03-30-2005, 03:24 PM
anyone else receive these back in the day? i ve hoping to find some of mine (packed in boxes somewhere)
the ol' tales from the hip newsletter
03-30-2005, 04:19 PM
They were great, only thing better were the "Tales" T-shirts
03-31-2005, 08:38 AM
I have about 6 or so of them still.
"We're forced to bed, but we're free to dream"
Dana
03-31-2005, 09:50 AM
Stephen Dame Wrote:They were great, only thing better were the "Tales" T-shirtsWell here you go:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=28022&item=8179799951&rd=1">http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 99951&rd=1</a><!-- m -->
:thumb:
03-31-2005, 08:33 PM
LaminarFlow Wrote:Stephen Dame Wrote:They were great, only thing better were the "Tales" T-shirtsWell here you go:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=28022&item=8179799951&rd=1">http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 99951&rd=1</a><!-- m -->
:thumb:
Very cool. They're damn hard to find nowadays.
03-31-2005, 08:38 PM
Stephen Dame Wrote:LaminarFlow Wrote:Stephen Dame Wrote:They were great, only thing better were the "Tales" T-shirtsWell here you go:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=28022&item=8179799951&rd=1">http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 99951&rd=1</a><!-- m -->
:thumb:
Very cool. They're damn hard to find nowadays.
Ya they are hard to find these days, when you do spot one, it is usually in rough condition.
04-17-2012, 01:41 PM
Fall 1994 No.1
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All hail and greetings to you, the injured, the faking and all the rest of you suckers who signed up on our mailing list. Your newsletter is finally here! Happy happy happy! OK, so it's not exactly Atlas Shrugged but, it's damn fine propaganda nonetheless. Besides, no one will be testing you on how deep and symbolic this newsletter might be and that's good because it's going to be cheap, shallow and meaningless... BUT I DIGRESS...
We really would like to thank everyone who came out to the gigs in America this past summer, including all those fellow Canadians who made the long and treacherous journey south, all the while dodging land mines, attack dogs, tax collectors and that was just on the Canadian side of the border! Yes, our summer tour went really well and we have you, the fan, to thank. Thanks. We had a pretty good time just about everywhere we went but, let me touch on a few tour highlights.
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"The Road... It's officially Unfair." Gord Downie
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New Orleans, yes the Crescent City. Scene of many favourite crimes, we played at the newly-opened House of Blues and had a great time. The food is good and the room sounds really good. We have had too much fun in New Orleans many times.
Austin, Liberty Lunch. A terrific club in a terrific town. Some of the best music fans in America live in Austin. This was also the last night our friends in Evergreen appeared with us. They're a cool band from San Antonio and everyone in the greater Texas area should check them out. As well, there's a bridge two miles from the club where 500,000 bats live. Believe me, it's true.
Phoenix...well, we finally had a good gig here. It's not that we didn't like the Sun Club or the Asylum but, this time there were people at a gig! Tucson, of course, has always been kind to us but, Phoenix has been a tough nut to crack. We will be back.
San Franscisco. I won't bore you with the many reasons why we love San Fran, we just do. And the list goes on and on. Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, LOVE'EM! First Ave. in Minneapolis is one of the best clubs in America and ditto for the Metro in Chicago. A big hello to all those folks who bought us drinks at the Gingerman Tavern. Almost had fun in Wichita. Hah! Just kidding, the Aviator is a cool little club and we saw Tommy Lasorda at our hotel. We like celebrities. Then it was off to Colorado where our bus caught fire. Yes, we were nearly consumed by a raging mountain inferno! Actually, the brakes were on fire. A fairly common occurrence in the mountains but, we don't exactly have mountains in Ontario, so it was pretty exciting.
We finally made it to Aspen where, there are big TVs behind the stage. While the band played we showed The Shining, very heavy indeed.
The Fox in Boulder was our last show of the summer and where we had to say goodbye to our friends in Spirit Of The West. They had been with us for the whole second leg of the tour and they are one of the best live bands I've seen in a long time. Go and buy all their records right now! We also recommend you rent all of Stanley Kubrick's films immediately. And finally, we must thank everyone who came to more than one show this summer. Be you from Albany, Tucson, L.A., Canada (Helen where are you now?) or Cleveland (license plates anyone?), your support means a lot to us and that's why we think you should all see a shrink. Well, that is how we spent our summer vacation and now, on to more pressing matters...
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** Big Ol' Musical World **
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Over the years we've played with many different bands, sometimes as many as eight or nine in a day. Here is a sample of some of the people we've run across in our travels: Midnight Oil, Neil Young, Metallica, Rush, Little Feat, Concrete Blonde, Sonic Youth, EMF, Nirvana, J.J. Cale, Primus, Fishbone, Faith No More, Rage Against The Machine, Van Morrison and about a zillion others not to mention the many, many, many Canadian bands we've met and befriended: Blue Rodeo, Skydiggers, Pursuit of Happiness, Crash Vegas, Spirit of the West, Barenaked Ladies, 54-40, Change of Heart. It's just a big ol' musical world out there. Thought you might like to know.
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** Superlatives... '89-'94 **
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- Largest Audience: Parkpop Festival, Holland '92 (200,000 +)
- Smallest Audience: 5, Jake's, Bloomington, Indiana '89 ("0" has been recorded prior to '89)
- Worst P.A.: U. of Buffalo '93
- Best Fights in Crowd: (tie) Hamilton, Ont. '90 & St. John's, Nfld. '91
- Scariest Hotel: (tie) San Jose, CA '89 & Richmond, VA '90
- Most Futile Gig: (tie) Akron, Ohio '93 & Miami, FL '93
- Best Day Off: (tie) Palm Beach, FL '91, Charlottetown, PEI '91 & Coff' Harbour, Australia '93.. There
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Crime & Punishment...
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Every year over 30,000 Canadians are busted for smoking pot. It is now legal to grow low grade hemp in Ontario, just don't smoke it... There is one cop for every 480 persons in Canada
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** Inquiring Minds Want to Know **
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You have questions... We get questions... Here are the answers to some of the most commonly asked ones...
Q: What is The Tragically Hip up to these days?
We finished a 20-date U.S. tour in July and August. The new disc, Day for Night has been released in Canada and Europe, etc. as you read this. The album will be released in early 1995 in the U.S. The next step is to do another tour of the U.S. in October (see the dates on the back page) followed by dates in Europe in November and December. Canadian dates will be announced sometime in November and expect a cross-Canada tour early in the new year.
Q: Any details about the new record?
Produced by the band and Mark Howard. Engineered and mixed by Mark Vreeken and it was recorded at Kingsway Studio, New Orleans, L.A. and Le Cave de Dave, Kingston, Ontario. The first single off the album is Grace, too.
Q: I hear there is also a video.. Is that true?
