11-30-2012, 02:13 PM
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Some tales about the greatest band you’ve never heard of
Stupid question . . . you ever have a song get stuck in your head? Better yet, have you ever had a song stuck in your head that sparked a decade-long obsession?
By: Matt Cory, Grand Forks Herald
Stupid question . . . you ever have a song get stuck in your head?
Better yet, have you ever had a song stuck in your head that sparked a decade-long obsession?
Walking into work one day 10 years ago, I approached Brad Dokken, Outdoors editor, friend and generally the newsroom music aficionado. “Hey, you ever heard of some song called ‘New Orleans’ or something like ‘New Orleans is Sinking?’” I asked, fumbling through the chorus heard a few minutes earlier on the car radio.
He had.
Turns out, the song was indeed “New Orleans is Sinking” by Canadian band, The Tragically Hip. Brad is a big fan. Really big fan. So is Jaime Delage, who was then the Herald’s City Editor.
The next day, Brad brought me all of his Hip CDs (they’re just called The Hip by fans), and I was hooked.
And so, the journey began.
Now in its 10th year, my Hip fandom has covered hundreds of great songs, thousands of miles with Brad and Jaime, bootlegs, DVDs, autographed hockey jerseys, sickness, Justin Morneau, general concert-going craziness in downtown Winnipeg, downtown Minneapolis, etc. …
Saturday night will bring a fifth concert to our happy trio (Brad had seen them several times before) when The Hip play the Fargo Theatre.
It’s been quite a ride.
Under the radar
When Brad brought me his CDs, I was surprised at their number. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable when it comes to music, and I had heard of The Hip, but I wasn’t prepared for nine studio recordings and a live album. (They’ve since added four more studio albums and a greatest hits CD.)
Their sound blew me away. Why hadn’t I heard more about them? Hell, why hadn’t everyone?
I had found my band.
While often described as a bluesy-rock band, The Hip covers a wide range. They’ve got hard-driving, straight-up rocking out (pronounced “rockin oot”) songs, but you can add in acoustic ballads, pseudo-country, you name it. I’m a metal head by choice, but I enjoy all music to a degree (not a big hip-hop fan, I must add). Cliché or not, The Hip speaks to me, a perfect meld of lyrics, music and emotion. I hate comparisons, but think Neil Young, Tom Petty or Dave Matthews.
I couldn’t get enough Hip. I devoured those early CDs and found a ton of bootleg live shows and researched everything I could. What I found was a startling dichotomy.
In Canada, they may be the most lauded band outside of Rush. Formed in 1983 in Kingston, Ont., the lineup has remained the same since at least 1986. Many of their songs cover Canadian life — hockey is a long-running theme — and the land, including people, famous and not. Canadian tours are held in sold-out football and hockey stadiums. Brad, Jaime and I have seen them twice in Winnipeg, both capacity shows of 20,000 and 10,000. (Brad once saw them as part of a festival in Winnipeg where they played to a crowd of 100,000.)
They’ve won oodles of Juno awards (read Canadian Grammys) and were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
In contrast, the two shows in Minneapolis were both club shows, at The Quest and at First Avenue, where there were maybe a couple thousand, at most. Saturday’s Fargo Theatre show will be another intimate affair. I prefer the smaller shows, obviously, to get closer to stage, etc. But seeing The Hip in their home country is quite the experience.
Tales from the tours
About a year after my Hip discovery, they played The Quest in Minneapolis, the first of the four shows I’ve seen with Brad and Jaime.
This being a family paper, I can’t recount all our Hip concert fun, but here are a couple of highlights:
• Not a tour story, but my first encounter with the band in person actually was in Grand Forks. I have friends in the bar business, and they know about my Hip obsession. So, I thought it was a joke when one called and said his beer distributor told him there was a band having lunch at Muddy Rivers in downtown Grand Forks. He’d never heard of them, but said it was The Tragically Hip. I told Brad and Jaime, and like that, we were out of the Herald newsroom, walking the few blocks to Muddy Rivers. Sure enough, there they were, lining the bar, eating. We sheepishly approached singer Gord Downie, who autographed several items for us. Not wanting to intrude, we soon left. On the way back, we saw bassist Gord Sinclair at the tour bus checking his golf clubs and we stopped to say “hello.” Too cool.
