Prepare to journey into the heart of the Hip's 2009 album, "We Are the Same." This week, we're pulling back the curtain on an album that made fans wait an extra year for its release. We're not just talking about the music; we're delving into the nostalgia, the reception, and the adventure of listening to this collection of songs.

Tracks

Morning Moon - Studio version

The Last Recluse - Montreal 2009

The Depression Suite - San Fransciso 2009

Frozen in my Tracks - Syracuse 2009

Transcript

Track 1:

[0:01] For the first time in over 20 years, hip fans had to wait longer than two years for new material.

It was three years after we got World Container that Bob Rock came down from the mountain with the Stone Tablet Masters of what appeared to be a campfire album called We Are TheSame.

Although it launched with a cool promo, the hip, performing live at the bathhouse, beamed to cineplex theaters across Canada, and it debuted at number one, I have absolutely no memoryof this album entering the zeitgeist.

In fact, I could tell you that only Love Is a First made it to my ears before the Fully and Completely podcast.

My first full listen of this album was followed by a visit to the grocery store where I bumped into my co-host Greg, and I remember us casually throwing around terms like milk toast andbeige when describing what we were getting into with this springtime release.

What followed though is something amazing and it's something only music can truly do.

[1:05] You see, I gave this album its due and by that I mean a good solid listening session.

On walks, at my desk, on my patio, the beige started to turn into a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes.

The album was making me feel nostalgic for my 1977 El Camino.

I could envision loading up the back of this hog with camping gear and taking this record to the cottage for the May long and listening to nothing but.

Yes, I had become a fan of We Are The Same.

Today it's an album I reach for when I feel wistful and I want to reminisce with my past.

I adore Morning Moon and the Depression Suite, but the deeper cuts do it for me too.

Will the love that Pete and Tim felt on the Bob Rock produced World Container spill over onto this record, or will their first experience be like mine?

We're here now, so we may as well be getting hip to the hip.

Track 4:

[2:31] Hey it's JD here and welcome back to Getting Hip to the Hip.

I'm here every week with my friends Pete and Tim and what we do is we talk about the Tragically Hip one album at a time week over week trying to understand what it's like to hear thisband for the first time again.

Pete, Tim, How the fuck are you guys doing?

Ola, como estas? Buenas tardes. Bueno, bueno, bueno. Los fanes de Tragically Hip.

That's how they would say it here. I'm not culturally appropriating.

That's how people talk here in Spain. In Spanish, you mean? Yeah, yeah.

And they wouldn't change the name of Tragically Hip. hip, they would just say tragically hip, just like they say.

See, see, see. Cloud, cloud, or cloud, or cloud. I don't know where he's went to, but there was a guy on Facebook.

He's in the Facebook group. And his name is Luca Tadia, I believe.

And he's Italian. And he discovered the hip out of, he's an Italian, he's in a band. He's a singer-songwriter.

[3:47] And he was at a really low point. And he discovered the hip.

And he, he really feels so strongly about them that he's rewritten, rewritten.

[3:59] The lyrics like transcribe, like not transcribe them. What word am I looking for?

Translated them, but in many cases he's had to write his own because there's so many turns of phrase he's, he's having to write like his own sort of stuff, but, but to fit in the melodicstructure and then, you know, he, he alters the melodic structure a little bit, but he's released a whole whack and he's coming out with a record and everything, but I haven't seen, I haven'tseen anything about him in a while.

So what a fucking surface, Luca, come back to it.

I'll point out, I'll send some stuff to the thread later this week, but, um, I'm getting way, uh, way caught up in the weeds here because we're here to talk about a record we're here to talkabout, we are the same, uh, released in 2009, which interesting tidbit.

This is the first time that a hip band had had to wait more than two years for a record since the band emerged in 1987.

They had to wait three years. So it was 2006, then 2009. Was that the longest three years of hip's lives?

Or what was going on during that time? I'm guessing the diehards were losing their minds. Yeah. Are they breaking up? What's going on?

Like, Gord was doing solo stuff. Rob Baker was doing Stripper's Union in 2005.

So he might have toured Stripper's Union in 2006.

[5:22] I don't know, they did their usual stuff, but they, like, to my...

[5:28] To my knowledge, they, I mean, the record still opened at number one, um, for the week that it was released, which was consistent with what the hip had been doing.

I think they had eight in a row or something like that, but they just weren't part of the zeitgeist, you know, they weren't part of, or maybe it's just, they weren't part of my zeitgeist.

That, that might be it. Uh, they, they might've been, but, but I feel like if they were as big as they were in 96 in 2009, then they would have never fell off my radar, sort of.

And it wasn't that they fell off my radar. They, I just started listening to other music.

I just, you know, I- Were you aware of their whole, their whole bathhouse performance at the end or before the release? Like they played at the bathhouse to, they played a show?

I would have lost my, like, I would have lost my mind. So I, yeah, I don't, I don't know.

[6:24] It was just out of my reference point. Yeah, so I read that they played at the Bathhouse and it was screened, I guess, at Cineplex Theatres across Canada.

It's like, these guys were, you know, celebrating for sure. Do you know what Cineplex Theatres owns?

One of the things they own is a branch of places called the Rec Room.

And one of the Rec Rooms is in Toronto, where we're going to be hosting our event. And we hope you all make it. Get out of fucking town.

Wait, what's this event? What are we doing?

[6:59] Come on be on board I hate the pull it out game That's gonna be a fun night.

I just can't wait. That's gonna be a real fun. Oh, don't lie Jay Jay D Your pull-out game is great.

[7:15] Oh my gosh He's got like 12 pockets on his outfit right now he's pulling shit out of her. Oh man. Yeah, I know, the event's going to be great, tickets are selling through, so get themwhile you can. Hit them quick.

Get more information on our Twitter feed or send any of us an email, JD, Pete, Tim at gettinghiptothehip.com you can do all of that and more.

So let's get into this Bob Rock produced record.