Yes. It is called Heksenketel and it is a 65-minute documentary from last year's cross-Canada tour. Some of the live performances featured are: 50 Mission Cap, Wheat Kings, Courage, Blow at High Dough, Fully Completely, Eldorado.
Q: What does the name mean?
The name, The Tragically Hip, was taken from a Michael Nesmith video called "Elephant Parts." The video contained a clip asking for contributions to The Foundation for The Tragically Hip: poor, afflicted people in need of jacuzzis, Lamborghinis and cocaine. Here is what Paul said about the name once: "There seems to be some confusion about our name...about the kind of band we are. People either like the name, think it's clever and funny or think it's a really pretentious, new-wave thing. We were billed in Germany a couple of times as an American Hip Hop band."
Q: What does "Road Apples" mean?
It is local slang for frozen horse-droppings.
Q: The lyrics? What about those lyrics? Here are a few pointers:
"The inspiration for my lyrics? I couldn't even hazard a guess. It seems observations have become a bit of a hobby, and I am fortunate to have the luxury of time to hammer these things into songs" (G. Downie)
"I am not too comfortable with the lyrics being separated from the music. I'm not a poet, I'm a lyric writer and I just want to make them fit or sound right." (G. Downie)
"I think the whole band is kind of ambiguous anyway... I think the same with lyrics, there are a lot of snippets and mini stories within bigger ones. I think Gord likes to leave it ambiguous and I think we all prefer it that way too..." (P. Langlois)
"People never used to ask me about the lyrics... No accountability, it was a great luxury" (G. Downie)
Q: What do you like to do when you are on the road?
Sleep.
Q: What are some of your musical influences?
The list is ever-expanding. Generally, we like to avoid the crap that sounds like it's been written before somebody else way more cool.
Q: Can I get a CD copy of the live version of ....?
Probably not. Live recordings were released as B-sides of radio-only promo discs.
Q: Can I get a copy of Limelight (the Rush tune) that The Hip did last year?
Well, the only full copy was given to our friends in the mighty Rush. So unless you can give them a call and ask to borrow it, it won't be available.
Q: How could I get a hold of sheet music?
A folio is coming out early in the new year -- stay tuned.
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** Day for Night **
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"Kingsway Studio, New Orleans is the kind of place The Hip can work. The house is a studio or the studio is a house, either way a large mansion on the edge of the French Quarter that is both familiar and practical. The Tragically Hip is not a band well suited to isolation chambers and by-the-numbers recording. Though that can be educational and productive, their best work has always come from a more fluid approach and environment. The bulk of Day for Night was recorded at the base of a large stairway, with the band within five feet of each other most of the time. Set up an amp, mike it and throw a blanket or a pillow over it, turn it up and play. Over time, patterns developed. Much of the day would be dedicated to listening and listening again to what had been recorded with the night reserved for new ideas, new tracks or new songs. Along the way, a shadow record emerged; spacey jams, old ideas reworked, generally a chance to blow off some musical steam. This music is not on the record but, it is as much a part of the recording process as anything else and much musical cannibalism will be its legacy."- David Powell, Road Manager, August 18, 1994.
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"A good song will continue to grow live. From there, new songs can easily emerge." Gord Sinclair
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"We're forced to bed, but we're free to dream"
Dana
04-17-2012, 01:42 PM
Winter 95 No.2
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All hail and greetings to you. Yes!!! It's finally here, another tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I am 48 hours past my deadline and those who have been sent to dispatch me are close behind. But they will get nothing! These scribblings are for you the profane, the damned, the born-again and the never-were; by the way, how are you? I don't really care but, there is so much to do, so much to say and so little time. Can it be true? Yes, another touring season is upon us all. But first, as is our custom, let us reflect on past glories.
Well, Europe has come and gone. We scorched our way across lands Romans once feared to tread, aided by the mighty Blues Traveler. Go at once to find them and offer alms to their greatness. I have been witness to their power some 15 times and would never dare to lead you astray. Indeed, we were but lowly jesters when the B.T. held court in the great cities of the east (Providence, Boston, Philadelphia) and it was much to our happiness that they crossed the angry seas with us to join our crusade. It brings a tear to my eye. But still we must press on.
When this humble publication arrives, we should be up to our necks in our latest great misadventure the Canadian Winter Tour. From coast to coast and almost all points between. (To those on the Rock and in Saskadelphia, maybe this summer?) Our tidy little production features the talents of friendly Vancouverites Odds and local Toronto compatriots Change of Heart. I hope some of you south of the 49th parallel can make the trip north should any of you care to do battle with the forces of the darkside scalpers. But fear not, as I write, plans for a forthcoming tour of America are progressing furiously. Details are scarce at the moment but, it would be safe to say that you can look out for our caravan in Chicago, St. Louis, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and other as yet unnamed villages to the south. And this will be happening soon... as the old hag said to Caesar, "beware the ides of March." So consider that a small hint of our plans. But there is still more.
A full month before we cross the St. Lawrence, it will have arrived. Yes, *Day for Night* will be released in America on February 14 at a store near you. Truly despicable of me to mention the retail side of things but, I am not sure if *Day for Night* will be available at our gigs anymore; when you deal with the devils of retail, well, as my mother says "needs must when the devil drives." So go where you must to find this album, demand of your friends to join our cause and belittle your enemies for doubting the true path to musical enlightenment. Don't worry about the evil ones in mass media, their plight is hopeless and their indifference cannot stop us. Their fate is sealed and with your help it is only a matter of time before they are brought to their knees and truly, have to face the music.
Now my time grows short and the dogs have picked up my trail; I will not go easily into the night that awaits but remember, day breaks soon and with it The Hip will arrive. Adios Amigos... D.P.
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** Travel Tips From Those Who Know... **
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Here are a few things we have learned over the years that might make your travels more pleasant...
- 1. When in Europe remember that there is no such thing as Supereurodiesel and do not, I repeat, do not put unleaded gas into a diesel van. Especially don't do this at 5:00 AM at the Dutch/Belgian frontier.
- 2. Find the flusher. European bathrooms are strange but, don't panic it's in there somewhere.
- 3. Don't drink the coffee at the Little Big Horn truck stop in Montana. Trust us on this one.
- 4. If the front desk clerk at your hotel is behind bullet-proof plexiglas, find another hotel.
- 5. Swiss border guards carry machine guns and seem well versed in their use. Also their guard dogs can drive cars and are quick to take offence.
- 6. If you get on a ferry with 200 drunken Danish soccer fans, well... you asked for it.
- 7. The road from Washington to Pittsburgh does not go through Philadelphia.
- 8. At Heathrow Airport, the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line. There is no shortest distance between two points at Heathrow.
- 9. There is a direct correlation between fatigue and proximity of screaming infants on overseas flights: the more exhausted you are, the closer the screaming infant.
- 10. When you die, if you've been bad you won't go to hell. You go to Heathrow Airport.
