08-11-2017, 10:50 AM
I'm dropping in way late, but still wanted to say, great interview! Rob sounds weirdly like Robbie Robertson. I know he says it's not a great voice for singing, but I kinda wish he would embrace a semi-spoken-word approach. That voice is gold.
Interesting to hear Gord Sinclair described as the band's 'natural songwriter.' It's so easy to *assume* that Gord Downie is that guy, just because he's the lyricist and is up there singing all the songs, and because he's had such a prolific 'solo' career. You also have to wonder what kind of backlog of fully-developed songs GS has piled up at home, and why he hasn't channeled any of it into private projects the way Downie has - to say nothing of what a personal creative sacrifice he had to make in order to serve the Hip. Beyond that, it's quite clear from this interview that much of the Hip's songwriting really is a collective endeavour.
Rob has mentioned in several interviews about all the material the Hip have in the can. I hope this means that we can actually expect future releases. Personally I'd love to have a Hip Bootleg series analogous to what Dylan has done...but whether that would actually be financially viable is another question. One issue is whether the whole band support Rob's apparent view that that stuff should be released (in talking about this stuff, Rob may be discreetly lobbying his band-mates; who knows?). The other question concerns format. Generally speaking, when longstanding acts take a parsimonious approach to unreleased material, the results frustrate everyone. Look at the Beatles' atrocious "Anthology" project, now superseded by much more generous things like the Sgt. Pepper re-release. Fans want more. Many of us even want demos and half-finished cuts. As in so many things, Dylan is the path-breaker here. His label has taken to releasing literally EVERYTHING recorded during particular sessions. I wouldn't go that far, but I don't think the Hip should be afraid of erring on the side of 'more.'
Interesting to hear Gord Sinclair described as the band's 'natural songwriter.' It's so easy to *assume* that Gord Downie is that guy, just because he's the lyricist and is up there singing all the songs, and because he's had such a prolific 'solo' career. You also have to wonder what kind of backlog of fully-developed songs GS has piled up at home, and why he hasn't channeled any of it into private projects the way Downie has - to say nothing of what a personal creative sacrifice he had to make in order to serve the Hip. Beyond that, it's quite clear from this interview that much of the Hip's songwriting really is a collective endeavour.
Rob has mentioned in several interviews about all the material the Hip have in the can. I hope this means that we can actually expect future releases. Personally I'd love to have a Hip Bootleg series analogous to what Dylan has done...but whether that would actually be financially viable is another question. One issue is whether the whole band support Rob's apparent view that that stuff should be released (in talking about this stuff, Rob may be discreetly lobbying his band-mates; who knows?). The other question concerns format. Generally speaking, when longstanding acts take a parsimonious approach to unreleased material, the results frustrate everyone. Look at the Beatles' atrocious "Anthology" project, now superseded by much more generous things like the Sgt. Pepper re-release. Fans want more. Many of us even want demos and half-finished cuts. As in so many things, Dylan is the path-breaker here. His label has taken to releasing literally EVERYTHING recorded during particular sessions. I wouldn't go that far, but I don't think the Hip should be afraid of erring on the side of 'more.'