This one's recorded entirely at The Bath House, which is a stark contrast from World Container, which was recorded at a big studio in Vancouver and a relatively large studio in Toronto.

This was now The Hip on their own ground. I feel like as a result of that we get a very different sounding record.

It's got like the nuances the nooks and crannies that the bathhouse records are sort of becoming famous for but it's still like holy shit is this record produced.

Like it is depending on what side of the fence you're on it's either intricate or too busy you know like in terms of some of the arrangements.

[8:34] The general, I don't know, gist of it that I was kind of reading about is a little bit of a love-hate. I don't know. I also read that that extra year they're waiting for Bob Rock to returnfrom a carnival cruise.

Like a really extended long carnival cruise.

Oh, wow. That's boggers. That's my joke right there. Oh, okay.

Oh, yeah, I got that, it took me a second.

Yeah, me too. Sorry. We'll dial it in, we'll dial it in in post.

I'll test my new editing tools on that one.

Punch up the laughter. Okay. No, I really, I read a bit about this album.

It is very much highly produced. I feel like it's, the all music reviews, three stars. Yeah. Which is lower, you know, by at least half a point than usual.

And one term they used about it was a creative bankruptcy.

Like, they pulled out all the stops. All of the stops for this album and tapped the tank.

So I thought that was a pretty fucking harsh review. That's very harsh.

Considering three years, man.

Yeah, no, no, don't be sorry. I just, I don't see that it's, it's, yeah.

[9:59] I like this. I like this record. I'll tell you guys. I didn't.

The first time I heard it, did not.

So I was the same. Yeah, yeah. Let's hear about your experience listening to the record. I was kind of the same. I listened to it. Well, I listened to parts of it. I couldn't sit through it all thefirst try.

It was like, I don't know, it was like reading a series of books and getting to the next book and it's like, oh my gosh, this book's going to take me forever.

That's what it just felt like to me and finally got through it. I'll say finally.

[10:32] And wasn't so sure, but you know there were songs, I'll just say that there were songs that grew on me after repeat listens and I and I got to a point where I thought I could see howhip fans either embraced the whole trajectory of the hip and continued to absolutely love this band and I could see how some hip fans were like Like, what the fuck?

When are we going to get this Bob Brock guy out of here? Yeah.

Because, I mean, I feel like that's still, I don't know, still a thread going through it. So yeah, that was my take. Listened to it kind of everywhere.

[11:11] I just, I gave this album some real attempts.

But I listened to it also, I think, less than other albums in general.

Okay. Pete?

You know, I say we get into it cause I got a lot to say about the, you know, the record as we go.

And I'll leave my comments to the record as we move on. Okay, well then kick us off here. Let's start right out with Morning Moon.

I mean, I thought it was, I thought it was, let's see.

It definitely a different tone to begin the record on with the acoustic vibe, the melody was really cool.

I was surprised by the strings, but as we'll talk about as we go on here, the strings become a thing. Hey, that's a good way of putting it, Tim.

[12:12] There's a really cool country lick with the electric guitar, I like it.

Chorus is catchy, heavy harmonies, twangy guitar. I got some, I got some like a little bit of Eagles vibes on this too. Sure. Clearly hear it.

My note that I, my note I wrote down was, it's got an AM radio chorus.

Yeah. Yeah, totally, totally. But, but.

In a good way. Yeah, in a good way. But I wasn't like, I wasn't like, ah, ah, fuck. This is, yeah. I mean, this is not...

[12:49] This is not music at work. This does not grab you by the balls and punch you in the face and then throw you down the fucking hill. It doesn't do that.

[13:02] Not to say that I want that, but yeah, interesting start. That's all I'll say. Track one.

We'll go there. We'll talk about Bob Rock as we keep going. Oh, Bobby, I thought, you know, this is an interesting start as well.

It's got this country rock ballad, you know, it's like, are we jumping into a good condition 90s Chevy Suburban driving through Nashville in this one, like heading to the barbecue place?

I don't know. But it also felt like, you know, I was listening through and I also thought this is so singable and it's kind of lovely and it's balladish and And it feels a little country.

There's slide guitar. There's some, I don't know, cello or something that comes in.

There's strings happening. And then I thought, I could rewrite the lyrics of this song and play it for anybody, and they would like it.

I could actually turn this into a country music song. Or you could turn it into, dare I say, a Christian rock song.

It just felt really mainstream, stream kickoff song to this album.

It was like beautiful. Yeah, it's beautiful. And I like dug it, but it felt like programmed, I felt kind of programmed.

[14:26] I would never suggest rewriting Gord Downie lyrics.

I agree. But the music merited a feeling of, this could be a song played on different types of radio stations. It just, yeah.

I wanted, you know, the kickoff on an album for me, it's got to be gripping.

And it puts you in the seat. And you put on your seat belt. And you go.

And this one was like, OK, what's number two?

[14:56] Which, before we get into number two, honey, please, which, from each of you, song would you have used to kick off the record if you were sequencing the record?

Is there a song on there that does that, that throws you down the hill, or grabs you by the throat?

I know which one I would not, out of all of them, but I'll take it.

It's a good question, but to be honest with you, I feel like this record, there are songs on.

There's even notes that I'll say when we get into other songs.

I feel like there's songs that don't belong in this record.

Gotcha. Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, they kicked it off the way they kicked it off. And I think it's, you know, you can't argue with what's been done.

And I can't make their fucking decisions.

But yeah. Yeah, I don't know. That's a tough question. It's a good question, but I can't answer it, JD.

All right, honey, please. Oof. Here's another one I thought that kind of had this R.E.M. feel.

I have East Street Band written down. OK.

I also had. The beginning just reminds me of that piano lick at the beginning.

Just reminds me of Springsteen.

[16:08] It just feels like it's going into a Springsteen song.

OK. This one, it somehow made me think of the band Big Country.

I think they were, where were they from? Were they Scottish?

I don't know. It just, Gord comes in softly, you know, I kind of felt like, oh, I wonder if they do this one live and he's angrier.