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** Day for Night **
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Sometime in the early summer of 93, while planning a European tour, an idea popped into my head. We had an open period of four days between the Halfweg Festival (in Amsterdam) and the Glastonbury Festival in England. Instead of traveling to northern England before Glastonbury (as was proposed) why not remain in Amsterdam, find a small studio and work on some song ideas? The prospect of hanging out in one of our favorite cities was considerably more appealing than a few quick gigs across the channel and, fortunately, reason prevailed.
So, we found ourselves at the Sleep In part nightclub, part youth hostel with a small studio in the basement perfect for making demos. I don't know whether this session was the very first for what would become Day for Night but, it was one of the earliest and was certainly productive. Three or four days is not a great amount of time to produce fantastic, spot-on recordings but, it's just the right amount to get the ideas down on tape and that was the main reason for these sessions. Of course, some ideas were more complete than others (Nautical Disaster was taking shape while Scared was still a happy melody on Paul's guitar) and some ideas never surfaced beyond the Sleep-In sessions. However, any idea, riff, tune or whatever, if on tape, is fair game for future poaching and a great deal of tape was run in those few days. Mark Vreeken, our live front-of-house engineer, was at the helm and would remain there for every session save those co-produced by the band and Mark Howard. Dave Koster (aka Billy Ray) acted as the ever-present studio assistant/whipping boy. That allowed me to roam the streets of Amsterdam in search of musical supplies or whatever else we may have needed. I did spend some time in studio each day but, not being well-versed in the art of recording it was best for me to stay out of everyone's way.
After our few days in Amsterdam we spent another twelve touring northern Europe, playing festivals for the most part. Schuttorf, Roskilde, Torhout and Werchter; these are the festivals that make Europe a fantastic place for a good band to tour. Not a great deal of bullshit, just a group of smart people doing a good job. European promoters, and certainly the fans, are broad-minded enough that a bill featuring Sugar, Faith No More and Metallica is the perfect gig for The Tragically Hip. One result of our European experiences was the confidence to put on our own festival style tour in Canada. We called it Another Roadside Attraction, the name being stolen from a Tom Robbins novel. The Hip headlined a bill that included Midnight Oil, Crash Vegas, Hothouse Flowers, Daniel Lanois and on the west coast, World Party and Pere Ubu. The twelve dates on that tour were twelve of the best concerts anywhere, anytime. Some of the fun can be seen in a feature-length video directed by Gord Downie's brother, Mike. Called Heksenketel (a Dutch word for witch's cauldron), it runs about 70 minutes. The title comes from the original name of Another Roadside Attraction. Aside from the filming and live show, the band was also jamming backstage almost daily and new songs were taking shape as the tour progressed.
Thugs existed as a near-complete song but, would change radically with the passing months. Fire in The Hole, however, was being born out of the various dressing room jams. Everyone referred to the riff as "pointy teeth." Nautical Disaster was being jammed both backstage and onstage; it evolved in the middle section of New Orleans is Sinking from night to night. Once this tour ended we spent the last weeks of September in the U.S.. By October 2nd, the touring for Fully Completely was finished.
No longer worrying about visas, laundry or where the hell we were, we returned to the scene of many favorite crimes, the Woolen Mill. An old burlap mill in the north end of Kingston, the mill was a perfect rehearsal space but, also much more. For one, it was my home for two of the three years the band used it for rehearsals. And it was also, essentially, an impregnable fortress perfect for keeping away prying eyes and those with ears too big for their own good. With no one to hassle us (sometimes a problem in a small town), the work progressed. The months between the end of the road and Christmas were busy ones. Grace, Emergency, Inch an Hour, Impossibilium and various versions of Thugs, were either written in their entirety or re-written entirely. Various other ideas were being thrown around, including early versions of Daredevil and Greasy Jungle. We took a break for the holidays.
During the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the band was back at the mill, this time working with Mark Howard. We had known Mark for a while; from back in the days when Road Apples was recorded and on Another Roadside Attraction, where he was Dan Lanois' front-of-house engineer. It was this week that gave the band the confidence in Howard that would result in his co-producing the album. This was the week when Thugs finally found its sound. This was also the session that captured Titanic as it appears on the album. A number of passes would be made at Titanic later in New Orleans but, none would match the atmosphere the winter lent the song. January would give rise to Yawning or Snarling and The Inevitability of Death and February provided a chance to play some of the new songs live. Sure, some of the new material had been played live before: Thugs on Another Roadside Attraction, Nautical Disaster at the Kumbaya Festival (to benefit people living with AIDS) in Toronto but, it was the College Earth Summit at Yale that saw the first performance of many of the songs. It was a small gig at Toad's Place but, the new songs were received well and it was only a month before the band would be in the studio. That month passed (and none too soon, winter was kicking the shit out of eastern Ontario) and it was time to head down to the Crescent City.
Kingsway Studio, New Orleans La., is the kind of place The Hip can work. The house is a studio or the studio is a house, either way a large mansion on the edge of the French Quarter that is both familiar and practical. The Tragically Hip is not a band well suited to isolation chambers and by-the-numbers recording. Though that can be educational and productive, their best work has always come from a more fluid approach and environment. The bulk of *Day for Night* was recorded at the base of a large stairway, with the band within five feet of each other most of the time. Set up an amp, mike it and throw a blanket or a pillow over it, turn it up and play. Over time, patterns developed. Much of the day would be dedicated to listening and listening again to what had been recorded with the night reserved for new ideas, new tracks or new songs. Along the way, a shadow record emerged; spacey jams, old ideas reworked , generally a chance to blow off some musical steam. This music is not on the record but, it is as much a part of the recording process as anything else and much musical cannibalism will be its legacy. So Hard Done By is a perfect example. Played in concert a very few times over the years, it finally found an arrangement everyone liked. Many songs have been picked at over the years and as long as there are tapes to listen to, that will continue. When it came time to leave New Orleans, most of the recording had been done but the album was not complete. The band headed for home.
Three weeks after returning to Kingston, the band packed up again and headed for Morin Heights, a small town one hour north of Montreal in rural Quebec. There, with the two Marks and Billy Ray, the band began to mix everything and of course, tinker further. For two or three weeks they fiddled and mixed and generally put all the tracks together. With Morin Heights being only four hours away, the band also had the luxury of getting home once in a while and everyone took turns spending time up at the studio. It was a good choice of location for the mixing because, while relatively close to home, it was in the hills and isolated enough to allow everyone to concentrate on the songs. However, the mixing did not end in those hills and our adventures would continue into the summer.
By now, it was June. As well as the recordings to work on, we had to get ready for some live gigs. Our first big show in some time was a Canada Day concert on, of course, July 1st. It was an all day, open air show with some of our favorite Canadian bands on the bill. Change of Heart, Odds and Spirit of the West were among the nine other acts that day. 35,000 people showed up, it didn't rain and no one was killed; so, we all had a good time. The rest of the summer yawned in front of us and we hit the road.