• The second Minneapolis show was May 14, 2007. I remember because it was my birthday. I was also sick. I mean sick. Puking sick. It started while we were driving to the Twin Cities early that morning. But there was no way I was turning back.
By the time the show started at First Avenue, they basically propped me up at the bar and told the bartender to keep splashing water in my face to keep cool. If you’ve never been to First Avenue, let’s just say it turns into a furnace quick-like. The show was rockin oot, and I was maintaining, at best. After one of my frequent trips to the bathroom, I was returning to my spot when I felt a tap on the shoulder and someone shouted out they liked my Tragically Hip hockey jersey. I glanced quickly in the throng, acknowledging the compliment, but not wanting to lose my spot. I just as quickly looked back to be sure of who I saw. There stood a bigger blond gentleman and a very pretty woman flanked by two really large men in Security T-shirts. Now, it might have been delirium, and there was no way I was going to push back into the fray, but I am 99 percent sure it was Justin Morneau, the Canadian first baseman for the Minnesota Twins.
• Nothing tops last year’s show in Winnipeg. Through his outdoor connections, Brad somehow managed to score us box seats and backstage passes after the concert. The Kokanee flowed, and the show was great, but the after-party at the baseball stadium is what I’ll remember. The band members were the nicest guys. The aforementioned hockey jersey was signed by four members of the band (singer Gord Downie couldn’t make it). At one point, after signing my jersey, drummer Johnny Fay walked away with my Sharpie. I remember calling out “Hey, Johnny Fay just stole my Sharpie” several times before a security person said it was probably best to just let it go. I bought guitarist Robbie Baker a beer. How cool is that?
The best of the best: We were invited to the after-party’s after-party at a downtown hotel bar. I was waiting at the bar, when someone tapped my shoulder. It was Baker, and he and I shared another drink. We talked for about 20 minutes, at first about music, but by the end, we were talking about raising kids. Go figure.
While I wish more people knew about The Hip, in a way, that, too, is their charm for me. A secret, of sorts. Or, dare I say, a Hipness.
Bring on Saturday night.
Matt’s Top 10 Hip songs
“Three Pistols” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Fully Completely” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Bobcaygeon” (Phantom Power, 1998)
“Grace, Too” (Day for Night, 1994)
“Ahead by a Century” (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)
“Silver Jet” (In Violet Light, 2002)
“New Orleans is Sinking” (Up to Here, 1989)
“At the Hundredth Meridian” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Wheat Kings” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Yer Not the Ocean” (World Container, 2006)
Brad’s Top 10 Hip songs
“Fiddlers Green” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Three Pistols” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Little Bones” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Fifty Mission Cap” (Fully, Completely, 1992)
“Wheat Kings” (Fully, Completely, 1992)
“The Lonely End of the Rink” (World Container, 2006)
“Blow at High Dough” (Up to Here, 1989)
“New Orleans Is Sinking” (Up to Here, 1989)
“Looking for a Place to Happen” (Fully, Completely, 1992)
“Bobcaygeon” (Phantom Power, 1998)
Brad Dokken, Herald Outdoors Reporter
Jaime’s Top 10 Hip songs
“Grace, Too” (Day For Night, 1994)
“Daredevil” (Day For Night, 1994)
“Scared” (Day For Night, 1994)
“Fully Completely” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Fifty-Mission Cap” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Eldorado” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Springtime in Vienna” (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)
“Ahead by a Century” (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)
“Yer Not the Ocean” (World Container, 2006)
“In View” (World Container, 2006)
Jaime Delage, Duluth News Tribune Assistant Managing Editor
Cory can be reached at (701) 780-1244 or by email at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:mcory@gfherald.com">mcory@gfherald.com</a><!-- e -->.