Like it just, it just, I felt like there was a shift that wasn't in this song.

Like it just felt like a great radio song, but at the same time.

It was also playing in the ceiling speaker system when I was in Vancouver, BC getting my teeth cleaned.

You know, like it just, it was really, it like, it was like I couldn't figure out what it was.

It was that, or it was almost a wedding song. Like I couldn't figure out what this song was supposed to be. I just, it just kind of stumped me.

It was good and sing along and everything, but it was also like, where are we going?

I know, it's hard. This is that song, this might be the album that got kicked in the balls at the show on September 1st.

Somebody might just walk up and kick me in the balls. Oh, there are big fans of this record. This might be that album. I'm wearing a cup, dude.

[17:33] On Amazon, like, no fucking way. I'm wearing a mouth guard. I'm wearing a wig and I'm going to have like a voice modifier on my throat.

I can just set you guys up behind the screen like so nobody can see you.

You know, one of those things like silhouette.

The old cage. You remember like watching fucking Roadhouse where the band played behind like a fucking like a chain link fence.

And that band was? Jeff Healy and the...

Fuck, Jeff Healy and the... I can't remember the band. I would have just said Jeff Healy band.

Fucking shadow puppets. Here's my shadow puppets, Pete and Tim.

Jesus Christ, man. Great fucking man, though. You know, we've been drinking the Kool-Aid and sometimes you get a little gherpie from, you know, too much Kool-Aid.

I think that's just kind of... It's funny you say that, Tim, because I'm reading my notes for this song and it's... And honey, please... You've got gherpie written down. No, no, it didn't matter.

This is my complete notes on this song. Heavy production. Producer is really mixing the Kool-Aid here.

[18:44] Even how the drums are mixed, I mean, I just, I could not, I could not listen to this fucking song enough to even see, like, I just was like, yeah, dentist's office.

I'm at, I'm at a fucking Sears or, or I'm at a Hallmark store and I'm just like, what the fuck, man?

I just want to get out of here so I can put on fucking Black Sabbath or the, or fucking, or fully and completely in my fucking car. Like I just, Christ, excuse my language, but yeah, it justwas not taken, not taken.

The, the, I'll just, there's more, but the, the, you're right about the drum mixing because there were a couple times where I was like, there's nothing wrong with this drummer.

Why are we doing what we're doing here? Oh, it was like fucking the right tom went from the right ear to the left ear and then the kicks going back.

I'm like, what the fuck are we doing? Why? Like, just give me the fucking drums.

I don't need a ping pong set in my ears.

It was just too much. I hear you on the E Street Band JD, but yeah, other than that, could not, oh, yeah, that's all I got. That's all I got. you.

[20:05] J.D. we need to rerecord the start and you're going to be like, this is where I lost my friendship with Pete Dibb.

And they were banned from the roof of the United States. No entry. No entry.

[20:22] The first time I sat down and listened to the record was for Fully and Completely, the podcast. By the way, Pete, it's Fully Completely. Fully and Completely was our podcast.

Whoa, easy, JD. Okay, now you're cut. Okay, all right.

Mr. Details. This is episode... He's gotten our back.

This is like, I mean, we got one record after two records. I should know this, you're right.

I should know this at this point. I don't know if I can say this.

So I listened to it then and I like absolutely, it did nothing for me.

It did nothing. Like, I was just like, I don't even, I didn't pick up anything.

I can't even say, oh, well, the Parchment Suite I really liked, you know, like, no, it just washed over me.

And that really disappointed me and so I gave it like a session listen.

Probably two or three weeks later, where I sat down and listened to it two or three times in a row.

And that's when I latched onto a few songs.

I won't say what they were, but I latched onto a few songs. And then picking it up again for this podcast and listening to it, it's like I'm finding some of these songs feel weirdly nostalgicnow, you know?

And Honey Please, I like the tone of of his voice, like, I like what he's doing with his vocals on this song. Yeah. Uh, like he's, he's really playful.

Like Jimmy's like, no, not like that.

[21:51] Well, I was just in shock because I thought for a second, Gordani was sitting across from me.

Oh, I thought you meant Tim was having a fucking seizure. No, it's, it's what I've been doing around the house when I need a refill.

It's like, No, this, you know what, I'll tell, I'll tell you something, this, this is a really weird analogy, but like, I'm not a, I'm not one of those guys who's, I mean, I think the last time beforethis time I had been to a strip club when I was like 18 years old, you know, when you're 18, this is the first thing you can do.

You go to a strip club. Yeah. Uh, and I had gone to one, one time after I was in a very committed and loving relationship And it was like, I got there and I was like, there's this beautifulwoman and she's talking to me and she smells nice and everything.

And she's like, it's not doing, it's not, it's not taking.

[22:44] And then like, you know, the night goes on, I have a couple of beers and I'm like, still not working. I don't understand what it is.

And, you know, turns out, at least in terms of the strip club, it was because I love the person I was with and I didn't want to be there.

I was not happy about where I was at. But that's how I felt listening to this song, is that no matter how much I tried, it did nothing for me whatsoever.

Wow. It wasn't because it was your aunt, Shirley?

I mean, for art, for art, that is the most harsh criticism you can give, right? I hate to say that.

I hate to say that. This song is- No, no, I'm fine.

This is what this is, right? This is great. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like that you're being honest rather than pandering, you know, I'm not going to pander and I'm going to be honest about this.

It means the stuff that you have loved is that much more real to me.

You know, thank you. Yeah. I mean, when you go back to, I mean, talk to me about fucking trouble with the hen house and I'm Christ.

[23:52] Well, and just wait for next, next week. Ooh. Okay. I'm, I'm, you know, I don't want to get to the last recluse.

[27:09] Oh, so, you know, fun chorus, lots of oohs, aahs.

You know, I like a good ooh-aah section in a song when it works. I don't mind it.

It can make it fun. But this song is so loaded. It's like tons of instruments.

I don't know if there's an accordion in this song. I don't know.

There's keys. There's tons of layers. It's got this ominous start.