Whatever life a song might have in the studio, or on record, can be measured by the final product only. But on the stage, any song can have one hundred lives. Some songs really come alive only when an audience breathes life into them and thus, the purpose of the road is revealed. No matter how shitty a gig, how horrid the travel, how unpalatable the food, the songs continue to save our skins night after night. And when the gig is great, and the club within walking distance from whatever conventioneer-filled hotel we can't wait to leave, then the songs become an unstoppable juggernaut of compressed ear drums, rattling teeth and frayed nerves. Some nights we teeter between the two extremes, but the road is unending.
And so, when *Day for Night* is released in America in the new year, we will find ourselves in the midst of a Canadian tour and in the grips of whatever weather the Great Lakes might throw at us. For the same reasons we might tour Texas in July, we will tour Canada in the dead of winter; the songs demand to live, no matter how extreme life may be. Since the release of the record in Canada and Europe this past fall, we have seen both extremes again and again. We bounced around America for 19 more shows after the 20 we had played in the summer, prior to the album's release. We then trundled off to Europe for 14 shows in 6 countries. Along the way we made friends with all in the Blues Traveler organization. Another rare bonus from the road; like-minded souls who have many tales of their own.
"In the end, the days and nights blur together into a seamless river of misadventure and near-insanity anchored only by the music that comes from soundchecks, concerts and the uncounted beers drained in Brussels or Oklahoma City. The songs don't know where they are, and some nights neither do we. But above all the noise we might make about ourselves, or how hard the road might be, the music has always been louder."
David Powell, Road Manager, December 19, 1994
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** Fiji Bitter All Night Long... **
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"I was in Fiji last year and the bartender at our resort (The Seashell Cove, near Nandi) heard us playing "Up To Here" and almost came on the spot. He said, "Tregikly Heep! They're my beest bjand!". I gave him my "Fully Completely" disc and we drank free Fiji Bitter all night long. Izzy was the guy's name. You guys should go visit him and maybe you could write a song about him or something! You have fans all over the world. Later."
(Mark from Saskatoon... <!-- e --><a href="mailto:mct133@arts.usask.ca">mct133@arts.usask.ca</a><!-- e --> received via the Internet)...
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Can't sleep? Send us an e-mail:
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:thehip@hookup.net">thehip@hookup.net</a><!-- e -->
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** The Baking of Day for Night... **
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Now that Day for Night will be coming out in America, I suppose we should let you in on a few things, since we did record most of it in your country.
- 1. Bruce Dickenson is not the guy from Iron Maiden, just a good friend.
- 2. Yes, the cops did go into the crowd once in El Paso. It was at Club 101 and it was crazy. They also busted a guy in the can and almost dropped him on our guitars. Since they had guns, I let them do what they wanted.
- 3. New Orleans is 2,384 kilometres (1,488 miles) from Kingston. When you get there, you'll find a lot of dog shit on the sidewalks but, aside from that and the murder rate, it's a pretty cool place.
- 4. Hazeldean really existed. It still may, though I have no idea where.
- 5. Sorry, no hidden tracks or Satanic messages on this one.
If you have any specific questions about the record, ask each other. However, we will consider any theories sent in, we can always use a laugh.
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** We're Sorry...**
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Hey, I know. Some of you haven't got your merch yet and you're mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore. Well...it is our fault and we are working fast to correct the problem. The details of the delay are unimportant and would sound like a pack of lies anyway but, if you have sent in money you will get what you paid for. Or my name isn't Richard Nixon. So please bear with us and we will get your stuff to you ASAP!
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** Infobahn Stuff...**
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Need to know what's up? If you are on-line, you can e-mail us at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:thehip@hookup.net">thehip@hookup.net</a><!-- e -->. Better still, join our new mailing list on the Internet and news, updates and other miscellany will be sent directly to your e-mail box on a fairly regular basis. To join, send mail to:
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:listmanager@hookup.net">listmanager@hookup.net</a><!-- e -->
Leave the subject line blank and put:
subscribe tragically-hip YOUR_NAME_HERE in the first line of the body of the message.
In other news, we are told that several fans created a newsgroup called alt.music.tragically-hip (who knew?). We don't know if it is carried everywhere but it seems to be getting around in Canada, the U.S. and parts of Europe. Don't ask us, ask your friends about this one. We may also have a Web page soon... Guaranteed fun for the whole family. Stay tuned...
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All hail and greetings to you. Yes!!! It's finally here, another tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I am 48 hours past my deadline and those who have been sent to dispatch me are close behind. But they will get nothing! These scribblings are for you the profane, the damned, the born-again and the never-were; by the way, how are you? I don't really care but, there is so much to do, so much to say and so little time. Can it be true? Yes, another touring season is upon us all. But first, as is our custom, let us reflect on past glories.
Well, Europe has come and gone. We scorched our way across lands Romans once feared to tread, aided by the mighty Blues Traveler. Go at once to find them and offer alms to their greatness. I have been witness to their power some 15 times and would never dare to lead you astray. Indeed, we were but lowly jesters when the B.T. held court in the great cities of the east (Providence, Boston, Philadelphia) and it was much to our happiness that they crossed the angry seas with us to join our crusade. It brings a tear to my eye. But still we must press on.
When this humble publication arrives, we should be up to our necks in our latest great misadventure the Canadian Winter Tour. From coast to coast and almost all points between. (To those on the Rock and in Saskadelphia, maybe this summer?) Our tidy little production features the talents of friendly Vancouverites Odds and local Toronto compatriots Change of Heart. I hope some of you south of the 49th parallel can make the trip north should any of you care to do battle with the forces of the darkside scalpers. But fear not, as I write, plans for a forthcoming tour of America are progressing furiously. Details are scarce at the moment but, it would be safe to say that you can look out for our caravan in Chicago, St. Louis, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and other as yet unnamed villages to the south. And this will be happening soon... as the old hag said to Caesar, "beware the ides of March." So consider that a small hint of our plans. But there is still more.
A full month before we cross the St. Lawrence, it will have arrived. Yes, *Day for Night* will be released in America on February 14 at a store near you. Truly despicable of me to mention the retail side of things but, I am not sure if *Day for Night* will be available at our gigs anymore; when you deal with the devils of retail, well, as my mother says "needs must when the devil drives." So go where you must to find this album, demand of your friends to join our cause and belittle your enemies for doubting the true path to musical enlightenment. Don't worry about the evil ones in mass media, their plight is hopeless and their indifference cannot stop us. Their fate is sealed and with your help it is only a matter of time before they are brought to their knees and truly, have to face the music.
Now my time grows short and the dogs have picked up my trail; I will not go easily into the night that awaits but remember, day breaks soon and with it The Hip will arrive. Adios Amigos... D.P.