Some tales about the greatest band you’ve never heard of
Stupid question . . . you ever have a song get stuck in your head? Better yet, have you ever had a song stuck in your head that sparked a decade-long obsession?
By: Matt Cory, Grand Forks Herald
Stupid question . . . you ever have a song get stuck in your head?
Better yet, have you ever had a song stuck in your head that sparked a decade-long obsession?
Walking into work one day 10 years ago, I approached Brad Dokken, Outdoors editor, friend and generally the newsroom music aficionado. “Hey, you ever heard of some song called ‘New Orleans’ or something like ‘New Orleans is Sinking?’” I asked, fumbling through the chorus heard a few minutes earlier on the car radio.
He had.
Turns out, the song was indeed “New Orleans is Sinking” by Canadian band, The Tragically Hip. Brad is a big fan. Really big fan. So is Jaime Delage, who was then the Herald’s City Editor.
The next day, Brad brought me all of his Hip CDs (they’re just called The Hip by fans), and I was hooked.
And so, the journey began.
Now in its 10th year, my Hip fandom has covered hundreds of great songs, thousands of miles with Brad and Jaime, bootlegs, DVDs, autographed hockey jerseys, sickness, Justin Morneau, general concert-going craziness in downtown Winnipeg, downtown Minneapolis, etc. …
Saturday night will bring a fifth concert to our happy trio (Brad had seen them several times before) when The Hip play the Fargo Theatre.
It’s been quite a ride.
Under the radar
When Brad brought me his CDs, I was surprised at their number. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable when it comes to music, and I had heard of The Hip, but I wasn’t prepared for nine studio recordings and a live album. (They’ve since added four more studio albums and a greatest hits CD.)
Their sound blew me away. Why hadn’t I heard more about them? Hell, why hadn’t everyone?
I had found my band.
While often described as a bluesy-rock band, The Hip covers a wide range. They’ve got hard-driving, straight-up rocking out (pronounced “rockin oot”) songs, but you can add in acoustic ballads, pseudo-country, you name it. I’m a metal head by choice, but I enjoy all music to a degree (not a big hip-hop fan, I must add). Cliché or not, The Hip speaks to me, a perfect meld of lyrics, music and emotion. I hate comparisons, but think Neil Young, Tom Petty or Dave Matthews.
I couldn’t get enough Hip. I devoured those early CDs and found a ton of bootleg live shows and researched everything I could. What I found was a startling dichotomy.
In Canada, they may be the most lauded band outside of Rush. Formed in 1983 in Kingston, Ont., the lineup has remained the same since at least 1986. Many of their songs cover Canadian life — hockey is a long-running theme — and the land, including people, famous and not. Canadian tours are held in sold-out football and hockey stadiums. Brad, Jaime and I have seen them twice in Winnipeg, both capacity shows of 20,000 and 10,000. (Brad once saw them as part of a festival in Winnipeg where they played to a crowd of 100,000.)
They’ve won oodles of Juno awards (read Canadian Grammys) and were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
In contrast, the two shows in Minneapolis were both club shows, at The Quest and at First Avenue, where there were maybe a couple thousand, at most. Saturday’s Fargo Theatre show will be another intimate affair. I prefer the smaller shows, obviously, to get closer to stage, etc. But seeing The Hip in their home country is quite the experience.
Tales from the tours
About a year after my Hip discovery, they played The Quest in Minneapolis, the first of the four shows I’ve seen with Brad and Jaime.
This being a family paper, I can’t recount all our Hip concert fun, but here are a couple of highlights:
• Not a tour story, but my first encounter with the band in person actually was in Grand Forks. I have friends in the bar business, and they know about my Hip obsession. So, I thought it was a joke when one called and said his beer distributor told him there was a band having lunch at Muddy Rivers in downtown Grand Forks. He’d never heard of them, but said it was The Tragically Hip. I told Brad and Jaime, and like that, we were out of the Herald newsroom, walking the few blocks to Muddy Rivers. Sure enough, there they were, lining the bar, eating. We sheepishly approached singer Gord Downie, who autographed several items for us. Not wanting to intrude, we soon left. On the way back, we saw bassist Gord Sinclair at the tour bus checking his golf clubs and we stopped to say “hello.” Too cool.