Um, it's a really bridge. Yeah. Bridge is so ominous.

This chanting. Yeah. Yeah. I, which I thought was kind of cool, but, uh, you know, the keys fade out at the end and, and Gord's just, who are you?

Who are you? Who are you? And it's, uh, I don't know what the song is, is about or who, or I don't know. It just, it just was like, whew, this, this song's loaded.

Did you watch those videos I sent you guys?

There's a trilogy from this record and Gord produced the videos and I sent them as a link. I don't think I think I said I was going to watch it because I wasn't in a place with Wi-Fi and thenI never watched it.

I think that's my excuse also.

[28:23] I don't remember getting it from you. You have to resend it.

I'll resend it. I would watch it.

Yeah, I want to read my notes verbatim here. Okay, um because yeah, I I really cool opening.

I got YouTube vibes, a little Alice in Chains with the acoustic.

[28:46] Guitar. The melody is good but it's very Coldplay.

I got a lot of Coldplay vibes from this song. Not that I'm a Coldplay fan but unless you've been living under a fucking rock, you know what Coldplay sounds like.

[29:00] And not to say that Coldplay's bad. There's a market for them.

I like the keyboards but again with like the chanting and everything like I wrote down I do not recognize this band and it's no it's no surprise to me that Bob Rock did not produce the nextrecord because I feel like the whole time this guy Bob Rock whoever he is I don't know how he sounds I don't know where he's from but he's like listen guys nah this is the way it's gottabe I've been in the business for years I did this Metallica group you hear of them you heard of them they're from they're from California I know how to do it.

It's just what you got to do to make this record sound good.

Okay, I'm a big time record producer here.

Like, I mean, the whole band is just like, Gord, what do you think?

Do you know how much this haircut costs?

Yeah, I put my my my pants on the same way as everybody else.

The only difference is I make gold records.

Like, I'm like, just like, fuck, dude, I'm the band must have just been sitting sitting there like, okay, all right, we'll do this.

[30:08] Hey Gord, we're taking a coffee break right now. Hey Gord, I just ran into fucking Bob Rock coming out of the bathroom and he says we should put some Gregorian chants on thenext song.

And he's like, you said, you said what?

Okay, I guess we'll try it. Like it just, I don't know. Yeah.

I, let's, can we go to Coffee Girl?

Because it's not just. Sure.

Can we? Can we? I promise, I promise this is gonna get better, but not with this song. Yeah, it is, it is. Not with this song.

[30:43] It's a rollercoaster ride. This song.

I'm reading I'm reading verbatim here feels like a song used for a scene transition in a romantic comedy when the guy and the girl break up before the final act where they get backtogether. Coffee girl.

It's like I'm just picturing like, ah, fuck, he broke up.

It's a montage of like her at work alone, pissed off because the guy fucking broke her heart, whatever the And, and, and like the trumpet, it's like, it was cool, but it was just like, what thefucking trumpet?

Like, what is, what is going on right now?

[31:24] And, and I mean, maybe it's supposed to make you feel like you're in a, like, give you that, that so I made her an expert or so I married an expert vibes.

You remember that? Yes. Yeah. Like with a trumpet, like a lowly coffee shop in San Francisco, like, I don't know what the fuck's going on, but I'm just like, okay, this band is takingdirection.

This is not, not to say it's not the same guys, but they're just like, they're led astray on some songs with this record, I feel.

That's all I'm saying. Interesting thing. Yeah. I'd want this, this song, I got this, like, I agree with you pretty much, but I got creepy vibes from it.

Get to the back door, look around, then turn the key, turn on all the lights, take down the chairs and make things neat.

One night he'll make you choose. I mean, what? This is... Well, the beginning part is her opening the coffee shop.

This song's creepy though. It's, I don't know. There's, there's...

So I had that little sentiment about it. And then I was like, I remember when you could walk in Starbucks and you'd hear like like a catchy song.

And then they had CDs for sale next to the cash register.

I remember those days. And you can like take from, you know, the holiday Starbucks playlist, but it was on CD for sale right there.

Right. I wondered, like, yeah.

[32:51] You used to have a song you could download too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was like, was this a Starbucks song? I don't think it was a single.

Tim's all creeped out and JD's like, no.

JD's like, no, I've worked at a coffee shop. I've worked at a Starbucks before.

You turn the lights, you turn the fucking key, you put the chairs out.

Tim, what the fuck is the problem?

Yeah, the problem is one night he'll make you choose. What is that? Like there's...

You gotta watch the videos. Watch the videos, all right? I don't...

Fucking... Okay. All right. Homework. Homework. Now, I agree with you.

This song is very milquetoast.

Milquetoast. Good work. You know? Yeah. It's fine.

But it's enhanced significantly by this video.

You enjoy it a little bit more. But... Well, in that essence, do you feel the song was kind of made for video, hand in hand, kind of?

Well, I don't know why it wouldn't have been a single then, you know? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Like, back in the day, they were releasing six, seven singles a record to give those record legs.

[34:06] Well, it's got, I think, second biggest plays, or third biggest plays for this entire record on Spotify.

Definitely a single category as far as listening is concerned.

And I said it at the top of the fucking conversation about this tune is that it feels like it's made for a movie, you know? Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, I thought of the same. Only played 77 times live.

So it's not really a big live song. No, it'd be super rare. Yeah.

You guys are such data whores.

Such data whores. You started it with your Spotify. I really wasn't with this album until yesterday.

I usually do some research along the way in this album. I really just tried to listen to it, and I tried to listen to it. You weren't inspired.

And then yesterday, got into some of the data stuff. All right.

Let's go to track number five. Let's go.

So, the acoustic guitar feels kind of played hard. Like, I don't know if you caught this, Pete, but it felt like.

I don't know. I don't think it feels forced, but the strumming of the acoustic guitar in the beginning feels a little bit annoyed or something.

I don't know. There's some sentiment in there.

[35:33] Drums felt kind of simple, and then everything kind of thickens up, and there's big solos in here.

