[arewhyehen]

My girlfriend and I are working on a project for work that involves Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip. He will be interviewed for one episode of a 6 part series that focuses on the history of Canadian music. The episode he will be on, obviously focuses on The Hip and their role in shaping Canadian music.

I thought it would be cool at the end to ask him a few questions from some of his biggest fans.



Comment below what you would like to know or what you think we should ask. I will pick 2-3 of the best ones to ask him.


Thank you!

[andrew sharpe]

I would like to know how Rob feels his bandmates have shaped his playing. To my untrained ear, the steady musicianship of JF and GS allows RB to more freely noodle over top. He "colours" the songs rather than define them, and I wonder if that's the role/style he always intended his guitar to play, if it was by design, or if it evolved as a function of the band.

[edgoffin]

This is an obvious question, but what music did he listen to growing up and who influenced his playing style the most a an early age and now?

[sean.bonner]

Are they any songs in The Hip catalogue that at one point you didn't think were evolving well live and were dropped, but after some time, a new appreciation for them was found and they crept back into the setlist (or unexpectedly became one of 'Yer Favourites')?

[arewhyehen]

Keep them coming...

Interview will be happening late October, so there is still lots of time.

[hurls15]

You and your bandmates had parents that worked in stable, traditional careers (law, medicine, etc.). When you and the rest of the guys were first starting out playing in bands, and then in early days of The Tragically Hip itself, did you or the other members receive pressure or advice from your families to put down the instruments to focus more on school and pursuing a traditional career and less on practicing and touring? Was there a sense that you, or any of the other young eastern Ontario bands of the day, could make a career out of playing music?

The pendulum has swung. You have a less traditional career, and are the parent of young musician. What kind of advice, if any, have you imparted regarding the balance (or imbalance) between school, a traditional career, and the life of a Canadian musician just starting out in 2016?

[andrew sharpe]

You and your bandmates had parents that worked in stable, traditional careers (law, medicine, etc.). When you and the rest of the guys were first starting out playing in bands, and then in early days of The Tragically Hip itself, did you or the other members receive pressure or advice from your families to put down the instruments to focus more on school and pursuing a traditional career and less on practicing and touring? Was there a sense that you, or any of the other young eastern Ontario bands of the day, could make a career out of playing music?

The pendulum has swung. You have a less traditional career, and are the parent of young musician. What kind of advice, if any, have you imparted regarding the balance (or imbalance) between school, a traditional career, and the life of a Canadian musician just starting out in 2016?

Good one. Please use this one!

[arewhyehen]

You and your bandmates had parents that worked in stable, traditional careers (law, medicine, etc.). When you and the rest of the guys were first starting out playing in bands, and then in early days of The Tragically Hip itself, did you or the other members receive pressure or advice from your families to put down the instruments to focus more on school and pursuing a traditional career and less on practicing and touring? Was there a sense that you, or any of the other young eastern Ontario bands of the day, could make a career out of playing music?

The pendulum has swung. You have a less traditional career, and are the parent of young musician. What kind of advice, if any, have you imparted regarding the balance (or imbalance) between school, a traditional career, and the life of a Canadian musician just starting out in 2016?

Good one. Please use this one!

Very cool question, especially knowing that it is very tough to "make it big" or make a career of music in Canada, without breaking into the USA. They have now shown us otherwise, but back then, I am sure that was on their mind.

[Scotty12]

Here are some Qs I copied from the doc thread


For Paul or Rob:

1. If you had to pick 2 or 3 quintessential guitar songs what would they be and why?


Rob: You mentioned during an interview conducted at the time of the MMP album release that In a World Possessed was not the consensus first single and that Gord Downie campaigned on that song's behalf against the rest of the band's first choice, Machine. The Hip has always been a democracy (or at least Gord Downie has been a benevolent dictator!) and it is no doubt difficult to get five people pulling in the same direction. Is there a particular song in your catalogue that you remember being a very divisive inclusion on an album, maybe one that you felt very passionate about and had to fight hard to have it included on an album?

- After Phantom Power, the band had planned to take a train (to New Orleans?) and write along the way but this got nixed. I believe the writing session for Music @ Work then happened in a more conventional fashion, when the record was done it leaked months early, and didn't sell as well as previous records and the band promoted it less than the previous records (only one video). Did the band sense a shift in their popularity, and musical tastes at the time? To an outsider, this seemed like a shift were some casual fans got off The Hip bandwagon, was this a challenging time for the band?

I've seen you play live 23 times, and out of those shows there are a couple that really stand out for me. Most notably, the second Fort York show on June 24, 2006. It was the first time you played 38 Years Old in over 12 years. Are there any specific shows that stand out for you guys, and if so, what is the reason?

