[chris]

From: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.toronto.com/profile/881207/?context=music&cslink=cs_music_2_9">http://www.toronto.com/profile/881207/? ... _music_2_9</a><!-- m -->

The Tragically Hip's Rob Baker and Craig Northey from the Odds team in Stripper's Union Local 518.

Their soon to be released self-titled album was recorded in Bath, Ontario and began as Baker's solo project. Northey began collaborating with Baker in 2004 and they soon found that they could indeed write good songs together. Stripper's Union was born and along the way they scooped up more musical talent: Pat Steward (Odds, Matt Good), Doug Elliott (Odds, Colin James), and Simon Kendall (Doug and the Slugs, Colin James).

The name was spawned from Northey's idea of rockers having a great deal in common with urban folk dancers. "Both make their livings in seedy clubs, under the microscope of critical eyes seeking flaws, far from home and loved ones, laying themselves bare night after night"

[clearlyentranced]

I just found this tonight...

Courtesy of the University of Calgary.

Spun: Stripper's Union
Local 518

Spun
August 11, 2005
by Peter Hemminger Local 518

Take one of the most underrated Canadian bands of the '90s, add one of the most overrated Canadian bands ever, and you're left with Stripper's Union. Their debut album Local 518 is competently written, impeccably performed, and strangely lacking in charisma. It is, in a word, Canadian.

This isn't meant to slight the vast amount of talent in our nation's musical underground, but any country that salutes the likes of Nickelback as rock saviours while ignoring groups like the Dears or the Constantines clearly has a taste for blandness. This is the only explanation for the untouchable status of the Tragically Hip, a glorified bar band who lucked into finding an above par frontman and were rewarded with the title of Best Band Ever Except Maybe the Guess Who.

Thankfully, Hip guitarist Rob Baker has found another fine vocalist in Craig Northey of the Odds, who put out some of the cleverest rock of the '90s only to disappear from the public consciousness when that band split at the turn of the millennium. The result is a bit funkier than the Hip, a bit harder rocking than the Odds, and a bit less likely than either of those groups to end up in regular rotation on CJAY.

While the pairing never hits the peaks of either band's best singles, it's a pleasant enough listen. Baker replaces his usual watered down blues with a more full-blooded stomp, even adding in Dixieland jazz on "Local Bear," and the result is much more palatable. While Northey has lost some of his vocal power he can still throw out his share of lyrical hooks. The result is exactly what you would expect of a super-group from a country which has hailed Bryan Adams and Loverboy as its public faces of rock--likeable but underwhelming.

[Sam]

Is the writer Canadian?

I'm just wondering because have yet to meet a Canadian that hails Bryan Adams or Loverboy as the "public faces of Canadian rock." I've met a lot of Canadians who would like to forget that the US market ever picked up on Bryan Adams, but that's not quite the same thing, is it?

[skippy the wonder dog]

It's standard critical bullshit, in which all successful bands are lumped together and painted as bland and uninteresting. Thus the Hip are in the same bag as Nickelback, by virtue of being successful.

[Sam]

This is the only explanation for the untouchable status of the Tragically Hip, a glorified bar band who lucked into finding an above par frontman and were rewarded with the title of Best Band Ever Except Maybe the Guess Who.

I think this writer has cut and paste from other reviews, actually. I've read that exact same criticism of the Hip before, minus the reference to the Guess Who. It would make me think that it was the same article, but the other one followed that statement up with something along the lines of "sure the rhythm section is solid and the guitar work is inspired but other than that, what does the Hip offer?"

Let's see, an above par frontman, solid rhythm section and inspired guitar playing. What the hell else are they supposed to offer? Pedicures?

Actually. Pedicures would be nice...

[The Horrible Esthete]

Take one of the most underrated Canadian bands of the '90s, add one of the most overrated Canadian bands ever, and you're left with Stripper's Union.

Anything that opens with that little gem is bound to be drivel.

I discovered the Hip on a college radio station in Ohio in the middle of the night - far outside the realm of whatever 'exposure' and 'commercial success' the band had at the start of the '90s. I had no clue who they were or where they were from, but i was so affected that i grabbed a pen and scrawled the band's name down, and hit the record store the very next day.

Not many bands have ever eliceted that type of urgent interest from me. That discredits his whole premise from my perspective. It's musically ignorant...an like skippy says - pure critical bullshit.

Dude really needs to recognize that music lovers - even those south of your border - don't see Bryan Adams, Loverboy, OR Nickelback as the "public faces of Canadian Rock". Good god.

[tigerthelion]

It's standard critical bullshit, in which all successful bands are lumped together and painted as bland and uninteresting. Thus the Hip are in the same bag as Nickelback, by virtue of being successful.

Exactly. I can almost guarantee that if the Hip sold the same amount of records as The Dears, then this writer would be DROOLING OVER THE HIP. I see that attitude in quite a bit of articles. I mean, a band can't be good and successful can it? I can't wait for the articles in two years by the SAME WRITERS who are hailing 'Arcade Fire' right now. If AF hit it HUGE and sell millions of records all of a sudden they will be labelled as overrated and a bunch of musical drivel.

DISCLAIMER: I am not even a fan of Arcade Fire. I just used them as an example.