It's over a six-minute song, So it's building us up in song length.

I mean, this is a long song for the hip.

[35:52] What else did I have in my notes here? Oh, there is, you know...

Sorry, I have to read this real quick. You know, the importance of this one is just how it is all about the reference of the residential school system.

We actually watched a kind of docudrama film about the residential school system up there and all the government's policies towards First Nations people.

And that's some heavy, heavy stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

It's just the song, let's see, I read the song is a response to this basically a cool you've apologized.

Oh no, no, this was a Gord quote, I believe. Cool you've apologized, but nothing has really changed.

The damage has been done. People are still suffering as a direct result of the government's policies. You know, that's, it's, it's not an apology song, but it's sort of.

This one's just big. It's just a big song. Another one.

[37:06] Yeah, before I speak about the song, I'm going to go back to one thing I said in the previous pod.

I really wish to God Gorda was alive today, because I feel like the governments of the world, specifically the United States government and the Canadian government are just fucking itspeople in so many ways.

Not making this a political thing, but like, Absolutely, I just I feel like that guy is a guy who would speak out and and you know, it's funny because I remember watching like video ofTrudeau when he died and Saying what a great guy he was and him actually tearing up but thinking like god, man I wonder if Gord hadn't died and what he'd be saying about some of theshit going.

Yeah, no doubt the war or, you know, anything that happened during COVID, all that shit. I just really, you know, that guy is an important voice for the people in Canada.

And I think, I don't know, I say North America, although there's not a lot of Americans that know the hip, but I sure shit do now.

So, but getting back to the song, I liked this one. I, Tim, I certainly felt the same vibe. acoustic guitar in the beginning sounds extremely dated so that's where I think you got the vibe.

[38:28] There's a lot of chorus and a lot of reverb it's just like way too like is this is this 1991?

92? It sounded like the same guitar tone on the song More Than Words by Xtreme.

It just but strumming instead of that Like it just was too much.

That being said, again, the strings come in, but there's a lot more of that on this fucking record.

Rob Baker kind of saves the day.

Solo starts coming in. The hit is great. The chorus is awesome.

I love it there's some really cool arpeggios that are done in the second verse that just mix up the the sound of the song and then Rob Baker's solo it I Mean, I don't know dude.

I'm willing to think he's probably the biggest fucking Pink Floyd fan in all I thought the same thing!

That motherfucker, it's just fucking David Gilmour.

I mean, I'm like, is Gilmour playing on this fucking record or is it Rob Baker?

I mean, it's not even like, if you heard it, you'd be like, oh yeah, it's David Gilmour playing guitar. Like, no, it's actually Rob Baker, which is cool. I like it.

And then Paul Amois doing like a Beatles thing, like with the guitar, like bouncing back and forth.

[39:57] But in the end, I felt like this song had literally, I don't wanna miss a thing, Aerosmith, Armageddon vibes.

Like it was produced to that level. Like it was good. Cinematic.

But it was just, yeah, like, whoa, like, did I see this on the IMAX?

I've got to listen to this song in IMAX. Yeah, to really appreciate it. Oh my gosh.

I had the Pink Floyd reference, not so much of the guitar playing, but more as the all-encompassing feel of this album and the journeys throughout it, because it felt like it was trying to belike this massive Floyd production.

That's one thought I had relating to the Floyd.

[40:44] But the song, it made me wonder. This is where I dove into the story a little bit more.

I wanted to know who Honey Watson was. Did you find out who Honey Watson is?

Anybody? The reference here.

So Gord apparently was watching a CBAE, CBC news story about the residential schools and started to write this song about it.

And then the news story shifted to some story in Haiti and the news correspondent's name was Connie Watson.

And he heard it as Honey Watson.

And he thought that was funny, so he incorporated her name, Connie Watson, as Honey Watson into the song.

Just thought it was cool and wrote it down. So he's like going through this really heavy topic, like one of.

[41:36] Canada's maybe, you know, top three heaviest topics, residential school system.

And he's throwing in these funny little, I thought they said, honey, Watson, her name's Connie Watson.

I'm going to put this in this fucked up story, you know, it's like, God damn what this guy can do. And Pete, I completely agree with you.

We, we, if I could choose, of course, any of us to have Gord still around. Yes.

But we also need the band. Like, this is something I kind of want to save to the end, but of the whole, all of our experience, but like, we don't have art in the form of music that isscreaming about issues going on right now and making people angry.

We don't have like, I can't name a band right now that has death threats against it from groups of idiots.

[42:31] You know, I just don't know, like, there's a lot of- Hang tight, Tim.

Our record comes out in December. Yeah, there we go.

I was just going to say, there's a lot of, there's a lot, there are many lesser known, but on the rise, you know, kind of post-punk stuff coming out or going on, you know, like there's a lot.

I agree with you though, man. There's just like, there's no- There's no mainstream people out there who are really screaming about issues going on around the world and ruffling feathers.

[43:07] Like so much. Where's the song War Pigs, dude? Fuck, I've second time I've mentioned Sabbath during this fucking podcast.

But like, where's the song War Pigs? Right now.

Right now. It's on my hard drive. Back off.

Hey, no, but like, I mean, I mean, here we are.

[43:27] You know sending Billions of dollars to fund war all around the world and where the fucking dude, you know what?

Um, there's a great fucking tiktok or whatever the fuck it is And it's some guy like i've seen it. Don't pretend like you don't tiktok all the time.

No, I don't I don't have it But I wish I did um for that purpose, but there's a guy's Sitting in his car.

He actually has his own account. Yeah. Look it up at pete.

Um, it's all about his hair No, dude, there's a fucking guy sitting in his car and he's just like, you know, you guys in your punk bands and you were young, you were fighting against thesystem.

[44:06] But somewhere you got old and you got fucking soft and you joined a party and it dude, he just fucking nails it.

This guy fucking nails it. Wow. He fucking nails it.

And it's like when I see shit like people like Henry fucking Rollins, like supporting the Democratic Party, which is like, fuck the Republicans, fuck the Democrats, fuck them all.