• The second Minneapolis show was May 14, 2007. I remember because it was my birthday. I was also sick. I mean sick. Puking sick. It started while we were driving to the Twin Cities early that morning. But there was no way I was turning back.
By the time the show started at First Avenue, they basically propped me up at the bar and told the bartender to keep splashing water in my face to keep cool. If you’ve never been to First Avenue, let’s just say it turns into a furnace quick-like. The show was rockin oot, and I was maintaining, at best. After one of my frequent trips to the bathroom, I was returning to my spot when I felt a tap on the shoulder and someone shouted out they liked my Tragically Hip hockey jersey. I glanced quickly in the throng, acknowledging the compliment, but not wanting to lose my spot. I just as quickly looked back to be sure of who I saw. There stood a bigger blond gentleman and a very pretty woman flanked by two really large men in Security T-shirts. Now, it might have been delirium, and there was no way I was going to push back into the fray, but I am 99 percent sure it was Justin Morneau, the Canadian first baseman for the Minnesota Twins.
• Nothing tops last year’s show in Winnipeg. Through his outdoor connections, Brad somehow managed to score us box seats and backstage passes after the concert. The Kokanee flowed, and the show was great, but the after-party at the baseball stadium is what I’ll remember. The band members were the nicest guys. The aforementioned hockey jersey was signed by four members of the band (singer Gord Downie couldn’t make it). At one point, after signing my jersey, drummer Johnny Fay walked away with my Sharpie. I remember calling out “Hey, Johnny Fay just stole my Sharpie” several times before a security person said it was probably best to just let it go. I bought guitarist Robbie Baker a beer. How cool is that?
The best of the best: We were invited to the after-party’s after-party at a downtown hotel bar. I was waiting at the bar, when someone tapped my shoulder. It was Baker, and he and I shared another drink. We talked for about 20 minutes, at first about music, but by the end, we were talking about raising kids. Go figure.
While I wish more people knew about The Hip, in a way, that, too, is their charm for me. A secret, of sorts. Or, dare I say, a Hipness.
Bring on Saturday night.
Matt’s Top 10 Hip songs
“Three Pistols” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Fully Completely” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Bobcaygeon” (Phantom Power, 1998)
“Grace, Too” (Day for Night, 1994)
“Ahead by a Century” (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)
“Silver Jet” (In Violet Light, 2002)
“New Orleans is Sinking” (Up to Here, 1989)
“At the Hundredth Meridian” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Wheat Kings” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Yer Not the Ocean” (World Container, 2006)
Brad’s Top 10 Hip songs
“Fiddlers Green” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Three Pistols” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Little Bones” (Road Apples, 1991)
“Fifty Mission Cap” (Fully, Completely, 1992)
“Wheat Kings” (Fully, Completely, 1992)
“The Lonely End of the Rink” (World Container, 2006)
“Blow at High Dough” (Up to Here, 1989)
“New Orleans Is Sinking” (Up to Here, 1989)
“Looking for a Place to Happen” (Fully, Completely, 1992)
“Bobcaygeon” (Phantom Power, 1998)
Brad Dokken, Herald Outdoors Reporter
Jaime’s Top 10 Hip songs
“Grace, Too” (Day For Night, 1994)
“Daredevil” (Day For Night, 1994)
“Scared” (Day For Night, 1994)
“Fully Completely” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Fifty-Mission Cap” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Eldorado” (Fully Completely, 1992)
“Springtime in Vienna” (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)
“Ahead by a Century” (Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)
“Yer Not the Ocean” (World Container, 2006)
“In View” (World Container, 2006)
Jaime Delage, Duluth News Tribune Assistant Managing Editor
Cory can be reached at (701) 780-1244 or by email at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:mcory@gfherald.com">mcory@gfherald.com</a><!-- e -->.