of landing are miniscule? [1:09] Well, the worst possible thing happened with me and ECT. I had full-on amnesia. There are whole swaths of my memory that are gone, and I also have trouble making new memories. So I think my first run at this album was lost in the Barrens. Fast forward to the Fully and Completely podcast though, and I fell in love. I fell in love with this the hip's 13th full length. And when I say loved, it's tough for me to quantify how much I do love this album. From the complicated man, through the gorgeous Insarnia, and the mysterious Ocean's Next, This is a damn near masterpiece. [1:57] Sadly, none of the tracks on this album would get to live a life outside the final 2016 Man Machine Pong Tour. I loved the performance of In a World Possessed by the Human Mind, but I honestly think it would have become a tour staple if the band had been able to endure Gord's cancerous lifesentence. Although, during the recording of the formerly titled Dougie Stardust, the band couldn't have known that this would be their final kick of the can, but I can't imagine a more fitting albumto do the perfunctory honors. Essentially, to sum it all up in one word, sigh. [2:41] I'm so curious what our friends Pete and Tim will feel about all of this. I guess we should kick into it. Getting hip to the hip. Track 5:[3:19] Hey, it's JD here and welcome to getting hip to the hip. We are back as we are every week going through the catalog of Seminole Canadian rock band, the Tragically Hip. I'm here as always with my friends, Pete and Tim, trying to ascertain exactly what they think of this band because they've never heard them before. Please join me in welcoming my friends, Pete and Tim. Pete and Tim, welcome. [3:48] Hi, JD. Hi, Tim. Hi, fellas. Thanks for the welcome. You're always so warm, JD. I want to make one quick correction in your intro there, JD, is that you said that we've never heardof them. Now, we've been doing this podcast, what, 15, 14 weeks, something like that? Fair enough. Fair enough. I've fucking heard of the charge of the hit. So I just, I don't think it's fair. You know, we might want to prepare people for that, the finale, too. Hey, I know who they are. to charge it to him. So I just, I don't think it's fair. You know, we might want to prepare people for that, the finale too. Hey, I know who they are. Okay, pre, you know, pre-pod recording for me, it was, it was like a bumper sticker. So yeah, we've heard them now. Or that little stamp thing that you put on your suitcase. Not stamp, but stickers that you put on your suitcase. Tags, yeah. It's the ones that say Fragile? No, no. Fragile. Like you put, like every city you go to, You put it on your suitcase and then your suitcase has all these, uh, stickers. All of that. Yeah. If you don't have, you don't, if you don't have the, uh, the Canada one on there, then your shit gets stolen. Yeah. It's just fact definitely don't want an American flag on there. Right. No, that's true. And, uh, you guys are, um, I mean, we're, we're what, uh, two weeks away. You guys are ready to, have you started packing yet? [5:08] I'm still doing laundry. Okay. I'm still doing laundry. Why did you pack the day before? Yeah, I, oftentimes I pack the morning of, so. Yeah. I'm not that, yeah. But we're looking forward to seeing you, of course. Tickets are still available for the event, which is again, two weeks from now, September 1st, Friday night at the Rec Room in Toronto. If you're a hip band, you gotta come to this thing. I mean, it's just that simple. It's almost like hip-con, where we're all just gonna get together and enjoy our love for this band. And if you're not there, then you're clearly not a hip band. That's right. I mean, if you wanna be a hip completist and you've gotten this far with us, you gotta come to the fundraiser. You gotta come to the show. Come on. It's like, if you don't, and you've gotten this far, and you can't make it, then, eh. I don't know. Losing some cred. [6:13] And we've got some more prizes are coming in, but we've got some awesome, awesome prizes for the silent auction. I don't know if they're, if they're called prizes or they'd be itemsfor auction. We've got some pretty neat ones. We've got some ephemera from the Tragically Hip themselves autographed. We've got some items from Dave Bustito. We've got $200 in Air Canada gift cards. We've got a beautiful gift baskets. We've got another gift card to Amazon. We've got, um, Oh hell. I can't even, there's also a, uh, it's a, it's, it's in a frame. It's done really nicely, but there's a, there's a lock of Bob rocks hair. [7:10] I Might I might try to win that and I'll weave it into my bang. Oh god, wouldn't that be cool man? A lock of Bob rocks hair. Oh Man, he's he's he's gonna send somebody out dude. He's It's going to be a hit job, dude, no, he's going to send somebody out to fucking kill us. Exactly. Yeah, it's cool. Also it goes without saying, actually, no, it doesn't go without saying, it would be rude of me to mention the bonus feed at this point because the season's over. You know, we're pretty much done. There's no more bonus episodes and this is not a seasonal podcast. We're not going to do these albums again. But you can revisit it and go back and listen for years to come, right? That's true. That's totally true. You can go back and listen to all those fun episodes that we did that were outside of the realm of the albums. [8:03] So there's that. Is Bob Rock Canadian? Bob Rock is Canadian. Yeah. And I mean, like, respectfully, like he is, like, like from like 87 to like 95, probably like the top producer on earth. Dude, totally. He did the Black Album. He did the Black Album. He did all the Sarah Smith work. He's not going to send out a hit team for us, Tim. He's not going to send people to kill us, but he probably will send a strongly worded letter. In Canadian, no. A strongly worded letter. Anyway. Well, this record that we're talking about today, the 13th record, Man Machine Poem, was not produced by Bob Rock. It was produced by, oh my gosh, my notes are not in front of me now. It was produced by Kevin Drew, Jesus Christ, Jamie. You should have known that. And Dave Hamlin, Dave Hamlin. Broken social scene and Dave Hamlin. Yeah. Who also produced the first posthumous Gord record. So, clearly. [9:05] Gord living in Toronto at this time was, you know, part of this sort of cabal of artists in, in the city. And he had been working with them, you know, a lot. And we're seeing the fruits of that now. I don't know if you guys have listened to the, the Bob rock Gord Downey convergence, but we haven't talked about that at all on the show. Okay. Well, maybe we'll make that homeworkfor next week's episode. [9:35] Um, just give it a cursory listen. Yeah. There's some of the best gourd vocals I've ever heard on it, but it's not my favorite gourd record overall, I would say. And it's also produced by our friend, Bob Rock, which is funny. Yeah. When in doubt, right? It's like a little glass case through the hammer. You know, I might, the dog might eat my homework on that one. If my flight is delayed going into Toronto, you know who I'm blaming. Oh, wow. Yeah. When you fly that old Norm Macdonald bit, you guessed it, Frank Stallone, you know? Or instead of Frank Stallone, you guessed it, your flight's delayed? Your house got struck by lightning? Whose fault is it? You guessed it. Probably there isn't some Metallica fan in the control tower that Bob has access to. Yeah, that's true. Well, that's a, I mean, that's a well-produced record, there's nothing wrong with it. I think it, I think those songs still, you know, you can still listen to them and you know that it's from 1991, but it's, um, it still works. Like it's not like, whoa, this is, this is way off, you know, where there's some stuff that you hear and you're like, like the EP, for example, you know, uh, the, the tragically hip EP. [10:57] It, you know, it sounds like 1987, but now it sounds like, like 1987 plus 35 years, you know? Right. If that makes any sense. I don't know. I'm rambling a bit here. But what do you say we get into your thoughts on the record and your first experiences with the record and how you listened to the record, as we doin each and every episode? I mean, maybe we just talk about the album conceptually, because really, it first listened, And for me, it was feeling different. It was feeling, I don't know. It was dreamy and fuzzy. And it feels like some memories. I don't know. At one point, I was like, this would be good to listen to on a road trip at night. Like, it just, this one had kind of this sad but futuristic, It was kind of all over the place, it wasn't exactly... [12:09] A mood booster or like, yes, this is this is that next step album, you know, the phone was different. And, you know, I understand that it was released before Gord's cancer announcement. But it was also, you know, like it made me wonder about his wife's whole process with cancer and all of that, too. But it just it was kind of ominous in that whole regard of what was goingon and Gord's life, perhaps. And I read some quote from him around this time era, maybe during the recording time era. He said something about not wanting to sing any lyrics anymore that he doesn't write. If the band was pitching in on lyrics, I feel like he was feeling the weight of the world coming down upon him, even perhaps without even knowing his diagnosis. I guess he had a couple of strokes during that time, but anyways... Seizures. Or seizures, yes. Yeah, seizures. Thank you. [13:15] But anyways, it's a trippy album. It kind of hit me in different ways. And I listened to it. I was traveling the past couple of weeks and kind of listened to it here and there. At one point, we were packing up to head to the next town, and we were in Italy. And I said to my wife, I said, you know, I'll play this recent hit album we're working on, because I think it suits the morning. It's kind of rainy. We're packing up. We're getting ready, just kind of methodically going through the motions, and played it. And her vibe from it really wasn't so sure. She just didn't really know how to pick up from this one. She hasn't really listened to a whole album yet, but we played the whole album, and about halfway through it, I was like, huh, should I put something else on? This is fitting the mood. What is the mood? [14:15] Right. Yeah. Well, it was, it was a very strange mood here in Canada because I'm, I'm not sure how you worded it a moment ago, but we did know that he had cancer when therecord came out, so the record was supposed to come out and then they delayed it when he had his second seizure, they delayed it to June and it came out in June, but, but they announcedon the May long weekend, so just one month before, they had announced that he had inoperable, well, not inoperable, because he had already had half his brain removed. He had many operations, but he had the type of cancer that he had and his sort of status, right? [15:02] And it was like, holy, it was grim. It was fucking grim. And then you get this record and you put it on and there's like, there's stuff on here that is like, when they wrote the record, he didn't have cancer, but man, some of the lyrics. Seem foreboding well here's the thing with the big c is. [15:27] A lot of people talk about cancer when they get diagnosed as that's when i found out i had cancer and i think just based on experiences i've had with people around me and familyetc. That it grows in the body for as long as it grows until it's making its debut. You know, like he had a very special brain and a very creative guy and just obviously all the things about Gord's writing abilities. And you know, this might have been something that was growing in there for a long time. I think it was probably there during the whole album producing and making and affecting likely how his brain worked. A friend of ours mother had brain cancer and she was not normal for like three, four years and no one like, why is she, why is she, why is she slowly becoming so mean, you know? And it turns out she had brain cancer and it was like the size of a grapefruit before they figured it out. So it was probably there. And it was probably making it it's effect on his creative outlet, his creative abilities. What do you think Pete? Wow, a lot to unpack there. Heavy stuff, yeah. Yeah, we jumped right into it. [16:40] Well, I mean, yeah, all I will say in terms of the lyrics, yeah, it is a bit foreboding. [16:49] I can't really, I think, I can't remember what song it was that made me think, did he know that he got, that he had cancer up until this point. I think it was track four in Sarnia and yeah, made me definitely think what was going on during this, but yeah, it's a unique album. I mean, it's certainly. [17:18] Different. I mean, I'll comment more on on the songs, you know, why I think that way it is, you know, but overall, I very much enjoyed it. Listened to it in the car, wasn't doing it at the desk, listened to it on traveling on a plane, lots of different places, lots of different ways to experience this record. I feel like it's somethingthat I would put on in the winter. That's kind of how it felt to me. There's a few songs maybe that were not so much in this kind of mode for me but you know all in all just kind of on the stats side on the stat side of thingsit's got a 3.5 which i wasn't surprised to see on all music um it's short it's again another 40-ish minute album right lots of songs around the four minute mark like it's i felt like uh i don'tknow It did win a Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year in 17, which is amazing. That shows that a band can really evolve and change and have ups and downs. And still grab one of those awards is fucking killer. Yeah. [18:30] Most of this album didn't get much live play time. No, they only did the one tour, which was like 14 gigs, right? Yeah. We didn't get to see it and I mean, we're fucking incredibly lucky that we got that tour. Like when, when I show you guys the document, when I show you guys the documentary, long time running, it's called bring some tissues. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be, it's going to be, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. Tariq Tariq. And unfortunately for me, I missed most of this because I was very sick at the of time and I just have no memory. So, there's that. What do you say we get into track by track? Let's do it. Let's do it. Track number one. Man. Man. Man what, dude? What did I say? [19:29] Man, what a track. But you said it like, man. I was like, man. Second longest track on the album, you know? Yeah. It's definitely got this, I mean, this is where I personally was like, okay, here's the somber Start it's got but it well. No, I think backtrack that that digitized Chorus, whatever it is the very beginning You know of this is like an interrupter, you know, that's like whoa, where are we going with this album? But yeah, it kind of felt like The song felt like a prayer or a mantra, you know, just kind of like It was heavy, kind of coming in and out. The chorus was just the song, it felt like. It felt like it could be an outro, and it was the first. It was the first. So... That's a good point. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like the way it starts off is, I think, really cool and unique and certainly different from the hip. I love Gord's vocals on this. I think, and I'll say it a lot throughout the pod, but I think the percussion and the arrangements on this entire record is awesome. The way everything's layered beautifully. The piano hits when the song really opens up. It does have some hardcore Radiohead vibes. I think this first track. Very much. Wow. Okay. I could see that. Yeah. I like that. I like that. Yeah. Definitely like Kid A and Rainbows, I would say. Radiohead. Not OK Computer Radiohead. Right. Anyway, yeah, really cool opening track, that's for sure. In a world possessed by the human mind. [25:18] This was the first single from the record and a great single. I mean, you know, it doesn't necessarily tell the tale of the record, of what you're going to get when you get this record. [25:34] You know, the record is obviously much more low key, but I think it's a banger. I love this song And I came to it late. That's crazy. I mean, I like the song. It's funny that it's single and I think it's got the most listens on Spotify. I mean, I like it. I think probably the most unique thing about it to me is like, I know we make a lot of Bob Rock jokes on this podcast, and I really do like Bob Rock. I joke a lot. But I feel like Bob Rock isn't even in the rear view mirror anymore with this record. It's something that I don't think many producers would have had worked on or signed off on or been a part of. It's really different. It's really different. But I like this track. I don't think it's the best track on the record. And I wouldn't even call it a banger. I like this track, but I wouldn't have chosen it as a single. Wow. Just give me the news, Tim. Well, this was like one of three that they played live on that last tour, I believe. [26:53] And the sound was a little more, I don't know, it was refined in some different way on this one. It almost sounded like the drums, some of the drums or recorded in a hard-walled room or something. This one had, again, this album has a different feel to it, and this one kind of was like, brought us out of the clouds of that first song. It felt like maybe, I didn't, in general, on this album, I didn't conceptually get into lyrics whole lot but this one made me think like. [27:31] This sounds like it's based on hospital experiences or maybe Gord's wife's cancer, or there's some kind of personal struggle in here with the lyrics in the, I felt like the ending waskind of a cliffhanger, like the verse just kind of drops and there's no, yeah. And then there's no stanza. [27:56] Like there's, it just, it just stops right there. You know, like Like, what was the look on her face? I want to know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it also conversely, like many of the hip songs and Gord's lyrics, it made me just, while I was driving, it made me think about social media and how everybody's on theirphones and staring at their phones and always looking down and, you know, I kind of, uh, I have this constant commentary on, in my mind about how, like people are going to slowly turnback into tumbleweeds because we're all looking down so often, we're just going to roll away. And this, you know, this, this, this song kind of, I don't know, it was just, it has good pickup for song number two, but it also is kind of carrying the same ominous feel, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I had a good thought for you and now it's gone and that's a shame. That's a crying goddamn shame. [29:07] Trying to see if I can will it back. Not coming back. I'm vamping. Now I'm speaking out loud about vamping, which has given away the gig, which means I should probably just switch subjects and go to What Blue? What Blue. [29:30] I dug this song a lot. I thought lyrically it was very cool. There's some really unique background guitar licks in here. Again, this is another one that that the arrangements and the way everything's placed is just rad. I love it. I got a really, especially with the spacey solo, I got a really pavementy vibe from it. Wow. The lyric, I love you so much, it distorts my life. Like, oof. Yeah. Oof. Yeah. Yeah. I dug this track. [30:15] It's sweet. It sounds like it's maybe, I don't know, part of it feels like it's a weird one. Like it felt, you know, some of the guitar sounds, Pete, that you mentioned, felt kind of cave-like. Like there's some resonance or something going on in this album that's a little bit different that perhaps Kevin Drew or Dave Hamlin brought in. You know, that's pretty cool. The song's under three minutes. You know, it doesn't feel that way, though. It's one of those songs that's quick and heavy and big. But at the same time, even though we're having kind of like these, I was having kind of these dark ominous, like, whoa, what's going on? Whatever. This song felt kind of lullaby. And there's a few songs on here that feel kind of lullaby and sweet and loving. And they might sound dark, but I don't think that was really, like the intentions or maybe which is it's classic hip, you know, with lyrics and meanings that the intentions or whatever kindof all over the place can be looked at different ways. But yeah, this one, uh, it was a quick, sweet one. I agree. Any other thoughts on what blew? [31:38] No, okay. So I, I remembered what I was going to say in a world possessed by the human mind, the line that he talks about, like looking down at your phones, every time I hear it, Ijust crumble because I would love, like, that's a reference To a time in 2016, that isn't ahead of its time by any stretch, but it's a timestamp on the song, you know what I mean? There's there, it makes it in real time. It makes it in this universe to speak on the multiverse level. It makes it happening now. And that's the end. That's the last one we get. That's the last timestamp we get. We don't get to hear any more, um, you know, his views on like, what would he have thought of Donald Trump's reign? You know, I would love to know he wouldn't be super political about it, but there would be flourishes in his art. I'm sure. [32:47] You know, I don't know. I would hope he would have been super political about it, you know, because Because not in general I feel like there isn't enough and with the the stage thatthey held in the audience that they had Whether or not they were Mostly Canadian. I mean he he he had a voice to be able to do whatever the fuck you want So oh absolutely, I think they would know you're on bananas if they were to kept playing I think they would havegone bananas politically. I would have expected it from them Yeah, which is also fucking fucking tiresome. You know, I can't tell you. I mean, it just was two weeks in Europe and I can't tell you how many conversations came up. Yeah, no, well, no, yes and no. I mean, so many conversations about like, we heard about the shooting yesterday, the massacre yesterday, this yesterday, that yesterday. It's like, fuck. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Oh God. I don't know what he would about all this. Yeah, exactly. But I'd love to know because he had an interesting filter. He had an interesting prism, right? Like he would take in the information and then it would come out in all all the colors of the rainbow on the other side, and it was beautiful. Speakingof, beautiful. [34:08] Hi. Pete, I want to draw you like one of my French girls. Right? Especially the way he's lounging right now. Yeah, I'm kind of lounging. For all the listeners, he's in a room with, I don't know how many candles are lit. There's a bunch of mirrors. He's got like satin pillows all over this crazy velvet. I can smell it here, Pete. I mean, I wish my screen was scratch and sniff. Yeah. Oh, God. [34:41] You know, well, we can get into the next song, but I was going to say, in terms of Gord, just his take, I feel like he'd have a nuanced take. And I think when it comes to politics and when it comes to the state of the world, whether Whether it's Donald Trump or a mass shooting or Trudeau or whatever, it's like, there's the goodvirtuous script to follow that, you know, if you don't, you're a total piece of shit. And then there's the other side of the people who speak in a way that they don't have any remorse or don't have any care. They're completely on the opposite. Those are kind of the two spectrums or as it's more commonly referred to the left and the right. Or actually racist. Yeah, yeah. Racist or virtuous people. Yeah, yeah. But that's the thing is I think that somebody like Gord's perspective would have been a a lot more nuanced and my only question isn't how good itwould have been, it would have been. [36:01] If he was around, like, how would it have been received? Because I think there are a few people that speak very, very intelligently about the state of the world, about things like Trudeau, things about Biden, things about Donald Trump. And those voices get drowned out because it's not, Fuck that, this is a racist motherfucker, blah, blah, blah, or whatever. It's just like, yeah, that's the easy thing to say. It's the low-hanging fruit to be so virtuous and, you know, everything. Like I said, it's a script. People follow it. It's kind of, it's to me. [36:43] It's sickening because it's so easy. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Donald Trump was, is it, is it, is a shithead or, you know, like, yeah, duh. But, you know, it doesn't seem, and I, yeah, yeah. But but you know like that's what people say and that's all people really say nobody I feel like if Gord was around here. I am putting words into his mouth, but um, you know Perhaps he would be a little more nuanced and talk about the reasons why things are the way they are I think instead of just like Youknow this this orange Hitler who just popped up out of nowhere and like like blindsided the entire world. No, dude No, and I think when it comes to bad things in the world, be it school violence or shitty, horrible politicians or racist people, everybody plays a part. [37:42] Everybody plays a part. You and I play a part. We all play a part. And so to just sit and point the finger and be like, those people are awesome. Those people are amazing. people are virtuous and accepting of everybody, and then those people over there are racist, deplorable pieces of shit that should go away or live on an island bythemselves. It's just like, it's so stupid. And there's not enough people in this world. And that's what I think the conversation that Gord would bring to the table would be a much more nuanced conversation. Because nowadays it just doesn't exist. People are just so quick to talk about shit from a place that they're either repeating a talking point they heard on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. Yeah, strange, you've got whatever channel suits your flavor, so you're in that echo channel. Yeah, and all that shit's entertainment anyway, man. Yeah. It's all, you know. It's bonkers. Well, speaking of nuanced lyrics and a song about a place, let's go to Insarnia. [39:00] Tim, what do you got to say about Insarnia? Uh, you know, I more or less just vibed with the lyrics right off staring at your phone, like a poker hand. You do, you don't know who you are. You know, that's the one that's my heart. Yeah. My heart and pocket and I you're on my mind, you know, it's just, it's. He's, I don't know that this one made me think about so many different things. And again, it had kind of this lullaby, kind of folky acoustic guitar, maybe acoustic bass in here. That's kind of what I was hearing at one point, which made me, you know, I hate to ask artists about their songwriting process, but, you know, knowing the fact that these guys sat aroundand sat in a circle or whatever and pumped out songs together, it just made me just kind of want to see that experience that. It has kind of a bizarre ending, as many of these songs do. [40:07] The only thing I read about it was, you know, Gord said at one point it was supposed to be called insomnia and it ended up in Sarnia and I don't really know why or what the story isthere. And that's great. I didn't know that. That's kind of like, yeah, that's kind of like the, maybe the constant theme on this one is, is not really knowing, you know, and just feeling the head, justfeeling the heaviness of it. Um, yeah. He was reading the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Maybe. Yeah. It's Narnia. That was Narnia. Yeah. Yeah. Narnia, you've been on my mind. No, I think this song is gorgeous. Like this song reminds me, it's cousins with flamenco, you know, like it's, it's, it's beautiful on a different sort of level or break, breaking out, throwingoff glass, you know, like one of those songs. It's, it's just sort of a different caliber of song. And, you know, to, to, to get here at point X, you know, from point A, which was werewolf baby, this is on crab, all crab, you know, this is 35 years later. And what they've accomplished together as a band is amazing. [41:36] There's not a lot of bands that the Stones have been around forever, but they didn't do it. You know, they've released shit like from like 1983, like it's been junk, you know? U2, another legacy band that we think of as like infallible, like they haven't done anything great since Zuropa. You know what I mean? That's a long time. Joshua Tree. Yep. Joshua Tree, yeah. I mean, Joshua Tree is a... Those early records, man. Amazing! Amazing! Yeah, that was... Just saying. We'll save that for another pod. Oh, well, I'll say real quick about Insarnia. Is that this is... well, I'll save it. I'll save it for here in the dark. [46:23] This record feels like, do you remember the Sports Illustrated cover of Dennis Rotman in drag, sitting on a motorcycle? Sure. Really famous, where he's wearing lipstick and earrings. They probably wouldn't have allowed that in my town. Probably would've what? They probably wouldn't have allowed that magazine in my town. Really? No, I'm joking. Oh, I was like, man, I thought Canada was pretty open about that stuff. No, I remember vividly because it was like, I felt like, okay, Robman was crazy, amazingly talented basketball player, but he finally was able to, and if I remember correctly, reading someof that article and watching some of the interviews, he was finally able to be himself, whoever and however, whatever that looked like, you know, and that was a big, big deal. That was a big deal to put a star basketball player on the cover of Sports Illustrated in drag on a motorcycle. [47:31] This is 90s, you know, mid 90s, whenever it was. Anyway, the reason why I thought of that was because I feel like this record is that. I feel like this record is like, really they just are being who they want to be on this record. Like it or hate it. Some people like other things better, but I feel like the records in the past were always for a reason. Maybe that reason was trying to break through the American market. Maybe that reason was trying to make this record sound more this or that. Maybe that reason was whatever Bob Rock thought, you know. But I feel like this reason is this record is just because they wanted to play. This happens to be my favorite song on the record, hands down. The way the bass starts off, everything about it, the chorus, guitar licks. [48:25] My only, the only drag here is that the, I'm not a big fan of the, the, the ending. So it kind of leaves you hanging. Yeah, it kind of left me hanging. in one regard, I was. It just made me think about the prior songs and how the endings are not, I don't know. Many times we've commented on their song endings not just wrapping up or whatever it is, but this one really left you hanging a little bit more than usual because this is song five and thewhole song picks up energetically, right? [49:09] And it kind of feels like we're going someplace now, a little bit different. Like you mentioned, Pete, the bass is really good. It's like, oh, yeah. It's just chugging along like this locomotive. And there's a little bit of effects to it. But it also kind of, the song to me, even though it was picking up in pace and everything, energy, it also kind of felt like we were slogging throughthe mud still. Like there was just still momentum, but a struggle here. And then this leave you hanging ending, it just, yeah, it was a, yeah. [49:51] I'll just add to this one, kind of on this album in general, we touched on it at the beginning, but it really left me wondering, Not necessarily why, but here we are in this new feel of achapter in The Hip and their discography, and how amazing to be in a band, to be able to go through this process for so many years, and recording on average probably every year and ahalf, and be able to knock out an album that's, you know, I just look down at my notes and the first thing I read track wise is tired as fuck. I mean, maybe that was like part of the sentiment here, you know, that some of the music on this album feels just as far as the actual guitar, bass, or drums go. Some of it feels like. [50:58] Here we are, we're back recording, this is good, you know, this is, we're making art, and some of it feels like, whew, I've ran, you know, 15, 16 marathons, and this one's feelingespecially hard this time, you know, like, kind of like, what's going on? Well, it kind of doesn't matter, this is life, let's just keep chugging through it. And that's, that's kind of how this album was when I, when I was talking about playing it for my wife whenwe were packing up. You know, it was really interesting to pause and consider, maybe I should put something else on right now, because that's like an album making you think, and it's art making you stop inyour tracks, and that's like the purpose of it. You know, it's called The Artist's Goal. I honestly think if we didn't get screwed, and he never had cancer, this record wouldn't have been toured in arenas. It would have been toured in small clubs purposefully, not because it wasn't drawing, but purposefully it would have been in small clubs because it's suited for a more intimate cabaretenvironment. If they're touring heavily on this record, that's what I would think. [52:14] But we did get screwed, and we only got to hear three or four of the songs live, and were in a stadium setting and going back briefly on, in a world possessed by the human mind, Ithink that's also why I really like it because I saw it live. Uh, cause I love the breakdown in that song, like leading up to the bridge. Um, the breakdown, I love the tone of the bass. Like it's very reminiscent of like eighties, um, like new, new wave indie sort of, you know, vibe. And it's just so fresh. It's just so fresh sounding for this band, you know, that was playing Cordelia, which is a fantastic fucking banger of a song, but it seems like a thousand years before. Yeah. Yeah. You know, they're like our little tree. Yeah. And we've got to see them grow. Taken off, you know this this may have been like precursor to I don't know to. [53:22] Like MTV MTV unplugged situation kind of riffing off where you just were, you know, it could have been like it could have been like I Don't know Pinch hit kind of move for hissolo career, you know could have of, you know, it would have could have sold many things. [53:46] I mean, there's, there's part of me at this point, this juncture in their discography, of me is just really wondered or made me think. [53:58] Like, what the fuck, you know, it's yeah, it's really hard sometimes to process someone who's pivotal in your life. And it's just like, you know, I can steak and eggs or your morning coffee or whatever it is, and then having that kind of go away and come come back just in a different version. And it's not the same, you know, it's just that I feel like that premonition or whatever the word is for this album is is layered in for sure. Yeah. It's eerie. That's a trip. It's a trip. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. All right. So let's flip the record over and head into Great Soul. [54:49] I really dig the melody, catchy, cool guitar opening, but I mean, I like a lot of things about this song. I think the ultimate takeaway I had with it is it just never gets there. It's like tantric sex. It's like you're waiting for the big boom and it just doesn't. By the end, you're just like, fuck, really? You're just waiting for a heavy guitar to just come in and just destroy it, and it just doesn't. Like, okay. So my main note on this one is, this one I looked up. I was like, all right, nothing works. I'm out of ideas. Like, what is going on with this one? And apparently, the guys were Simpsons fans. And there's a scene from The Simpsons. I have it queued up here. And I'm going to try to play it to see if you guys can hear it. And it's taken from Ned Flanders' Parents, this nothing works and I'm out of ideas. They changed it up a little bit, but this is a reference. We'll try to play it right here. Yeah, you've gotta help us, Doc. We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas. [56:09] That's the scene. I mean, paint the picture, it's Ned's parents with a doctor and Ned's in the background bouncing off the walls, you know, like no attention to anything. That's the line. So apparently that's where that came from, which I just love, that made me feel like, okay, there's still some playfulness going on here. Oh yeah. Take a fucking Simpsons quote, give me some really foreboding, foretelling, I don't know, pessimistic something. See, isn't that fucked? Because this is why poetry is great, you know? Yeah, yeah. In the context of a song is that one nugget of an idea, to me, that was very deep. To me, it was very deep. To me, it defined my life. It was a mantra. It was like, that's who I am. I've tried nothing and I'm out of ideas. Like, I'm fucking useless, you know? [57:04] And then you tell me it's a Simpsons quote and it's like my world has just come falling down. Way to go, Tim. All right. I love that about it. It made me like it even more, you know? Yes, me too. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Let's take something that makes us giggle and turn it into something else, youknow? All right, let's hit it. Tired as fuck. Yeah, my initial search on this one led me to t-shirts that have big, bold font, tired as fuck on the front. And I thought, oh, I need to have one of those shirts. And I was like, maybe, where would I wear this shirt? This was a single. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 3 million plays on Spotify. It's big. I love the lines, you know, Get so high, you can let go. Lake of gin up to my chin. It's so easy when you don't know how. You know, this song, it's like, when we were traveling recently, from Rome to Dallas to Portland, man, that Dallas to Portland leg was tired as fuck. You know, it's just, this is, this just, it became an expression song. You know, that's kind of what I, It's kind of what I got out of it, yeah. Nice. [58:23] Yeah, I dug it. I mean, it was, it was, I definitely was, I mean, I could see it being a single for sure. [58:29] The melody, I like the, it's got kind of a, I feel like, like, I don't know if it's, it's, it's Paul Langlois or Rob Baker doing the, the guitar on this, but very, it's a little Spanish vibe to it. I get some undertoes there. Again, the percussion and arrangements for this whole record is really stands out and this song is... In my head, it's like if we had these two producers for We Are The Same, I think, like, because the bones are there. Like, there's some great songs on it. It's not a piece of shit, you know, but it's like, it's just not up to snuff, I don't think. And I know a lot of people, it's their favorite, but hey, whatever. I just think these guys on that record, whoo! I agree with you 100% 100% All right, hot mic. This is another one that made me think Gord would have a heyday with where we are now that everything is a hot mic, you know I Don't know. Well, it's a big bold Tom's at the beginning Love yeah, I love the way this begins This was one of my least favorite songs when I started listening to this record and it's bubbled up, it'sprobably a top four for me now on the record. Where do you stand there, Mr. Tim? [59:56] Um, you know the song I... [1:00:00] I found I was I was kind of more lost on this one and honestly at this point in the whole my whole listen of the album with this song I was like fuck it I don't really care what thesesongs have been about I don't really care you know to look into this one I just was it kind of, and not in a negative way, it kind of just like I'm just succumbing to the hip at this point. It'slike, give me another shot. We need to keep going. I'd love to riff on what you just said, Judy, like the drums and bass again. Just kind of this thunder rolling through. I love it when they do that. I love when those guys just create this, you know, storm. [1:00:54] And I love that thought about the hip in this song. The ending of this one has this like pew pew kind of weird sound. It was interesting. But I kind of went from this one right to the next one. So this one didn't hang with me. Yeah, nothing negative. But I was just like, OK, what's going on next? Because I knew in my listen methodology, I'm like, OK, We're heading towards the finish line. Tim was very passive about this song. Yeah, in not a negative way. It's just how it was. No, that's what I'm saying, passive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't be negative. It's funny, because I mean, I echo a lot of what Tim says. And to be honest with you, JD, hopefully I get to where you are today, that the song bubbles up a little bit. Because I thought it was cool. I thought it was interesting. But it was definitely not a standout track for me. Hey, I want you to keep working at it. And one day you will be like me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will. Man, you've got some guns there, man. I thought guns were illegal in Canada. [1:02:02] Ha ha ha ha ha. Probably. Potion next! [1:04:38] Ocean X I thought was great and it grew on me and the more I heard it the more I don't know it It's oh, it's a it's a weird one. It it appeared in my head many mornings in a row I don't know what it is about it because it feels like a song that there's often songs i'll hear this is my my Catholic upbringing right here,but there's often songs that I'll hear where I think, man, this would be so cool played inside a massive church, you know, some cathedral or, you know, and really, and I thought you weregoing to say, like to listen to with God. Of course, of course. No, but there's, there's a venue here in Portland. That's an old church. It's called the old church. And it's amazing to hear bands play there. It's just different. And this was one of those for me. I don't know why. It just stuck in my head. It's dark. It kind of became one of my favorite ones on this album. And I can't really explain it. Pete, what did you think of Ocean Next? I loved it, man. And to piggyback off what Tim said, as far as his Catholic upbringing and being in a church, you definitely want to listen to thissong a healthy dose of guilt also. [1:06:05] Always. Sorry, had to. Lil Hanging Fruit. No, I mean, it's one of the coolest tracks on this record, and I echo everything that you said, JD. It would be, it's weird that it became the stadium record that it did, but I would love to see this band just at like, God, not even like a theater, just something super small, you know? [1:06:32] Like, if it was like 50 people, like that would be awesome. Oh, man. I mean, yeah, you're never going to see the Tragically Hip with 50 people. No. But this just record had that vibe. I would love to listen to everything. You know, and that happened. I mean, I was reading a review of them playing live and somebody, the writer commented on them playing stadiums and then them showing up in a city inthe U.S. And playing to like 80 people at a venue that maybe holds a couple hundred people. And not many folks showed up and, you know, this one show, I wish I could remember what it was, but the show, they were basically saying that the band seemed to have, like. [1:07:18] Said, fuck it, and got ripped, and played an amazing show. And it played an amazing show, but they were like, fuck it. Who cares that nobody's here? Let's just do whatever the hell we want, and we're going to play how we want to play. And if somebody gets sloppy drunk and stumbles through their bass lines, who cares? And I mean, I love to witness shit like that as a fan. So it's, yeah. Oh, I think that's part of their ethos. Like, they were always going to put, we've talked about it a lot through the show, but they're always going to put their art ahead of you know, anyother pursuits. And in fact, Gord calls it out on his posthumous record to the song, basically his posthumous record that came out about a month after he died. He had it set up almost like a, you know, like it was set up to come out. If I'm, if I recall correctly. It was set up to come out after he died. [1:08:16] And it came out and it consists of however many songs, but each song is about one person or one group of people in his life. [1:08:28] And it's just led to many people trying to decipher who is who and what is what, which one's about the kids and which one's about this. But there's a very clear one about the band And if you get a chance give it a listen. It's pretty cool. Has everybody spoken about ocean next? [1:08:44] Yeah Yeah, right. So then we get the right parenthetical this record machine or enroll Tim so Yeah, so this one's you know past the five-minute mark. We got we got a longer one here They played this one a little bit live on their last tour. I found they they played it 15 times so this is yeah, I know this is kind of maybe more of a I Don't know. It's it feels like about three minutes in I Was expecting it to maybe wrap up and start ending but it kept going and it was a good thing like it It felt good for a closer Yeah, it has this strangekind of shut it down, electronic ending Yeah, even even though it had like this pick-me-up feel for an ender it which is again kind of classic hip like leaves you Excited for the next albumand wanting more this had still had some of that there. So it's It's a little bit of an oddball in that regard with the rest of the album and now I felt going through it but you know, it's It, uh... [1:10:02] Yeah, it just felt like a good end of an album. If this last song was deeper and darker, if this album had an ending of this song, if it was just more deep and more dark and more foreboding and more like, what the fuck, then I think thewhole album would have felt a little bit different, but this song doesn't feel that way. It still makes fans, I believe, probably want more hip and it's just got that. I love the lyrics of, you know, I'm a machine, I'm a real machine, you're a real machine. It's kind of like we're all in this together feeling. I also love the line, I can try not to try and remember a lot. I mean, that's just like, that's just like, get through the day, you know. So this was a good ending of an album for me. [1:11:04] Man, when I got really high and listened to this record one day, I was convinced that man and machine, you can loop them somehow. Hmm. They seemingly, like they fit together somehow, but I couldn't figure out how to put them together. So I could never replicate what I heard in my head, but to me, they're so linked. So linked. If anyone out there has done that before, please, please send us, please, please send us some. Yeah, totally. Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah. Some mashup. Yeah. What did you think, Pete? I mean, this is the title for this record is as a reference to the song on the on the previous record. Which I think was probably one of my favorite, if not my favorite song on that record. [1:11:58] I thought this was a really cool ender. It did wrap up the record nicely in terms of where it started. So I feel you JD. I don't know exactly what it sounded like in your head, but I definitely feel you on the first song and this last song being something you could like somehow loop or mix. I got some Beatles vibes from this song. Definitely got some Beatles vibes, But probably the coolest thing was the guitar following I'm a Real Machine. Like, that melody is being played on the guitar as Gord sings it. And I just think that's so cool when bands do that. Oh, I didn't hear it. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, I heard that. It's simple, but it's like they're playing the vocal melody on the guitar. And I just love it. Because you can fuck it up pretty easy. It sounds cheesy, but it sounds awesome. Yeah, good wrap-up on this record song. [1:13:05] I think it's a good way to wrap it up. And ultimately, a wrap-up on the career of the Tragically Hip. Tragically, you know, ending way too soon. It's been a number of years now, but it still feels like yesterday that I listened to them for the first time. Well, I don't want to get too finale on me here, on you guys here, so I'll save that for a wrap up. But suffice it to say, I, you know, this record is a record that like rocketed up my power rankings earlier this summer. It's a top seven record for me. So I like this one a lot. Any final thoughts from you, gentlemen? I just can't wait to see everybody in Toronto. Yeah, man. Just can't wait. Yeah. Stoked. It's going to be great. And Bob, if you're listening, you should come. You know, we want to drink some champagne with you. Pete wants to hear your PSS and your, what does he drive? Jaguar? He wouldn't want to listen to this trash that I mix. I'm sorry. Bob's a Jaguar guy. MVP tracks, for the record. Pete, we'll go with you first because you already gave yours away, you ding-dong. Yeah, sorry, Here in the Dark, best song on the record. [1:14:34] Hands down. Yeah, OK. I'm going Ocean next. It's just I don't really know why. It's a close second. Some of the songs I've picked from this process, I'm not really sure why. But this one, it's a little bit of an oddball. And this is the song that I woke up hearing in my head several times in the past couple of weeks. Very cool. [1:15:03] Well, thank you very much as always, gentlemen. We'll be back next week for one more spin around the old turntable before we head to Toronto for the finale on the 1st ofSeptember. Hope to see you there. Hope to. Well, I know I'll see you guys there, but I hope to see everybody who's listening there. And that's all we got for you. Thanks. Thanks, fellas. Good to see ya. Pack up your shit! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gettinghiptothehip/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, join hosts Pete and Tim along with special guest Dan as they dissect and analyze the Tragically Hip's 2012 record, "Now For Plan A". They dive into the musical journey, reliving their first experiences and evolving impressions over multiple listens. From highlighting the unique elements of each song to the lyrics and influences behind them, no detail is too small. They examine the guest vocals of Sarah Harmer in 'Look Ahead' and the Rolling Stones-esque 'Modern Spirit', exploring the musical and lyrical details. Listen in as they debate the meaning of the lyrics in 'Take Forever' and uncover the mysterious 'About this Map'. A treat for any Tragically Hip fan, this episode is a deep dive into the iconic band's musical journey.TracksAbout this Map - Studio VersionMan Machine Poem - Toronto 2012Streets Ahead - Ottawa 2011Take Forever - Toronto 2012TranscriptTrack 3:[2:51] Hey, it's JD here, and welcome to Getting Hip to the Hip. [2:54] A weekly podcast where I take my friends on a whirlwind tour of the Tragically Hips discography, one record at a time, week over week. And that is the case with this week, as we're discussing 2012's Now for Plan A, the 12th studio record from the Tragically Hip. I'm joined as always by Pete and Tim, and we've also got Dan from London here. How the hell are you guys doing? Oh good, oh good. Excellent. Well, after that, hold on, let me look at my segment guide here. Uh, introduction, rousing response from the gentlemen. Yep. Check. [3:53] Now we'll move on to the next segment, which is, uh, experience with this record. This is a coming off of, we are the same, a record, which was, uh, roundly dismissed by these two gentlemen, uh, a week ago, Dan, um, it was one that It was one that was not well liked. So we're hoping we've got a comeback on our, in the mids tier. It happens. Bye bye. Pete and Tim Burse, talk to me about where you listened to the record the first time, how you experienced it on multiple listens, and overall vibeage off the top. And then we'll fire it over to you, Dan, to get a similar reaction. Well, I listened to it in multiple places. Listened to it first, I think, I think, working, sitting at the computer, listening to it in the home stereo system, listening to it in the car. [5:02] I love the record. I don't want to say too much because I think we're going to get into a lot of it. But only thing I will say, and in all due respect, I don't want to come off harsh here, but fuck you, Dan, right off the bat, Because you've had this record for some time, and we got a weekto soak it in. A week. Let me tell you, a week wasn't even enough. I mean, I could soak this record in for a year. That's all I'm going to say. I'll agree with that. With all due respect, but I can't fuck you down. Like, with all due respect. Thank you. We had a week with it. We had a week with it. I feel like we had a lifetime with We Are The Same. But we only had a week with Now for Plan A. And I felt a little rushed to let it resonate, but every time I turned it on. [6:00] I don't know. I don't want to say it felt like the first time, but it just clicked with me. There are some good tunes on here that we'll get it. We'll get it. We'll get into it. But I listen to it my usual places. Usual places. I listen to it more, I guess, excitedly with my better headphones on around the house, which always makes for, where's dad? Oh, he's right there. but he's not here. So I, you know, because I wanted to hear it in its entirety. And I can only really do that in the car or with the cans on. So yeah, that was kind of my experience. It was quick for a quick album, right? Yeah, the fastest record in their oeuvre at like 39 minutes or so. And only two singles as well. That was shocking to me as well. Which were those? I didn't think they were at transformation was the first single. Of course. And hold on. I've got it right here. [7:09] Streets ahead. Cool. Cool. Any feedback from Spotify? Did any of you guys look at Spotify? Like where the play counts were? Yeah. I mean, I think that's definitely up there. there. So is, so is that transformation and, and I think the title track. Okay, gee, I just want to get transformation. Judy, do you use the term oeuvre a lot? And I pause it to think that you use that term a lot because it rhymes with your last name and the production company that this that is gifting us with this here podcast oeuvre. Yeah, yeah, that's what it Is that why? It's my last name. [8:00] And Ouvra combined without the D. Yeah, and it's because it's all my work, right? It's my collection of work Right is do. Yeah, so so you don't like the D is what you're saying Hey now Pete told me he thought it might be a extra terrestrial Anatomy that he's not aware of Dan, Dan, he actually said this is thisis this somebody part that I didn't learn Dan's regretting joining this podcast. Dan, what are you, like, well I want to hear from Dan, I want to know what, he's had a wild time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well listen with this whole thing I'm just along for the ride, you know. I'll let you guys play out in front of me. Um, no, um, yeah, as you say I was really lucky because it was after the last one I was on that I learned that this was the next one I was going to beon. So I had some considerable amount of time and also time to purchase Jan's album and get it imported from Germany I think. [9:09] So I had a real binge at first because I think it's a pretty easy album to get into. There's a, there's a couple of tracks that sort of, you kind of misplace, you know, in the order along the way for various reasons, but, um, I've, I was just listening to on my way to work. So that was always, you know, whilst traveling on the train, um, and, uh, and I had, I had good times of it and I had it all prepared what I was going to say. Um, because it was many months ago, I then moved on and got busy and did different things, forgot it all. And then spent today binge listening and making notes again. So I'm actually catching up with you guys now, which is typical. What can I say? I mean, that represents our week with this album. [9:57] Oh, that's great. Dan's last visit was Trouble at the Hidden House, right? So he's had a couple of good ones. Which we also have in the collection now. Nice. Awesome. Look at that.All right. Look at that guy. Well, what do you say we start this, Son of a Gun, then? We get in, turn the keys, and see where we end up. All right. Analysis of the first song, "At Transformation"[10:16] The first song, we start in with this cancer metaphor right off the bat with At Transformation. Can I go? Sure. This one, I was so happy hearing the first seconds of this song coming off of our last album's experience. [10:39] This one was so fun for me. I was relieved to hear this song. I played it three times before I went on with the album. Literally, just like, OK, let's do that one again. OK, let's do that one again. It's just so I mean you can feel I don't know the, the bass is on fire in this song. You can feel Gord when he does the you know after that transformation towards the kind of the end. I feltthat coming. You knew the woo was coming, right? I don't know, it just... Context aside, it's a killer song and even the The outro loops back everything about the intro. It just was this circle of a song I felt like just could have been a single, been done. OK. Yeah. Great starter. There's some weird, on this album, there's definitely some playfulness with song endings, with distortion and feedback and keys and synthesizers or something, which this one kind ofgives us that first taste of. So I was happy to hear it. Played 128 times live. 128 times live. So they played this one a bit. How about you, Dan? [12:04] I mean, my second favorite track on the album. Yeah. I mean, as soon as that sort of distorted bass kicks in, you know you're in for a bit of a ride. And again, similar to other tracks that we were looking at when I was last in on the Hen House, this does similar things where you've got that not quite, you've got a really good bridge andthen a not quite a chorus, but then it comes in the second time with the, you know, that transformation bit. Well, the I can see it all at once and that transformation bit, and then that bass takes off and does its thing and it just, man, it just takes off. And as we say, it just dissipates into this weird sort of sonic, mad sort of ending. And similar to the start, it's like after that bass is there, the guitars kind of come in in some kind of informal manner, and then it just, bang, picks up when he starts singing the verse. So it's a banger. Yeah, absolutely. Listen to it again and again and again and again and again. [13:04] Contextually, it's weird. I second-guess myself a lot, not just to this song, Especially with the song though, but with the whole record I say because Tim alluded to it a little bit. Dan doesn't have the context of last week's record So I'm like is this fucking record is amazing as I think it is? Or is it, it's like, hey, I've been living in a, you know. In a faraway prison eating rice and stale bread for three years and now I'm sitting down at fucking Ruth Chris, Steakhouse and you know eating a. [13:59] Filet mignon medium rare with a bottle of uh It just comes in like a beat and a half before. It's fucking cool. I'm just looking at the notes. So long, Bob Rock. A Welcome Back to Tragically Hip[14:21] There's a lot of that in these notes, the bass, guitars, chords, voice throughout this entire record. This is just a welcome back, Tragically Hip. [14:37] One thing that I thought of when I was listening to it was I pictured in my mind the whole band on stage playing this song after maybe being through some shit for a while and likeyou know 45 seconds into this tune everybody just looks over at each other and like they don't say shit they don't have to say shit they just say everything with their eyes and they look ateach other and just smile and are just like yep welcome back Welcome fucking back. I mean, what a return. I mean, yeah, I just feel like we drifted so much from last week, again, that listening to this first song was awesome. Loved it. At the same time, you know, in my research and reading about Gord's wife and her breast cancer and him dealing with that and that kind of being a thread through this album, I believe.It's... BOOM! [15:45] You know, it was exciting, listened for me and I love this first song, but at the same time, it's like, oh, fuck. We all in our own ways, our own stories, our own experiences can relate to cancer and probably even breast cancer. And we have a good friend who just went through it all the way and just a couple of days ago found out she was cancer free. So. Oh, wow. You know, this is Gord's. Yeah. Gord's wife, you know, came out. Yeah. In the end and it didn't take her, which is fucking cool, but you know, to read, I don't know, there's one quote, just to get into it real quick. There's one quote from him, um, from Gordon. He says, many of these songs are me trying to help, you know, through the process, mutely the way a man does around breast cancer. So it's, it's some, some heavy conceptual. Oh my God. Themes here going on. But even straight, even straightforward though, I was unaware that a transformation is the term, the medical term for a cell going from malignant tocancerous. That's called a transformation. So that's what, you know, the title of the song is, right? Yeah. Heavy, heavy stuff. And then we move into man-machine. [17:07] Poem. A Bold Statement: My Favorite Hip Song[20:44] I'll tell you. Yeah, I'm going to say right off the bat, I'm going to make a bold statement. This may be my favorite hip song. Oh, wow. I mean, I didn't I. Tim, I'm telling you the whole thing. I was like mourning sort of Tiger the Lion for a minute in a weird way because I was just. I mean, I don't know what to say about this song. Yeah, Yeah, it's cinematic, JD, but it's just so different. And it's funny, because your whole thing that you just said was it's such a return to form. And while it is, it's still melodically nothing like I've heard from the hit before. That when it gets that minor four, that man, it trickles down. Howard's Strained Voice and Unique Guitar Tone[21:37] It's amazing. Howard's voice is like, I feel like he's straining it on purpose. It just sounds like he's screaming, singing with every fiber of his body. And when he gets to the end of a phrase or a word or a breath, it's like, you know, it's out of gas and he's got to take a breath to recharge and say the next line. One thing I thought of when I heard this, the guitar tone on this song is forged from something not of this earth. I don't know what, and there's a lot of really cool effects on this record, but I just don't know what that is. And I don't know if they remember, if they know how they got it, but it just... The keyboards hit in this song too. Like there were so many keyboards in the last record that I think Tim and I and JD as well felt were squandered, overused. [22:45] Like this was just. Did you gotta, you gotta write, you gotta write to Gavin Brown, the producer. I bet he'll know you should. Oh, I mean, you're, you're talking about effects, settings, everything, all the mix to make that sound the way it did just Jesus dude it was wow what a song what a song. [23:11] So this was played at their last show, right? At Air Canada Center, August 14, 2016. Wasn't that it? K-Rock Center is their last show, which was the 16th, I think. Ah. Or the 18th. Either way, towards the end, this was played, and I can't imagine. I mean, did people know Gord had cancer? They did, right? Sure did. Before the end. Yeah. So I just can't imagine hearing this one live, because it's, you know, originally about his wife. And yes him talking about her having cancer and it turns out, you know I just when I heard this and put it all together I just thought this probably just made people cry towards the endwhen he was singing this song when you sorry That's exactly what I is one other thing I put my if I would have seen this song live it would have crushed me it would have physicallyFucking crushed me Yeah, I Mean the the metaphor of the Abbas it and the Peregrine Falcon. [24:13] I mean you're talking a ballerina of a gentle long skinny legged bird versus a fucking Falcon which will swoop down and you know steal a Chipmunk or a squirrel or chicken oranything? You know, there's just the the position in this song is just just so big and heavy. And the first time I listened to it was in the car, and it was just like, you want to scream along with him, the chorus, but I just couldn't do it. And then at the end, it's like this bomb going off. The end is just as explosive as the middle of the song. So. Yeah. I mean, the song, at the end of that transformation, after you've gone through that weird little sporadic, you know, sonic soundscape thing, you get that little percussive knocking,you know, and it's, it's like a little sort of artificial heartbeat. And then, you know, you track that in and it starts the song and then it's there at the end as well. After the everything, you know, that big chord goes away. It's it comes back into that as well. Um, but also within that as well. Um, I mean, Pete was talking about guitars, but there's, there's, there's so much like weird tambourine stuff going on in it amongst all things as well. So that was good. But I mean, man, yeah, what a huge song. And then. [25:40] Yeah. I mean, I say that the, the, the, the chorus is huge, even though it's just three words, absolutely massive. And, um, you know, God singing, as we were saying, it's just the, the first verse just starts off with this kind of declaration, doesn't it? And it's a kind of desperate declaration and it just sort of, yes, this attacking desperation in his voice sort of carries on from there. It's yeah. It was the same. It's just not like anything I've heard before. That was amazing delivery. Yeah. And those lyrics, crazy. Now, Pete, I want to go back to something that you said about, you know, this being something we've never heard before. I feel like this is a band that even on the records that we didn't necessarily like, they do that every record. They, you feel like they're touching the edge of their capabilities and you know, they're sort of, they're sort of, you know, whoa, they're sort of out there, this record, but you can do, youcan go all the way back to Road Apples and say that about Last of the Unplugged Gems, you know, well, this is sort of, uh, out of, out of left field, it doesn't necessarily fit on this record. And then, you know, uh, we are the same. You could say that about the Depression Suite, right? Like holy shit, who knew they had this opus in them? [27:07] So I'm just curious, you know, if you vibe what I'm saying. Yeah, no, it's a good point, JD. And I think the component here that I feel is different, because I agree with you, especially you on the last record, we are the same. And you could you could tick along to every record since. And there's an element of that on there. But Tim said something in the beginning of the pod. I can't remember exactly how you said it, but what I had the feeling that I got was like this record being about his wife and all thatstuff. It's one thing to be elaborate. [27:55] It's one thing to show up to a party or whatever wearing the coolest outfit or dress or suit or whatever. [28:09] But it's another thing if you wear it well. And what I mean by that in terms of this song is that you can feel that there's a feeling behind It's not just, hey, we're going to go fuckingbig and elaborate because, I, don't know, name a hundred reasons why the hip would go big and elaborate. Probably the most used excuse would be that they want to break through the American market. Whatever. That's not what's going on here. This is like organic as hell. Everything about this song. They're going big and elaborate on this tune because they don't have any other choice. They're like, this is the fucking song that's coming out of all of us right now. [28:54] Yeah, it's elaborate. I'm just, this is the song. Fucking take it or leave it. If that makes sense, JD. It's that difference, I feel. OK, gotcha. Well, in the car with this one cranked, I just thought, imagine being in the recording studio with these guys and everybody's kind of listening to Gord belt this one out. Or Idon't know. This song is just a gigantic one. So for song number two, following that transformation to get into this, if we want to jump ahead to the look ahead. I mean, this gave us just a, we shifted gears a little bit and got a little more lighthearted with the look ahead. [29:41] I thought the song packed a punch under three minutes. It's quick. So the bass and the guitars seem a little more in tandem on this one. If I remember right, there's like left riffs throughout. But for me, the lyrics of you weigh a snowflake, the glamour of the sky descending past perfect eyes and hearts leaped. That's just... Poof. I am the look ahead. I first searched it as the look ahead three words and you know couldn't find shit until I realized look ahead was one word and then learned that that means awesomeyou know like I'll say Dan and JD have fucking look ahead shirts on today we Pete and I didn't get the memo where to wear pavement shirts but that that's that's the phrase The text wasnot sent. The Look Ahead: A Beautiful and Uplifting Tragically Hip Song[30:47] Yeah. I don't know. What about you, Dan? What do you think? I think the Look Ahead is my favorite Tragically Hip song by a long shot. And as we were saying, it's just because of those choruses, those words that just hang over between the lines. It's just beautiful. It's just absolutely beautiful. It just does something so amazing to make you feel fantastic. [31:17] That's it, man. If I'm having a bad day, I could stick that on and that's me. Yeah, because I just quickly mentioned that it felt more light-hearted, but I also thought this one is still fucking full of of juice, you know, it's still, I don't know, this is kind of felt like thisgreat tragically hip rock song, but it's it's loaded. And it's under three minutes. So yeah, it's, yeah, I say it just it comes and goes. But as it comes along, it's just magnificent. You know, you can't say more than that. It's just it's fully formed. And this was one of the ones that I just started listening to it. You know, you'd start at the start and the start is just so different to what it evolves into. And you keep thinking you've got the wrong song, but that start section only lasts about 20 odd seconds before it just everything kicks in. And it just, you know, it's one of those songs that you just can't say that much about. It just is what it is. It does what it does to you. And you just recognize that and it's unstoppable. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, I would, I tend to agree with you. [32:26] It's a banger for sure. Wouldn't be my favorite Tragically Hip song, but it would make my top 20 list, probably. But boy, oh boy, we haven't really commented on the backing vocals of Sarah Harmer in this one. Pete, what did you think about Ms. Harmer's addition to this song? Well, question, is she on the other tunes on this record as well? Or is it somebody different? Yes. Okay. Well, I want to get up. I'm going to kind of save that if that's okay for some other songs. All I'll say about this is that it's crazy. I love that Dan feels it's his favorite tune, because I feel like this song is like, it is formulaic, tragically hip. Yeah, I agree. It's not just like, there's some songs that you feel like it's, yeah, exactly, exactly. There's some songs you feel like, oh yeah, this is a hip tune. But it's not just that, it's fucking great. [33:35] And you know, generally with their records, they come out with two or three bangers to start and they kind of like, or ones that just jaw drop you. And then song three or song four, they just pull it back a little bit. And I feel like in terms of the, they take off the throttle. It's not as crazy. But melodically, this song is just, I mean, you can't not put this song on and enjoy the shit out of it. Like it's a surefire. You know? Yeah, Dan hit the nail on the head. Nail on the head. He's like, if I'm having a bad day, I put this song on and it, you know, helps turn it around for me. I completely agree. [34:24] I read a critique of this song about it being too simple or less prolific or, you know, there are even some other critiques of the album citing the lyrics to be not as complex or, youknow, less poetic. All these kind of harsh critiques. Yeah, fucked. For real, they're out there. I can't even believe that. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And it just made me like this album more, you know, this. This song in particular, it's like, I couldn't agree with you more, Pete. Under three minutes, it just totally packs a punch. It's sure a hip song, but fuck, it's killing it. This is a top five record for me. I figured. Hands down. [35:13] Yeah, yeah. Hence our special guest. Anybody else, anything else to say about The Lookahead featuring Sarah Harmer. Okay, then we go right into the really heavy We Wanna Be In. I don't have a lot on this one, just because it's fucking huge, you know? Like, the drip, drip, drip stayed in my head for days. [35:38] It's so impactful. This is just a fucking loaded song. It was played towards the end of their career live as well, and it was just another one of of those where it was like, what was this like? I think this one was the same show I mentioned, Air Canada Center. So what was it like to hear this in that state of the career of this band and Gord's life? [36:05] Yeah, and I was there for one of the shows at the Air Canada Center. The first one, I can look up what the set list is, what the setlist was, but so can anybody who's listening to this right now. Yeah. A bunch of these, I think half of these songs on this album were played at those last shows of this album. I think it's like four or five songs off of those last shows. Four songs peralbum. And then I selected, you know, six albums a night to play. So, you know, that's, So even if you went to all three nights at the Arcanda Center, you probably didn't get repeats. Um, cool. Yeah. So, I mean, and this is guys just wait, just wait, just wait for the documentaries. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. It's crazy town. Crazy town USA. Yeah. So... [37:09] We Want To Be It, Giant Song, You're Right, The Drip Drip Drip. Did you get it right away? For me, it took a bunch of listens before I was like, oh, that's fucking, that's fucking chemo. Yeah, I got it. My mind went to morphine first, but I got it. Oh, morphine. Oh, okay. Maybe that's what it is. Something. I was thinking it was probably chemotherapy. [37:36] I mean, for me, I didn't know anything about the context of this album until just before we started recording, which obviously puts a completely different slant on it for me. So I'minterpreting this as we go along as well. I mean, yeah, an amazing song, absolutely huge. But at the bottom of the page, at the bottom of the lyrics in the album, it says for Alan Arkin and Madeline Khan. And, um, they were in a film together, 1980 called Simon. Anybody seen that where, um, yeah, this is, this is what I came across. So, uh, in this film, Alan Arkin plays a guy who, um, the psychology professor, he gets brainwashed and, um, basically by this company and they, uh, they persuade him that he's from adifferent planet and he escapes from them and attempts to reform American culture by overriding TV signals with a high-powered TV transmitter, becoming a national celebrity in theprocess. But also in that film, he's trying to break this record as well for being a sensory deprivation tank for 80 hours. So I don't know how it relates, but that's something that I found out in relation to this. The Mystery in the Song[38:57] Yeah That is totally crazy because again that means Maybe there was one line in that song that is about that or maybe there's a whole theme. It's you know I don't see it or hear it, but Doesn't mean it's not there. There's there's some I don't I don't know what the relationship is there, but that's that's on the page. Yeah, very strange. So we all need to watch that film anyway, yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, when you said that they convince him that he's from another planet, it reminded me of the movie Joe versus the Volcano. I don't know if you ever saw that movie with Tom Hanksand Meg Ryan. It was a bomb at the theaters, but they convinced him that he has something called a brain cloud, like a cancer, but he's going to die. So they get him to jump into this volcano. It's the craziest fucking movie. [39:56] But it reminded me of that. No, I, yeah, this song is, it's huge. There's a bridge part in this song and. You know, my feelings with bridge, it's either good or it's not. Or actually, no, it's either standard, and you're like, OK, that's the bridge. OK. Or it's total shit. And you're just like, man, that just threw the whole fucking tune off. This is a good bridge. I like it. I love it. There's a third layer, you're saying. Yeah, and very few bands are able to pull it off. [40:36] I feel like when you're writing the standard pop song, it's just like there's a formula of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, you know, whatever, and bands fall right into it. It's just like this thing that happens and it didn't happen here. And I love it, man. mean, I, I would say this is maybe my third, I don't know, third or fourth best song on this record, because there's just so many good ones. Don't give away the final segment. [41:16] Well, I kind of already gave my whole segment, but but oops, No, if we're going to move ahead to the next street, we'll see what I did. I'm Ted. Yeah, thank you. Ted's just like, you're a fucking idiot, dude. It's just like, you're a fucking idiot, dude. I know. Introduction to the thread of fuzz in the record[44:41] His head is definitely... So this is the first song where I noticed the thread of fuzz in this record. Because then after this, it's wildly apparent on every song. This fuzz and this distortion, it's like a static that's there on every track after this. Incredible Musicianship: Bass and Drums Shining[45:06] The bass, Gordon Sinclair's bass for this one. I know we talked about it taking off in the look ahead, but I really just, it just off the charts, the licks he's throwing. The drums too, the drums are fucking killing it right there. Absolutely. The drum fills. Thank you, Tim. Yeah, I, this must have been, I actually wrote down, holy macaroni, because it just, it just feels like this song, They're hitting on all cylinders. At this point, it's like the car is going. You've gotten to fifth gear and the car is just brrrrrr. [45:50] It's humming along. You can go faster, you can slow it down a little bit. Still in fifth gear, engine is just humming perfect. The car has just been serviced. Oil's changed. Everything's great. 160 or anything going like 150 and it just feels good Yeah, and it feels the same 100% Thank You Tim That's what I got to say about I'll retrieve my Statement a minuteago about the look-ahead meaning. I totally blew it. It's the streets ahead which means cool or awesome So my bad there. Yeah, Streets Ahead, if you wanna say, you know. Oh, okay. Pete's new do is Streets Ahead, he's there. I did get a haircut, thank you for noticing. Oh, Streets Ahead, okay, okay. Well, Look Ahead then, Look Ahead has significance. Look Ahead is something that was said between Gord's wife and him. And it was like sort of what they would say to each other. [46:57] Yeah, I did as well. God, I'm just hacking this up like a big, it's a perfect piece of meat. I've just hacked it into tartare. You cooked it well done. Which is, you know, tartare's delicious, but not, you know, the way I did it. Yeah, it was like all good kind of thing. It was her look, you know, to him as if everything's going to be okay. Yeah. So streets ahead, different. Means awesome. It means really cool. This one I thought it kind of kicked off. It reminded me of Elvis Costello or the Kinks. Kind of had this loud, like, late, I don't know, mid-70s rock kind of love-slash-anthem sound to it. It felt like it could end around two minutes, but there's a bridge and then it takes another lap, which is great because it's still a short song. But it really felt like it just brought me back to, I don't know, middle school and hearing the kinks and those times. It has this crazy, ominous 20-second ending, over 20 seconds, Like, this one's the best. Yeah. I got to give kudos to Gavin Brown, because he really let the band explore intros, outros. Live Experience: Fans' Regret for Missing Their Live Shows[48:23] They got more creative on this album in general. Yeah, I think it makes it harken back to that live sound that we all crave so much with this band, sorry to say, what you guys havebeen saying the last few weeks about like, oh man, I wish I could have seen them live. That's what a lot of people are saying right now. There are a lot of people in that camp. They were renowned for their live show, absolutely. I wonder how many people listening to right now are late to the fucking, got came to the party really late. It's like, Hey, punch bowls empty. There's fucking no K left. And they're just talking to people. Yeah. You know, I never got to see the fucking family. Please send Pete a mail at Pete at getting hip to the hip.com. Yeah. There, there was a blurb from Gord giving some journalists a quick, ah, it's about, dog sledding. [49:35] And that was that's all I gave so who the fuck knows with that guy? I mean, I would love to have been in Gord shoes during interviews because he was all over the place from things I've read. He was all over the place. He would he would give like heartfelt, you know, meanings to stuff and then he'd be like, ah, That's that's that's what somebody said to me on the train one timeand I misheard them. One of my favorites is somebody asked him about Cordelia. What is Cordelia all about? And he's like, well, it's like a metaphor. Just go read King Lear. [50:18] Well, it's like, I feel like that's like as much as we're joking about it, it's got to be, there's got to be an element to that that's true. It's like, you know, at one point a song means something to you. [50:31] And then as time goes on, you're like, yeah, it's just about some shit I heard on a fucking train one day or whatever it is, you know? That's right. I don't think he's poo poo in the bed. Like he's not pulling a Donald Fagan, as I've said before, from Sealy Den or just like, yeah, they're just words written down on a page. They don'tmean anything. You know, he's not pulling that, but he's, you know, was it. Did you ever hear that interview that or that clip? It's a great clip of Jack White from the White Stripes where he says, and whatever you think about the White Stripes is irrelevant, where he said that when he hears Seven Nation Army,which is arguably one of the most overplayed rock songs in the history of rock and roll, that he doesn't even feel like it's his song. He's like, I just wrote it. We recorded it. It was a cool tune. And now it's out there. And it's like, it's like, that's another band. It's not my bad playing that shit It's really cool. It's really cool the way he comes across Hey, he basically said his I've heard some read some of it from him, too And he basically says once once a song is out Yeah, yeah, and, he openshis wallet and cool and looks at that Yeah, oh my god the songs or his Ford Broncos. Jack White's Perspective on Songs and Fame[51:56] Oh my God. That guy is funny. He's he's got some on him. Sure, man. I just recently learned that my wife has a thing for him, which I had no idea about. And I'm like, I'm like, oh, fuck. [52:14] Definitely, definitely not measuring up to that guy. Oh, you just need to write a couple of hit songs that are like global phenomenons. Yeah. Paint my house red. Anything else on the streets ahead? So this next part of the album is where we take a dip in amount of time songs were played. And I'm not really sure why, but now for plan A was only played 10 times live. [52:45] There's no explanation for me, but that's just a data point. But this one I thought was kind of this level of super heaviness, no turning back. This is like you're facing this song, you know? There's nothing short of everything's enough. You know, there's acoustic guitar in here that feels at one point in the song it... I don't want to say it feels forced but it feels like it could be played softer and nicer but it's not, And which is very distinct with acoustic. And I thought I at this point wasn't sure who was on backups, who was singing backups. You know, I didn't know if it was Kate Fenner who we had before. Oh, right. Right. JD, you mentioned it. Who is this gal? This is Sarah Harmer. So she's a... What's her story? Anybody got any data? She's got a pretty good solo career. Gosh, I'm trying to think of what her big song was. That would have been in around 2002, 2003. I'll take some links for those of you out there. TimbyGettingHitToTheHit.com. Please register him as a Republican. Send me some email. I have notifications turned on. And it's... [54:06] Email Pete at GettingHitToTheHit.com if you want the address and phone number. No, she's gorgeous. She has an amazing matchup with Gort. Her voice is, I thought, incredible. Basement of Parliament was a big song in 2000. Okay. [54:28] For the cadence of the album, for this being Song 6, these are my chapters of the book. The chapters of the book. It's a good Song 6. No issues. It's there's also with one point, this lastly, um, when Gord sings, nothing's short of nothing short of everything's enough at one point when he's seeing that in the song that Iheard Johnny Cash, like there was some kind of Johnny Cash coming through. Definitely more growly and Gord ask, but it's, it's a cool song. Only played 10 times life. Thoughts on the length and build-up of the song[55:07] So special. Yeah. I say, this is the, is this the longest song on the album as well? And it's only like five minutes and four, but, um, the, the buildup is such that it's, uh, one minute 16 when the lyrics actually start. So it's just swirly, swirly buildups. And then, uh, yeah. And then you, you get it. I don't, I don't know what to say about this. I say it's, it's one of those tracks that I. [55:40] I just get through. It's one of these things that's just not really on my attention span. I don't know why, because of the, I don't know. I don't know, it's weird. Because of the aesthetics of the song, I don't know. But listening to it again today, I have grown to like it more. It's a dynamite song on great headphones after a joint. The way it settles in the album, It's almost like you've been through a few things and then you get a snowstorm and everything just really sort of settles down and you're sitting sort ofwatching the snow. But for me, I don't know, it doesn't feel like I want to sit down and be there watching the snow. I want to kind of hop on a bit. So I don't know why, it just feels a little bit misplaced for me. But that's how I am with albums. I always want something more. I always want them to sort of build up. I'm not so good when they change down slightly. For me, I don't know, maybe if it was later on in the album. No, we talk about sequencing all the time here, so this is great to think about that. [56:54] That film I was talking about, the Simon film, when I saw trying to delve into what that was about, there was a few little trailer-y bits and a few little segments of it, And there's onewith Alan Arkin doing one of his psychology lectures, you know, and he's with these kids and he's just saying, yeah, one of the greatest Wittgenstein quotes you'll hear is the, I don't knowwhat I don't know, which is fantastic. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there you go. That's the ultimate wisdom. That is the ultimate wisdom. When you can truly think that out your fingertips, fingertips, you know? [57:38] You've got it. You've got it. Made in the shade. I've tried many times to get there, but just can't get that. Oh, wait a minute. That's another podcast. Dan, what you said about it taking a while to come in. I feel that. And I think JD's right. You need a joint and some good cans for it. but I would say this is probably my second favorite song on this record. Inquiry about the woman singing[58:11] JD, you asked me about the woman singing before. Bands featuring female guest vocalists on certain songs[58:19] I feel like nowadays that's a cool thing to do. I think it started in like 2017, 2018 a lot of bands. I know the National's been doing it a lot with their new records, having like female guest vocalists join in on certain songs. Oh, wow. It's cool. I like it. But I feel like when they did this record in 2012, nobody was doing it. Nobody was doing that. You got a band of five guys. That's the fucking band. I know, you know, it's not like a song featuring so-and-so, like bands very rarely do that. That's totally true. Yeah, absolutely. And this this woman's on at least what, three songs? Two for sure. I've only got two, two, maybe, maybe two, sorry. Yeah, I mean, I, I, I. The song is just amazing the way it starts. I got some, production-wise, I got some Beach Boys vibes from this because there's so much production. [59:39] Like, Abbey Road stock level, like we're in the studio sitting around the board like, what do you think if we do this and we throw this in and everybody's talking like that's the levelof this song because the musicianship is just it's gone when you look at the the EP compared to where we're at now everybody is just you know it's not they're not even on the same planetanymore this band um, i would say that just just if you look at this song from production wise whatever you think about it, you know, the song, you like it, you don't like it. I happen to like it, but it's got to be some of their best, most accomplished work because of how well everything is done in it. Whether or not you like the melody, whether or not you like the minute and 17 or 16 seconds without anything, I get that. I get how sequencing wise I could put you in a weird spot, but like, You can't deny that this song is extremely well done, well recorded, produced, written, everything. Yeah, I completely agree with you and you know, again, there would be a lot of people who would argue that the last two records were really well produced as well. [1:01:07] And maybe they're right, I don't know. But to me, it's just more heavy handed. It's, you know, it's much more heavy handed. This record is much more subtle. Yeah, there are still brushstrokes, but it doesn't feel as like they are put on by like a makeup specialist Right, you know difference between a produced record and a well-produced record. Yeah Yeah, or overproduced maybe overproduced So let's get into the modern spirit and we can think about the modern spirit in a couple of different ways We were talking aboutsequencing earlier, and I'm wondering wondering, would Dan, would this have satisfied your palate if the modern spirit had come after Streets Ahead, or was it something more specificyou were looking for, something more to drive it even higher? No, no, I mean, you can link those two together. You can imagine it coming straight in after Streets Ahead. It would have been a good transition. Yeah. But I say, in terms of this track, I mean all of their Rolling Stones cover versions paid off, didn't they? This is Modern Spirit's pure Rolling Stones. It's just, in every aspect, it's just fantastic. Modern Spirit's Rolling Stones influence[1:02:31] Do you get that vibe? Yeah, I can hear that. Even the drum shuffles are just stones. [1:02:42] Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's some wattage in there for sure, 100% and well said. Yeah, it's it's it's it's very sort of modern, late sort of stones, but it's it's it's spot on, even though it's not supposed to be stones. But yeah, you know, versatility and how to do it so well. And his voice is fantastic on this as well. Banga. Yeah. Yeah, hard agree. The way this song starts, I mean, I mean, I listened to this song in a number of different venues. [1:03:26] I'm 100% the way this song starts and it hits. It's a fucking driving song. I mean, And it's just driving down the fucking highway, windows down. You know, I know last time Tim was with us, what record was it? Or Tim? Last time Dan was with us, what record was it? I'm trolling right now. So I don't know if Tim or I don't know if Dan remembers, but Dan, my car, so my car has what you would call, what the layman would call a premium audio sound system. So the listening experience is not what you'd normally get from, you know, even a decent sound system in a car. It's quite advanced and this. The transcendent vocals of Gord and his evolution as a vocalist[1:04:26] I don't know if Dan remembers that from the last listening, but I think I remember you mentioning it. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's it's definitely a cut above. I think the backup vocals on this song to the way they come in. Everything about this song is fucking cooks. If you don't have a smile on your face, jamming along to this song, driving, whatever you're doing, then you need a fucking lobotomy or you need something, I don't know. I don't know how you could not absolutely love this song. [1:05:11] The one note I want to bring up here, I feel like Gord's, when it comes to his vocals and everything. This song, I think that it's thematic throughout the record, but this song really makes me realize he's not he's, he's transcended humanity as a vocalist. And I know this is bold words I'm saying here. But I feel like where he was at from the EP and where we've seen it go. It's like he's an evolved, you know, humans evolved from apes. Like Gord has evolved from humans. So they say. Right, so they say, my apologies for all you creationists out there. No, but I feel like Gord is, he's moved past it vocally, he's just, and as a songwriter and as a front man, he's just like, I don't think I've ever seen, you know, no disrespect to the Stones,because we were talking about the Stones, Dan brought up the Stones. You know, mix mic man, you know what you're getting every time. [1:06:15] He's great, and he's consistent, and he's always great. But I wouldn't say the guy's vocals and style and everything has evolved much since Get Off My Cloud to where it's at today. It's the same dude. Gord, I feel like, is just... He's evolved past the normal human Gord. You know, like Megagord or... Okay, you know. Megagord. Mechagord, you know, like... Yeah. He was five lions, and then he converged into one. [1:06:57] I don't know. I'm gonna use Voltron as a verb. He Voltron'd into one giant robot of a lead singer. Tim, what do you think of this one? I thought the same about the open road with this one. The white and open throat. Night slips back with no noise. I mean, that's... Yeah. It's a great song. All right, next. So this next one about this map was last played in Spokane, Washington, 2012. It was only played twice. Oh, Tim, how about Modern Spirit? Was it played more? Feels like a live song. Ah, sorry. Modern Spirit, only 12. Only 12. So as this album goes by, these songs are played less live, which, yeah, it just made me wonder about the band and what, what, what, or why, or, you know, it, was it, was it thetheme of the album and the life and the times that was kind of too heavy to play live or I'm not sure. Well, they only had one sure after this as well. And that was the last tour. How many stops do you think? And we'll, and we'll get into that. Like, I think it was like, it was strictly Canada. Yeah, it was a pretty big deal. [1:08:22] So about this map. The mysterious and unique start of the song "About This Map"[1:08:26] Pete, talk to me about this map. It's a really weird start. And not in a bad way, just in a... About this map. It's kind of a mysterious song. Yeah, very mysterious. But I love the... [1:08:46] This was the song that made me think on the whole record, because again, like Dan said, I didn't know the history of what was going on in Gord's life during this record. But thisis the song where I kind of was like, okay, what the fuck is going on? This is just, everything's just too different, especially when you look at what the previous record was. But I dug it. The chorus and the pre-chorus is so good in this song. I don't have a ton to say, but the melody and the guitar licks are just top notch. I mean, I feel like it would take me a year to come up with that. Being so cool, making guitars sound that cool, and then afterward, I would just like pat myself on the back for the rest of my life because it's just that fucking cool. And fucking Rob Baker probably just did it in like two takes and then just forgot about it and went home and had, I don't know, fucking rotisserie chicken or whatever you guys eat overthere in Canada. We do eat a lot of rotisserie chicken. [1:10:00] What about blue? What about blue? Oh no, I'm really hungry and thirsty. Fuck. Well, what did you think about this map, Dan? Yeah, it's a good track, but as we were saying, yeah, it's a bit of a weird one. The lyrics, the sort of, the sentiment in the lyrics doesn't sort of, like, build, you know? Of stays on this sort of level. Was the sort of guitars and everything kind of rise around it, which I found was pretty fascinating. And again, it's like, yeah, in terms of sort of lyrics, about this map is said 15 times. So there's a there's a lot of that in there, which I think sort of flattens the lyrics out a bit. But a lot of textures in there that I haven't heard in other stuff as well. [1:11:04] It's a grower. It's an absolute grower. It was for me. Again, it was one of those tracks I'd always get to this stage in the album and then think like, oh God, hang on, is that? And then, uh, yeah, it, it, it had come back to me and, um, I dig. It'sgood. Are any other two fuckers going to recognize the irony of the fact that Dan's discussing the song about this map and directly behind him is a gigantic map? Oh yeah. Am I the only one like seeing the irony here? Sorry. Yeah. For those of you listening... We got a theme. Yeah. Tim's got a map up here. Yeah, got a couple. He's got a couple there too. You got Spain and Italy behind you, right Tim? Staring at it every day. [1:11:56] Good ol' EU over there. Sorry. We'll save the tour for another day. Did anybody get the edge vibes? Like from the guitar? Like, from the guitar? 100%! This song and one coming up, 100% got the edge. Well said, JD. Yeah, we've talked about how the latter part of U2's career has sprinkled some seasoning on this band. I've heard that too. Dave's Weed Shop: The Edge's Redemption?[1:12:36] I think the edge is a bit of a cheat though. So I have a hard time talking about him. I forget his real name. It's probably let's let's let's name him. What was his name? It's probably like, I think it's Dave. It's got to have three syllables. I think he's going to open a weed shop. It's going to be called Dave's not here, man. Now if the edge opened a weed shop, I'd probably, I'd probably like him again. Yeah. David Howell Evans. How? See I call him Dave. We're tight. What's the middle name? Let's move on. Dan? Did you have anything to say about this map, Tim? I didn't realize that about this map was said 15 times. That's a lot. I don't have a lot on this one. I thought that it was a bit of a filler, like we've rounded the bend, and we're getting towards the end of the album. You know, the bass, there's areally nice bass guitar through this. It's a little bit more meandering and I don't know. I didn't have a lot on this one. Yeah, it just kind of kept me going. Again, this part, this chunk of the album just felt just stronger than the past couple albums. Okay, let's move on to... Take Forever? Goddamn son, where we going? Take forever. Forever. Song about astronauts and Calgary[1:17:03] Yeah, this one's eight times live. Last played in 13. I, you know, maybe it was a song about astronauts. I'm not sure. It seems like also some statement about Calgary. Is Calgary the, where the wealth is of the roof? He seems to think everyone should have heart attacks there, According to the songs is what I read Yeah You know, I listened to another podcast and they were from Calgary and they tookgreat offense I don't recall as to why right now, but to me I think about it like, you know that beginning part like When I broke down, I always thought I'd go to Calgary. I think that's a nice sentiment But what do I know? But the yeah, there is a lot about Calgary, right? What about you Dan, how does that? [1:17:58] Totally stumped by this track. For some reason it reminds me of a late Blondie track as well, it's got some kind of vibe like that about it. But yeah, the lyrics and the Calgary thing man, yeah, it's crazy. I mean this is what I'm getting from some of these, I like the tracks, but the lyrics when I'm looking at the lyrics, it's just like, whoa, where are you going with that, Gord? Any insight, JD? [1:18:31] I wish. It's like a time bomb, you know? There's so many wires and things in there that you might pull one wire and it might make some progress, but then there's a whole other pack of wires underneath, you know? Yeah. I mean, again, when you do look at the lyrics for this album, there are a few themes that go through I mean this again this has got the whole kind of man machine reference and it's got thiswhole sort of um you know destroying space thing that we've we've heard um quite a few times as well yeah yeah um I I think this song is textbook hip I mean just the sound that it is I Ihear you on the lyrics, I guess they didn't make enough of an impact on me as the instruments of the song, you know, the instrumentation. Love the fucking thumping bass, just Sinclair's all over this record, you know. It's classic hip. [1:19:46] This is a song, especially in terms of chords, vocals, again, not speaking about the lyrics per se, just his singing. I think this is one of the songs where I'm like, God, why does nobody get this band? Just the song that made me think of it. So yeah, not a ton to say about it, but I dug it. I'm not, um, I feel like compared to last week, you could, you could, you know, serve me a shit sandwich and I'll just be like, you know, Can we, can we get into just a little bit about whydidn't this band, blah, blah, blah, make it in the U S or whatever it is. I had a lot of thoughts about this during this listen, which you just reminded me of. And I was kind of neither here nor there. nor there. But this album, I too, Pete, had thought a bit about. The popularity of this band in Canada versus the U.S. and all those things. And it was concurrently during, while listening to this past week, it was concurrently during Coachella that's 

Prepare to journey into the heart of the Hip's 2009 album, "We Are the Same." This week, we're pulling back the curtain on an album that made fans wait an extra year for its release. We're not just talking about the music; we're delving into the nostalgia, the reception, and the adventure of listening to this collection of songs. TracksMorning Moon - Studio versionThe Last Recluse - Montreal 2009The Depression Suite - San Fransciso 2009Frozen in my Tracks - Syracuse 2009TranscriptTrack 1:[0:01] For the first time in over 20 years, hip fans had to wait longer than two years for new material. It was three years after we got World Container that Bob Rock came down from the mountain with the Stone Tablet Masters of what appeared to be a campfire album called We Are TheSame. Although it launched with a cool promo, the hip, performing live at the bathhouse, beamed to cineplex theaters across Canada, and it debuted at number one, I have absolutely no memoryof this album entering the zeitgeist. In fact, I could tell you that only Love Is a First made it to my ears before the Fully and Completely podcast. My first full listen of this album was followed by a visit to the grocery store where I bumped into my co-host Greg, and I remember us casually throwing around terms like milk toast andbeige when describing what we were getting into with this springtime release. What followed though is something amazing and it's something only music can truly do. [1:05] You see, I gave this album its due and by that I mean a good solid listening session. On walks, at my desk, on my patio, the beige started to turn into a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. The album was making me feel nostalgic for my 1977 El Camino. I could envision loading up the back of this hog with camping gear and taking this record to the cottage for the May long and listening to nothing but. Yes, I had become a fan of We Are The Same. Today it's an album I reach for when I feel wistful and I want to reminisce with my past. I adore Morning Moon and the Depression Suite, but the deeper cuts do it for me too. Will the love that Pete and Tim felt on the Bob Rock produced World Container spill over onto this record, or will their first experience be like mine? We're here now, so we may as well be getting hip to the hip. Track 4:[2:31] Hey it's JD here and welcome back to Getting Hip to the Hip. I'm here every week with my friends Pete and Tim and what we do is we talk about the Tragically Hip one album at a time week over week trying to understand what it's like to hear thisband for the first time again. Pete, Tim, How the fuck are you guys doing? Ola, como estas? Buenas tardes. Bueno, bueno, bueno. Los fanes de Tragically Hip. That's how they would say it here. I'm not culturally appropriating. That's how people talk here in Spain. In Spanish, you mean? Yeah, yeah. And they wouldn't change the name of Tragically Hip. hip, they would just say tragically hip, just like they say. See, see, see. Cloud, cloud, or cloud, or cloud. I don't know where he's went to, but there was a guy on Facebook. He's in the Facebook group. And his name is Luca Tadia, I believe. And he's Italian. And he discovered the hip out of, he's an Italian, he's in a band. He's a singer-songwriter. [3:47] And he was at a really low point. And he discovered the hip. And he, he really feels so strongly about them that he's rewritten, rewritten. [3:59] The lyrics like transcribe, like not transcribe them. What word am I looking for? Translated them, but in many cases he's had to write his own because there's so many turns of phrase he's, he's having to write like his own sort of stuff, but, but to fit in the melodicstructure and then, you know, he, he alters the melodic structure a little bit, but he's released a whole whack and he's coming out with a record and everything, but I haven't seen, I haven'tseen anything about him in a while. So what a fucking surface, Luca, come back to it. I'll point out, I'll send some stuff to the thread later this week, but, um, I'm getting way, uh, way caught up in the weeds here because we're here to talk about a record we're here to talkabout, we are the same, uh, released in 2009, which interesting tidbit. This is the first time that a hip band had had to wait more than two years for a record since the band emerged in 1987. They had to wait three years. So it was 2006, then 2009. Was that the longest three years of hip's lives? Or what was going on during that time? I'm guessing the diehards were losing their minds. Yeah. Are they breaking up? What's going on? Like, Gord was doing solo stuff. Rob Baker was doing Stripper's Union in 2005. So he might have toured Stripper's Union in 2006. [5:22] I don't know, they did their usual stuff, but they, like, to my... [5:28] To my knowledge, they, I mean, the record still opened at number one, um, for the week that it was released, which was consistent with what the hip had been doing. I think they had eight in a row or something like that, but they just weren't part of the zeitgeist, you know, they weren't part of, or maybe it's just, they weren't part of my zeitgeist. That, that might be it. Uh, they, they might've been, but, but I feel like if they were as big as they were in 96 in 2009, then they would have never fell off my radar, sort of. And it wasn't that they fell off my radar. They, I just started listening to other music. I just, you know, I- Were you aware of their whole, their whole bathhouse performance at the end or before the release? Like they played at the bathhouse to, they played a show? I would have lost my, like, I would have lost my mind. So I, yeah, I don't, I don't know. [6:24] It was just out of my reference point. Yeah, so I read that they played at the Bathhouse and it was screened, I guess, at Cineplex Theatres across Canada. It's like, these guys were, you know, celebrating for sure. Do you know what Cineplex Theatres owns? One of the things they own is a branch of places called the Rec Room. And one of the Rec Rooms is in Toronto, where we're going to be hosting our event. And we hope you all make it. Get out of fucking town. Wait, what's this event? What are we doing? [6:59] Come on be on board I hate the pull it out game That's gonna be a fun night. I just can't wait. That's gonna be a real fun. Oh, don't lie Jay Jay D Your pull-out game is great. [7:15] Oh my gosh He's got like 12 pockets on his outfit right now he's pulling shit out of her. Oh man. Yeah, I know, the event's going to be great, tickets are selling through, so get themwhile you can. Hit them quick. Get more information on our Twitter feed or send any of us an email, JD, Pete, Tim at gettinghiptothehip.com you can do all of that and more. So let's get into this Bob Rock produced record. This one's recorded entirely at The Bath House, which is a stark contrast from World Container, which was recorded at a big studio in Vancouver and a relatively large studio in Toronto. This was now The Hip on their own ground. I feel like as a result of that we get a very different sounding record. It's got like the nuances the nooks and crannies that the bathhouse records are sort of becoming famous for but it's still like holy shit is this record produced. Like it is depending on what side of the fence you're on it's either intricate or too busy you know like in terms of some of the arrangements. [8:34] The general, I don't know, gist of it that I was kind of reading about is a little bit of a love-hate. I don't know. I also read that that extra year they're waiting for Bob Rock to returnfrom a carnival cruise. Like a really extended long carnival cruise. Oh, wow. That's boggers. That's my joke right there. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, I got that, it took me a second. Yeah, me too. Sorry. We'll dial it in, we'll dial it in in post. I'll test my new editing tools on that one. Punch up the laughter. Okay. No, I really, I read a bit about this album. It is very much highly produced. I feel like it's, the all music reviews, three stars. Yeah. Which is lower, you know, by at least half a point than usual. And one term they used about it was a creative bankruptcy. Like, they pulled out all the stops. All of the stops for this album and tapped the tank. So I thought that was a pretty fucking harsh review. That's very harsh. Considering three years, man. Yeah, no, no, don't be sorry. I just, I don't see that it's, it's, yeah. [9:59] I like this. I like this record. I'll tell you guys. I didn't. The first time I heard it, did not. So I was the same. Yeah, yeah. Let's hear about your experience listening to the record. I was kind of the same. I listened to it. Well, I listened to parts of it. I couldn't sit through it all thefirst try. It was like, I don't know, it was like reading a series of books and getting to the next book and it's like, oh my gosh, this book's going to take me forever. That's what it just felt like to me and finally got through it. I'll say finally. [10:32] And wasn't so sure, but you know there were songs, I'll just say that there were songs that grew on me after repeat listens and I and I got to a point where I thought I could see howhip fans either embraced the whole trajectory of the hip and continued to absolutely love this band and I could see how some hip fans were like Like, what the fuck? When are we going to get this Bob Brock guy out of here? Yeah. Because, I mean, I feel like that's still, I don't know, still a thread going through it. So yeah, that was my take. Listened to it kind of everywhere. [11:11] I just, I gave this album some real attempts. But I listened to it also, I think, less than other albums in general. Okay. Pete? You know, I say we get into it cause I got a lot to say about the, you know, the record as we go. And I'll leave my comments to the record as we move on. Okay, well then kick us off here. Let's start right out with Morning Moon. I mean, I thought it was, I thought it was, let's see. It definitely a different tone to begin the record on with the acoustic vibe, the melody was really cool. I was surprised by the strings, but as we'll talk about as we go on here, the strings become a thing. Hey, that's a good way of putting it, Tim. [12:12] There's a really cool country lick with the electric guitar, I like it. Chorus is catchy, heavy harmonies, twangy guitar. I got some, I got some like a little bit of Eagles vibes on this too. Sure. Clearly hear it. My note that I, my note I wrote down was, it's got an AM radio chorus. Yeah. Yeah, totally, totally. But, but. In a good way. Yeah, in a good way. But I wasn't like, I wasn't like, ah, ah, fuck. This is, yeah. I mean, this is not... [12:49] This is not music at work. This does not grab you by the balls and punch you in the face and then throw you down the fucking hill. It doesn't do that. [13:02] Not to say that I want that, but yeah, interesting start. That's all I'll say. Track one. We'll go there. We'll talk about Bob Rock as we keep going. Oh, Bobby, I thought, you know, this is an interesting start as well. It's got this country rock ballad, you know, it's like, are we jumping into a good condition 90s Chevy Suburban driving through Nashville in this one, like heading to the barbecue place? I don't know. But it also felt like, you know, I was listening through and I also thought this is so singable and it's kind of lovely and it's balladish and And it feels a little country. There's slide guitar. There's some, I don't know, cello or something that comes in. There's strings happening. And then I thought, I could rewrite the lyrics of this song and play it for anybody, and they would like it. I could actually turn this into a country music song. Or you could turn it into, dare I say, a Christian rock song. It just felt really mainstream, stream kickoff song to this album. It was like beautiful. Yeah, it's beautiful. And I like dug it, but it felt like programmed, I felt kind of programmed. [14:26] I would never suggest rewriting Gord Downie lyrics. I agree. But the music merited a feeling of, this could be a song played on different types of radio stations. It just, yeah. I wanted, you know, the kickoff on an album for me, it's got to be gripping. And it puts you in the seat. And you put on your seat belt. And you go. And this one was like, OK, what's number two? [14:56] Which, before we get into number two, honey, please, which, from each of you, song would you have used to kick off the record if you were sequencing the record? Is there a song on there that does that, that throws you down the hill, or grabs you by the throat? I know which one I would not, out of all of them, but I'll take it. It's a good question, but to be honest with you, I feel like this record, there are songs on. There's even notes that I'll say when we get into other songs. I feel like there's songs that don't belong in this record. Gotcha. Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, they kicked it off the way they kicked it off. And I think it's, you know, you can't argue with what's been done. And I can't make their fucking decisions. But yeah. Yeah, I don't know. That's a tough question. It's a good question, but I can't answer it, JD. All right, honey, please. Oof. Here's another one I thought that kind of had this R.E.M. feel. I have East Street Band written down. OK. I also had. The beginning just reminds me of that piano lick at the beginning. Just reminds me of Springsteen. [16:08] It just feels like it's going into a Springsteen song. OK. This one, it somehow made me think of the band Big Country. I think they were, where were they from? Were they Scottish? I don't know. It just, Gord comes in softly, you know, I kind of felt like, oh, I wonder if they do this one live and he's angrier. Like it just, it just, I felt like there was a shift that wasn't in this song. Like it just felt like a great radio song, but at the same time. It was also playing in the ceiling speaker system when I was in Vancouver, BC getting my teeth cleaned. You know, like it just, it was really, it like, it was like I couldn't figure out what it was. It was that, or it was almost a wedding song. Like I couldn't figure out what this song was supposed to be. I just, it just kind of stumped me. It was good and sing along and everything, but it was also like, where are we going? I know, it's hard. This is that song, this might be the album that got kicked in the balls at the show on September 1st. Somebody might just walk up and kick me in the balls. Oh, there are big fans of this record. This might be that album. I'm wearing a cup, dude. [17:33] On Amazon, like, no fucking way. I'm wearing a mouth guard. I'm wearing a wig and I'm going to have like a voice modifier on my throat. I can just set you guys up behind the screen like so nobody can see you. You know, one of those things like silhouette. The old cage. You remember like watching fucking Roadhouse where the band played behind like a fucking like a chain link fence. And that band was? Jeff Healy and the... Fuck, Jeff Healy and the... I can't remember the band. I would have just said Jeff Healy band. Fucking shadow puppets. Here's my shadow puppets, Pete and Tim. Jesus Christ, man. Great fucking man, though. You know, we've been drinking the Kool-Aid and sometimes you get a little gherpie from, you know, too much Kool-Aid. I think that's just kind of... It's funny you say that, Tim, because I'm reading my notes for this song and it's... And honey, please... You've got gherpie written down. No, no, it didn't matter. This is my complete notes on this song. Heavy production. Producer is really mixing the Kool-Aid here. [18:44] Even how the drums are mixed, I mean, I just, I could not, I could not listen to this fucking song enough to even see, like, I just was like, yeah, dentist's office. I'm at, I'm at a fucking Sears or, or I'm at a Hallmark store and I'm just like, what the fuck, man? I just want to get out of here so I can put on fucking Black Sabbath or the, or fucking, or fully and completely in my fucking car. Like I just, Christ, excuse my language, but yeah, it justwas not taken, not taken. The, the, I'll just, there's more, but the, the, you're right about the drum mixing because there were a couple times where I was like, there's nothing wrong with this drummer. Why are we doing what we're doing here? Oh, it was like fucking the right tom went from the right ear to the left ear and then the kicks going back. I'm like, what the fuck are we doing? Why? Like, just give me the fucking drums. I don't need a ping pong set in my ears. It was just too much. I hear you on the E Street Band JD, but yeah, other than that, could not, oh, yeah, that's all I got. That's all I got. you. [20:05] J.D. we need to rerecord the start and you're going to be like, this is where I lost my friendship with Pete Dibb. And they were banned from the roof of the United States. No entry. No entry. [20:22] The first time I sat down and listened to the record was for Fully and Completely, the podcast. By the way, Pete, it's Fully Completely. Fully and Completely was our podcast. Whoa, easy, JD. Okay, now you're cut. Okay, all right. Mr. Details. This is episode... He's gotten our back. This is like, I mean, we got one record after two records. I should know this, you're right. I should know this at this point. I don't know if I can say this. So I listened to it then and I like absolutely, it did nothing for me. It did nothing. Like, I was just like, I don't even, I didn't pick up anything. I can't even say, oh, well, the Parchment Suite I really liked, you know, like, no, it just washed over me. And that really disappointed me and so I gave it like a session listen. Probably two or three weeks later, where I sat down and listened to it two or three times in a row. And that's when I latched onto a few songs. I won't say what they were, but I latched onto a few songs. And then picking it up again for this podcast and listening to it, it's like I'm finding some of these songs feel weirdly nostalgicnow, you know? And Honey Please, I like the tone of of his voice, like, I like what he's doing with his vocals on this song. Yeah. Uh, like he's, he's really playful. Like Jimmy's like, no, not like that. [21:51] Well, I was just in shock because I thought for a second, Gordani was sitting across from me. Oh, I thought you meant Tim was having a fucking seizure. No, it's, it's what I've been doing around the house when I need a refill. It's like, No, this, you know what, I'll tell, I'll tell you something, this, this is a really weird analogy, but like, I'm not a, I'm not one of those guys who's, I mean, I think the last time beforethis time I had been to a strip club when I was like 18 years old, you know, when you're 18, this is the first thing you can do. You go to a strip club. Yeah. Uh, and I had gone to one, one time after I was in a very committed and loving relationship And it was like, I got there and I was like, there's this beautifulwoman and she's talking to me and she smells nice and everything. And she's like, it's not doing, it's not, it's not taking. [22:44] And then like, you know, the night goes on, I have a couple of beers and I'm like, still not working. I don't understand what it is. And, you know, turns out, at least in terms of the strip club, it was because I love the person I was with and I didn't want to be there. I was not happy about where I was at. But that's how I felt listening to this song, is that no matter how much I tried, it did nothing for me whatsoever. Wow. It wasn't because it was your aunt, Shirley? I mean, for art, for art, that is the most harsh criticism you can give, right? I hate to say that. I hate to say that. This song is- No, no, I'm fine. This is what this is, right? This is great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that you're being honest rather than pandering, you know, I'm not going to pander and I'm going to be honest about this. It means the stuff that you have loved is that much more real to me. You know, thank you. Yeah. I mean, when you go back to, I mean, talk to me about fucking trouble with the hen house and I'm Christ. [23:52] Well, and just wait for next, next week. Ooh. Okay. I'm, I'm, you know, I don't want to get to the last recluse. [27:09] Oh, so, you know, fun chorus, lots of oohs, aahs. You know, I like a good ooh-aah section in a song when it works. I don't mind it. It can make it fun. But this song is so loaded. It's like tons of instruments. I don't know if there's an accordion in this song. I don't know. There's keys. There's tons of layers. It's got this ominous start. Um, it's a really bridge. Yeah. Bridge is so ominous. This chanting. Yeah. Yeah. I, which I thought was kind of cool, but, uh, you know, the keys fade out at the end and, and Gord's just, who are you? Who are you? Who are you? And it's, uh, I don't know what the song is, is about or who, or I don't know. It just, it just was like, whew, this, this song's loaded. Did you watch those videos I sent you guys? There's a trilogy from this record and Gord produced the videos and I sent them as a link. I don't think I think I said I was going to watch it because I wasn't in a place with Wi-Fi and thenI never watched it. I think that's my excuse also. [28:23] I don't remember getting it from you. You have to resend it. I'll resend it. I would watch it. Yeah, I want to read my notes verbatim here. Okay, um because yeah, I I really cool opening. I got YouTube vibes, a little Alice in Chains with the acoustic. [28:46] Guitar. The melody is good but it's very Coldplay. I got a lot of Coldplay vibes from this song. Not that I'm a Coldplay fan but unless you've been living under a fucking rock, you know what Coldplay sounds like. [29:00] And not to say that Coldplay's bad. There's a market for them. I like the keyboards but again with like the chanting and everything like I wrote down I do not recognize this band and it's no it's no surprise to me that Bob Rock did not produce the nextrecord because I feel like the whole time this guy Bob Rock whoever he is I don't know how he sounds I don't know where he's from but he's like listen guys nah this is the way it's gottabe I've been in the business for years I did this Metallica group you hear of them you heard of them they're from they're from California I know how to do it. It's just what you got to do to make this record sound good. Okay, I'm a big time record producer here. Like, I mean, the whole band is just like, Gord, what do you think? Do you know how much this haircut costs? Yeah, I put my my my pants on the same way as everybody else. The only difference is I make gold records. Like, I'm like, just like, fuck, dude, I'm the band must have just been sitting sitting there like, okay, all right, we'll do this. [30:08] Hey Gord, we're taking a coffee break right now. Hey Gord, I just ran into fucking Bob Rock coming out of the bathroom and he says we should put some Gregorian chants on thenext song. And he's like, you said, you said what? Okay, I guess we'll try it. Like it just, I don't know. Yeah. I, let's, can we go to Coffee Girl? Because it's not just. Sure. Can we? Can we? I promise, I promise this is gonna get better, but not with this song. Yeah, it is, it is. Not with this song. [30:43] It's a rollercoaster ride. This song. I'm reading I'm reading verbatim here feels like a song used for a scene transition in a romantic comedy when the guy and the girl break up before the final act where they get backtogether. Coffee girl. It's like I'm just picturing like, ah, fuck, he broke up. It's a montage of like her at work alone, pissed off because the guy fucking broke her heart, whatever the And, and, and like the trumpet, it's like, it was cool, but it was just like, what thefucking trumpet? Like, what is, what is going on right now? [31:24] And, and I mean, maybe it's supposed to make you feel like you're in a, like, give you that, that so I made her an expert or so I married an expert vibes. You remember that? Yes. Yeah. Like with a trumpet, like a lowly coffee shop in San Francisco, like, I don't know what the fuck's going on, but I'm just like, okay, this band is takingdirection. This is not, not to say it's not the same guys, but they're just like, they're led astray on some songs with this record, I feel. That's all I'm saying. Interesting thing. Yeah. I'd want this, this song, I got this, like, I agree with you pretty much, but I got creepy vibes from it. Get to the back door, look around, then turn the key, turn on all the lights, take down the chairs and make things neat. One night he'll make you choose. I mean, what? This is... Well, the beginning part is her opening the coffee shop. This song's creepy though. It's, I don't know. There's, there's... So I had that little sentiment about it. And then I was like, I remember when you could walk in Starbucks and you'd hear like like a catchy song. And then they had CDs for sale next to the cash register. I remember those days. And you can like take from, you know, the holiday Starbucks playlist, but it was on CD for sale right there. Right. I wondered, like, yeah. [32:51] You used to have a song you could download too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, was this a Starbucks song? I don't think it was a single. Tim's all creeped out and JD's like, no. JD's like, no, I've worked at a coffee shop. I've worked at a Starbucks before. You turn the lights, you turn the fucking key, you put the chairs out. Tim, what the fuck is the problem? Yeah, the problem is one night he'll make you choose. What is that? Like there's... You gotta watch the videos. Watch the videos, all right? I don't... Fucking... Okay. All right. Homework. Homework. Now, I agree with you. This song is very milquetoast. Milquetoast. Good work. You know? Yeah. It's fine. But it's enhanced significantly by this video. You enjoy it a little bit more. But... Well, in that essence, do you feel the song was kind of made for video, hand in hand, kind of? Well, I don't know why it wouldn't have been a single then, you know? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Like, back in the day, they were releasing six, seven singles a record to give those record legs. [34:06] Well, it's got, I think, second biggest plays, or third biggest plays for this entire record on Spotify. Definitely a single category as far as listening is concerned. And I said it at the top of the fucking conversation about this tune is that it feels like it's made for a movie, you know? Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I thought of the same. Only played 77 times live. So it's not really a big live song. No, it'd be super rare. Yeah. You guys are such data whores. Such data whores. You started it with your Spotify. I really wasn't with this album until yesterday. I usually do some research along the way in this album. I really just tried to listen to it, and I tried to listen to it. You weren't inspired. And then yesterday, got into some of the data stuff. All right. Let's go to track number five. Let's go. So, the acoustic guitar feels kind of played hard. Like, I don't know if you caught this, Pete, but it felt like. I don't know. I don't think it feels forced, but the strumming of the acoustic guitar in the beginning feels a little bit annoyed or something. I don't know. There's some sentiment in there. [35:33] Drums felt kind of simple, and then everything kind of thickens up, and there's big solos in here. It's over a six-minute song, So it's building us up in song length. I mean, this is a long song for the hip. [35:52] What else did I have in my notes here? Oh, there is, you know... Sorry, I have to read this real quick. You know, the importance of this one is just how it is all about the reference of the residential school system. We actually watched a kind of docudrama film about the residential school system up there and all the government's policies towards First Nations people. And that's some heavy, heavy stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's just the song, let's see, I read the song is a response to this basically a cool you've apologized. Oh no, no, this was a Gord quote, I believe. Cool you've apologized, but nothing has really changed. The damage has been done. People are still suffering as a direct result of the government's policies. You know, that's, it's, it's not an apology song, but it's sort of. This one's just big. It's just a big song. Another one. [37:06] Yeah, before I speak about the song, I'm going to go back to one thing I said in the previous pod. I really wish to God Gorda was alive today, because I feel like the governments of the world, specifically the United States government and the Canadian government are just fucking itspeople in so many ways. Not making this a political thing, but like, Absolutely, I just I feel like that guy is a guy who would speak out and and you know, it's funny because I remember watching like video ofTrudeau when he died and Saying what a great guy he was and him actually tearing up but thinking like god, man I wonder if Gord hadn't died and what he'd be saying about some of theshit going. Yeah, no doubt the war or, you know, anything that happened during COVID, all that shit. I just really, you know, that guy is an important voice for the people in Canada. And I think, I don't know, I say North America, although there's not a lot of Americans that know the hip, but I sure shit do now. So, but getting back to the song, I liked this one. I, Tim, I certainly felt the same vibe. acoustic guitar in the beginning sounds extremely dated so that's where I think you got the vibe. [38:28] There's a lot of chorus and a lot of reverb it's just like way too like is this is this 1991? 92? It sounded like the same guitar tone on the song More Than Words by Xtreme. It just but strumming instead of that Like it just was too much. That being said, again, the strings come in, but there's a lot more of that on this fucking record. Rob Baker kind of saves the day. Solo starts coming in. The hit is great. The chorus is awesome. I love it there's some really cool arpeggios that are done in the second verse that just mix up the the sound of the song and then Rob Baker's solo it I Mean, I don't know dude. I'm willing to think he's probably the biggest fucking Pink Floyd fan in all I thought the same thing! That motherfucker, it's just fucking David Gilmour. I mean, I'm like, is Gilmour playing on this fucking record or is it Rob Baker? I mean, it's not even like, if you heard it, you'd be like, oh yeah, it's David Gilmour playing guitar. Like, no, it's actually Rob Baker, which is cool. I like it. And then Paul Amois doing like a Beatles thing, like with the guitar, like bouncing back and forth. [39:57] But in the end, I felt like this song had literally, I don't wanna miss a thing, Aerosmith, Armageddon vibes. Like it was produced to that level. Like it was good. Cinematic. But it was just, yeah, like, whoa, like, did I see this on the IMAX? I've got to listen to this song in IMAX. Yeah, to really appreciate it. Oh my gosh. I had the Pink Floyd reference, not so much of the guitar playing, but more as the all-encompassing feel of this album and the journeys throughout it, because it felt like it was trying to belike this massive Floyd production. That's one thought I had relating to the Floyd. [40:44] But the song, it made me wonder. This is where I dove into the story a little bit more. I wanted to know who Honey Watson was. Did you find out who Honey Watson is? Anybody? The reference here. So Gord apparently was watching a CBAE, CBC news story about the residential schools and started to write this song about it. And then the news story shifted to some story in Haiti and the news correspondent's name was Connie Watson. And he heard it as Honey Watson. And he thought that was funny, so he incorporated her name, Connie Watson, as Honey Watson into the song. Just thought it was cool and wrote it down. So he's like going through this really heavy topic, like one of. [41:36] Canada's maybe, you know, top three heaviest topics, residential school system. And he's throwing in these funny little, I thought they said, honey, Watson, her name's Connie Watson. I'm going to put this in this fucked up story, you know, it's like, God damn what this guy can do. And Pete, I completely agree with you. We, we, if I could choose, of course, any of us to have Gord still around. Yes. But we also need the band. Like, this is something I kind of want to save to the end, but of the whole, all of our experience, but like, we don't have art in the form of music that isscreaming about issues going on right now and making people angry. We don't have like, I can't name a band right now that has death threats against it from groups of idiots. [42:31] You know, I just don't know, like, there's a lot of- Hang tight, Tim. Our record comes out in December. Yeah, there we go. I was just going to say, there's a lot of, there's a lot, there are many lesser known, but on the rise, you know, kind of post-punk stuff coming out or going on, you know, like there's a lot. I agree with you though, man. There's just like, there's no- There's no mainstream people out there who are really screaming about issues going on around the world and ruffling feathers. [43:07] Like so much. Where's the song War Pigs, dude? Fuck, I've second time I've mentioned Sabbath during this fucking podcast. But like, where's the song War Pigs? Right now. Right now. It's on my hard drive. Back off. Hey, no, but like, I mean, I mean, here we are. [43:27] You know sending Billions of dollars to fund war all around the world and where the fucking dude, you know what? Um, there's a great fucking tiktok or whatever the fuck it is And it's some guy like i've seen it. Don't pretend like you don't tiktok all the time. No, I don't I don't have it But I wish I did um for that purpose, but there's a guy's Sitting in his car. He actually has his own account. Yeah. Look it up at pete. Um, it's all about his hair No, dude, there's a fucking guy sitting in his car and he's just like, you know, you guys in your punk bands and you were young, you were fighting against thesystem. [44:06] But somewhere you got old and you got fucking soft and you joined a party and it dude, he just fucking nails it. This guy fucking nails it. Wow. He fucking nails it. And it's like when I see shit like people like Henry fucking Rollins, like supporting the Democratic Party, which is like, fuck the Republicans, fuck the Democrats, fuck them all. Your job is to be against the system. You fuck. Excuse my language, but it's just like that's yeah, that's how I feel like, like a guy like Gord had. I don't know. The interviews I've seen with him and so much integrity, he wouldn't waffle. He'd tell he'd call a fucking spade a spade when he saw it. And if he smelled bullshit, he'd call it out no matter who it was. I don't know. That's how I feel, man. And yeah, you're right, Tim. We need the band. We need the band. We do. We need the band. Because the music's... Because not everybody watches the news and not everybody watches interviews. You hear music, though, man. You hear fucking War Pigs and you listen to those lyrics and you think, yeah, Smedley Butler was right. If you don't know who Smedley Butler is, listeners, Google him. He's not either. No, he's dead, but he wrote a good book. War is a wreck. Anyhow, too soon yet. He's been dead a while. It's a depression suit. [54:35] I had no idea what I was getting in store for when the song started, right? I mean, I was in the car and the display in my mediocre sound system, M-S-S. Clearly not my sound system. Fucking premium audio shit. My stock sound system. Anyways, on my screen it doesn't show the amount of time the song is. It just shows the amount of time it's been playing. And I just kept looking over. Like, I'm driving across town and I keep looking over. Like, god damn, how long is this song gonna go? The last song was like six minutes plus, right? Is this one a rock opera? Like, what is going on? It has this lovely start, but you really don't know where it's going. [55:26] The lyrics, I just, I was a little bit confused. The first listen, I thought we were really going to end around three and a half minutes, because that's when I was looking over. But we just kept evolving. It shifts gears, it speeds up, it gets more intense. Gord gets more loud. The strings get more loud. It just like, it's really climbing up this mountain. [55:50] And you know, part of the lyrics is, is what if the song does nothing? What is it doing? You know, what if the song does nothing? In one of the reviews of the song, which I later read, some of the hip fans who aren't as much into this album, they, you know, their, their response of what if the song does nothing waslike, yeah, what if it's not doing anything, you know, it's just confusion maybe? I don't know. Some fans were were like, no, I don't want to see how it ends because Gord's lyrics kind of ask for that. There's this, um... Kind of painful guitar solo at like eight minute mark. I mean the strings that loop and have this abrupt stop it's just this song is... It just goes. I've only listened to it three times I will listen to it again but the song to me was just... I just wonder what everybody was trying to do because it just was magnanimous. [56:59] It's giant. All right. Well, I will say I fucking love this. I thought I thought it was fucking magnificent. I think, you know, I finally with all the strings that are on this record was like, OK, I can dig them on this song. You know, I mean, it's a very, this is a very emotional record. It sounds like just lyrically, I don't feel like any of the first five songs really moved me that way. But there's a lot of musical references that he makes in here to like things like perfectfifths. The chorus is fucking amazing. When he starts warming up his voice, when he really starts digging his fucking heels in and he starts repeating, if this song does nothing, with the strings backing him up, I think are superpowerful. [58:03] They move me in this song, especially I listen to this song a lot in the car. I've talked about it once or twice, but, you know, it's a different experience when you listen to a song, when you listen to hip in my car or any music but you know I have a, The soundsystems, you know, it came with premium, but it's it's you know, it's it's a good It's a good audio system in my car. Frothy and quiet. Pete's premium sound system There's When the strings there's a cool syncopated rhythm that happens in the song and then when it when it breaks There's a part, because this is twodifferent songs, it's like 9 minutes and 27 seconds long and when this song breaks and it changes course, there's a part in it that is Alice Cooper's Only Women Bleed. Has anybody heard that song before? Yeah, sure have. It's that, it's fucking that, fucking it's the hook in that song they fucking use. And Gord's vocals are exactly that. [59:16] He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all. That's the lyric in the Alice Cooper tune. But it's fucking, I dig it. And then, you know, I liked Rob Baker's solo. It was very emotional. This is a really emotional tune. And I don't feel like I'm like, ah, this is fucking amazing. I just think it's, it clearly took a ton of work and a ton of work. Yeah. But I do feel like the band starts to come together on this track. You start hearing, okay, this seems more tragically hip than before. [59:58] So anyway, that's what I got for this tune. They played this, they played the song live 86 times. Like I wanted to look that up to see, like did they play it 10 times, six times? Theyplayed it 86 times. That's like not a ton compared to all the shows they played in their entirety, but that's a handful of times at this. Well, considering it's a later album, I mean, obviously they played the earlier ones more. Yeah. So to experience it and to know it and experience it live was probably fucking epic. Yeah, but who knows if it was with the strings too. [1:00:35] Yeah, I don't think they toured with strings for sure. Okay, okay. If you're playing like Royal Albert Hall or something, yeah, you're gonna have fucking strings, but like, youknow, otherwise... That didn't happen for sure, JD. [1:00:48] I don't remember. I don't remember that being... Like, this would have been around the time in their career that that would have been something that you might expect them to do. You know, like, we're going to do a tour with a full orchestra to get different venues on board and, you know, things like that. Bands do that kind of shit. The Cineplex Theater video. Would have been perfect for this record. Yeah, that Sinplex Theater air didn't include all the Strings people or whomever, do you know? Was that just the band? I can't imagine it would have. I'll try to find that. Yeah, if you know, send me an email, jd.gettinghiptothehip.com. That would be really cool. But let's go to the exact feeling. I didn't have a whole lot on this one. I felt like it had the DNA more, a little more so, of a hip song. Like a standout was the wah pedal going on and kind of this faint background guitar playing fade out at the end like I Honestly didn't have a whole lot not many exact feelings of this oneNot that I didn't like it. It just felt like a filler spot to me. I just kept rolling. Okay. I Yeah, okay. There. This song is the one that starts with the Castagnets, so very Spanish. Yeah. They wrote it for me. [1:02:15] I like the rolling melody, like the chord progression, the way they do it is really cool. It just it drops and then it comes back, it drops and it's very circular. The chorus is fucking amazing on this song. And the way it builds to the chorus is like, it definitely has more of a hip vibe. Like I said last time, I feel like they really start to like becomethe hip again. It's like, whoa, who's that other fucking band the first four songs or whatever, you know? And now there's like, okay, we're warmed up now, fellas, sit back and relax and enjoy. So I dug it. But then, you know, it just kind of doesn't know where to go, fades out. Tim doesn't like fade outs. the time I don't. Yeah, sometimes they're okay. Yeah, in this case, I just feel like the song was really cool. They had some cool ideas, and then there was nowhere to really go. They painted themselves into a corner and we're just like, okay, we're just going to stop painting the room. [1:03:18] You know, but yeah, but I got I got stuff to say about the next song. Yeah, go. Let's go. Queen of the Furrows. I love the beginning. I thought it was fucking awesome. This song is fucking Led Zeppelin three. It is Led Zeppelin three. I think Rob Baker's playing the mandolin. I don't know if Gord is. I don't know who's playing the mandolin. Would love to get some get a line on that. If you know anything, Pete at getting it at the hip.com. You like what you see what I did there? That was that was very professional. Did it sound natural? My boys all growed up. [1:03:57] I dug this song. The way the fucking chorus, the way the chorus comes in is like, it's just so different from the song, which is not very Led Zeppelin 3 because it's so heavy. It's fucking rad. And then the solo by Rob Baker, I'm going to read notes for Vadim here, Rob Baker melts dicks off people. He doesn't even melt your face, he melts your dick. I mean, this solo is fucking screams. It's so good. You can just tell he's in the zone and he could hear that he wanted to play that solo and he just wanted to fucking destroy it. And he just did. He delivered, I don't know if he did that in one take or if they mixed different solos together to make that, but it just sounds so good, dude. Goddamn, it's so good. I love it. Good song, good tune. Good tune. I'll pretty much agree with that. You know, it's one, I'm not going to add much to what Pete just put in, but what I did want to know what, you know, what this queen of the furrows is. And, um, it's actually a crown awarded annually to quote an agriculturally-minded young woman of Ontario. [1:05:23] And I'll just show you guys real quick. This is Kieran County Queen of the Furrow 2020 as part of Ontario's Plowman's Association. Can you see? Oh, yeah. What do you think? She's nice, you know, it's so to give everybody You know some insight into that photo. I would say she's dressed like a like you would think she'd be wearing overalls or something likethat, but she's dressed like a beauty queen. She's got a lovely dress on. She's got a sash and a tiara that looks, you know, like, that looks all beautiful and like prom queenie. Not at all what I would have expected the Queen of the Furrows to look like. Which for real... Not at all what I expected the Plowman's Association to be doing. Easy, Tim! Easy! But I didn't know, furrows is the word for the lines, you know. That's right. In the farm from the machines planting seeds or doing whatever you do. I mean, now I know when I'm sitting in the window seat on Alaska Airlines, covering the West Coast as I do. [1:06:37] I thought the guitar solo, it hearkened me back to some GNR. That's all I'll say about that. Certainly. this I guess just lastly the ending had this noisy but kind of quiet background guitar feedback something like there was something something playfulhappening with some guitar noise and the congos like this was one of those interesting enders but but kind of a cool song. Speed River. So, Speed River, I was like, ah, okay, I'm kind of digging this one. This felt a little more like what I was hearkening back to, Liking of the Hip. This was a single. Yep, yep. This has, again, a big guitar solo, which quiets down into keys and some rim shots from drumsticks happening. [1:07:34] This house sounds like a bomb hit it is a fucking cool lyric. I didn't know if that was referencing the feeling of recording and just being in the zone. This is what I was imagining, just being in the zone of the music just feeling so good with yourbandmates. You know, this house feels like a fucking bomb hit it because we are destroying with this music. But this song is kind of cool. a little more, I don't know, a little more fun in an easilysingable way. You know, it has a somewhat fitting, abrupt ender to it. It might have been... At first glance, it was like, this might be my song on the album. I'm not sure. Don't give it away, buddy. I didn't. I left it hanging a little. All right. He said it might. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I stand corrected. Speed River. I'd love to agree with Tim, because I love agreeing with him, but the tonal licks were cool. [1:08:45] Overall, though, not impressed. I feel like this song was written to play live. I mean, literally, they wrote it and were like, yeah, we don't care how this fucking sounds on the record. It's just gonna be a fucking banger to play live. Yeah, I'm sure it was great live. How many times did they play it there, Tim? Let's look. It was probably like a- Oh, I thought you had it pulled up hard. I do. It's just on, I got it right here. It probably was awesome, you know, to play like the fifth song of a show just to keep the crowd going. It was played 11. This was played 11 times. So this song was probably a treat for people who do it. You know, it was probably a fucking treat. Yeah. I guess so. I heard the rim shots and the keyboards, it's just felt so country pop, like, I felt like I felt like I should be at, like, the lake with my, like, pseudo country Republican voting friends, like, 12Bud Lights deep being like, yeah, this is fucking mad, right? Yeah, this is fucking cool. Yeah. Fuck, yeah. [1:10:00] So that was Bobby and. Yeah. You know, I don't know. It's just the vibe I got. I don't know why, but I felt. I felt like if I heard the song live, I'd be like, fuck, yeah. But on the record, it was just. It was like a bad Viagra pill, not that I've ever taken Viagra, but I don't know why. That's why. That's what I thought of. But it's like somebody selling you like a, like a placebo and be like, yeah, this will, this will do it. And you take it and you're like, I didn't do anything. [1:10:35] I think it was 2009 that we went to Mazatlan. That's kind of throwing me back to bad Viagra pills. Okay. I just thought, because you know, songs, you want to say this song to getmy engine going. That's why I did that. Anyway. If you look at the blueprints of this song, though, it should work like it should. It should all be there. Yeah, yeah. It's got an interesting chorus. But you're right, the sum of the pieces don't add up. Now, there are people that will love this song and tell us why you love it. It'd be great to hear. You could love it, but compare it to the shit that they've done. [1:11:19] And we're not in the compare and contrast game. We're not comparing apples and and oranges, groeries and forges. But I mean, dude, like. You're going to put this up against fucking fireworks, go fucking freak off, as Ricky LeFleur would say. Freak, freak right off. I mean, Christ, I mean, not even close. Right. Just I. But you're right, Judy, the sum of it, you know, it has all the components. It's like, Hey, babe, I was going to make this amazing soup for you. I put all the ingredients in, but for some reason it still tastes like shit. Yeah. Yeah. I won't go. Yeah. I won't, I won't go that far, but yeah. [1:12:08] Well, you know, you know where I'm going. Yeah. Well, with it, with this album and where we're at now and with, with all these journeys of these songs, I mean, we've gone fromlike three minute songs to nine minute songs, these, these past two, Queen of the Froze and Speed River, they feel like kind of placed in there to fill it out a little bit. But they also feel to me a little bit like past albums filler songs. So yeah. To me, they were good and they represent. But in this particular album, it's almost like, guys, we had 10 days book to record. We're at day four and you're feeling done. What do you have? They were part of this for two months. What do you have that we could pull in here? Jesus Christ. What about that song, Speed River? I just hope Bob Brock can retire after this. Yeah. What was that? [1:13:02] I just said, I hope Bob Rock retired after this or, or no, no offense to Bob Rock. Cause he produced some great shit, but just like, or found a band that he was more compatible with because it just. Yeah. I feel you. I feel you. I don't feel, and that's, you know, you guys dug the last record and that was him. And, uh, and, and you turned me back onto it by your, by your digging of it. You know, it's, it's just, it's just interesting. It's it sure is. I mean the last record I I it kind of won me over quickly and I believe I said this, you know, I went online to see how I could get it on vinyl and And then the more I listened to it the less Ilooked into Getting it on vinyl. I'm watching literally watching a crow in my backyard right now I'm going to destroy. [1:13:59] An old crow? I have a crow right now, destroying. Hey! Go! I love birds. I'm a birder. And this crow is destroying my cover over my... It's too complicated. I didn't know that crows in Portland speak English. Did you know that, Jamie? I did not know that either. That is a fact. I would have assumed they spoke Croatian. Oh shit. Fuck man. JD takes a sip of his fucking whiskey and says, I'm out bitches, finish the podcast on your own motherfuckers. I printed out the article, I didn't really, but I printed out the article about dads who throw out dad jokes are better dads than dads who do not throw out dad jokes. That may be true, but I'll tell you what, um, uh, camera, wait, what was it? Pigeon camera? Pigeon camera. Yeah. Yeah, it'd be cool if we, they did a crow camera. At least you havealliteration. [1:15:08] I guess crows weren't as smart, but crows are supposed to be really smart. They're fucking smart. And they, they have face recognition skills. They, they remember people. Frozen in my tracks. [1:18:58] You know, I think it's kind of a pleasure. It's a little bit of a gift, or maybe it's a huge gift, when Gord does his, what do we call it, when he speaks over... Spoken word! Yeah, when he does a spoken word fucking poetry, trippy stuff, like this song has it, and we got it, and I'm happy at this point on any hip song to get that. It's got kind of a... That's cool. Yeah, I mean, come on. It's got somewhat of a spooky start. The snare on this one's a bit tuned up, and the bass is like, lack of a better term for thuddier or deeper. It's like the drums felt a little bit different to me. [1:19:43] This, you know, Gord at the one minute mark, he's already screaming in this song. [1:19:48] I thought that, I don't know, with the bridge at like two minutes, this kind of locomotive feeling, I thought this song reminded, it made me wonder if Bob Rock, look, can yousqueeze call him Bobby? Because if he listens to this, I just want him to be Really upset. It's called a 

Picture it, the turn of the millennium, and the dawn of the online music revolution. jD just shelled out his last few dollars on The Tragically Hip's seventh studio record, Music at Work, unaware that it would mark the end of an era for him - his final first-day purchase. From there we take a deep dive into the album's reception, its relevance today, and the debate if it was a step out of The Hip's comfort zone.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/GHTTHTicketsTranscriptTrack 1:[0:00] Welcome to getting hip to the hip. I'm JD. I'm here as always with Pete and. [0:06] Tim How are you fellas doing this fine day? Track 3:[0:10] Doing great doing great Just getting it going and excited to be here and see a couple of my favorite dudes over the interwebs. Track 2:[0:19] I Am doing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to fucking discuss this fucking record Oh, wow. Track 3:[0:27] Oh, boy. Track 2:[0:28] Oh, boy. Track 3:[0:29] So... Fasten your seatbelts, folks. Track 1:[0:31] Fasten your seatbelts, folks. Track 2:[0:32] What does that mean? Spoons, plural. Spoons full of sugar. Not just fucking... Not just one. Track 1:[0:39] The Disney references are just rolling out. Track 3:[0:41] Jeez. Track 1:[0:44] Well, we're here today to talk about the 2000 release, June 2000, the seventh studio record by seminal Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. Music at work. Before we go into our vaunted segment of song by song, let's just get a general sense of what you guys thought of this record. Where you listened to it, what you were exposed to, how it formed over time. What do you think there, Pete? Track 2:[1:21] I'll be brief, because I want to really dive into the songs, too, but I will say, I listened to this record at work. Well, I was at my computer. Come on, Tim, did you want that one? Were you waiting to use that one? Track 3:[1:42] No, it was your turn. It was your turn. A lot of listeners right now are like, oh my god, we're out of here. Track 2:[1:52] Listen to it in the car. The sound system in the car made it really pop. But I will say, probably the best place to listen to it was on runs. It was just... I love the record. I really, really enjoyed this record profusely. So I'll say that. I'll leave it there. All right. Track 1:[2:21] Mr. Leiden. Track 3:[2:22] Yeah, so I listened to this. I had a bunch of headphone-based physical therapy the past week, and I pretty much had it on for all of that, which was very much focused movement and definitely could consider audio. And it was it was pretty good. It took me back to, I think, mostly to Live Between Us, like if we're gonna go apples to apples or apples and oranges throughout their discography thus far, for many reasons. And there's some songs on here I really like a lot. There's a couple that I thought were pretty different, like definitely a step out than past albums. And yeah, at one point I thought this might be my favorite so far in our work to get to this point. I thought this might be one of my favorite albums so far, but I'm still questioning it. I'm still thinking that there might be another one out there in the future that I just I Give you know nine point five two or whatever. Album Rating and Discussion on Critics' OpinionsTrack 1:[3:35] It might be Gotcha Yeah, this was rated relatively low by all music and what? Track 3:[3:43] Big fucking surprise They're like the professor that doesn't give a is you know, yeah, yeah negative five out of five I I have a little bit of a vibe with that, but I understand sometimes there's a great piece of work out there that still doesn't get the accolades it deserves, and that happens so often. Track 1:[4:06] Yeah. Well, shall we get into it? Track 3:[4:10] Yeah. Track 2:[4:12] What did they give it, by the way, J.D.? I'm curious. Track 1:[4:14] Three out of five. Track 3:[4:15] Three, right? Three out of five. So just some quick research on the title that I found of the album, Music at Work. So from what I read, it's poking fun at a rock station in Canada, 100.5 FM. Yeah. E-Zed Rock or Easy Rock, whichever. Track 4:[4:38] You went with Zed first. You're so Canadian. Oh my God. So Canadian. Track 3:[4:45] Music at Work was their tagline, you know. It was like, imagine this kind of 80s looking logo in essence like a corporatized Van Halen Firebird Camaro looking Easy Rock 100.5 FM and underneath at music at work. That makes sense. But I thought maybe, yeah, I thought maybe the hip tagging, you know, taking this tagline was perhaps their, I guess, you know, maybe even, I think it was their stab at back at clear channel. I thought like Like, these guys, yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought these guys are still talking. Track 2:[5:36] Was that a Clear Channel station? Track 3:[5:38] Rock and roll. Track 2:[5:39] I'm sure they were. Track 3:[5:40] Dude. Track 1:[5:41] It's a heavy format. Track 3:[5:42] I didn't look it up, but if you look at everything about it, I'm sure it is. Track 2:[5:48] And at that time, dude, nowadays it's like, it's not even a competition. Like Clear Channel owns the Airwaves, but I remember at that time it was like, you were We were starting to realize that every station was a clear channel station. Track 1:[6:02] Yeah. Yeah. Track 3:[6:04] Yeah. So, that was kind of some brief history on the album title. The first song, you know, title track, album name. The First Single from the RecordTrack 1:[6:40] You I think it's a, little bit of a, a That chives. Yeah, it was the first single from the record too. So okay. Yeah, it dropped a couple weeks before the record came out. Track 2:[7:33] Well, not to correct Tim, but I'm going to do it. Do it. It is not the title track. Ah, yes. The name of the track is actually my music at work. Yeah, interesting. And I didn't... No, no, no. Track 3:[7:54] I was really close, man. Track 2:[7:56] You were close, too. Track 3:[7:58] You know, okay. The influence of the... The Groove and Tightness of the New RecordTrack 2:[8:07] I mean, if I picture myself as I have now, listen, have listened to the previous hip records, anticipating this new record coming out, hearing this first track on this new record and just like putting it on volume up, start my car, light my cigarette, open my Red Bull, whatever the fuck I was doing in the year 2000. And just fucking wow. I mean, they must have just been like, fuck yes. I mean, this song, it was, I wrote this down. This is one of the things I wrote down in the notes. The song was born in the pocket. Like when you talk about when you're in the pocket, musically, I think we all know what that means. I'm sure most of the listeners know what it means. But it's just, it's in the pocket. It's just the groove, the rhythm, the fucking instruments, everything is just fucking tight and it fits, gourd sounds fucking great. It's a great build after the La La La with the soft guitar. Oh God, I've got to eventually get there. Track 3:[9:29] I'll just quickly add in there the La La La. Track 2:[9:30] Johnny Cain? Track 3:[9:31] Okay, go, go, go. Track 2:[9:32] Go ahead. No, no. You go ahead. Track 3:[9:35] I was going to fill in for you. The La La La part for this one, I mean that was new. We haven't had La La La's yet in soft. No, not really. Right. Track 2:[9:42] No, no, yeah But but Johnny Johnny Faye. Yeah drummer. Yeah Really just fucking builds it into where the song you know starts to go at that point and then there's a There's a Lord of the Rings reference in there. I think I feel like it is I took it as what cuz he says middle of the earth. Ah Which I'm always My record store that I grew up going to in down in California, now out of business, was called Middle Earth. And it was a fucking great record store. This is the type of record store where dollars to fucking donuts, man. If you were there in the 90s, they were like, if you went up to the front and asked this guy Larry for a recommendation, he would have fucking slipped you a hip record. Hands down. I was just too scared to fucking go up to Larry cause he was cool. Larry had a picture of David Bowie where David Bowie was smiling, not Larry. Track 1:[10:47] Wow. Track 2:[10:48] Like that goes to show you how cool fucking Larry was. Track 3:[10:51] You know what? I can't tell you how many. Stories I've heard about like interviews with artists who had that record store They went to growing up and how walking up to the clerk whoever was working was like the most intimidating thing Like you like you like so many artists would walk I've read it about it so many times Walking a record store with like kind of tail between your legs and you're afraid to purchase what you've picked For being ridiculed or anything, right? It's just it was like the most I mean think about it back You know in the 80s or 70s or 90s like going to Tower Records or wherever you go and grabbing that Item and walking up to this like hipper than thou person Clerk and trying to make over just yeah Yeah, this was before that it was common where people had like, you know Sleeves of tattoos and like ear and nose piercings like you saw somebody up there at the front with a fucking a bar through the nose a two sleeves of tattoos, and green hair. Track 2:[11:56] Everybody's got fucking green hair nowadays, right? And you're just like. Track 1:[12:00] Makes me sick. Track 2:[12:01] No, but you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, my nephew's got green hair for crying out loud. But like, I don't give a shit, you know, I'm telling my nephew what I'm listening to, but if, you know, back in the 90s, I walked up to the counter and saw somebody like that, that I was like dude I am not bringing up anything that's on the radio right yeah that's so cool that's so cool that you had this this tragically hip frame of reference from back in the record store days I mean I completely don't have that I had a bumper sticker in college you know of my apartment complex neighbor so. The Second Song: Messy and IncoherentTrack 3:[19:00] Yeah. Track 2:[19:00] Do you want to? I don't know. I mean, I'm ready to fucking blow up in there. You know what I'm saying? Okay. The fucking the second song. I mean, it's hard to top this second song. I mean, it is when I first heard it. I loved how it faded in from the first track. And then he just starts saying this is what the fuck is Tiger the Lion? Track 1:[19:30] I don't. Track 2:[19:30] I'm just saying the first time I heard it, right. And I did my research on it, which I kind of regret. I gotta stop looking at lyrics. Once I stopped looking at lyrics, these songs really open up for me. Track 1:[19:41] You can't stop though. It's gorg, right? Like, you know? Track 2:[19:45] No, but he eventually started listening to them and internalizing them, which is better for me than reading them. Either way, this fucking song, it just opens up so messy and incoherent and I'm like, what the fuck? I mean, again, putting myself in the position of a hit fan when they hear this for the first time. They're like, is this gorgeous going off on his fucking, you know, he wrote some crazy poetry and he's just, you know, free-forming it right now. What's he doing? You know, but the The instrumentation on it, it's so well thought out. Track 4:[20:24] Right? It's... Track 2:[20:26] I love how, because for me as a musician, my writing style is pretty incoherent. A lot of people say, like, lyrics wise, my shit doesn't make sense, which is, you know, it's not like I'm going for it, but it's just, it is what it is. But the John Cage quote? Track 3:[20:45] Yeah. Track 2:[20:46] Oh, fuck. I mean, I'm a huge John Cage, but just all about who that guy was as an individual who brought his brain to art and music. There's a melodic drop down, the purpose is not unique. I just, I don't know, dude, I did a little bit of research on the meaning of the song about it being like a reference to fighter pilots. Did you get that too, Tim? Track 3:[21:21] Yep, yep, yep. Big time. There's been so many World War II references that I just, you know, I instantly went to that, which I have a emotional family connection to World War II, so that hits heavy for me. Track 2:[21:36] Two-way radio, yeah. But, uh, this, line... JD, I thought of you when I read this. But not to get order from chaos. Tell you how to create simply wait to your life like, like, there's, there, there is no order. Yeah, there's no other shoe that were, you know, and I don't know, dude, this fucking song is, I still can't fucking and unwrap it and make sense of it. It's just a fucking banger. Yeah. What a song. Living in the Music: Appreciating Art without Analyzing LyricsTrack 3:[22:15] I mean, Pete, as a, maybe you can clarify a little bit for me, as a songwriter, you, when this one came on and you listened through it and you say that you, sometimes you don't want to research lyrics just so you can live in it in your head as much as possible, right? Is that kind of your sentiment? Right? Track 2:[22:34] I mean, I think, I think the lyrics, Because I think that what you, for me, this is me personally, what I tend to do is, is rather than physically listen to the song, which is what the medium is meant to do for listening, I'm reading what I'm listening to. And so it starts to, I start to make judgment upon what I'm listening to based on what I'm reading. Which is never like there's so many weird fucking lyrics in this fucking record And I'm sure we can talk about it till the cows come home Yeah But it did me it did more damage for me in the beginning because it was like I'm not fucking getting this I'm not getting this and then I just was like, okay I put the lyrics down and then I just started to listen to it incessantly. Okay, this shit's fucking making sense. Okay. Got it and then not to Not to bury the lead, but I mean if you don't get the fucking Comfortably Numb, Rob Baker literally Channeling the fucking David Gilmour in this fucking song. I mean What do you I mean, what are we doing here? There's one drop where it doesn't it doesn't go down to the next chord that you just feel like it's like going to country, but it doesn't go there and it's just... [24:01] Yeah, his guitar tone, everything about it. He's using the Strat on this. [24:06] Fucking it's great song. Sorry. Yeah. Amazing song. Track 3:[24:10] For me to go from music at work to this was like, whoa, this is, you know, if this is second gear for taking off in the car, and it's like, what did our car just change into? Because the song is, Because the song is its own beast. Man, me and my dad jokes, dad puns, tiger, the lion. So I mean, this is the longest song on the album. It's 5 and 1 1⁄2 minutes. And I love songs that can hit 5, 6, 7 minute mark, and you don't even know they're that long. Track 1:[24:47] Yeah. Track 3:[24:48] Like sometimes you hear a song, and you're like, god damn, These guys just wanted this to be the longest song ever, and they succeeded. But this one, it's very, no, it doesn't feel that long. And I think, Pete, you touched on most of it. But the themes, I guess I should say, I don't read the lyrics or look into the lyrics until I've listened to one of these albums in great length or many times. So I try not to pay attention to the lyrics. If I'm listening to it in the car and I'm at a stop for too long, then I can actually hit the whatever on Spotify to make the lyrics pop up. I'll check it out for a minute. But I try to live in my head for as long as possible, I think, kind of like you, Pete, to just get deep into the song. [25:44] The John Cage references. I mean, there's so much in this song in both that theme and kind of World War II themes, but the kind of two big takeaways for me were this song is about challenging the listener and society and anyone to appreciate, like, nature, art in life, or just art, or like literature or whatever it might be. And if you live your life without recognizing any art form, then you're like a fucking robot, you know? That's kind of, that's what the song was about to me in that regard, the John Cage regard and all of that. The his radio goes silent, you know that like I imagined this as like World War two airplane Pilot, you know the his engines destroyed And he's just falling from the sky, you know, like and stops working. This is where my head my engine stops working You have this like last bit of life where you hear the wind the radio stops working You know, you're on your way down. That's kind of where I went with. Track 1:[27:03] Whoa, that's heavy, man. Introduction and Researching Band MembersTrack 3:[27:04] Yeah, that's kind of how it felt to me. Okay, so I did some research around who else is playing with this band. Because we've talked about, at least the past album, I've been talking about, you know, who's that on backup singing blah blah blah blah blah. Right. So with this, I guess I would have talked about this at the beginning, but with this song we have a guy named Chris Brown from Toronto on keys, right? So he toured, He recorded and toured with the band with this album. He came from a band or was in a band called, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. Yep, you got it. And from the 80s and 90s, which I heard of that, man. Yeah, which I didn't know an ounce about until I kind of did this research. So finally, I was making some headway with this album to hear who else we have contributing, which is an obvious impact to me as a listener to hear kind of extra elements going on. But this song, man, it could be its own album. That's what I thought. Like this song, this song on a 7-inch on one side, like it's hand me that. I'll pay 20 bucks for it. Like let's go. It's fucking that good. Track 1:[28:30] Yeah, I agree. Track 3:[28:32] Lake Fever, the next one. This is where I was like, okay, maybe we're shifting gears into like this perfect love song or forlorn love or is this a song about loss or remembrance or you know what is this what is this going on there's amazing prose within this song like was the brief dude seriously i knew pete was just like i knew his heart was melting for this It was probably driving down, you know, here's Pete, everybody in Spain, in his awesome vehicle. I don't even know what it is, and I don't want to know until I visit him someday, so no spoilers, J.D. But here's Pete in his awesome vehicle driving down some coastal highway in fucking Spain. This is a dude from the LBC, right? And this song comes on, and there's tears coming from Pete's face on this beautiful sunny day. It's like, I, I, you know, I'm, I'm hearing this song during fucking physical therapy. Therapy just gone. [29:42] Is this a wedding song or is it a funeral song or do I want this at my wake or do I play this for Amy on her next anniversary? Like what the fuck is this emotional song going on in place three after my music at work and after Tiger the Lion we have this Lake Fever. It's like what the hell so yeah it was this you know this this is that third gear song where i'm like okay, let's see let's see where this is gonna go what's this about is it oh yeah okay maybe it is about the cholera outbreak in toronto in 1834 oh fuck god damn it okay that's what it's about guess i'm I'm not playing at my anniversary. No, not playing at next April 14th, honey. Track 1:[30:38] But it's more than that because the protagonist is regaling his potential lover with that story. Like the song isn't necessarily about like fever. It's like this couple are walking in the woods about to go, you know, have sex. And he's so nervous that he's trying to like, you know, talk to this girl and he's telling her, well, there was this time in Toronto that there was a sewer back up and cholera got in the way and it went all the way up to Ottawa and near Kingston and it was terrible, many people died and she's just like, hurry, just hurry. Just Coital Fury, you know, like, yeah, that wine, man. Track 2:[31:26] Fuck, it's good. Dude, you know, I tell you, it's it's funny because I think it's just the Canadian. I mean, last week, Tim and I both heard the rush in fireworks for last week's a record but you know I started to hear the first thing I heard and now I like don't hear it at all but the first thing I heard with this song was the percussion feeling very once again very Alanis, right wow but yeah put that all kind of behind it's kind of all in the past dude the glockenspiel which I think they're using and like the keyboard effect over when he says the the word courage is I'm just you're right Tim I'm driving down the fucking coast in the mountainous windy roads of Malaga Spain and just fucking crying with my wind blowing, my air blowing in the wind. Cigarette out the window, the arm just like, Oh, just fucking loving this. [32:42] We're going to get into it a little bit more, because I because there's a there's a couple of songs on this record. And I remember I don't know what record it was, oh, it was, was Troll Dan House that I referred to as the Tragically Hips Xerope. Track 1:[33:01] Yes. Track 3:[33:02] Right, right. Track 2:[33:05] But, do you know what this record is? Track 1:[33:07] Yeah. Track 2:[33:07] And it's funny because this record actually came out before the record I'm going to reference. And I'll tell you why. Track 1:[33:14] All right, hit me. Track 2:[33:15] This is fucking the Tragically Hips Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. All of the fucking instrumentation on it, all the pianos, the echoey pianos, a lot of the guitars. It's so fucking Wilco, man. And so I started thinking to myself, well, you know, what, what the fuck did, what, you know, what do we, well, I'll get into it, I'll get into the next one. Track 1:[33:44] We'll go. Give her. Track 2:[33:46] Yeah, we're going to put it down. So this song, there's a line in there saying the United States of ricochet. Something something happy in way. You know what I'm talking about, JD? Track 1:[34:02] I don't know the lyric offhand though, sorry. Track 2:[34:04] Great fucking line. And I'm getting very like, ashes of American flags like references to because I feel like I feel like Gord was really, um, getting, like, a lot of the shit that he focused on was the, God, the phrase, the term I'm trying to look for, like the plight of Canadians. Okay. Track 3:[34:30] I got it. I got it here if you want me to read it. Track 2:[34:33] Yeah, you want to read it, Tim? Track 3:[34:35] Yeah, it's just United States of Ricochet from the Boardwalk to the Appian Way, which I... From the Boardwalk to the Appian Way, yeah, that's what I'm looking for. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Track 2:[34:42] Diamond Files, Corporate Wraves, you know. So he's, I feel like up until this point, he's made a lot of references to not just the indigenous folks up north, in terms of, you know, what he's talked about, and what I know he's eventually going to talk more about. But I started to think like, God, what other band do I know that did that? And like, that's kind of where Wilco went, you know, they had Uncle Tupelo and then AM, which was their first record. And being there were kind of like a soft watered down version of, of that country vibe of Uncle Tupelo. And then when they hit Yankee Hotel, it was like, Whoa, what the fuck is this? This is not the same band. I remember hearing and I got the same vibe. And so I, anyway, I Googled and started doing a little research, come to find out. So I read Jeff Tweedie's. Memoir, which is a great book, you'll get through it in a day, man. It's called Let's Go So We Can Get Back. And he references them on tour with Tragically Hip during the Another Roadside Attraction tour. Track 1:[36:03] That's right. The third one. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Wilco's Similarities to Other Bands and Songwriting InfluencesTrack 2:[36:07] Yeah. And just this record came out a year before Yankee Hotel. So I don't know what if they were trading demos back and forth or they were playing music together on Tour and but fuck man. I mean so many similarities with this record and that record interest so many Do you feel you might catch my drift here? Track 3:[36:32] But do you feel like? When you hear other bands and are reminded of Wilco do you feel like Wilco has just borrowed so much from other bands or do you feel like I'm not gonna we're not going to turn this into a Wilco podcast by the way or do you feel like Wilco like really do you feel like Wilco just absolutely stand on their own as songwriters because I mean that's there that's like to me songwriting music you know what I mean yeah I know what you mean um it's a good question and I'll answer it as short as possible because I think This is something you could fucking have a garage with a, you know, half ounce and fucking go on forever. Track 2:[37:17] But I think Jeff Tweedy is an amazing songwriter, and he'd probably be the first one to admit that they've taken so much from other people. But I think that that band, especially when they went in, their record, two records after they did Yankee Hotel was a record called Sky Blue Sky. When they really got into that, they were just like... They were at the top of their fucking game. and they they they knew how to um, but it's It's hard to say man. I mean It's a great question tim because I you could say the same for Tragically him who are they both big time? Track 3:[38:05] Yeah, we've had so many references. Track 2:[38:07] I don't think I don't think rob baker would he be the last person to say he wasn't fucking fucking playing the exact notes that Gilmore played on fucking comfortably on that guitar solo or on Tiger the Lion. But it's not like you're saying, oh, you're stealing. It's like, it's an homage. It's also working it into a song that is not that song is, you know, you do it all. I've been writing a tune this week that is a is a indie rock tune adapted from the fucking Opening theme of the one of the Legend of Zelda songs. So cool. And am I stealing from Koji Kondo? Yes but It's in so I look at it more as an inspiration. Track 3:[38:54] Well, I mean they I mean all all artists, you know are inspired from every direction I just I don't I don't want to get into it too deep. Track 1:[39:01] I just went from no Writers I think good songwriters Make it almost Like a magician, you know, like a good songwriter. You don't see the sleight of hand. You don't see the Palming you don't see it like they're absolute pros and they stand on their own But of course you can't help but be affected by what you are exposed to and what you enjoy, you know You can't help it. Track 2:[39:34] Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and JD, you're right when you say that, because there was something that I put down, and I think I sent it to you, but I put this down about a month and a half ago, and there was a little guitar lick I put on there, and it was Nell. I recorded it with a fucking jazzmaster. It was Nell's Climb from fucking Wilco. And I was like, I was so worried that it was so obvious, and I played it for Issa, my wife, And I played it for you and I think I was like was it too much and like no it's just it was just right It was perfect. It was like kind of like a little but to me it was like My ears I literally stole the fucking Notes from him and like I took them and I said those are mine now. Thank you very much You know, but like it's it's not easy to do man. I don't know JD. Track 3:[40:25] Yes. I thought it I think they pulled it was just me JD that Pete Pete called up in the middle of my night and serenaded me with some guitar licks. Damn, I'm not feeling as special now. Track 2:[40:40] You'll get it Tim, you'll get it. Track 3:[40:42] Hey, I thought putting down... Track 1:[40:43] Putting down, yeah. Track 3:[40:45] Yeah, so putting down, I felt like, I mean Pete commented on the, you know, the references and stories of this great continent and what we did to the Indigenous folks that were already here and the land grabs and you know that's hitting hard with this one and I feel like with Gord's themes and songwriting and his connotations of it all, this is that song for the album, I thought it was like big and heavy. [41:22] I didn't really know what it was about my first handful of listens. I couldn't really peg it until I did a little bit deeper diving into it. But you know, it was my first few listens, it was kind of like a car ride sing-along song. I felt, you know, it just felt familiar. It felt hip. I didn't think like, this is the best song on the album, and I thought it held its place on the album for what it was. So that's kind of where it ended with me. Cool. The next one, Stay, on the other hand, I thought, man, this song, it's quiet, it's cute, it's cute. I hadn't had that feeling before. Is it a thank you? You know, the Bureau Chiefs and the Shrugging Spies, I thought this was at first when I first heard this? I thought this is hilarious. Without researching, I thought this was like a thank you or something to the band's road crew, because I heard beer and cheese and shrugging spies, not bureau chiefs. I mean, I was like, I was so incorrect with this song. You were a great crew. You were a great you. You know, what is the storyline here? Is it about going to war and relationships or what? What is going on here? Track 1:[42:48] Maybe a little of everything. Track 3:[42:49] Yeah, maybe, but one, you know, after I did, after the leak, Sit down and kind of research what it's about. Hopefully Pete you have some more music based Comments about it, but one person I need to shout out here. The the handle is The letter Y Salvatore, there was a song meanings.com. [43:15] Reference from 2005 so this this is amazing it said one theory is the song is about Fox Mulder from the X-Files lines like there's no one up above us and with the Bureau Chiefs and the shrugging spies on the X-Files series Mulder is often working against the establishment as a sentiment in this song you've got no business in here brother Mulder is obsessed Pete from I'll go with UFO so lines like you see a light and then another this this song maybe it's about UFOs maybe it's about aliens I don't know this this was like this was a total head-scratcher for me not to say that I didn't like it but it was like what is this song about it wasn't beer and cheese I don't know it's not it's funny that you say that because one of the lines already is this song makes me want to sit in a pub and drink beer with my buddy. I didn't say eat cheese, but like, that's the vibe I got. Appreciating the musicianship on this recordTrack 2:[44:21] I mean, it's, um, there's, there's, okay. I could say a lot. I really liked this song a lot. I loved it. It. The riffing that Gore does with the vocals. I think there's a bridge part of all things being balanced where John Fahy's drums... I feel like every musician on this record, on this record, really shines. Like everybody shines. Gord Sinclair, I feel like, has always been really top-notch. That guy is fucking flawless. He's so underrated. Extremely underrated. Uh, when it comes to, you know, I, I just because I'm, you know, playing wise, obviously Gordoni, I mean, there's nothing you can say about that, but playing wise, Paul Langlois, am I saying? Langlois. Track 1:[45:25] Langlois. Track 2:[45:27] Um, and Rob Baker. I've always kind of gone back. I'm starting to appreciate the differences between those guys because they're two Diametrically different guitar players. I mean so different and and That happened on this album. Track 3:[45:43] Don't you? Track 2:[45:43] Oh, yeah more so really noticeable and I went down a bit of a rabbit hole this week I'll try not to go as deep as I went, but I told JD I was watching some live stuff and looking at Rob Baker's set up. [46:05] Paul Ling Hua, he always plays that black Les Paul, but Rob Baker plays that Strat, which I fucking love. And he's got something called Lace Sensors pickups in it, which not to get too technical for the listeners. They were apparently these were like standard issue Fender pickups from 90 from 85 to like 96 and then they just became too expensive. But they're really cool. The only shitty part is they look horrible on a guitar. They don't look it doesn't make it look like a Strat anyway. But he also plays a Paul Reed Smith, which I absolutely hate those guitars because, and JD I told you this, they're the Carlos Santana guitar and when they first became like available to the public so to speak or like mainstream people were able to buy them. I remember walking into a guitar center in the 90s and seeing one up on the wall that was like, it was like $19,000 or $20,000 it was like ridiculous and just going, and now can buy a PRS for like $1,800, $2,000, but it just turned me off and I fucking hate it. And if I'm Rob Baker, if I'm Rob, if you're listening, just don't ever play the fucking PRS, man. Get rid of it. Ditch it. Rob Baker's guitar choices and preferences[47:30] The telly's cool, but that strat is where it's at, man. [47:35] He does play Tele, and there's one other one I can't remember, but there's a great website, and I sadly have been on it more times than I can count. Oh, and he plays an SG, and I play an SG too. The website's called Equipboard.com, and it's got, they can pretty much look at any like, musician that's like, you know, quote, unquote, made it, so to speak, and find their rig, and they have the references, like, not just like, they don't just tell you, but they go, this is why we know that this is they're playing and they have a link to like a concert video, or a picture of them pointing out the gear, which is fucking cool. Track 1:[48:24] It's really cool. Yeah. I love, neither of you guys mentioned it, but I love Gord's voice in this song. He's doing a different sort of thing with his voice. It's lower register, softer I suppose, right? Because it is a soft song. But it's down, it's, you know, sorry you can't see my hand, but it's down here, like belly button wise. Uh is really quite quite uh effective on this song i agree with that jd when are you gonna fix your your belly button cam you're gonna get that going next next pod what's that my belly button cam Yeah, that took me a minute to get. Sorry. All right, track number six. Track number 6 is The Bastard. Appreciating the Percussion and Lyrical InsanityTrack 2:[56:45] Wow. This song starts with the they're not bongos, but there's some sort of kind of cool percussion. Track 3:[56:54] They're there. Yeah, it's some kind of yeah, yeah, yeah. Track 2:[56:59] There's a lot. Track 3:[57:00] It's fun. I love when they bring those in. Track 2:[57:02] Yeah, it's really cool. This song lyrically is fucking insane. There's a word in there called crepuscular? Track 1:[57:16] Yeah, what is that? Like, what does that even mean? Track 2:[57:19] Yeah, it means, um, adjective of resembling or relating to twilight. Yeah, I mean, gnarly shit and- Oh, gourd. Track 1:[57:31] Oh, man. Track 3:[57:36] Crepuscular rays, as the sun groomed the plane with crepuscular rays. Track 2:[57:41] There's a line in there about the Purple Italians, like it's just... Track 3:[57:47] Yeah, what is that referencing? I meant to look that up. I meant to look that up more and did not. Track 2:[57:52] Some weird-ass lyrics. I noticed something too. I love the line, the presaging pel-nel. Yeah. Track 3:[58:03] Yeah, the pre-stage pel-nel. Track 1:[58:05] Pre-stage and pel-nel. Track 3:[58:06] Yeah, that was my favorite. Track 2:[58:09] It's um i noticed that in addition to to to um gordon sinclair being so in the fucking zone on this song like a like a like a hypnotized fucking i don't know dude he's just he's a fucking machine on this song song. He, I watched a little bit of the Woodstock, Woodstock live show 99. And in this song, during Grace 2, which is what they opened up with, Gord starts testing out some of these lyrics to this song during Grace 2. Bird's Eye View, right? Track 1:[58:54] He talks about a bird's eye view of a bird's eye view. Yeah, yeah. So cool that you got to see that. Track 2:[59:01] Finished watching the whole thing. Track 1:[59:02] And you recognize it. Track 2:[59:04] Go ahead. Frustration with lack of guitars in "Grace II"Track 1:[59:10] Yeah, I went down to Rabbit Hole the other day and was just watching a whole bunch. I started with that when I texted you guys and was like, yeah, I'm watching it. And for the beginning of Grace II, it's all drums and Gord's voice, which I don't mind, but I want to hear those guitars, you know? And then suddenly it kicks in. Track 3:[59:29] The purple people, the purple Italian people, I just found it was an Italian mass protest movement to call for the resignation of a prime minister, one of their prime ministers. I feel like, I don't know, there must have been an earlier historical use of this because this is actually from 2009. So yeah, I'm curious. Well, I forgot to tell you guys that Gord is actually reference a mystic he could see in the future yes I wouldn't be surprised yes guys if there's any more sorry there's any more insight on the purple people somebody somebody let us know Tim at getting hit So I got an email. Mention of an email received regarding the purple peopleTrack 1:[1:00:19] Yeah. Got to get our $80 worth. Track 3:[1:00:25] I loved the pre-staging Pell-Mel. There's been a handful. I wish I would have started a list of the gourdisms that would be so fun to learn and reference, because that was so good. When I first heard him sing that, it was like, you know. Track 1:[1:00:42] What is pell-mell? Track 3:[1:00:44] Well, it just means like, it just means like absurd craziness or warning, like presaging means like warning together. Well, pell-mell means confusion or disorder or like a confused haste. So it's, presaging is, you know, the warning of a disorderly moment or the warning of something about to go down. That's kind of what I took. Track 1:[1:01:16] That's dire, I love it. Track 3:[1:01:19] Pre-saging, yeah, it's good. I mean, it's a loaded three words, basically. I think Pete hit on a lot of it, but this song to me kind of got us back in the car and down the road again. It was like driving, rocking, feeling, which I totally dug. The reference of all of this auger as well, you know, auger meaning like a fucking coring, drilling, coring into something and it's just this good rocking song. Track 1:[1:01:55] It's different though. Auger spelled one way is coring, but there's another, like to auger is to portend a good or bad outcome. Track 3:[1:02:08] Okay. Track 1:[1:02:11] So it's like, to pretend. Yeah. And I believe that's what it, like, it's all this auger's well, like, but, right, like, auger a well could mean digging a hole. But auger's well means pretending to, portending to good things are going to happen. Track 3:[1:02:37] Okay, okay. I just thought there were some beautiful lyrics in here. Also, I mean, all this augurs well or yeah, it's the The stanza never mind that pool in the mountains victory came and went on winged elephants I saw you all this augurs. Well, like you know, what? What is what is going on there? But it I thought it was likely this loaded very story specific Specific song without researching it, you know, I heard the lyrics Billy Sunday shout in Philadelphia for Christ Like who really is this song about did you look up Billy Sunday? Track 1:[1:03:15] Yeah. Track 3:[1:03:16] Yeah. I loved I loved reading about that This is like one of those that is one of those songs easy, right? Yeah, you barely you barely touch into on the research side and Realize that you know Billy Sunday was baseball player. Track 1:[1:03:33] I want to say a pitcher from like 1891. Track 3:[1:03:36] Yeah, he was this total this this I guess amazing pitcher And he played for chicago and boston and philly and which During those times you played for a team like your whole career, you know, you stayed in the city You you you became a presence with the team and the community and all that stuff if you did but this this this fellow William Ashley or Billy Sunday Sunday was his family name he he was like a total drunk ladies man and he moved from team to team to team and I think this from what I read the cops and the ladies got to know him really well And then after playing in Philly, he was witnessed to on the street and ultimately became a traveling preacher. [1:04:32] He went from standout pitcher to traveling preacher. And while he was preaching, teams even were soliciting him to come back and pitch. And during those days, if you made like 400 bucks a month playing professional baseball, that was like, a great salary. Yeah, I'm sure. And at one point, I read the Pittsburgh Pirates offered him $2,000 a month, and he still declined, and he still continued to be a traveling preacher. And his kind of schtick was talking about like the sex and alcohol lifestyle, from what I gathered, a lot about alcohol. And it was so much that when towns heard he was coming, they would just close up the bars until he went out. Literally, because he was so like, you know, he was his own prohibitionist. So it's all the personality. Track 2:[1:05:37] Yeah Thinking of that was the runner then I Don't know Like losses lay or some Forrest Gump. Track 1:[1:05:45] No. Track 2:[1:05:45] No, this is a reference from the hip Oh Terry Fox Harry Fox. Track 1:[1:05:50] Very fine. Yeah no he's a guy that ran across canada or something and he got close but he died he ran a marathon everyday he ran a marathon everyday on one leg yeah. Oh okay yeah cuz he and he was he was like. He was twenty one years old and he got cancer they removed his leg and he decided he was gonna run across canada and he started on the east coast he passed away thunder bay so he passed away about one third of the way through. Track 3:[1:06:21] Wow. Track 1:[1:06:22] Oh, it's fucking still, man. That's crazy. But it's like, every day his stump was like, like, euchred because he was wearing one of the, like, now, probably, somebody could do it on one of those, like, one of those spring legs, you know? Track 3:[1:06:37] Yeah, yeah. Track 1:[1:06:38] Yeah, but back in the day, he had, like, just an old school prosthetic leg, and it was crazy. Yeah. Track 3:[1:06:45] Pete, on this one, did you feel like, Did you ever get an inkling like, uh, perhaps this one was music first lyric second, or did you pick up at all on like the kind of background guitar riffing that was kind of over here? And yeah, it was like, I don't know, it sounded a little after thought ish, that guitar riffing, just kind of carrying you through it all worked. But this one, this one, I think compositionally. You know, song, story, Billy Sunday reference aside, which is amazing to dive into and learn about. I mean, I almost want to paint Billy Sunday or something with like on the pulpit with a baseball bat. That's cool. A fifth of whiskey in the other hand or something. But anyways, I felt like compositionally, the song writing-wise fits in the album. It just It just kind of fits in there, but also like, eh. Track 1:[1:07:46] You weren't big on it. Track 3:[1:07:49] No, it didn't grab me. It was like, OK, let's get back in the car. We're back on the road. Let's get through the song. It's rocking. Yeah, let's see what's next. Track 2:[1:07:56] I think at first it was like that, but then the song really like, because instrumentally, it's so fucking rich. Yeah, but like Gord, dude, again, Gord could match, pick the most complex composition that any composers have ever written. And I'm sure there is some fucking book that Gord Downie wrote lyrics in, somewhere floating around or shoved in his fucking basement, that lyrics. Track 3:[1:08:29] I would hope there's like, yeah, like 200. Track 2:[1:08:32] Yeah, he could fit to that. I mean, they probably just, yeah. So I feel you. I feel you. I feel you. Yeah. Track 1:[1:08:40] So let's move into track number seven, The Completist. Track 2:[1:08:44] I don't have a ton to say about this. I would say I really love this song. Again, this is a fade in from the previous track. Gord Sinclair again. fucking standout performance on this song. The percussive chops of the band at this point in the record. I mean, there are other songs that come up that you're just like, what the fuck? But they're not a bar band anymore. I mean, I know they still, but I still think like, I don't know if it was Phantom Power before, a record or two before, you see that kind of bar band thing still rearing its head a little bit, Like, this is just so far from that. These guys are fucking, they've really become superb musicians from the EP to now. Like, they've honed their fucking craft. And then the... Musicians' dedication to improvementTrack 1:[1:09:51] Road tested. Track 2:[1:09:52] Yeah, I mean, it's the road, it's the recording, it's the composition. But it's clear that like, every single musician in this band is like, I want to become better at my instrument. And I'm going to do this. It wasn't just like they just played a bunch, kept doing it, like, they clearly actively tried to become better musicians, as they were continuing. Like, I would put that to any of these fucking guys, if they're standing in front of me, and tell me, like, tell me I'm lying. Like, tell me I'm full of shit. And they would say no. Like, Whether it's, I mean, fucking Kirk Hammett for fuck's sake was taking lessons from Steve Vai when he was already in Metallica. Like, what does that tell you? You know, like, musicians want to become better and they, these guys clearly. The only thing I was gonna say was the woman singing, I thought it was Kate Fenner from before, but it's not, right? Track 1:[1:10:52] I don't know, I thought it was Kate Fenner. Track 2:[1:10:54] Apparently it's, um, Julie. Do I run Dorian, Julie Dorian, Dorian. Track 1:[1:11:02] Oh, Julie Dorian. Track 2:[1:11:03] Okay. Track 1:[1:11:03] Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Track 2:[1:11:05] But I, and this is just, you know, I want to say this earlier, Tim, but I want to say that I did do a little research on Kate Fenner and her, um, her label that she's signed to is called UFO music. So that's awesome. Track 1:[1:11:19] Oh, you must love that. Track 2:[1:11:20] I do. Track 3:[1:11:22] You just stole my thunder for Toronto 4. We'll get there. Track 2:[1:11:28] I thought the lyrics in the song were beautiful. It was fucking, the beautiful fucking lyrics. Amazingly beautiful. Track 1:[1:11:35] Yeah. Yeah. Track 3:[1:11:37] Well, I'll have to look into Julie Dorian. I had not found her. And we'll get to it, but we haven't talked much about Kate Fenner, nor who we mentioned earlier. Chris Brown. The fellow on keys, Chris Brown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For me, this song to complete us, I felt like it was like at first it was kind of, OK, we're already back to a slowdown. Like, it felt a little bit of a chug placement-wise in the album, it's a beautiful song. You know, I just didn't, it kind of left me hanging a little bit. Like, it didn't grab me and shake me around or rattle me around or anything like that. It felt like it could have been an ender. Like, it felt like, is this the end of the album? I mean, this could be the end of an album, so that's good. Track 1:[1:12:29] Well, it's the end of side one, if you're thinking. Oh, maybe. LPs. Track 3:[1:12:36] Yeah, yeah, okay, okay. Track 1:[1:12:37] And that would make sense with our next song too, Freak Turbulence, opening side two with a banger, right? Track 3:[1:12:44] Yeah, big time. I mean, this is like we're alive again. We're back in the driver's seat or the passenger's seat. Like we have this backup singing again. I think this was Kate Fenner at this time. I'm not sure. Between the two. I don't know enough of Julie's voice to distinguish between the two. Track 1:[1:13:06] There are definitely people out there that will tell us for sure. Track 3:[1:13:10] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm gonna look it up because I think I got Kate Fenner down. I mean, yes, yeah, yeah. So back to the song though, there's a comedy factor here, am I wrong? Like, this is so much about Gord being afraid to fly or not liking flying or, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's all this talk about. I don't know, it feels lighter and more fun than usual. Track 1:[1:13:39] Like, did the captain just say this? Like, did the captain just say, like? Track 3:[1:13:45] Well, we'll land in less than 10 minutes. Or he says, or unless. Did he say unless or less? Yeah, he's afraid. You know, I think this is the song that guys. Were had to fly back to Canada from the US because originally this album Was to be recorded on a moving locomotive train. Track 1:[1:14:11] They talked about doing that. Yes I don't know how that would have ever happened. Track 3:[1:14:15] No shit. What a fucking cool idea I mean imagine that Pete moving locomotive with all the sounds and shakes and rattles I mean maybe maybe for a song but a whole album yeah with some serious that was some serious weed smoking yeah I'm up with that idea you know we should do guys we should fly back down to Memphis take the train take the train to LA and record the home anyways this this is a this was kind of a fun song it was a little more jovial I dug it there's a There's a weird, PeepeePie caught this, there's some weird guitar feedback, like the last 10 seconds or so, which made the song feel kind of ominous, or maybe the Freak Turbulence was like the plane going down, I don't know. It was funny in that regard, it was like a total head-scratcher, but this one I kind of dug. Track 2:[1:15:15] Oh, I dug this one, man, there's a line in there that really stuck with me, it's Satan Holding back hands, our nose and our chin. Track 3:[1:15:22] Yeah, yeah. Track 2:[1:15:24] I love that. There's a really, I think, the mix, there was a lot of moments where I wrote down, this is probably the first time I've said it, but it's written on a ton of songs, the mix on this song, how they mix this song with the instruments, like the levels of all the instruments, it's just so, it really, you know, it makes the fucking song. It makes this song so fucking cool the vocals build, Yeah, I really, you know, I'll rather than to, I'll save my, you know, I'll yield my time only because I have some, some hefty shit to say about some stuff coming up. But I, this song made me run, like when this song came on and I was going on some runs, I definitely put it into a higher gear with this song. I loved it. I loved it. Yeah. Track 3:[1:16:20] Yeah. Yeah. Especially after the completed, you know, transitioning into this one. It's like, yes, OK, here we go again. This is definitely the if it's side two, it definitely is the the side one. Get us going again. "Sharks" - a monotonous but intriguing song[1:16:36] Sharks, can I go? Sharks. Yeah. This one kind of lazes along for me. It's got a few interesting bridges, but it's kind of monotonous, but not not. I'm not saying that in a negative way. It's almost like, it's almost got this head down, shoegazy kind of feel, you know? Then at the three minute mark, there's this like heavy tom kind of bass kind of transition in there. It's the bass guitar is like kind of all over the neck for just a brief second, but you know, it's one of, the, this song is, it has what I enjoyed because they they're starting to do this more because they're all just accelerating as musicians is that it has like well over a minute of music the last portion of it is just like great music carrying you through rather than singing until like the last seconds or giving like seven seconds at the end or what have you so it's. [1:17:42] It was kind of a fun song in that way. It just felt different than the rest, but also worked, you know, positively. Track 2:[1:17:52] I love, this is another fade in from the previous track, which I love, that they're doing that, making it very concept-y. I love the line in there about the Mariana's Trench. That's just fucking cool. It's such a, it's always been a fascination of mine, probably since I saw fucking, what was the name of that movie? Was that Harris? I don't know. I thought it was a James Cameron movie for Christ's sake, it was huge. The Abyss. The Abyss. Oh, The Abyss. The Abyss was in Maria's Trench. Track 1:[1:18:29] Right, right, right, right. Track 2:[1:18:32] But yeah, I mean, the big standout for me here is Rob Baker's guitar is just fucking insanity. He does these really cool arpeggios in the song. And the coolest thing for me was, I was like, what's that fucking effect on this guitar? And I was like, I wrote this down early on, I was like, he's got a, like a delay on the guitar, but not a delay. So it's going bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. It's so, the delay time is so small that you can't really hear it like a repetitive delay. It's just, when you put it down almost to zero, it just has this cool, and then I look on no shit by the time I found that website and he's got a Line 6 DL4 delay pedal that no doubt he was using on this fucking song. It just made me feel cool because I was like, my ears still work after all these years. But I fucking love it. If I didn't, I didn't think there was a song that could rival Tiger the Lion and I still don't think it beats it but it's pretty up there and that's fucking Toronto 4. An analysis of the opening guitar arpeggiosTrack 1:[1:26:42] Talk to me. Talk to me. Track 2:[1:26:44] I mean, the way it opens with the, like, the record static. Yep. Again, Rob Baker's doing these weird arpeggios, like he, like, it's kind of like a falling guitar, like he goes from a, like a, it's a D chord or whatever the hell, the octave, than the chord, then the seventh, then the diminished. Makes it feel really sad. It's just, or like, kind of sad and mysterious, and it's floating. It's like all the echo-y shit that there's, I don't know if it's Kate Fenner on this. It is. It is? Okay. Track 3:[1:27:26] Yeah. Track 2:[1:27:27] Yeah. The way that the, I don't know if it's like he's using mallets or what, but Johnny Fay is like coming in with the cymbals with these really soft mallets that like kind of give it like a gong sound to make it really super dramatic but the songs it's fucking awesome I mean I was like what it was weird because this was a song that early on I would get through the first nine tracks because I was doing like shorter runs when I would take it out and I didn't get to like Toronto for and then the first time I heard it I was like what in the fuck the surf tone on guitar is just... It's a cool jam dude. It's cool as fuck. A lot of Pink Floyd, I feel, influence on there. Track 3:[1:28:18] I agree with all that. I felt like the percussions on this, the drums on this one, had sort of this metronome, just more of a... I don't know. Track 2:[1:28:28] You do the panning on the left to right? Track 3:[1:28:31] Yeah, like the pace of the percussion really, to me, held the song like all the way through and was perfect. I mean, I often hone in on drum stuff like you do guitar and I felt like that was just, I don't know, this song is, it starts slow, it's emotional, it kind of feels like apologetic you know also feels like i don't know familiar maybe it's like the mention of Vesuvius as a metaphor for like family and stresses and breakups and i don't know the The song was just, it's pretty jam packed. I didn't. Look big into the background on lyrics or story or any of that, you know, I just questioned, which I said to JD like a week ago, I was like, why the hell Toronto four? Are there three other Toronto songs? Or what is what is that about? Track 1:[1:29:29] So if anybody knows, my only guess is, like my, as far as just guesswork, is might be, it might have been the fourth run, you know, it might have been the fourth take, like it's Sometimes you use the studio parlance to come up with the title of a song that you can't quite name. Track 3:[1:29:49] Yeah. Track 1:[1:29:50] Well, this is a great, it's a great song, and you're right, you nailed it on the head when you talk about family. Yeah, yeah. It's definitely familial. It's, you know, it's about the matriarch of his family, his grandmother, holding things up. And that what are the first the first lyrics are? Absolutely. They slay me and I can't recall them at the moment. Track 3:[1:30:17] You know, you were the rock plug for us all. Did you know you were the conduit of Vesuvius? You were far more unifying than, you know, I'm not a judge of suitable, but you almost had it all. I mean, if that's about his grandma being the what a tribute, the rock plug for their family. I mean rock plug is definitely a volcanic reference of you know a rock holding the mountain together before the magma just blows it apart so it's right fucking cool pretty pretty yeah I mean it's this this one maybe has the simplest lyrics that we've seen in a while. [1:30:59] It's it's a beautiful song. So Kate Fenner on this one just to touch on her because I Think we've heard her before although. I only found that she To recorded and toured for this album, but man, she's she's got this How do you describe her voice? I think it's just gorgeous. I think it's yeah, it's It's just, it's, it's, it's lovely. I, she, she, somebody described her as less, a lusty alternative to a Joni Mitchell ish sound. Like all of that is, is true. So she's got her own solo stuff. She's got, as Pete mentioned, UFO Records is her label. She's got this new album out that I touched on briefly over the weekend. It's it's pretty she's got a beautiful voice like if she ever tours and we get a chance to just Go and any of us hear her perform. I'm sure it would be worth it. She's got a dreamy voice So yeah, great great addition to me, too I don't know if you saw this tour JD, but what she did she yeah, do you recall her on stage or yeah? Track 1:[1:32:09] Because it was it was strange because both Chris Brown and her were on stage with them the whole time and that was It was just it was sort of a strange look because up until that point It had been the five of the month's age. Track 3:[1:32:20] Mm-hmm. Track 1:[1:32:20] That was it. And so this you know, it changed the dynamic for sure and I'll be the first to tell you that when this record dropped I Liked it But I didn't love it. But now 20 years later. Yeah, I fucking love this record Yeah, I can listen to this record at any time like yeah, yeah top to bottom. Okay, okay, Now let's go toward the bottom and talk about Wild Mountain Honey, dude. Track 3:[1:32:52] I love this one. So I'm taking I'm taking on this one. Mr Okay, you can you can fill in do it Yeah, like this this to me I heard Pink Floyd I heard Jerry Garcia of guitar effects Like I I heard like fish. I don't know like this song to me. They even the the title is is different, like this one was just a little bit different there. You know, it's the drums are soft, but they can sound kind of angry. This is one of the songs on the album, you know, the first time listening it through. Or I thought, OK, I need to find this one live and check it out because I'm sure it gets played harder and louder, maybe faster. [1:33:43] There's just really good chord changing and bridges and guitar riffs and it feels a little bit patched or contrived at the end you know I was hoping for like a big finish the first time I heard this one because it really grabbed me it made it just this to me was like hip fans who have seen the band play live a a bunch. Probably love this one live. You know, this one just, it hit some marks for me with going, with going after, like, followers of other bands who I knew probably in the same summer saw Grateful Dead play it or saw Phish play and saw the Tragically Hit play. Like a lot of, you know, A lot of times when I experience bands playing live over the course of a summer, it kind of, you know, dictates that summer. Like, you think back to that summer and you're like, oh, that's when I went to X Festival or that's when I saw 8Bandplay a couple times. The Papa Roach show. Yeah, like that's, yeah, definitely the Papa Roach show. But no, this one was, This kind of centered me back into the seat of the Tragically Hip. I really dug it. I ended up listening to it a handful of times by itself. Track 1:[1:35:08] Oh wow! Cool. Track 3:[1:35:11] Probably not a single though, right? Track 1:[1:35:13] Not a single, nope. Track 3:[1:35:14] Yeah, every once in a while they have a song that's not a single that's a little bit off character that I dig and this is one of those. Rhythms and Unique Drum Hits in "Wild Mountain Honey"Track 2:[1:35:23] I thought that I mean the song it's funny ironically it starts out like wild mountain honey it begins like the name does Soft like wild mountain honey, and it creeps up on you like a whiskey, and it fucking destroys. Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, I think It's funny because I remember looking for the lyrics online and realized there's a Steve Miller song called why I'm not many as well But when I saw the title of this, I thought of the Peach Boys song, Wild Honey, which neither of those examples are even close to this song. But what I got from it was, I fucking love the rhythms in this fucking, the drums in the rhythms. The drum hits in this fucking song are so cool and they're so unique and they don't sound like another band. Like there's some songs that, like I mentioned, some Wilco stuff earlier, there's other songs from other hip records where it's like they're doing a drum hit or a drum fill and you're like, yeah, that's the same drum fill that this band did on this song and that's been, this is completely fucking different. And it's so fucking cool. So unique, the rhythms in the song. [1:36:43] There's a weird keyboard or flute effect in the background going down, it was really faint and hard to pick up. I'm pretty sure it was a keyboard, but it could have been some sort of setting, but I love the line, I don't want to put another thought in my head, I just thought that was so fucking cool towards the end. And then the song, the solo starts before, but the part at about 3 minutes 30 seconds of the guitar soloer. Just, I don't know, dude. I hope I run into him. Track 3:[1:37:18] That carries it to the end, right? Track 2:[1:37:22] It does. Yeah. I want to run into Rob Baker at a 7-Eleven or something. Him buying a Slurpee and me already up front and being like, hey, man, let me get this guy's Slurpee and I'll pay for it or something. Just be like, alright, man. Track 1:[1:37:41] What a gentleman you are. Track 2:[1:37:42] I want to be that guy. It's weir