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** Travel Tips From Those Who Know... **
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Here are a few things we have learned over the years that might make your travels more pleasant...
- 1. When in Europe remember that there is no such thing as Supereurodiesel and do not, I repeat, do not put unleaded gas into a diesel van. Especially don't do this at 5:00 AM at the Dutch/Belgian frontier.
- 2. Find the flusher. European bathrooms are strange but, don't panic it's in there somewhere.
- 3. Don't drink the coffee at the Little Big Horn truck stop in Montana. Trust us on this one.
- 4. If the front desk clerk at your hotel is behind bullet-proof plexiglas, find another hotel.
- 5. Swiss border guards carry machine guns and seem well versed in their use. Also their guard dogs can drive cars and are quick to take offence.
- 6. If you get on a ferry with 200 drunken Danish soccer fans, well... you asked for it.
- 7. The road from Washington to Pittsburgh does not go through Philadelphia.
- 8. At Heathrow Airport, the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line. There is no shortest distance between two points at Heathrow.
- 9. There is a direct correlation between fatigue and proximity of screaming infants on overseas flights: the more exhausted you are, the closer the screaming infant.
- 10. When you die, if you've been bad you won't go to hell. You go to Heathrow Airport.
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** Day for Night **
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Sometime in the early summer of 93, while planning a European tour, an idea popped into my head. We had an open period of four days between the Halfweg Festival (in Amsterdam) and the Glastonbury Festival in England. Instead of traveling to northern England before Glastonbury (as was proposed) why not remain in Amsterdam, find a small studio and work on some song ideas? The prospect of hanging out in one of our favorite cities was considerably more appealing than a few quick gigs across the channel and, fortunately, reason prevailed.
So, we found ourselves at the Sleep In part nightclub, part youth hostel with a small studio in the basement perfect for making demos. I don't know whether this session was the very first for what would become Day for Night but, it was one of the earliest and was certainly productive. Three or four days is not a great amount of time to produce fantastic, spot-on recordings but, it's just the right amount to get the ideas down on tape and that was the main reason for these sessions. Of course, some ideas were more complete than others (Nautical Disaster was taking shape while Scared was still a happy melody on Paul's guitar) and some ideas never surfaced beyond the Sleep-In sessions. However, any idea, riff, tune or whatever, if on tape, is fair game for future poaching and a great deal of tape was run in those few days. Mark Vreeken, our live front-of-house engineer, was at the helm and would remain there for every session save those co-produced by the band and Mark Howard. Dave Koster (aka Billy Ray) acted as the ever-present studio assistant/whipping boy. That allowed me to roam the streets of Amsterdam in search of musical supplies or whatever else we may have needed. I did spend some time in studio each day but, not being well-versed in the art of recording it was best for me to stay out of everyone's way.
After our few days in Amsterdam we spent another twelve touring northern Europe, playing festivals for the most part. Schuttorf, Roskilde, Torhout and Werchter; these are the festivals that make Europe a fantastic place for a good band to tour. Not a great deal of bullshit, just a group of smart people doing a good job. European promoters, and certainly the fans, are broad-minded enough that a bill featuring Sugar, Faith No More and Metallica is the perfect gig for The Tragically Hip. One result of our European experiences was the confidence to put on our own festival style tour in Canada. We called it Another Roadside Attraction, the name being stolen from a Tom Robbins novel. The Hip headlined a bill that included Midnight Oil, Crash Vegas, Hothouse Flowers, Daniel Lanois and on the west coast, World Party and Pere Ubu. The twelve dates on that tour were twelve of the best concerts anywhere, anytime. Some of the fun can be seen in a feature-length video directed by Gord Downie's brother, Mike. Called Heksenketel (a Dutch word for witch's cauldron), it runs about 70 minutes. The title comes from the original name of Another Roadside Attraction. Aside from the filming and live show, the band was also jamming backstage almost daily and new songs were taking shape as the tour progressed.
Thugs existed as a near-complete song but, would change radically with the passing months. Fire in The Hole, however, was being born out of the various dressing room jams. Everyone referred to the riff as "pointy teeth." Nautical Disaster was being jammed both backstage and onstage; it evolved in the middle section of New Orleans is Sinking from night to night. Once this tour ended we spent the last weeks of September in the U.S.. By October 2nd, the touring for Fully Completely was finished.
No longer worrying about visas, laundry or where the hell we were, we returned to the scene of many favorite crimes, the Woolen Mill. An old burlap mill in the north end of Kingston, the mill was a perfect rehearsal space but, also much more. For one, it was my home for two of the three years the band used it for rehearsals. And it was also, essentially, an impregnable fortress perfect for keeping away prying eyes and those with ears too big for their own good. With no one to hassle us (sometimes a problem in a small town), the work progressed. The months between the end of the road and Christmas were busy ones. Grace, Emergency, Inch an Hour, Impossibilium and various versions of Thugs, were either written in their entirety or re-written entirely. Various other ideas were being thrown around, including early versions of Daredevil and Greasy Jungle. We took a break for the holidays.
During the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the band was back at the mill, this time working with Mark Howard. We had known Mark for a while; from back in the days when Road Apples was recorded and on Another Roadside Attraction, where he was Dan Lanois' front-of-house engineer. It was this week that gave the band the confidence in Howard that would result in his co-producing the album. This was the week when Thugs finally found its sound. This was also the session that captured Titanic as it appears on the album. A number of passes would be made at Titanic later in New Orleans but, none would match the atmosphere the winter lent the song. January would give rise to Yawning or Snarling and The Inevitability of Death and February provided a chance to play some of the new songs live. Sure, some of the new material had been played live before: Thugs on Another Roadside Attraction, Nautical Disaster at the Kumbaya Festival (to benefit people living with AIDS) in Toronto but, it was the College Earth Summit at Yale that saw the first performance of many of the songs. It was a small gig at Toad's Place but, the new songs were received well and it was only a month before the band would be in the studio. That month passed (and none too soon, winter was kicking the shit out of eastern Ontario) and it was time to head down to the Crescent City.
Kingsway Studio, New Orleans La., is the kind of place The Hip can work. The house is a studio or the studio is a house, either way a large mansion on the edge of the French Quarter that is both familiar and practical. The Tragically Hip is not a band well suited to isolation chambers and by-the-numbers recording. Though that can be educational and productive, their best work has always come from a more fluid approach and environment. The bulk of *Day for Night* was recorded at the base of a large stairway, with the band within five feet of each other most of the time. Set up an amp, mike it and throw a blanket or a pillow over it, turn it up and play. Over time, patterns developed. Much of the day would be dedicated to listening and listening again to what had been recorded with the night reserved for new ideas, new tracks or new songs. Along the way, a shadow record emerged; spacey jams, old ideas reworked , generally a chance to blow off some musical steam. This music is not on the record but, it is as much a part of the recording process as anything else and much musical cannibalism will be its legacy. So Hard Done By is a perfect example. Played in concert a very few times over the years, it finally found an arrangement everyone liked. Many songs have been picked at over the years and as long as there are tapes to listen to, that will continue. When it came time to leave New Orleans, most of the recording had been done but the album was not complete. The band headed for home.