What song was the easiest for you guys to write in terms of everything just coming together quickly, and everything falling into place right away. On the other hand, what song did you guys have to work the hardest on to get just right?

For any of the guys: in a documentary (Full Fledged Vanity) from earlier in the touring life of the band, you noted that one of the challenges of life on the road touring was keeping busy during the downtime between shows. Did that remain one of the big challenges over the years, or did you grow to appreciate the down time? How have the downtime activities evolved over the years? Still touring the finest mini-golf courses across North America?

For any of the guys: what calendar year of the band's career would you most like to relive again? Why?

RB: How and why did you become involved in artistic decisions for the band?

[hurls15]

You and your bandmates had parents that worked in stable, traditional careers (law, medicine, etc.). When you and the rest of the guys were first starting out playing in bands, and then in early days of The Tragically Hip itself, did you or the other members receive pressure or advice from your families to put down the instruments to focus more on school and pursuing a traditional career and less on practicing and touring? Was there a sense that you, or any of the other young eastern Ontario bands of the day, could make a career out of playing music?

The pendulum has swung. You have a less traditional career, and are the parent of young musician. What kind of advice, if any, have you imparted regarding the balance (or imbalance) between school, a traditional career, and the life of a Canadian musician just starting out in 2016?

Good one. Please use this one!

Very cool question, especially knowing that it is very tough to "make it big" or make a career of music in Canada, without breaking into the USA. They have now shown us otherwise, but back then, I am sure that was on their mind.

Thanks! :thumb:

[potsie]

This is more of an elbows-on-bar-top conversation that I'd love to have with Rob, prompted by some recent M@W conversation on the album ranking thread. It's probably not suitable for a documentary, but I'll indulge myself here anyway because this is something that I'd love to talk to him about.

Rob, during your SiriusXM interview around the release time of MMP you talked about past producers. You said that Don Smith was the only producer to ever get two good albums out of you, something that Steve Berlin and Bob Rock couldn't do. You said each of these two producers was only able to pull one good album out of the band. When it comes to Steve Berlin, we can presume that the "good" album was Phantom Power and that you personally are dissatisfied with M@W. My questions:

1. When it comes to M@W, how much of the responsibility (blame?) for the end result lies with the producer and how much lies with the band?
2. How do you form an opinion on what constitutes a "good" vs "bad" album? Is it how the studio album sounds? Is it the quality of Gord's lyrics or the quality of musicianship on the album? Is it how the songs translate live and how they are received by your fans? How much does the commercial success of the album play a role in this?
3. The band didn't strongly support the album with videos (only one, MM@W) and radio singles (only two, MM@W and Lake Fever). Does this reflect the band knowing early on that the album was a bit of misstep? When did you form your negative opinion of the album and has it changed over time? Did you know as soon as it was "in the can" that this wasn't going to measure up to your previous work with Steve Berlin?
4. Other band members have mentioned that there were upwards of 30 songs recorded during this time. Was the band able to achieve consensus on the 14 that went on the album? As you think back to some of the other songs that were left off, do you think the album could have been improved by a change in track listing? Given the opportunity to go back yourself and re-select an album of 14 from that pile of 30 for a M@W Redux, how many do you think you would swap out, if any?
5. Being the in house art director for the Hip, how do you feel the album cover holds up? Were any other ideas considered for the cover and upon reflection, would you change anything?

It might be impossible to ask a somewhat negative string of questions like this without getting Rob's fist in my face, but I would love the answers nonetheless. In some ways the M@W time period, despite spawning one of my least favourite Hip albums, is one of the most interesting to me (e.g. declining commerical success, Gord striking out solo for CMG- any band member worried about this?, etc.). To me it would be just as interesting to ask the band about the highs as it would be to talk about the (perceived) lows.

[arewhyehen]

This is more of an elbows-on-bar-top conversation that I'd love to have with Rob, prompted by some recent M@W conversation on the album ranking thread. It's probably not suitable for a documentary, but I'll indulge myself here anyway because this is something that I'd love to talk to him about.