Your job is to be against the system. You fuck.

Excuse my language, but it's just like that's yeah, that's how I feel like, like a guy like Gord had.

I don't know. The interviews I've seen with him and so much integrity, he wouldn't waffle. He'd tell he'd call a fucking spade a spade when he saw it.

And if he smelled bullshit, he'd call it out no matter who it was. I don't know.

That's how I feel, man. And yeah, you're right, Tim. We need the band.

We need the band. We do. We need the band. Because the music's...

Because not everybody watches the news and not everybody watches interviews.

You hear music, though, man. You hear fucking War Pigs and you listen to those lyrics and you think, yeah, Smedley Butler was right.

If you don't know who Smedley Butler is, listeners, Google him. He's not either.

No, he's dead, but he wrote a good book.

War is a wreck. Anyhow, too soon yet. He's been dead a while. It's a depression suit.

[54:35] I had no idea what I was getting in store for when the song started, right? I mean, I was in the car and the display in my mediocre sound system, M-S-S.

Clearly not my sound system.

Fucking premium audio shit. My stock sound system. Anyways, on my screen it doesn't show the amount of time the song is. It just shows the amount of time it's been playing.

And I just kept looking over. Like, I'm driving across town and I keep looking over.

Like, god damn, how long is this song gonna go? The last song was like six minutes plus, right? Is this one a rock opera? Like, what is going on?

It has this lovely start, but you really don't know where it's going.

[55:26] The lyrics, I just, I was a little bit confused.

The first listen, I thought we were really going to end around three and a half minutes, because that's when I was looking over. But we just kept evolving.

It shifts gears, it speeds up, it gets more intense.

Gord gets more loud. The strings get more loud. It just like, it's really climbing up this mountain.

[55:50] And you know, part of the lyrics is, is what if the song does nothing?

What is it doing? You know, what if the song does nothing?

In one of the reviews of the song, which I later read, some of the hip fans who aren't as much into this album, they, you know, their, their response of what if the song does nothing waslike, yeah, what if it's not doing anything, you know, it's just confusion maybe? I don't know.

Some fans were were like, no, I don't want to see how it ends because Gord's lyrics kind of ask for that. There's this, um...

Kind of painful guitar solo at like eight minute mark.

I mean the strings that loop and have this abrupt stop it's just this song is...

It just goes. I've only listened to it three times I will listen to it again but the song to me was just...

I just wonder what everybody was trying to do because it just was magnanimous.

[56:59] It's giant. All right.

Well, I will say I fucking love this. I thought I thought it was fucking magnificent.

I think, you know, I finally with all the strings that are on this record was like, OK, I can dig them on this song.

You know, I mean, it's a very, this is a very emotional record.

It sounds like just lyrically, I don't feel like any of the first five songs really moved me that way. But there's a lot of musical references that he makes in here to like things like perfectfifths.

The chorus is fucking amazing.

When he starts warming up his voice, when he really starts digging his fucking heels in and he starts repeating, if this song does nothing, with the strings backing him up, I think are superpowerful.

[58:03] They move me in this song, especially I listen to this song a lot in the car.

I've talked about it once or twice, but, you know, it's a different experience when you listen to a song, when you listen to hip in my car or any music but you know I have a, The soundsystems, you know, it came with premium, but it's it's you know, it's it's a good It's a good audio system in my car. Frothy and quiet.

Pete's premium sound system There's When the strings there's a cool syncopated rhythm that happens in the song and then when it when it breaks There's a part, because this is twodifferent songs, it's like 9 minutes and 27 seconds long and when this song breaks and it changes course, there's a part in it that is Alice Cooper's Only Women Bleed.

Has anybody heard that song before?

Yeah, sure have. It's that, it's fucking that, fucking it's the hook in that song they fucking use.

And Gord's vocals are exactly that.

[59:16] He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all. That's the lyric in the Alice Cooper tune.

But it's fucking, I dig it. And then, you know, I liked Rob Baker's solo.

It was very emotional. This is a really emotional tune.

And I don't feel like I'm like, ah, this is fucking amazing.

I just think it's, it clearly took a ton of work and a ton of work.

Yeah. But I do feel like the band starts to come together on this track.

You start hearing, okay, this seems more tragically hip than before.

[59:58] So anyway, that's what I got for this tune. They played this, they played the song live 86 times. Like I wanted to look that up to see, like did they play it 10 times, six times? Theyplayed it 86 times.

That's like not a ton compared to all the shows they played in their entirety, but that's a handful of times at this.

Well, considering it's a later album, I mean, obviously they played the earlier ones more. Yeah.

So to experience it and to know it and experience it live was probably fucking epic.

Yeah, but who knows if it was with the strings too.

[1:00:35] Yeah, I don't think they toured with strings for sure. Okay, okay. If you're playing like Royal Albert Hall or something, yeah, you're gonna have fucking strings, but like, youknow, otherwise... That didn't happen for sure, JD.

[1:00:48] I don't remember. I don't remember that being... Like, this would have been around the time in their career that that would have been something that you might expect them to do.

You know, like, we're going to do a tour with a full orchestra to get different venues on board and, you know, things like that. Bands do that kind of shit.

The Cineplex Theater video. Would have been perfect for this record.

Yeah, that Sinplex Theater air didn't include all the Strings people or whomever, do you know? Was that just the band? I can't imagine it would have. I'll try to find that.

Yeah, if you know, send me an email, jd.gettinghiptothehip.com.

That would be really cool. But let's go to the exact feeling.

I didn't have a whole lot on this one.

I felt like it had the DNA more, a little more so, of a hip song.

Like a standout was the wah pedal going on and kind of this faint background guitar playing fade out at the end like I Honestly didn't have a whole lot not many exact feelings of this oneNot that I didn't like it.

It just felt like a filler spot to me. I just kept rolling. Okay.

I Yeah, okay. There. This song is the one that starts with the Castagnets, so very Spanish. Yeah. They wrote it for me.