Three weeks after returning to Kingston, the band packed up again and headed for Morin Heights, a small town one hour north of Montreal in rural Quebec. There, with the two Marks and Billy Ray, the band began to mix everything and of course, tinker further. For two or three weeks they fiddled and mixed and generally put all the tracks together. With Morin Heights being only four hours away, the band also had the luxury of getting home once in a while and everyone took turns spending time up at the studio. It was a good choice of location for the mixing because, while relatively close to home, it was in the hills and isolated enough to allow everyone to concentrate on the songs. However, the mixing did not end in those hills and our adventures would continue into the summer.
By now, it was June. As well as the recordings to work on, we had to get ready for some live gigs. Our first big show in some time was a Canada Day concert on, of course, July 1st. It was an all day, open air show with some of our favorite Canadian bands on the bill. Change of Heart, Odds and Spirit of the West were among the nine other acts that day. 35,000 people showed up, it didn't rain and no one was killed; so, we all had a good time. The rest of the summer yawned in front of us and we hit the road.
Whatever life a song might have in the studio, or on record, can be measured by the final product only. But on the stage, any song can have one hundred lives. Some songs really come alive only when an audience breathes life into them and thus, the purpose of the road is revealed. No matter how shitty a gig, how horrid the travel, how unpalatable the food, the songs continue to save our skins night after night. And when the gig is great, and the club within walking distance from whatever conventioneer-filled hotel we can't wait to leave, then the songs become an unstoppable juggernaut of compressed ear drums, rattling teeth and frayed nerves. Some nights we teeter between the two extremes, but the road is unending.
And so, when *Day for Night* is released in America in the new year, we will find ourselves in the midst of a Canadian tour and in the grips of whatever weather the Great Lakes might throw at us. For the same reasons we might tour Texas in July, we will tour Canada in the dead of winter; the songs demand to live, no matter how extreme life may be. Since the release of the record in Canada and Europe this past fall, we have seen both extremes again and again. We bounced around America for 19 more shows after the 20 we had played in the summer, prior to the album's release. We then trundled off to Europe for 14 shows in 6 countries. Along the way we made friends with all in the Blues Traveler organization. Another rare bonus from the road; like-minded souls who have many tales of their own.
"In the end, the days and nights blur together into a seamless river of misadventure and near-insanity anchored only by the music that comes from soundchecks, concerts and the uncounted beers drained in Brussels or Oklahoma City. The songs don't know where they are, and some nights neither do we. But above all the noise we might make about ourselves, or how hard the road might be, the music has always been louder."
David Powell, Road Manager, December 19, 1994
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** Fiji Bitter All Night Long... **
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"I was in Fiji last year and the bartender at our resort (The Seashell Cove, near Nandi) heard us playing "Up To Here" and almost came on the spot. He said, "Tregikly Heep! They're my beest bjand!". I gave him my "Fully Completely" disc and we drank free Fiji Bitter all night long. Izzy was the guy's name. You guys should go visit him and maybe you could write a song about him or something! You have fans all over the world. Later."
(Mark from Saskatoon... <!-- e --><a href="mailto:mct133@arts.usask.ca">mct133@arts.usask.ca</a><!-- e --> received via the Internet)...
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Can't sleep? Send us an e-mail:
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:thehip@hookup.net">thehip@hookup.net</a><!-- e -->
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** The Baking of Day for Night... **
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Now that Day for Night will be coming out in America, I suppose we should let you in on a few things, since we did record most of it in your country.
- 1. Bruce Dickenson is not the guy from Iron Maiden, just a good friend.
- 2. Yes, the cops did go into the crowd once in El Paso. It was at Club 101 and it was crazy. They also busted a guy in the can and almost dropped him on our guitars. Since they had guns, I let them do what they wanted.
- 3. New Orleans is 2,384 kilometres (1,488 miles) from Kingston. When you get there, you'll find a lot of dog shit on the sidewalks but, aside from that and the murder rate, it's a pretty cool place.
- 4. Hazeldean really existed. It still may, though I have no idea where.
- 5. Sorry, no hidden tracks or Satanic messages on this one.
If you have any specific questions about the record, ask each other. However, we will consider any theories sent in, we can always use a laugh.
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** We're Sorry...**
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Hey, I know. Some of you haven't got your merch yet and you're mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore. Well...it is our fault and we are working fast to correct the problem. The details of the delay are unimportant and would sound like a pack of lies anyway but, if you have sent in money you will get what you paid for. Or my name isn't Richard Nixon. So please bear with us and we will get your stuff to you ASAP!
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** Infobahn Stuff...**
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Need to know what's up? If you are on-line, you can e-mail us at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:thehip@hookup.net">thehip@hookup.net</a><!-- e -->. Better still, join our new mailing list on the Internet and news, updates and other miscellany will be sent directly to your e-mail box on a fairly regular basis. To join, send mail to:
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:listmanager@hookup.net">listmanager@hookup.net</a><!-- e -->
Leave the subject line blank and put:
subscribe tragically-hip YOUR_NAME_HERE in the first line of the body of the message.
In other news, we are told that several fans created a newsgroup called alt.music.tragically-hip (who knew?). We don't know if it is carried everywhere but it seems to be getting around in Canada, the U.S. and parts of Europe. Don't ask us, ask your friends about this one. We may also have a Web page soon... Guaranteed fun for the whole family. Stay tuned...
"We're forced to bed, but we're free to dream"
Dana
04-17-2012, 01:44 PM
Summer 1995 No.3
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When I was a kid, I used to spend my summers throwing rocks at trains and climbing abandoned fire towers. So my parents are glad that I’ve found a more productive way to spend my time. Nothing better than hanging out with friends (old and new) and grooving to tunes on a summer’s afternoon and evening. Of course, I speak of this year’s Another Roadside Attraction. And while it is silly to think one person could possibly give an overall account of our adventures, I, with bone-headed conceit, will try to do so.