Rob, during your SiriusXM interview around the release time of MMP you talked about past producers. You said that Don Smith was the only producer to ever get two good albums out of you, something that Steve Berlin and Bob Rock couldn't do. You said each of these two producers was only able to pull one good album out of the band. When it comes to Steve Berlin, we can presume that the "good" album was Phantom Power and that you personally are dissatisfied with M@W. My questions:

1. When it comes to M@W, how much of the responsibility (blame?) for the end result lies with the producer and how much lies with the band?
2. How do you form an opinion on what constitutes a "good" vs "bad" album? Is it how the studio album sounds? Is it the quality of Gord's lyrics or the quality of musicianship on the album? Is it how the songs translate live and how they are received by your fans? How much does the commercial success of the album play a role in this?
3. The band didn't strongly support the album with videos (only one, MM@W) and radio singles (only two, MM@W and Lake Fever). Does this reflect the band knowing early on that the album was a bit of misstep? When did you form your negative opinion of the album and has it changed over time? Did you know as soon as it was "in the can" that this wasn't going to measure up to your previous work with Steve Berlin?
4. Other band members have mentioned that there were upwards of 30 songs recorded during this time. Was the band able to achieve consensus on the 14 that went on the album? As you think back to some of the other songs that were left off, do you think the album could have been improved by a change in track listing? Given the opportunity to go back yourself and re-select an album of 14 from that pile of 30 for a M@W Redux, how many do you think you would swap out, if any?
5. Being the in house art director for the Hip, how do you feel the album cover holds up? Were any other ideas considered for the cover and upon reflection, would you change anything?

It might be impossible to ask a somewhat negative string of questions like this without getting Rob's fist in my face, but I would love the answers nonetheless. In some ways the M@W time period, despite spawning one of my least favourite Hip albums, is one of the most interesting to me (e.g. declining commerical success, Gord striking out solo for CMG- any band member worried about this?, etc.). To me it would be just as interesting to ask the band about the highs as it would be to talk about the (perceived) lows.

Haha, yeah. Rob is doing a big favour to me by doing this so I will probably try and stay away from too much negative stuff. I do want to get some new information out of him and make it worth while and interesting, but don't want to get punched hahaa

[rocketsan22]

Strombo asks the hard questions, you pansy...

[potsie]

This is more of an elbows-on-bar-top conversation that I'd love to have with Rob, prompted by some recent M@W conversation on the album ranking thread. It's probably not suitable for a documentary, but I'll indulge myself here anyway because this is something that I'd love to talk to him about.

Rob, during your SiriusXM interview around the release time of MMP you talked about past producers. You said that Don Smith was the only producer to ever get two good albums out of you, something that Steve Berlin and Bob Rock couldn't do. You said each of these two producers was only able to pull one good album out of the band. When it comes to Steve Berlin, we can presume that the "good" album was Phantom Power and that you personally are dissatisfied with M@W. My questions:

1. When it comes to M@W, how much of the responsibility (blame?) for the end result lies with the producer and how much lies with the band?
2. How do you form an opinion on what constitutes a "good" vs "bad" album? Is it how the studio album sounds? Is it the quality of Gord's lyrics or the quality of musicianship on the album? Is it how the songs translate live and how they are received by your fans? How much does the commercial success of the album play a role in this?
3. The band didn't strongly support the album with videos (only one, MM@W) and radio singles (only two, MM@W and Lake Fever). Does this reflect the band knowing early on that the album was a bit of misstep? When did you form your negative opinion of the album and has it changed over time? Did you know as soon as it was "in the can" that this wasn't going to measure up to your previous work with Steve Berlin?
4. Other band members have mentioned that there were upwards of 30 songs recorded during this time. Was the band able to achieve consensus on the 14 that went on the album? As you think back to some of the other songs that were left off, do you think the album could have been improved by a change in track listing? Given the opportunity to go back yourself and re-select an album of 14 from that pile of 30 for a M@W Redux, how many do you think you would swap out, if any?
5. Being the in house art director for the Hip, how do you feel the album cover holds up? Were any other ideas considered for the cover and upon reflection, would you change anything?

It might be impossible to ask a somewhat negative string of questions like this without getting Rob's fist in my face, but I would love the answers nonetheless. In some ways the M@W time period, despite spawning one of my least favourite Hip albums, is one of the most interesting to me (e.g. declining commerical success, Gord striking out solo for CMG- any band member worried about this?, etc.). To me it would be just as interesting to ask the band about the highs as it would be to talk about the (perceived) lows.

Haha, yeah. Rob is doing a big favour to me by doing this so I will probably try and stay away from too much negative stuff. I do want to get some new information out of him and make it worth while and interesting, but don't want to get punched hahaa

You probably don't want to go as far down the road as I did but I still think his comment about "only one good album" from Berlin and Bob Rock begs some probing. I believe this may be the first time a band member has gone on record as being critical of some of their own work. It could be a rich vein of new information... tap it! You could sandwich it between asking him what his favourite colour is or what he orders on a three topping pizza and telling him how beautiful his hair is

[arewhyehen]

Just a bump...

This is happening soon. Just locked in a date for the interview at the Bathouse Studio .

Really looking forward to getting a look inside there.