Ever find yourself reminiscing about the good old days when tunes from The Tragically Hip filled the airwaves? My pals, Tim and Pete, and I sure did, as we took a deep dive into their 6th studio album, Phantom Power. We discovered that our own past experiences and relationships managed to shape our views on this collection of radio hits, which seemed like a pivotal moment for the band. We weren't just content with superficially jamming out to the music. We dissected the unique sound and lyrical themes, compared them to previous Hip releases, and found ourselves swapping stories from past concerts. One standout memory was Tim being recognized by lead vocalist Gord Downie backstage. We also discussed the historical context of the album, like how its recording coincided with a major ice storm and a surprise tour that benefited a children's cancer camp. Stick around as we analyze some standout tunes like 'Poets' and its references to Gwen Jacobs' fight for women's equality. We also shared our thoughts on 'Fireworks' and how it reminded us of Canada's victory in the hockey series against Russia in 1972. So, whether you're a die-hard Hip fan or just love a good music chat, this episode is for you!TranscriptSpeaker 1 It's June of 1998 and I'm done with York University. To celebrate, my friends and I embarked on a camping trip to the Pinary Provincial Park just down the road from Grand Bend. It was just outside the liquor store in town that I heard a finished version of Pullets for the first time. Gord had long been one of my favorite Pullets, so to me this song resonated in a way that I can't quite describe. It was a feeling of euphoria and relief. This new record was going to be just fine, i thought to myself. Little did I know that several tracks on this record would stand the test of time and join the pantheon of great hip songs I still enjoy to this day, from the meandering escape is at hand to the traveling man, to the exquisite Bob Cajun and the downright delicious Emperor Penguin. Phantom power was right in the pocket, coming off of the exceptional trouble at the henhouse. As I got inside the truck to head back to the campsite I turned the volume up and just let Pullets sink into my brain. This was living. Today. We're going to hear from our friends Pete and Tim to check out what they think of Phantom power. Will it stack up? Find out today. On Getting Hip to the Hip. 0:01:41 - Speaker 2 Long sliced brewery presents Getting Hip to the Hip Hey it's JD here. 0:01:58 - Speaker 1 Welcome back to Getting Hip to the Hip. This week we are talking about Phantom Power, the sixth studio record by Seminole Canadian rock band, the Tragically Hip. I'm joined this week, as always, by my pals Tim and Pete Fellas. how are you doing? 0:02:19 - Speaker 3 Hey guys, hey guys, hey guys, glad to be here. Good to see you, i'm ecstatic to be here. 0:02:26 - Speaker 4 I'm ecstatic to be here right now. 0:02:27 - Speaker 1 Oh, I love it. 0:02:28 - Speaker 4 I love the energy This is happier than a pig and shit. 0:02:31 - Speaker 1 Oh boy, oh boy, that's pretty happy. I've seen some, some porcine creatures rolling in fecal matter and they sure love it. Okay, so if you are wanting to experience The Tragically Hip's music for the first time, tim and Pete are your avatars this week because they got to experience the record Phantom Power, which again is the sixth record produced by Steve Berlin, first record on Universal. But I guess I should tell you guys both. I guess I should say this to you both as honorary Canadians. Now, happy Canada Day. It's almost the 4th of July. It's July 3rd today, but it's July 4th tomorrow for you, but July 1st for us is Canada Day. So happy Canada Day, folks. 0:03:20 - Speaker 4 Wow, Yeah, Very close to the other 4th of July, which is America's Independence Day. In the UK they call that Thanksgiving. No, No, I had a. I took a flight one time on some shitty airline and the pilot was British and it was on the 4th of July and he was like so I just want to say you know, that's my shitty British accent Happy 4th of July was we call it. We're on from Thanksgiving. Enjoy Whatever. 0:03:57 - Speaker 1 That's great. Oh, anytime you can burn an American a little bit, it's. you know there's some fun. There's some fun there because you guys are so goddamn good at this shit, you know Anyway let's get into the record as a whole. Before we go into the song by song segment, let's just talk about this record, produced, like I said, by Steve Berlin. Five singles come from this record. All music rates at a three out of five Three. So there's that. What did you guys think? I want to know where you listen to it, how you listen to it and what your initial thoughts were, and you know, maybe, what they percolated up to. What do you say there, tim? 0:04:45 - Speaker 3 Well, there's a pause. I thought it was a three star album, kind of like all music I felt wasn't really sure. it felt a little bit deluded in a way. to me It felt a little bit, a little bit more generic from what I've heard in the past. But it also felt kind of expected for the whole catalog of albums this band has produced and the timeline going into the late 90s. You know this album felt like full of radio hits but at the same time I was missing a little bit of that raw kind of hip feeling. You know, i was wondering like, should I be okay with this album just being kind of fine? This was the turning point for me. I was really not sure. When I read kind of some reviews about it, i think there was some sentiment, some shared sentiment, and also some people were like it's my favorite album and some hip fans said it's their least favorite album. So this one's kind of a gray area for me. 0:06:00 - Speaker 1 It's funny. Well, I'll get into my, you know, sort of backgrounder on this for you guys after we hear from Pete. Pete, what did you think? 0:06:09 - Speaker 4 I hear you on the gray area, because I could totally see that. I could totally see how some hip fans are like this is the best album they did. Or this is not my favorite album. For me I listen to it everywhere. I listen to it in my office, so for my computer, with some some decent cans, i took it out running a lot. Probably. I think maybe the first time I listened to it was that took it in the car. It sounded great. The thing I found like I would say 3.5 for me, tim, instead of a 3. But you know I feel you on that My initial thoughts were that a lot of rawness of the hip was gone from this. In the first couple of listens it sounded very watered down. It was like somebody pulled Gord Downey aside and said Hey man, can we just like, kind of like the dude, can you, can, you fucking can you take it easy, man, you know, just like. Told him to just like chill out a little bit, and I don't know. The more I listen to it though, the more I dug into it and see how much work maybe not production, but just from the band themselves went into this record maybe changed my tune a lot Like I dig it. And Phantom Power, that was the coolest thing in the 90s, man Like because sometimes you didn't know what it was. If you never heard of Phantom Power before, it has a fucking cool name. If you had a guy that had like a condenser mic or something with Phantom Power, you're like dude, yeah, he's got a mic, that's got a Phantom Power. It was just like fucking. You were 17 and you heard that it was fucking cool. 0:08:00 - Speaker 3 Yeah, you know, i went and looked at a number of albums sold by a bunch of different bands, including the hip, and I was trying to kind of have this try to find this correlation of how many albums sold from the band start to like 10 years later, or 10 albums later, something like that. And I compared the hip with a bunch of bands And it's, it's. It's really all apples, oranges, of course, but when you look at how many albums they've sold and how they, you know, started off selling a ton and then just kind of went down to this million album mark. And then when I heard this album and I like UP, i listened to it all over the place. I listened to it on the plane I traveled, listened to it in the car, listened to it at home with the cans on. I mean I listened to it in more places than past listens because I was really trying to give it a go. I mean, it was the first time, upon first listened, that there were a couple songs where I was like okay, get it, i'm going to go to the next one, like I had not fast forwarded songs, you had her skipped ahead. So this, yeah, but but one of those songs that I skipped ahead on, sorry hip fans. You know I came back to and it's might be one of my most favorite on the album, so this this one like yeah, this one, this one to me like didn't grab me right away. Maybe it will more over time, maybe it's one of those types of albums, but well, i'll tell you what this record has. 0:09:36 - Speaker 1 An interesting, an interesting story, i think, and it it's my own headcanon This is. This is not like actual fact by any stretch, but in my opinion, trouble at the Henhouse, which is one of my absolute favorite records by the Tragically Hip or or or any other band, is, was maligned Like it, it, it, it, it both it and day for night didn't perform as well as fully, completely, and fully completely was very, if you recall, it was very polished, it was very produced. You know they went to London to record it. It was like a big deal. And then, following that, the next two records, they were sort of self-produced, with Mark Vreakin and Mark Howard on day for night and just Vreakin on fully, on Trouble at the Henhouse, and those records are sparse and they are. The core energy is, is there, it's, it's. It's like boiling hot magma, you know, and they're and they're forming these songs that are just age old now and and just wonderful, and then phantom power comes out and phantom power goes back to the like. To me it's sort of back to the back, to the basics. It's like back to really structured songs, really produced, and, like I always said, that this record was the baby of day for night and fully and completely, fully, completely, rather not fully and completely fully. It's sort of the baby of those two records. It's got the, it's got the production values, but it's still got songs. So I'll challenge you guys on that, because I think this record has songs and I think it has songs for days. You know what? 0:11:40 - Speaker 4 you are JD, let me tell you who you are. So when I was like 19 or 18, working with the movie theater, i dated this girl that that worked at the calendar place across the way And I just kind of went out with her because I was like really stoked. She gave me your number But I really wasn't that into her and all my friends were like, dude, she's really hot man, she's really amazing, and I just didn't see it. And so then like I stopped going out with her. We only went out a couple of times and that was that. And then I saw her again. I was like, damn, i really screwed that one up And that's kind of felt with this record, but I didn't want to like make that same mistake again. So like I, i'm sticking with it. I'm sticking with this being a solid album. Yeah, you know, yeah Masked it for, you know, a third and fourth date. 0:12:26 - Speaker 1 Yeah, i think, and I think three out of five stars is fair Like it's not it's not one of my. it's not my favorite record, but it's a lot of hit pants favorite record It's a lot Yeah, yeah. 0:12:39 - Speaker 3 That's that's what I found in my research. The covers are awesome. The covers are great. 0:12:43 - Speaker 1 They have that They actually have that panel in in their studio and bath, which is really cool. Yeah, so that's, you know this is. I want to say this is the second record they recorded at their studio. So they didn't go anywhere, you know, adventurous or anything like that, but they were at home. And what happened in 1998, i don't know if it made news anywhere else but Quebec and Ontario there was a major ice storm, yeah, major ice storm, and in Ontario it, like it absolutely shut down the city of Toronto. It shut down, you know, major thoroughfares. It was like devastating this ice storm. And we'll get into that a little bit more as we talk about the songs. But you know, they bring Berlin in and they're sort of trapped in the studio. You know like during during this, so really fascinating I think. 0:13:43 - Speaker 3 But yeah, it's a go ahead. Did you see this tour? Did you see them play on this tour? You want to hear a story Now? 0:13:52 - Speaker 1 people who listen to the movie and completely heard this. But the hip announced five secret shows that they were going to do, and all proceeds from these shows were going to go to a charity I forget which charity now at the oh, it was Camp Trillium. Camp Trillium, which is a camp for children with cancer, children that have cancer, and there's a location of that is near where I grew up And I'll show you when we, when you're in town for the finale. My friend's parents were on the committee for the cancer camp in our community, and so my friend Heather had intel and she she knew that they were going to go on sale at this time in this place in Hamilton, which is about an hour outside of Toronto, when traffic's good, and so we ended up getting third row center seats Wow, in this small theater in Hamilton, like 2000 people, and they blew the roof off the place. And a band called oh my goodness. They sang, come for a ride. Open for them, and they were tremendous as well. I forget the bands right now who open for them, but if you know it, send me an email. Jd at getting hip to the hipcom. So we're third row center. We watched the show, But the kicker here is is that Heather has got gifts to give the band And it's been arranged with the stage manager that we're going to go backstage afterwards to give. She's going to go backstage afterwards to give these gifts And she ended up inviting me along And so we got to go backstage and I introduced her to the tragic lab. So this was like this was like full circle for the two of us And it was just a wonderful experience. We went backstage after the show and they were all there and Gord had a. Gord Downey had a soccer ball And he was doing that thing where you flip it out, catch it and roll it back in your arms. Flip it out, catch it, roll it back in your arms And he just kept doing that And I remember at one point I must have looked silly or something, because somebody said and maybe it was Gord Downey said is everything all right? And I said, oh, everything is fucking perfect. I could go outside and get hit by a bus right now And it just wouldn't matter. And Gord Downey looked at me and he goes Oh, don't do that, jane. He called me Jane, only my mom calls me Jane. Like it was so cool It was cool. 0:16:37 - Speaker 4 How did I not know the story? How did I not know that you had interactions with Jesus? 0:16:44 - Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, how was this? 0:16:45 - Speaker 4 coming up in episode. What fucking episode are we on. 0:16:48 - Speaker 1 Well, it was Tim asked me the question, yeah. 0:16:50 - Speaker 3 I don't know. We're like 15 minutes in. I think we could just call it. That was good enough. 0:16:55 - Speaker 1 Well, here's the kicker. Here's the kicker. I don't think I told this part on fully and completely, but the kicker is I had been dating a girl all through university and I broke up with her the summer of 98 and sewed my wild oats And this was all toward the end of the summer of 98. And she was in Hamilton to meet me after the show. So I'm backstage with the hip and they go Okay, well, we're going to go to the after party now in the next room over, because this was in the green room or whatever And we're going to go in the after party room and drink some beers. Do you guys want to join us? And I had to say no. I had to say no because my girlfriend was waiting outside for me. Now, in hindsight, what a boner move I made, because I wanted to get back together with her. Totally. It only lasted another two years after that, like I then absolutely blew up, but it was those. Those final two years were awful anyway, like they just weren't, you know, like both of us would agree to that now I'm sure the university years were wonderful, they were, they were great, but those those two years after our break up we're not so good And I blew a chance to go party with the hip. 0:18:15 - Speaker 3 You had a Davis Manning moment. 0:18:18 - Speaker 1 Yes, Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 0:18:22 - Speaker 3 He chose the girl over your fandom. 0:18:25 - Speaker 1 The hip lived between us. 0:18:27 - Speaker 3 They totally lived between you. They might still sorry, sorry, jess. 0:18:38 - Speaker 1 Well, folks, should we go song by song? 0:18:41 - Speaker 3 Yeah, let's do it, let's do it. 0:18:44 - Speaker 4 So I really liked this song. I really liked poets. This is probably the song I would say I have the least to say about. I really like the verse phrasing. I think it's probably the best part of this song, the way he phrases the verses. There's a part where the lines of a verse he kind of like carries into the next measure. It's really weird, like, like, like the mind, you think, okay, you sing the verse, then it's the next measure, but like he sings that verse over there Because it's when you look at it it's a complete line. I can't remember the line specifically, but it was. It was cool man. It's a hard thing to pull off man, but like that guy just does. It was so much, so much finesse. I liked the layered guitars in it, yeah. But I think, going back to what we're saying sort of at the beginning of the top of the show, it was, this song didn't punch me in the face Like right when I, right when I started listening, i dug it. I it was a soft open, it was a soft open. 0:19:59 - Speaker 1 All right, how'd you feel, tim? 0:20:01 - Speaker 3 I felt it was a harder open. I thought it was it. You know this. Like we've talked about before the cadence of songs and track orders. You know the first one I expect to really get me, bring me in, and this one did it. I thought it was pretty good. There's a fun kind of change over into the chorus It again I spoke about this a little bit before, but the kind of remind me of REM in REM's, like first half of the 90's albums, like they come on with like a punch of a song and then, like the cadence of the album kind of goes soft and then gets whoa, got a little dirty there, gets a little bit harder as time evolves. But yeah, this I thought this was a good start off. The themes you know I looked into a little bit of the song's meaning regarding lyrics and you know just talk about agriculture and super farms and like I don't know, ultimately fresh vegetables versus buying frozen and what that means. And this, this is the song that references Gwen Jacobs. Right, you know the story about her JD, and she was this woman who walked into town I think in Ontario topless and it created this whole. I don't have to look into this more, but I'm pretty sure this was the song about the Gwen Jacobs case. So Gwen was a woman who walked through town topless and was arrested and started this whole kind of woman's lib. You know movement with. You know making it okay to cut your lawn without a shirt on, just like the men do. That's kind of where the line in here from Gord comes from. It's a let's see. 0:22:02 - Speaker 1 Oh, that's great Lawn caught by breasted women. 0:22:04 - Speaker 3 Yeah, it's kind of this comment on pushing for women's equality and gender rights. So I thought that was fucking cool And that, to me also, is like really appropriate for the 90s or late 90s, you know it was. we were kind of circling back to, of course, some things we've had in North America before and prior decades. So I thought this song was cool. Again, it really reminded me of REM. I kind of went back and started looking at some of REM's albums and I wish, again, i wish I could know what the band listened to when they were traveling Me too. You know what they were sharing, what albums they were digging. you know if any of them were like Oh my God, did you hear REM's new one? We're going to put it in the the the buses stereo or whatever. Like I wish I could know what was influencing them, because I'm hearing, i'm hearing some some themes for sure. 0:22:57 - Speaker 1 Okay, earlier I was telling you about the ice storm. The next track, something on, was recorded and they literally were trapped in the studio. They were, you know, they couldn't leave the bath house, they couldn't leave the studio in bath. So they did what they do best They wrote a song and there's some lyrical content in there about the ice storm even And I think it's really wonderful lyricism. What did you guys think of something on? 0:23:33 - Speaker 3 I felt like, okay, i read about it, i read about this and I read about the ice storm and you know sounded awful. And for I hate to say this, but to go get stuck in a studio, for me that'd be like the time to really fuck things up, like really experiment. You know, you know, just hopefully somebody shows up with a huge bag of weed and somebody shows up with a bunch of acid and somebody shows up with a shit ton of beer and like this is when you like really go to town to experiment and what do we got out of it? We got like kind of a radio hit. So it was a little surprise to kind of hear the whole story and it just made me realize that maybe for this era, the guys were really I mean, they were at a point to where they could bust out a really good album, you know, and what, for me, that really good album is? like you go to a restaurant and it's like yo, that was a good meal. You know, everything was like satisfactory. 0:24:37 - Speaker 1 Well, yeah, it's a blooming onion man. 0:24:38 - Speaker 3 It's a blooming onion, Yeah, but to get stuck in a studio and ice storm, it's like I personally would want to just start going places. I haven't been before with my band, but you know this one's interesting take. Yeah, this one felt. This one felt a little radio felt a little you too, dave Matthews like splash of John Cougar melon camp or something like I don't know. Man, it felt, i know. I know, i know, i know. 0:25:10 - Speaker 1 And I was a big melon camp guy at one point. 0:25:13 - Speaker 4 But Dave, Matthews are regular. 0:25:16 - Speaker 1 Cougar and regular. 0:25:18 - Speaker 3 Yeah, like I couldn't get overly excited about this one. Well, again. 0:25:26 - Speaker 1 I think you were waiting for the follow up from the follow up to trouble at the house, and this isn't the follow up that you're expecting on a trajectory perspective. You know no no, i agree. 0:25:44 - Speaker 4 It's funny. You talk about getting trapped in the studio, like I mean, i don't know if I'd go like full steely Dan when they recorded the Albuquerque show, where, like you know, there maybe was not that much cocaine around, but I still agree with him, i would. I'd get really spacey, and I think they do it on a couple songs that we'll get into, but first time I heard this song got some heavy Jim Blossom's feels. Yeah yeah, Yes that's the first thing that hit me and I couldn't think of any of the band that it was like a buddy of mine used to play the band that they open for them a ton, and I was like the first band that came to mind like this Oh, and it was really poppy. And okay, my notes. Once you get past the repeated cheesiness of the chord progression and the vocal melody, it's not a bad song. 0:26:40 - Speaker 1 Oh dammit, with faint praise here. No, no, no, it's not a bad song. 0:26:44 - Speaker 4 I think it's a good song, but you know it's a good song. If, like you, take this song and go, is this a good song? Anybody will say it's a good song, but like you, said to me compared to the follow up of what you really wanted after trouble. Then else, and this was a song where I feel like Gord sounded a bit like he was put in the cage Like whoever was a universal when this record was getting recorded, put baby in the corner. And this is a song where really I feel like you know he's, he wants to be himself, but somebody's like, hey, man, just could you like you don't have to do it all the songs, but like at least on this one could you just, fucking, you know, tone it down a little bit. And I was just like, ah, where's my fucking, where's my lead singer. 0:27:33 - Speaker 3 Yeah, I totally agree, Because you know it's still a good song, because it's still all the guys and it still has themes, because it's Gord, you know you're still going to get one liners that are amazing. I feel like probably no matter what in any hip song there's going to be some standout lyric to me, some standout part like to the core fan. That's. That's really what I'm imagining. The line that stood out in this one for me was your imaginations having puppies, I mean yeah, yeah. I've had so many letters of puppies, you guys. It's like I'm just, i've got puppies all over the place. It's like. 0:28:11 - Speaker 4 I was a cool. I really like that one. Yeah, like that, like that video for new recruits or something. 0:28:17 - Speaker 3 Yeah, so I like identified in it. You know, at that personal level, which I think they're able to do just about on any song which is fucking amazing for a band to do, because I could probably name 10 bands right now. What that does not happen to me, yeah, so you know. So, in that regard, like hip fans, you know I'm, i'm I'm not really trying not to be the bad guy here, but we this, this, this just made this song, just made me keep going So into save the planet. I mean, i got to this one, arrived at this one, and I was like, is this the band's fucking Earth Day song? or stretch their reach to get on the farm aid bill, like what is going on here? I felt like I don't know, there's a flute in there. Who's playing the flute? 0:29:09 - Speaker 1 Who plays the flute? You know, i don't. I don't have the liner notes handy And on the wiki page it is remarkably barren in terms of additional players. Yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't have them, so I need people to write in. 0:29:25 - Speaker 3 If people know, let us know, because there's some flute in there And it made me wonder like what else? 0:29:31 - Speaker 1 there's keys all over this record. 0:29:33 - Speaker 3 Yeah, what else have I been missing in the background that maybe other people are participating in? But I felt, like you know this song, in the placement we were, we were filling, we were filling in the gaps on the menu And you're like, no, I had a burger yesterday. No, I'm not in the mood for that. Oh, I could really use some lasagna. Here we go. That's that's how Save the Planet felt, felt very time appropriate. This is, like you know, the millennial song. 0:30:02 - Speaker 1 Okay. 0:30:03 - Speaker 4 All right. So if anybody's got a line on the flute player, email Tim getting hip to the hip, talk there you go. Right, i copy Pete at getting hip Yeah. Save the Planet. I thought it was a banger. I really dug it. I at first I saw that too, but then I kind of look past the name of it And just look at the song itself. There's a. There's two references in this album to Crossing the Street, to pedestrian crossings. Yes, i'll point out the other one. This is the first one Fucking solo bangs in this. I thought the flute at the end was cool because it was so random. 0:30:47 - Speaker 3 I was like well, what the fuck is that? Yeah? 0:30:50 - Speaker 4 Same. 0:30:52 - Speaker 1 There's. You just can't imagine listening to road apples and having a flute right Like. It's just not part of this band. You know like and and and it works It works well, no, right? 0:31:05 - Speaker 4 Yeah, you know, if they went into that I'd be like, well, what the fuck's going on? 0:31:10 - Speaker 3 But I'll just quickly, quickly add that I'm okay with the flute. Like sometimes, the flute really is awesome. Oh, i think it's great. So you know, like some people like hear the flute and they're like oh why You know, but it works. 0:31:24 - Speaker 4 No, i dug it And this is again. This is not the first song, or not the only song in this record where I got some heavy Alanis vibes. The phrasing on if the bathwater is clear and my ears underwater, it's a tolerant hum from the core. Carry the water Like that the way he phrases that shit, it's just. I don't know if I see because it's a Canadian band, if I see everything through the lens of like Canadian pop artists. But like it's just the vibe I got from this and it's a great tune to get out and move your feet to get running. It's a fucking cool song to run. 0:32:09 - Speaker 3 All right, i'll put it on my point first I hear your Alanis vibes marry and up with my Michael Stipe vibes. I think those are in sync for sure, for sure. 0:32:20 - Speaker 1 I think there's a nice correlation between the hip and REM, like I think you're right, like they both have that enigmatic front man, you know, who is really literate and really interesting in the way they sort of phrase things and put things together. 0:32:39 - Speaker 4 They both went bold too, halfway through the careers, that's right, that's a fair point. 0:32:45 - Speaker 1 Fair point, fair point, all right, we're getting in the car right now and we are cruising northeast of here and we're going to Bob Cajun. I left your house this morning. 0:33:40 - Speaker 7 It was quarter after nine. I left your house this morning. I left your house this morning. I drove back to town this morning This morning with working on my mind, i thought I'd maybe try to leave an ear behind. I went back to bed this morning and it's time pulling down the blind. Yeah, the sky was dull, it was high but never come. And morning went down at a time that night in Toronto And I was jacking boardboards, riding on horseback and keeping order restored. Tell the men they couldn't hide. Step to the mic and sign and their voices rang with the area of time. To your house this morning. It was quarter after nine. In the middle of that riot I couldn't get you off of my mind. To your house this morning. It was just a little hour tonight Cause it was in my page on the rossard and constellation, but they themselves won't starve at time. To your house this morning It's a little after nine Cause it was in my page on the rossard and constellation, but they themselves won't starve at time. 0:37:32 - Speaker 5 Tell the men they couldn't hide, they didn't choose your bones and bones. They're all south of the wind and down the lawn to the lake For as long as it takes. 0:38:05 - Speaker 7 I don't want to be a hill of the birds last hour. I don't want the last words out of my mouth to be stained Out of my way. 0:38:16 - Speaker 4 Okay, I fucking love this tune. I got some heavy and Tim, yes or yes. If I hear no, I'm just I'm off this podcast Got some really strong G love special sauce vibes from this. Yes, Just the way they owe up. Am I my GD? 0:38:42 - Speaker 1 I don't know, i think I think I'm very familiar. 0:38:46 - Speaker 3 I did not go there, but I will Okay. 0:38:51 - Speaker 4 Right, i mean the. there's a oh dude that it could have been Willie, could have been the wine. I heard that song. The first time I heard that song I was. I took it out for a run and I came home and I like I listened to it again because I just thought it was such a good fucking song, because it's a weed. reference to may not necessarily be about them listening to Willie Nelson. It's like they were smoking weed or they were drinking wine, absolutely Yeah. The opening, like spacey guitar licks The dobro which I think he's playing. there's a dobro in there that he's playing which kind of gets sort of like a banjo slash guitar vibe. Oh God, just. 0:39:40 - Speaker 1 I feel like that lyric that you just quoted, though, could have been the Willie Nelson, could have been the wine. That's like one, like when he wrote that he should have just put the book down, put on a fedora, long overcoat, grabbed his briefcase, just went home for the day, that's. That's the days. That's the day at the office, that's a fucking. Exactly. 0:40:00 - Speaker 4 That's just a great lyric Exactly dude, no, 100%, it's so good. I was like you know. You know, a line is a good line when you hear it and it's so good you think you've heard it before. Meaning like I'm like right, i mean because it just sounds like it belongs on this in the history of life, Like like someone has, like if someone hadn't said it, they sure as shit should have said it. Does that make sense? Yeah, you know, it sounds like it's just. It's a great fucking line. I thought I maybe quit that line. It's just. It's really the part of this song where Gord starts coming out of the cage. On this record, i feel like that was the moment Somebody gave, somebody unlocked the door of the cage and he's starting to come out, and then the song ends on a random minor chord, which is so weird, it's such a happy, spacey song that ends on this minor chord. 0:41:09 - Speaker 3 I loved that. I loved that about it. So for me this one it felt a little Out of the gates. I need to listen to the beginning of it to see your G-Love reference. But out of the gates. It felt to me a little bit country and a little bit like are we reaching again for some crossover fans Along? the southern belt of the US. Like where are we? What's happening here? You know there's some slide guitar, but is it a song about lost love? You know looking up at the stars waiting for a reveal. You know there's synth work in here again, so there's some sort of keyboard happening, which is fucking cool. And to me, the first lesson I had all those kind of questions going through my head And then I thought at one moment like this is actually a fucking beautiful song. Like it's a little bit of an odd man out on the album, but it's actually a beautiful song. There's this long ending with no singing. It's just mysterious. Like you said, pete, the last five seconds or so, or this just bizarre tune out. It's like I found one quote when Gord was asked about this song. He said this was an interview in 2004,. He said this one asks the question evil in the open or evil just below the surface? That was his comment about this song. So it's like this song to me was super mysterious Yeah, super mysterious song which I fucking love, like I don't need literal storytelling every single song you know. Social themes, i don't know all these different things, i don't need that. Every single song I love you know kind of the knuckleball that comes in. You're like whoa okay, this is reeling me back in to the album in a good way, a way that I'm looking for, you know, i'm hoping for, but still, again, this one felt a little bit odd, man, just the way it fits into the album. They've done this before. They've gotten. 0:43:15 - Speaker 4 They lose green man. 0:43:16 - Speaker 3 Yeah, they've gone on this path of like okay, this one, now we're going to turn off the highway and head down this two-lane road and we're going to stop at this farm and we're going to have an afternoon barbecue with this family, and you know, i don't know, like it's just this one's off the highway. 0:43:35 - Speaker 1 Cool. What do you guys think of the bridge? It makes my arm hair stand up That night in Toronto with the checkerboard floors. There's a bar in Toronto that's famous legendary in fact called the Horseshoe and that references the Horseshoe, the checkerboard floors. Oh shit, that's one of the first big gigs they played in Toronto. 0:43:55 - Speaker 4 Can I get taken to that bar when I come visit Toronto? 0:43:57 - Speaker 1 Absolutely. Let's do it. Sure shit hopes so man. 0:44:00 - Speaker 4 That would be cool. This song is actually the most listened to hip song on Spotify. 0:44:07 - Speaker 1 Oh, wow Yeah. 0:44:09 - Speaker 3 Surpasses. I read something about that as well. 0:44:13 - Speaker 4 What was the one that it surpassed? 