[1:02:15] I like the rolling melody, like the chord progression, the way they do it is really cool. It just it drops and then it comes back, it drops and it's very circular.

The chorus is fucking amazing on this song. And the way it builds to the chorus is like, it definitely has more of a hip vibe. Like I said last time, I feel like they really start to like becomethe hip again.

It's like, whoa, who's that other fucking band the first four songs or whatever, you know?

And now there's like, okay, we're warmed up now, fellas, sit back and relax and enjoy.

So I dug it. But then, you know, it just kind of doesn't know where to go, fades out.

Tim doesn't like fade outs. the time I don't. Yeah, sometimes they're okay.

Yeah, in this case, I just feel like the song was really cool.

They had some cool ideas, and then there was nowhere to really go.

They painted themselves into a corner and we're just like, okay, we're just going to stop painting the room.

[1:03:18] You know, but yeah, but I got I got stuff to say about the next song. Yeah, go. Let's go.

Queen of the Furrows. I love the beginning. I thought it was fucking awesome.

This song is fucking Led Zeppelin three.

It is Led Zeppelin three. I think Rob Baker's playing the mandolin.

I don't know if Gord is. I don't know who's playing the mandolin.

Would love to get some get a line on that. If you know anything, Pete at getting it at the hip.com.

You like what you see what I did there? That was that was very professional.

Did it sound natural? My boys all growed up.

[1:03:57] I dug this song. The way the fucking chorus, the way the chorus comes in is like, it's just so different from the song, which is not very Led Zeppelin 3 because it's so heavy.

It's fucking rad. And then the solo by Rob Baker, I'm going to read notes for Vadim here, Rob Baker melts dicks off people.

He doesn't even melt your face, he melts your dick. I mean, this solo is fucking screams.

It's so good. You can just tell he's in the zone and he could hear that he wanted to play that solo and he just wanted to fucking destroy it.

And he just did. He delivered, I don't know if he did that in one take or if they mixed different solos together to make that, but it just sounds so good, dude.

Goddamn, it's so good.

I love it. Good song, good tune. Good tune. I'll pretty much agree with that.

You know, it's one, I'm not going to add much to what Pete just put in, but what I did want to know what, you know, what this queen of the furrows is.

And, um, it's actually a crown awarded annually to quote an agriculturally-minded young woman of Ontario.

[1:05:23] And I'll just show you guys real quick. This is Kieran County Queen of the Furrow 2020 as part of Ontario's Plowman's Association.

Can you see? Oh, yeah. What do you think?

She's nice, you know, it's so to give everybody You know some insight into that photo. I would say she's dressed like a like you would think she'd be wearing overalls or something likethat, but she's dressed like a beauty queen.

She's got a lovely dress on. She's got a sash and a tiara that looks, you know, like, that looks all beautiful and like prom queenie.

Not at all what I would have expected the Queen of the Furrows to look like.

Which for real... Not at all what I expected the Plowman's Association to be doing.

Easy, Tim! Easy! But I didn't know, furrows is the word for the lines, you know.

That's right. In the farm from the machines planting seeds or doing whatever you do.

I mean, now I know when I'm sitting in the window seat on Alaska Airlines, covering the West Coast as I do.

[1:06:37] I thought the guitar solo, it hearkened me back to some GNR.

That's all I'll say about that. Certainly. this I guess just lastly the ending had this noisy but kind of quiet background guitar feedback something like there was something something playfulhappening with some guitar noise and the congos like this was one of those interesting enders but but kind of a cool song. Speed River.

So, Speed River, I was like, ah, okay, I'm kind of digging this one.

This felt a little more like what I was hearkening back to, Liking of the Hip.

This was a single. Yep, yep. This has, again, a big guitar solo, which quiets down into keys and some rim shots from drumsticks happening.

[1:07:34] This house sounds like a bomb hit it is a fucking cool lyric.

I didn't know if that was referencing the feeling of recording and just being in the zone. This is what I was imagining, just being in the zone of the music just feeling so good with yourbandmates.

You know, this house feels like a fucking bomb hit it because we are destroying with this music. But this song is kind of cool. a little more, I don't know, a little more fun in an easilysingable way.

You know, it has a somewhat fitting, abrupt ender to it.

It might have been... At first glance, it was like, this might be my song on the album. I'm not sure. Don't give it away, buddy.

I didn't. I left it hanging a little.

All right. He said it might. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I stand corrected. Speed River.

I'd love to agree with Tim, because I love agreeing with him, but the tonal licks were cool.

[1:08:45] Overall, though, not impressed. I feel like this song was written to play live.

I mean, literally, they wrote it and were like, yeah, we don't care how this fucking sounds on the record. It's just gonna be a fucking banger to play live.

Yeah, I'm sure it was great live.

How many times did they play it there, Tim? Let's look.

It was probably like a- Oh, I thought you had it pulled up hard.

I do. It's just on, I got it right here.

It probably was awesome, you know, to play like the fifth song of a show just to keep the crowd going.

It was played 11. This was played 11 times. So this song was probably a treat for people who do it.

You know, it was probably a fucking treat. Yeah. I guess so.

I heard the rim shots and the keyboards, it's just felt so country pop, like, I felt like I felt like I should be at, like, the lake with my, like, pseudo country Republican voting friends, like, 12Bud Lights deep being like, yeah, this is fucking mad, right?

Yeah, this is fucking cool. Yeah. Fuck, yeah.

[1:10:00] So that was Bobby and. Yeah. You know, I don't know. It's just the vibe I got.

I don't know why, but I felt.

I felt like if I heard the song live, I'd be like, fuck, yeah.

But on the record, it was just.

It was like a bad Viagra pill, not that I've ever taken Viagra, but I don't know why.

That's why. That's what I thought of. But it's like somebody selling you like a, like a placebo and be like, yeah, this will, this will do it.

And you take it and you're like, I didn't do anything.