Of the many eye-popping and jaw-dropping moments on the tour, the first would have to be the time when Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers took the stage in Vancouver. An explosion of sound! It was truly awesome and everyone on tour was suitably blown away. Really an amazing band and super people; so go buy all their records!! We were familiar with Ziggy's music but I don't think any of us had seen them live before. Very heavy bottom end and the crowds loved them as much as we did; true summertime music. Spirit of The West seemed to have the power to conjure up rainstorms at will and always with timely convenience. There is nothing quite so refreshing as dancing in a prairie sunshower, which everyone did each time The Spirits and mother nature communed which was every day of the tour. Each day also saw the familiar sight of Matthew Sweet and band tooling around on kid-sized bikes with high handle bars and banana seats. Should you ever stage your own show, be sure to have these bikes around, they are great for backstage travel! As for his music, what can one say? Matthew Sweet is a genuine songwriting phenom and he can get to some serious rockin’ bizness on stage. Of course, having the legendary Ivan Julian on guitar doesn’t hurt. And speaking of legends, Blues Traveler's John Popper jamming with The Hip... You had to be there to see it! A tasteful, graceful mountain of a harmonica player, Popper played some incredible harp on Fight and he’d probably never heard the song before! The Hip hadn’t played that one in a few years and we've only known The Travelers since the fall of ’94. Blues Traveler only gets better and better and they were smoking on this tour.
One of the images that sticks out in my head is of the last show at the Capital City Speedway in Ottawa. Torrential rains early in the day turned the field into a mud-pit, but the classic image is of Dave Ulrich, The Inbreds drummer, playing with an umbrella on his head. No small feat when you're the first act on and those mud-splattered kids want to be entertained! But, The Inbreds are no ordinary two-piece (that's right, two-piece, just bass and drums). Never have so few sounded like so many! Also, never have so many played on stage at the same time. A couple of times for the encore, The Hip played an old Gordon Lightfoot tune, Summerside of Life, with a little help from The Spirits, John and Chan from Blues Traveler and the scorching vocals of The Rheostatics (those boys can sing like birds!). The Rheostatics are a band that could teach many young bands what it's like to rock with style and power and still let the music come through. Very subtle and very together. The Rheos along with Eric's Trip (who were a perfect choice for ARA, they would slip onstage after The Inbreds and proceed to pummel the audience with melody and distortion while being exceedingly polite about the whole thing) are coming with us to Newfoundland for two shows in St. John’s at the Memorial Arena. These shows should be almost as much fun as the Roadside gigs, but we do miss our other friends. Anyway, back to Newfoundland... come here and see this amazing place! As I write this drivel, I’m overlooking one of the oldest harbours in North America and we’re all going whale-watching in a few minutes. Well, we hope to see some whales, but we’ll be getting screeched in for sure! If you don't know what screech is, all the more reason to come to the Rock.
Sorry to make this such a brief account of recent happenings, but the whales are waiting and I'm way past my deadline anyway! I bid thee farewell until next time. Live long and prosper amigos and hope to see you soon somewhere. Keep in touch... D.P.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Notes from Roadside... *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the Another Roadside Attraction Tour in July, a backstage computer with live Internet links allowed all the bands including The Hip to post updates on the Internet and on the Roadside Web site. Here are some excerpts...
July 13, 1995, Vancouver
Any canoes out there? The gig is finished for today. On paper, festivals like this look good. But until you play the first gig, you never know how it's going to come off. Whether the backstage would have a good vibe or whether the bands would get along, you just don't know. I'm happy to say that it all went without a hitch. In a lot of ways, this is better than the last Roadside Attraction in '93 because the whole day just seems to build from The Inbreds right up till the end.
I personally like the songs we played tonight. It seemed to flow very well from beginning to the end. It's nice to play songs from Road Apples which we haven't played in a long time and I think a lot of those songs have aged well.
The set list for tonight was: blow, fully, grace, meridian, gems, gift 50 mc, yawn, iod, daredevil, fight, twist, springtime, nautical, new o, fire. Encore: inch, locked. early curfew tonight, we couldn't play anymore — Johnny
July 17, 1995, Craven, Saskatchewan
Hello children of the corn. Just done. Maybe slightly over done. As far as I can tell, everyone had a great day, except maybe me. Matthew Sweet ran over me on his BMX racing bike, and Ziggy Marley blew my mind so badly that I was in a spiritual crisis until I hit the stage. But seeing everyone else having a great time I was forced along for the ride.
Jamming with John Popper (of BT) was a highlight. None of us were expecting him on stage this evening and were thrilled. It was only one of many surprises tonight, as the set list threw me for a few curves ("Is this one of our tunes"?)
Everyone else is in the compound (sounds like prison, but it couldn't be any more liberating) basking in the afterglow of another nice day. Time to join them. I guess I had a great time after all.
The setlist was: grace, new orl, fully, hundredth, fight, iod, dare, wheat, locked, thugs/eldo, twist, spring, nautical, blow, fire. Encore: greasy, last, wherewithal. Bobby
July 18, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Winnipeg ARA. This was the half-way point of the tour in our home away from home. Many years since the Diamond Club where we were fired on our first night of a six-day stand. After tonight the future seems secure.
The best backstage variety of games thus far (pool table was a double bonus and foosball, introduced Glen from The Melody Makers to curling on the shuffle board). Chandler and Bobby (BT) carried on a seven year rivalry for championship of the world in all the ARA events. Jiggs rules all. Dog pile impending.
All the bands continue to shine and tonight the crowd made it easy. Backstage we have a practice room where we rehearse before we go on. We told all the other musicians to feel free to use it whenever they want. Today, the number of different players playing together bodes well for things to come. By the way Bobby says “don't throw shoes!” Next stop Cayuga — Gord S.
July 24, 1995, Ottawa, Ontario
Past leanings toward a full stop.
We live to survive our paradoxes
in the summer that hissed like
Tom Verlaine.
Be friends or die,
Love, Gord D.
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* You Guys Play Weddings? I Need a Band... *
* Road Physics for the Travel-Challenged *
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1. Smelly Airplane Rule - Length of flight is directly proportional to amount of body odour of person sitting next to you.
2. Screaming Baby Proximity Rule - An inverse relationship: as fatigue increases, distance between you and bawling infant decreases.
3. Welcome To Canada Rule - The longer your trip abroad, the longer the line-up at customs. Also known as the "land as many 747's as you can" rule.
4. Geographical Coincidence Rule - (a) - Bloomington, Indiana IS NOT Bloomington, Minnesota
5. Supply and Demand Rule - Need for vital electronic component (purchase or repair) coincides with Sunday night gig in remote backwater.
6. Geographical Coincidence Rule - (b) You are in Sacramento, California. Your baggage is in Sydney, Australia.
7. Never Take It On The Road If You Can't Afford To Lose It Rule - Self-explanatory. Exemptions offered for passports and eyeglasses.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I was a kid, I used to spend my summers throwing rocks at trains and climbing abandoned fire towers. So my parents are glad that I’ve found a more productive way to spend my time. Nothing better than hanging out with friends (old and new) and grooving to tunes on a summer’s afternoon and evening. Of course, I speak of this year’s Another Roadside Attraction. And while it is silly to think one person could possibly give an overall account of our adventures, I, with bone-headed conceit, will try to do so.