0:44:16 - Speaker 1 I can't remember Anyway yeah Well, so it's a hit all around Pop Cage. 0:44:21 - Speaker 3 Yeah, it was a fucking interesting song, right? This is. 0:44:25 - Speaker 1 So we shift gears now in a well, not in a huge way, because this is sort of low tempo or slower tempo. We go to Thompson Girl and you're both hesitating to start Thompson Girl. 0:44:41 - Speaker 4 Go ahead Tim. 0:44:42 - Speaker 3 Yeah, well, you know what's the story about here. I don't know. It's the story potentially about where is it here, This town in Manitoba, thompson, yeah, or it's. You know it's potentially about a nickel mining company up there. You know it's got this kind of sweet, forlorn grunt work somewhere between dream and duty, poking through with all them shoots of beauty. I mean, what is that about? You know, this is kind of a cute, in a way stripped down acoustic song. There's some banjo in there. You know, i've kind of been waiting for, I had been waiting for this type of stripped down, simpler song that you know it's kind of this forlorn, sad song to me at the same time. 0:45:42 - Speaker 1 Probably Pete. 0:45:44 - Speaker 4 I loved it. I thought it was cool. I think I don't know if it's consistent with you and I, tim, but like I really try not to look too deep into the lyrics because oftentimes I'm disappointed, that's why I don't do it. I know you do it a lot more than I do I totally do. 0:46:03 - Speaker 3 I mean it's because of Gord, like Gord Gord. for me, gord merits it. 0:46:09 - Speaker 4 I get intrigued though, but like dude so does. I mentioned Celie Daner earlier. Like Donald Fagan's lyrics are notoriously cool as fuck. But have you ever asked that guy like what he you know what's, what's the meaning of? you know Dr Woo or whatever, like he'll be, like I don't know man, we're on so much cocaine. Back in the day I was just getting shipped to prime or whatever you know like, and I know that's not really the case here. But that line, the way he goes up so high with grunt work, i can't. I'm not even gonna fucking try lest I fucking destroy your listener base JD by singing that line. But when he goes grunt work time between dream and duty the melody is so fucking good It's then there's a part. Um, i don't know if it's like, i don't know, i wouldn't call it the bridge, but it is a bit of a some sort of key change to the regular chord progression. When he goes really high and then the mandolin starts to come in fucking dug that. And then the piano kind of comes in at the end as well, it's fucking cool. I really dig it. Yeah, i liked it First. I didn't like it. I didn't like the chord progression. It just seemed to like, like you said, tim, acoustic. It's sending, like it was like this should be an acoustic song. 0:47:30 - Speaker 3 Keep it that way. Yeah, yeah. But then it grew on me real quick, which is maybe something I would potentially envision. From a stuck in the studio couple days, you know, you'd get to a point to where everybody's kind of burned out and you pick up the acoustic and somebody says to the piano and you talk about is it INCO, inco and the fucking nickel mining, and I, you know, i looked at it a little bit into that in Manitoba and was like, oh geez, here's, here's a historical. You know, just rabbit hole that I can't go down right now. But it just this, to me, is just one of those, one of those songs that fits in well with this whole album And it's something we haven't really had in the past. So it's kind of happy to hear it. Next one membership Who's who's singing backups Somebody found, is it Gord Is? 0:48:28 - Speaker 1 it Gord over. Usually it's Paul Angla, usually Well. 0:48:32 - Speaker 3 I don't think it's Paul. It might be doubled. If you, if you go in and listen again, check out membership and listen to the backups, because it sounds like a woman to me and it sounds really familiar, like I've heard this voice before And I've looked and looked and looked but I can't find anything. It might be one of the guys, just you know, editing it in post or something, i don't know. But there's, there's some beautiful backup happening. This one, though you know it's wasn't my favorite on the album, i'm not going to put it on the playlist There's kind of a big change after the three minute mark with, like this new chorus. Of course it has my fade out at the end. You know there's there's kind of this bigger start to the song, but it's kind of slow in a way. I don't know. It's maybe about addiction, it's kind of a ballad. you know this, this one, it just felt like it didn't really fit in, didn't really wasn't really sure how it was working and it it made me consider you know I've done this a few times that it made me consider the band and what they were feeling you know they're coming in on 2000 here What they were feeling after 10 years, which is long for any band to retain some amount of success 10 years of playing and predominantly being popular in their home country and not even gaining a huge you know the level they deserved in the neighboring USA. So this this kind of made me think about all those things. I just didn't know if it was like about power abuse of power addiction or longing loss, i don't know. This song was kind of all over the map for me, but ultimately the chorus bugged me and it stuck in my head for a little while. I was like, oh, i need, i need some other, i need some other hip song stuck in my head and that's kind of where, honestly, that's where, like blow a high dough, just comes and takes over my brain. So that's what happened. 0:50:50 - Speaker 4 on membership, I you know I have a ton to say about this song. It's kind of like I put in the same categories Poets. It wasn't my favorite song in the record. I liked it, felt it like it was a very drone rock with a chord progression. It's the way it sounded. I love the harmonies. Tim mentioned the harmonies being drawn along by it. Like that line with the harmonies come in The middle, guitar solo where they kind of tease you with the guitar solo helps build the song kind of cool. But then, yeah, the fade out at the end is just like to me. It felt like they maybe didn't have, they didn't nail everything down with this one. That's all I'll say, you know, but yeah we can move on if you want, let's slide over to fireworks. 0:51:46 - Speaker 7 You like fireworks? Yeah, me neither. The frustrating part Never back in old 72 Without school, just a gun, without a gun or trigger. I don't remember a reason. Set me sight of you. You said I couldn't get a fuck about the party. Never heard something true back before You held my hand. We were on the long way Loosing in my grip on Bobby Moore. Never heard anything wrong before I blushed. When these ever sensations get in your way, no doubt this shit me spurred right now By your shoulder, and that an amazing what you can't accomplish now I'm not together every single moment. That's what we thought. We'd be married. We both do deep with the grip of art, of fish chaos, believing in the country, me and you. Christ has a faith in Christ, the sinner cramming Yeah, we've heard all this before It's winter time. The house is solid to the bones, loosing in our grip on this fake cold war. Is it an amazing and a better accomplish When we don't let no nation get in our way? No doubt this shit me spurred right now By your shoulder, and that an amazing what you can't accomplish now, next to your comrades in the nation of fitness, the program regarding some eternal past time, clopping to the mind in a fit of laughter, showing no patience, no tolerance, no respect By your words, next to the distance, contemplating towering, towering star By your words. And in late, never, till there are no stars anymore By your words. And in, straight in heaven, contemplating towering, towering star, till there are no stars shining up in heaven, till there are no stars anymore. Isn't it an amazing and a better accomplish When we don't let no nation get in our way? No doubt this shit me spurred right now By your brand of error, shining up in heaven, contemplating towering, towering star. I think this one thing never goes away And this ones thing's always supposed to stop. Oh, this funny thing doesn't have to go away, and I'm gonna lie. 0:55:41 - Speaker 4 Oh fuck, How much time you got, then Fucking song, this song, i just have the word. It's this fucking rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. Just so much rush in this song. Really, there's a couple of rush references on this record and this is number one. I would say that is it. Gord Sinclair, yeah, so like and I think he would agree with me, because I don't know that I don't know any bass player in Canada, let alone the entire world, would put them up against Geddy Lee. So I can't like, true, Like. I don't think the bass in this song was supremely rushed, but the chord progression, the structure of the song, the lyrics, isn't it amazing? anything's accomplished Is fucking. It's so fucking dude, it's fucking rush, completely Fucking. It's like they should have just made a record with one song on it and sent it to Rush and been like this is for you guys, we love you guys. And dude, i'm not saying anything remotely like they jocked anything. It's an homage in the sweetest sense. It's fucking beautiful. I fucking listened to the song so many times. There's I don't know if he's playing a Les Paul or a Hamer Rob Baker, but it's got some hollow tone electric guitar. There's a line in there Christ in the Kremlin. I'm fucking. The words in this song are fucking spectacular. I bet it just destroyed. Destroyed. The crowd live Like. I mean if they played this fucking live you'd have to close with this or I don't know what you'd play with this. I mean it's just fuck. What's the other line Next year? comrades in the National Fitness Program caught in some external flex arm hang dropping the mat. Dude the lot. This that the way he speeds up that verse and fits all those fucking words into that, and then he goes back to the normal cadence, like when I say cadence I mean like the tempo, not a modal cadence, but like tempo. He goes back to that. I just bet when they, when they all listened to this track after it was mixed, or they all recorded everything, they all just fucking high-fived and hugged each other and had a big old fucking circle 100% Yeah. Dude, it's a fucking. It's one of my favorite fucking hip songs period. 0:58:23 - Speaker 3 Oh, you know what they. You know what they said after they recorded this. They were like this is going to be an every jukebox across Canada. I mean, it's a jukebox song. I mean, really, this is like play something by the tragically hip. Okay, i'm at the jukebox. Stick in a quarter. Oh, here's fireworks. Everybody loves this song. You know, that's that's. I couldn't agree more, pete. I just felt like this could be put on a seven inch only and out in the world. You know it was one of the first songs in a while where, like, i immediately just started snapping my fingers. It was like, okay, this, this song's, this song's moving. I completely agree with the rush references I love. I so identified with this girl. There was actually a girl who said she didn't give a fuck about hockey. I never heard a girl swear and I've never heard someone say that before. It was like there was some whole other world out there which is hard to fathom at times. I don't follow hockey. I totally identify with this. When I go on Facebook and it's like near the weekend it's mostly fucking NFL comments from people I know in Southern California. It's like, god damn, i wish I had a sports filter on my life because I don't really follow any sports. So the hockey the hockey comment, i was like yes, i, i want to hang out with you, let's go drink beers. You know, i probably follow that. It's whatever I just I just identify with that part, it's. You know this, though, you're right, pete, isn't it amazing you could do anything when the notion isn't in your way, believing in the country of me, and you, ah, you know, it's just, it's, it's, this is, it's more. It's more than an anthem. 1:00:17 - Speaker 4 You know, the crazy is so it's so, Getty Lee, though man. 1:00:21 - Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. What's? 1:00:24 - Speaker 4 this, it's, it's spirit of the radio. Okay. That's the song thing you have in so many ways. Yeah, i mean, and I don't think any musician in the band would say like they can you know drum? like Neil Pert? I think the guitar is pretty. It's got some solid Alex life and vibes. like you could fucking compare that guitar wise. but like bass and drums, you can't fucking come close to those, like it's just. but sorry, tim, i didn't mean to interrupt you, but it's just a fucking. 1:00:55 - Speaker 3 That's good. Good, it's such a JD. What JD, what? what were your thoughts on the song? Do you have, do you have memories of hearing the song, or anything, or like? 1:01:03 - Speaker 1 I think it's, I think it's a romantic song, Like. I think it's like the firework of like meeting somebody that is just, you know, absolutely the sparkle of your eye, you know, sort of thing. The context, to give you some context, the goal that he's talking about, the goal that everyone remembers, is when Canada beat the Soviets in 1972. And that was, that was during the Cold War. So it was a big deal, that series, Canada playing hockey against Russia. you know a few games here in Canada and a few games in Moscow. It was a big deal, Like for these Canadian hockey players to go to Russia. Like at that time Russia was so mysterious And there was a very famous goal that won the series by Paul Henderson that everyone remembers. It's one of those moments in Canada, the, if you're of the right age or generation I'm not, I'm born in 74. So it's over my head, But if you were there then it's one of those like you know where you were moments. you know what I mean. 1:02:10 - Speaker 3 It's huge huge moment in sports history. 1:02:13 - Speaker 1 So for him to be just blown away. Like you know, loosening my grip on Bobby Orr, like I just picture, the 16 year old who's in love with Bobby Orr has the hockey cards on the wall, you know, he's just tremendous and all of a sudden he just oh, there's girls out there. Oh, and there's this particular girl who doesn't give a fuck about what, like whoa fireworks, you know. 1:02:40 - Speaker 3 Yeah, great song, Great song. This. yeah, I could have had this song, you know, and had a satisfied meal and went to bed. 1:02:49 - Speaker 1 You and your food All right. Go next to vapor trails. 1:02:58 - Speaker 3 So vapor trails, like I started this one and paused and had to come back to it, i didn't keep going like this, this, this, this was one of the breaks. And now for me, where I was like, okay, i'm not, either not in it enough or not focused enough, let's come back to it and didn't hold your attention. He would not not at the get go, but eventually it did. Oh, eventually it did bring me in. It totally was one of those songs that I wasn't so sure about, but over time was like humming it while walking around the house. You know, there's just to me it has some mysticism to it. There's this mysterious not to say it again but backup singer, whoever is in there. I mean there's some really good backup singing happening, but I just love some of the lyrics. There's nothing uglier than a man hitting a stride. 1:04:00 - Speaker 1 What a great lyric, right Dude And just the way he says it as well. There's nothing uglier than a man hitting a stride, yeah. 1:04:09 - Speaker 3 I can't wait to use that some point in life. You know, watching something happen, yeah, chords, use that line, throw away the rudder, float away, like they portrayals. You know, i get this. It's like, it's this feeling of like giving up. You know, at some point we all, everyone, i think everyone has contemplated, you know, life being different or serious change, or giving up, or you know, we've all had these heavy times in our lives and maybe the song kind of hits on that. There's amazing guitar riffing just towards four minute mark. It felt, you know, just to kind of wrap it up. For me it felt like a produced ending. You know, the fade out was like it wasn't just let's wrap the song up, let's just fade it out, it was like let's produce the fade out. So it was a little, i don't know a little more, a little more orchestrated. But yeah, it's, this song is. This song was a banger. I think it was really good for the spot in the album. I think it was like really fitting. 1:05:27 - Speaker 1 Yeah, because we're well into the second side now. Yeah yeah. Second track, second side, if you're playing by those roles, It has a good place, good place in the album. What do you think of APR Trail's Pete? 1:05:39 - Speaker 4 Well, this is the other thing that I thought was it's not. It's not a Rush reference, but I actually think there's a possibility that Rush's 2001 record Vapor 12, vapor Trails was perhaps, maybe, an homage to Tragically Hip. Wow, i don't know, that's my, that's my in my dream world. I don't know if that's really true, but and I saw them on that tour and they were fucking just amazing. Saw them at the Irvine Meadows man. 1:06:18 - Speaker 1 Such a great show. 1:06:19 - Speaker 4 Never saw. 1:06:20 - Speaker 1 Rush. I was supposed to see Rush on a tour in 93 and guess who was opening for them? Who, tragically Hip Jesus Christ. Wow, on Road Apples. Yeah, dude. 1:06:30 - Speaker 4 I don't know what's a bigger fail That or not partying with them. 1:06:34 - Speaker 1 Oh God, it's the, that's the, that's the fail. 1:06:36 - Speaker 3 They're close. Not partying, I think. 1:06:39 - Speaker 4 Well, we, let's put it this way, we, we, we showed to that concert, i think, and they were they, we were at that time. It's strange, real quick, because I know. but during that time, because 2001 was coming out of the Napster years and years, right And into, like I think it was right where the iPods came out, um, so people started buying music online again, sort of. So bands didn't have money to pay for opening bands during that time, so a lot of bands would tour and be like who's opening? And like there's nobody opening. So we assumed that somebody was opening, for Rush happened to me with pavement one time, but that's another story Um, and we walked, we're, we're racing through the parking lot Because we hear a spirit of the radio, but right into Red Bar Chat after that and just fucking made my, made my life. But to the song. Paper Trails. Um, the fucking vocal melody in the opening verse same. I got the same cadence, Tim. I don't know if you mentioned this as Thompson girl. Um, but the song I loved it. I imagine when they sung this song live, that when Gord sings the line you can throw away the rudder. He probably blows out either part of the low end or part of the mid end frequencies in the fucking speakers at this this, this house, his voice is just at that frequency where, if he really punches it like he could, he could break. He could break some fucking windows, because it's, it's just fucking just the way he delivers that shit. Throw away the rudder, um, uh, what else? Yeah, just that line to me was worth buying the fucking record. Pulled the car over. There's nothing uglier. Yeah. Then a man hitting his stride. Yeah, there's a transition from the bridge back to the chord progression. That's super abrupt And it's so cool because there's no transition. It's just like boom, boom, they go right back into the chord progression and it's fucking cool. I'm not, can't think of any band that I've heard do that. And then the last thing is the line, and it's it's. It's maybe Rob Baker, i don't know who's singing the backup, but Mexicans dressed in beige shirts Crazy line, yeah. 1:09:16 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I've never heard that Mexicans dressed in beige shirts. 1:09:19 - Speaker 4 It's. It's like almost whispered. 1:09:25 - Speaker 3 Wow references you know references, folks who spend their life picking the strawberries and raspberries. 1:09:31 - Speaker 1 We, i believe, Yeah, I would guess so. 1:09:37 - Speaker 3 I believe it does So yeah. 1:09:39 - Speaker 4 Are we going to? 1:09:40 - Speaker 1 rules. You got it, dude. 1:09:48 - Speaker 4 I love the song. It was so fucking cool and so chill. This starts out with those huge cymbal crashes in the beginning. This is the second song in the record that references a pedestrian crossing, talks about a crossing guard not doing their job. 1:10:04 - Speaker 1 So yeah, it's really reference of and the second reference of super farmer. Uh-huh Right. 1:10:11 - Speaker 3 In that same in that same Stan's line. Got some agricultural themes happening. Probably the third agricultural theme. 1:10:21 - Speaker 4 Yeah, I don't know I just the phrasing was beautiful. I'm wondering what a bard is. B-a-r-d. 1:10:28 - Speaker 3 There's a couple of references with that. One is it has to do with a Shakespeare reference. 1:10:35 - Speaker 1 That's what I thought, yeah. 1:10:36 - Speaker 3 Yeah, and then the other one is I'm not going to butcher it, the other one has to do with fighting. I have to look it up. 1:10:46 - Speaker 1 Let's just go with Shakespeare. 1:10:48 - Speaker 3 Yeah, it's some Shakespeare reference. 1:10:52 - Speaker 4 And then to the line about the vacuum's got a guarantee. I just that line hooked me in so much because it was so random that I was like really in just pay super close attention to what he said. And the next line that he delivers, which is it could suck a virus, an ancient virus from the sea, is like what the like again put on the hat, put on your jacket, close the briefcase. Fucking. Done your job today. 1:11:23 - Speaker 1 Leave the office, gordon, that's right Punch out or whatever. 1:11:27 - Speaker 4 The whole, that whole stand is fucking amazing. There's a table slide And then oh, by the way, this song, and fuck, there was one other song. God damn this song. and one other song at the record. on the record It's earlier. I want to say it may be something on or say the planet. at the very end of it You hear the word somebody in the studio is cool. Yeah, so it doesn't feel so and there was one other two, one other song on the record that they did, so I was like they did that twice. 1:12:05 - Speaker 1 That's cool. I'm going to need access to your premium sound system. 1:12:10 - Speaker 4 Well, I mean GD, that's. We know this is not stuff we just hand on. It's kind of like you know top secret Clarence, There's a lot involved, A lot of screaming All right, all right, all right. 1:12:22 - Speaker 3 He passed. He's done it. Yes, true, yes, we're adjourning my current, for he's had it. Yeah, i heard the song and I thought Pete loves this song so much And when we come talk about it on the pod it's going to be all Pete. 1:12:43 - Speaker 1 You know how much to say. 1:12:44 - Speaker 3 I thought it was kind of a yonder. I got you know some, some from it, But you know I was like this. The song isn't for me. I thought it was kind of a yonder. I was going to leave it to Pete. 1:12:58 - Speaker 1 We're going to come back in a year because it's going to be a grower for you. I guarantee this song will be a grower for you. 1:13:04 - Speaker 3 If it's not, you guys both have to buy me beers. I can live with that, Yeah, yeah. 1:13:11 - Speaker 1 Okay. Well then let's slide into Sugar and Falls Ohio. 1:13:15 - Speaker 4 Take it Timbo. 1:13:17 - Speaker 3 Yeah, so Sugar and Falls. So this song I thought was basically a huge fuck off to corporate man, to the man. I thought this is like. This song is driving some culture into the fan base. It's probably, you know, was played a lot on the radio. I thought this one you know I could be wrong, but this song to me felt like on the verge of angry a little bit more than usual. I'd maybe really wonder about it live, if this got more raucous, if it got a little bit more I don't know violent feeling. And I think it's because it thematically, which is where I'm going to go, not so much with music on this one, but thematically it Sugar and Falls, in my research. That's the headquarters of Clear Channel, which at the time Clear Channel Corporation was slowly taking over media, especially North America. Yeah, so that's a lot of the references to Grand Falls. You know where the unknown won't even go. Because at this point I mean that line to me says if you're an artist and you're trying to make it like, avoid your Grand Falls, avoid Clear Channel, you know, be careful with what radio you're sending your tapes to your CDs to like this. This is that song that is kind of the band's shout to the world of, you know, corporate media is taking over the airwaves, you know, be aware So that that to me the song has like a mission. It felt like the first time I listened to it. When I got to you know, three quarters, two thirds of the way through, i thought is this song like over five minutes? you know it felt long, but it didn't feel long in a bad way, like it felt like a good, just a really well written song. Like I was kind of digging through Grand Falls, it felt like a five minute song, but it's not a five minute song. I didn't look up live versions of it but I definitely want to find something. 1:15:47 - Speaker 1 Yeah, get the answers to your questions. I can't, unfortunately, answer because I saw them on that tour and I don't remember if they played it, but I can't. 1:15:57 - Speaker 3 It was somewhat rare. I feel like it was probably going to be a rare rarely. 1:16:01 - Speaker 1 Yeah, it would be one that would be, you know, gosh. Well, let me just quickly look up how many times they played it. 1:16:09 - Speaker 3 I mean for people that don't know, Clear Channel took over corporate. I mean took over FM radio. Over time, like so many stations became Clear Channel stations and became programmed. And I remember hearing the transition because, as a big radio listener, being bored in 71, you know, i listened to radio for like 20 years, 15 at least, 20 years and they just completely took over And I remember hearing DJs demeanor changing from independent radio station to now being put into this box And I feel like that's what the band is trying to talk about in this song And I think it's their fuck you to this corporate system of being in a band and trying to make it and just to inspire people to be independently minded. 1:17:08 - Speaker 4 Yeah, it's funny you mentioned Clear Channel only because I want to talk about the song, because I feel a little bit different about the song in some ways than you do, tim, and it's funny, like Tim, i didn't do fucking a pubic here. The research you did for this fucking song. I had to look up where Chagrin Falls was but, and I dug it. But yeah, that's when there used to be a great station in classic rock station in LA called Arrow 93. And they went over to that Jack. You know that Jack format Jack FM, which is just, it's just a guy who like record something and it's like a cheesy line and he

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/ghtthTranscript0:00:00 - Speaker 1Well, 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 2I appreciate it I. 0:00:09 - Speaker 1Don'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 3Maybe you should tell them at the end JD, let's get the Way. 0:00:28 - Speaker 1No 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. 0:01:27 - Speaker 3It's been. It's been a journey man, it's been really. 0:01:31 - Speaker 2What 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 1So 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 2Oh, no, I didn't know that you're your catalog. 0:02:01 - Speaker 1Your catalog is perfect for the summer man. 0:02:03 - Speaker 2Okay, 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 4That'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 2Yeah, yeah, that's a great town. We we played Portland a bunch, the Aladdin theater, remember that place. 0:02:36 - Speaker 4Yeah, it's an awesome theater. 0:02:37 - Speaker 2Yeah, it's great Yeah. 0:02:39 - Speaker 4Yeah, 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 2It would be great. Things have changed for the live music business. Unfortunately, Do it for the most true. 0:02:56 - Speaker 1Yeah, 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 2I 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 1So 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 2It'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 4Yeah, 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 2Yeah, 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 3It'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 2Yeah 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 4I love it. 0:14:08 - Speaker 2And 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 4Yeah, 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 2Yeah. 0:16:46 - Speaker 4So to break out of that, it's pretty tough. 0:16:48 - Speaker 2Yeah, 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 4I'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 2And 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 3It'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 2Yeah, 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 4So 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 2Again, 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 4Yeah, yeah. 0:26:49 - Speaker 2I 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 3Yeah, 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 2no, 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 1you 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 2I 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 1Gordon, 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 2It'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 3I 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 2I, 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 1What's that? there's sort of like a dreamy stony sound on that song. 0:41:11 - Speaker 2Yeah, 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 3That'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 2There'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 4I'm right there with you. Yeah, i'm right there with you, gord. 0:43:33 - Speaker 2Yeah, I'm pretty much a logger and a Guinness guy. 0:43:36 - Speaker 4Yeah, sorry. 0:43:49 - Speaker 1Well, 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 2Yeah, 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 3And it's clear who everybody is. It's very clear who everybody is. 0:45:37 - Speaker 2He 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 4You know, it's a good thing when that happens And it was fun. 0:45:55 - Speaker 2The 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 3I'm sure it's already there. 0:47:22 - Speaker 2Exactly, 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 4I 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 2I 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 4What 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 1These 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 2You 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 3If 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 2I 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 1I 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 2Yeah, 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 3That's really cool of you sharing my songs with us Share. 0:59:28 - Speaker 1I 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 2I 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 3Yeah, pleasure's our pleasure We've. 1:01:34 - Speaker 4we've got great time, so thank you so much. 1:01:37 - Speaker 2I'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 1Well, thank you so much Thanks for a pleasure, guys. 1:02:06 - Speaker 2I really really appreciate your time. It's fun. 1:02:08 - Speaker 3Yeah, thank you boys. 1:02:10 - Speaker 2Okay, take care, we'll see you real soon. Yeah, thank you. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/fully-and-completely/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Does everyone have a book in them? How hard it is to take an idea to publication? In this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, authors Andy Lancaster, Nelson Sivalingam, Michelle Parry-Slater and Gary Cookson join Ross G to share their experiences. We discuss: ·       why they wanted to write a book in the first place ·       how to get started ·       advice for overcoming the stress of a deadline. Andy's book is Driving Performance Through Learning. Nelson's is Learning at Speed. Michelle's is The Learning and Development Handbook. Gary's is HR for Hybrid Working. All four are available from Kogan Page and Amazon. During the discussion, Gary referenced Rob Baker's book Personalization at Work, available at: tailoredthinking.co.uk/personalizationatwork Michelle recommended Scrivener for writing: literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview In What I Learned This Week, Nelson referenced the ‘Eisenhower Matrix'. You can see our article on this at: mindtools.com/al1e0k5/eisenhowers-urgentimportant-principle Michelle discussed her new podcast series, Learning from the Edge. Andy, while recovering from surgery to his shoulder, recommended the paper: Roberts, C. E., Phillips, L. H., Cooper, C. L., Gray, S., & Allan, J. L. (2017). Effect of different types of physical activity on activities of daily living in older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of aging and physical activity, 25(4), 653-670. Online at: journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/japa/25/4/article-p653.xml Gary recommended Aftermath by Harald Jahner: waterstones.com/book/aftermath/harald-jahner/shaun-whiteside/9780753557884 For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: ·       Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT ·       Andy Lancaster - @AndyLancasterUK ·       Nelson Sivalingham - @ThatNelsonDude ·       Michelle Parry-Slater - @MiPS1608 ·       Gary Cookson - @Gary_Cookson

In this one, Cody talks to Tim Weisser. Like so many people, he came to Alaska to chase a dream. It was 1993 and he was a young snowboarder who wanted to ride the drastic and iconic mountains Alaska is known for. He had visions of bluebird days and big pow turns. So, with a few hundred bucks and his snowboard gear, he moved to Girdwood. There, he got a dishwashing job at Chair 5, but it wasn't long until he met Rob Baker, who worked at Boarderline, a snow and skate shop in Anchorage. That meeting between Tim and Rob led to a phone interview with one of the owners, Cody's dad, Scott Liska.   Tim went on to work at the Dimond Center Boarderline. He found that he was good at keeping the shop tidy and also mentoring some of the kids who came into the shop. He grew up with a few mentors of his own, so he felt a responsibility to pay it forward. He realized that these kids didn't always need advice, what they needed was somebody to listen to them and to acknowledge their hardships.   In 1994, Tim opened up the first Juneau Boarderline. He took the ferry there and the first thing he did was ditch his surfboard in the bushes. He says he didn't wanna drive around Juneau looking like a kook with a surfboard on his car. So, the next thing he does is call Scott to see what his next move should be. Scott tells him to get a hold of a 15 year old kid named Chris Currier. Chris had been calling the shop in Anchorage and talking about how Juneau needs a snow and skate shop there. Chris, by the way, would soon become one of the first Juneau Boys, a group of riders in Juneau who were pushing the boundaries of snowboarding in the ‘90s and early 2000s.   After his time in Alaska, he went on to have a successful career in sales in the snowboard industry. He worked for Nitro Snowboards, DaKine and Smith Optics. Throughout his time in sales, he worked as a rep, in customer service, as a Marketing Manager, a Product Manager and then as a Sales Manager. Those jobs gave him the opportunity to snowboard, but more importantly, through them, he was introduced to people he now considers family. That same thing was true for Alaska. He says that most of his memories of the riding he did there have faded away over the years. There's a couple standout days, for sure, but it was everything around snowboarding and around the scene that really made an impression on him.