Of the many eye-popping and jaw-dropping moments on the tour, the first would have to be the time when Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers took the stage in Vancouver. An explosion of sound! It was truly awesome and everyone on tour was suitably blown away. Really an amazing band and super people; so go buy all their records!! We were familiar with Ziggy's music but I don't think any of us had seen them live before. Very heavy bottom end and the crowds loved them as much as we did; true summertime music. Spirit of The West seemed to have the power to conjure up rainstorms at will and always with timely convenience. There is nothing quite so refreshing as dancing in a prairie sunshower, which everyone did each time The Spirits and mother nature communed which was every day of the tour. Each day also saw the familiar sight of Matthew Sweet and band tooling around on kid-sized bikes with high handle bars and banana seats. Should you ever stage your own show, be sure to have these bikes around, they are great for backstage travel! As for his music, what can one say? Matthew Sweet is a genuine songwriting phenom and he can get to some serious rockin’ bizness on stage. Of course, having the legendary Ivan Julian on guitar doesn’t hurt. And speaking of legends, Blues Traveler's John Popper jamming with The Hip... You had to be there to see it! A tasteful, graceful mountain of a harmonica player, Popper played some incredible harp on Fight and he’d probably never heard the song before! The Hip hadn’t played that one in a few years and we've only known The Travelers since the fall of ’94. Blues Traveler only gets better and better and they were smoking on this tour.
One of the images that sticks out in my head is of the last show at the Capital City Speedway in Ottawa. Torrential rains early in the day turned the field into a mud-pit, but the classic image is of Dave Ulrich, The Inbreds drummer, playing with an umbrella on his head. No small feat when you're the first act on and those mud-splattered kids want to be entertained! But, The Inbreds are no ordinary two-piece (that's right, two-piece, just bass and drums). Never have so few sounded like so many! Also, never have so many played on stage at the same time. A couple of times for the encore, The Hip played an old Gordon Lightfoot tune, Summerside of Life, with a little help from The Spirits, John and Chan from Blues Traveler and the scorching vocals of The Rheostatics (those boys can sing like birds!). The Rheostatics are a band that could teach many young bands what it's like to rock with style and power and still let the music come through. Very subtle and very together. The Rheos along with Eric's Trip (who were a perfect choice for ARA, they would slip onstage after The Inbreds and proceed to pummel the audience with melody and distortion while being exceedingly polite about the whole thing) are coming with us to Newfoundland for two shows in St. John’s at the Memorial Arena. These shows should be almost as much fun as the Roadside gigs, but we do miss our other friends. Anyway, back to Newfoundland... come here and see this amazing place! As I write this drivel, I’m overlooking one of the oldest harbours in North America and we’re all going whale-watching in a few minutes. Well, we hope to see some whales, but we’ll be getting screeched in for sure! If you don't know what screech is, all the more reason to come to the Rock.
Sorry to make this such a brief account of recent happenings, but the whales are waiting and I'm way past my deadline anyway! I bid thee farewell until next time. Live long and prosper amigos and hope to see you soon somewhere. Keep in touch... D.P.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Notes from Roadside... *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the Another Roadside Attraction Tour in July, a backstage computer with live Internet links allowed all the bands including The Hip to post updates on the Internet and on the Roadside Web site. Here are some excerpts...
July 13, 1995, Vancouver
Any canoes out there? The gig is finished for today. On paper, festivals like this look good. But until you play the first gig, you never know how it's going to come off. Whether the backstage would have a good vibe or whether the bands would get along, you just don't know. I'm happy to say that it all went without a hitch. In a lot of ways, this is better than the last Roadside Attraction in '93 because the whole day just seems to build from The Inbreds right up till the end.
I personally like the songs we played tonight. It seemed to flow very well from beginning to the end. It's nice to play songs from Road Apples which we haven't played in a long time and I think a lot of those songs have aged well.
The set list for tonight was: blow, fully, grace, meridian, gems, gift 50 mc, yawn, iod, daredevil, fight, twist, springtime, nautical, new o, fire. Encore: inch, locked. early curfew tonight, we couldn't play anymore — Johnny
July 17, 1995, Craven, Saskatchewan
Hello children of the corn. Just done. Maybe slightly over done. As far as I can tell, everyone had a great day, except maybe me. Matthew Sweet ran over me on his BMX racing bike, and Ziggy Marley blew my mind so badly that I was in a spiritual crisis until I hit the stage. But seeing everyone else having a great time I was forced along for the ride.
Jamming with John Popper (of BT) was a highlight. None of us were expecting him on stage this evening and were thrilled. It was only one of many surprises tonight, as the set list threw me for a few curves ("Is this one of our tunes"?)
Everyone else is in the compound (sounds like prison, but it couldn't be any more liberating) basking in the afterglow of another nice day. Time to join them. I guess I had a great time after all.
The setlist was: grace, new orl, fully, hundredth, fight, iod, dare, wheat, locked, thugs/eldo, twist, spring, nautical, blow, fire. Encore: greasy, last, wherewithal. Bobby
July 18, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Winnipeg ARA. This was the half-way point of the tour in our home away from home. Many years since the Diamond Club where we were fired on our first night of a six-day stand. After tonight the future seems secure.
The best backstage variety of games thus far (pool table was a double bonus and foosball, introduced Glen from The Melody Makers to curling on the shuffle board). Chandler and Bobby (BT) carried on a seven year rivalry for championship of the world in all the ARA events. Jiggs rules all. Dog pile impending.
All the bands continue to shine and tonight the crowd made it easy. Backstage we have a practice room where we rehearse before we go on. We told all the other musicians to feel free to use it whenever they want. Today, the number of different players playing together bodes well for things to come. By the way Bobby says “don't throw shoes!” Next stop Cayuga — Gord S.
July 24, 1995, Ottawa, Ontario
Past leanings toward a full stop.
We live to survive our paradoxes
in the summer that hissed like
Tom Verlaine.
Be friends or die,
Love, Gord D.
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* You Guys Play Weddings? I Need a Band... *
* Road Physics for the Travel-Challenged *
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1. Smelly Airplane Rule - Length of flight is directly proportional to amount of body odour of person sitting next to you.
2. Screaming Baby Proximity Rule - An inverse relationship: as fatigue increases, distance between you and bawling infant decreases.
3. Welcome To Canada Rule - The longer your trip abroad, the longer the line-up at customs. Also known as the "land as many 747's as you can" rule.
4. Geographical Coincidence Rule - (a) - Bloomington, Indiana IS NOT Bloomington, Minnesota
5. Supply and Demand Rule - Need for vital electronic component (purchase or repair) coincides with Sunday night gig in remote backwater.
6. Geographical Coincidence Rule - (b) You are in Sacramento, California. Your baggage is in Sydney, Australia.
7. Never Take It On The Road If You Can't Afford To Lose It Rule - Self-explanatory. Exemptions offered for passports and eyeglasses.
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"We're forced to bed, but we're free to dream"
Dana
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