[1:10:35] I think it was 2009 that we went to Mazatlan. That's kind of throwing me back to bad Viagra pills. Okay. I just thought, because you know, songs, you want to say this song to getmy engine going.

That's why I did that. Anyway. If you look at the blueprints of this song, though, it should work like it should.

It should all be there. Yeah, yeah. It's got an interesting chorus.

But you're right, the sum of the pieces don't add up.

Now, there are people that will love this song and tell us why you love it.

It'd be great to hear. You could love it, but compare it to the shit that they've done.

[1:11:19] And we're not in the compare and contrast game. We're not comparing apples and and oranges, groeries and forges. But I mean, dude, like.

You're going to put this up against fucking fireworks, go fucking freak off, as Ricky LeFleur would say.

Freak, freak right off. I mean, Christ, I mean, not even close. Right. Just I.

But you're right, Judy, the sum of it, you know, it has all the components.

It's like, Hey, babe, I was going to make this amazing soup for you.

I put all the ingredients in, but for some reason it still tastes like shit.

Yeah. Yeah. I won't go. Yeah. I won't, I won't go that far, but yeah.

[1:12:08] Well, you know, you know where I'm going. Yeah. Well, with it, with this album and where we're at now and with, with all these journeys of these songs, I mean, we've gone fromlike three minute songs to nine minute songs, these, these past two, Queen of the Froze and Speed River, they feel like kind of placed in there to fill it out a little bit.

But they also feel to me a little bit like past albums filler songs. So yeah.

To me, they were good and they represent.

But in this particular album, it's almost like, guys, we had 10 days book to record.

We're at day four and you're feeling done. What do you have?

They were part of this for two months. What do you have that we could pull in here? Jesus Christ.

What about that song, Speed River? I just hope Bob Brock can retire after this. Yeah. What was that?

[1:13:02] I just said, I hope Bob Rock retired after this or, or no, no offense to Bob Rock.

Cause he produced some great shit, but just like, or found a band that he was more compatible with because it just. Yeah. I feel you. I feel you.

I don't feel, and that's, you know, you guys dug the last record and that was him.

And, uh, and, and you turned me back onto it by your, by your digging of it.

You know, it's, it's just, it's just interesting. It's it sure is.

I mean the last record I I it kind of won me over quickly and I believe I said this, you know, I went online to see how I could get it on vinyl and And then the more I listened to it the less Ilooked into Getting it on vinyl.

I'm watching literally watching a crow in my backyard right now I'm going to destroy.

[1:13:59] An old crow? I have a crow right now, destroying. Hey! Go! I love birds.

I'm a birder. And this crow is destroying my cover over my...

It's too complicated. I didn't know that crows in Portland speak English.

Did you know that, Jamie? I did not know that either. That is a fact.

I would have assumed they spoke Croatian.

Oh shit. Fuck man. JD takes a sip of his fucking whiskey and says, I'm out bitches, finish the podcast on your own motherfuckers.

I printed out the article, I didn't really, but I printed out the article about dads who throw out dad jokes are better dads than dads who do not throw out dad jokes.

That may be true, but I'll tell you what, um, uh, camera, wait, what was it? Pigeon camera? Pigeon camera. Yeah. Yeah, it'd be cool if we, they did a crow camera. At least you havealliteration.

[1:15:08] I guess crows weren't as smart, but crows are supposed to be really smart.

They're fucking smart. And they, they have face recognition skills.

They, they remember people. Frozen in my tracks.

[1:18:58] You know, I think it's kind of a pleasure. It's a little bit of a gift, or maybe it's a huge gift, when Gord does his, what do we call it, when he speaks over...

Spoken word! Yeah, when he does a spoken word fucking poetry, trippy stuff, like this song has it, and we got it, and I'm happy at this point on any hip song to get that.

It's got kind of a... That's cool. Yeah, I mean, come on. It's got somewhat of a spooky start.

The snare on this one's a bit tuned up, and the bass is like, lack of a better term for thuddier or deeper. It's like the drums felt a little bit different to me.

[1:19:43] This, you know, Gord at the one minute mark, he's already screaming in this song.

[1:19:48] I thought that, I don't know, with the bridge at like two minutes, this kind of locomotive feeling, I thought this song reminded, it made me wonder if Bob Rock, look, can yousqueeze call him Bobby?

Because if he listens to this, I just want him to be Really upset.

It's called a rock the rock B rock maybe Brock Brock, but maybe he was a little jealous of Danny Elfman because this one has this production value of like Danny Elfman this like tryingto go big and theatrical and kind of trippy and fun, but not and you know that's It doesn't really have an ending.

It does, but it doesn't like have an ending. This, this one I'll say that I enjoyed but it also like left me just kind of reeling about the album and the hip and the production and you know, isthis one, is this one like another World War one or World War two song like Like, are the Germans or the Russians the ones suffering through it?

Like, I don't know. I don't know.

This one was, at this point in the album, my brain's kind of a cluster. All right.

[1:21:14] I feel like from now on when we mention Bop Rock, JD, and maybe you can do this in post-production, but you should just, we should just, you know, have this. Just, just, justdub that in, man.

[1:21:31] Yeah, I was all about the Chevy Suburban earlier. Chevy Tahoe.

Tahoe, yeah. I mean, I feel you. I thought this was a really unique song because it was really weird. It was really out there.

It's not Tiger the Lion out there, but it's, I love the way, I actually like the bass is really gnarly the way it starts because it's different.

Yeah, it's super unique, but the drum rhythm, like the song I think is in like 6-8.

It's in a weird time signature. It's not in standard rock and roll pop 4-4.

And my notes just read what the fuck is going on in this song?

Yeah. The song is like eating haggis for the first time. Was it good?

Like, I ate it. I enjoyed it. But I just ate whatever haggis is.

Isn't it cow intestines or something? Sheeps. Sheeps. Yeah. It's just like...

Did I actually enjoy that? It's like the sheep's heart and liver and it's silly.

Yeah. It's a bunch of shit ground up. Yeah. Like that's that's how this song felt.

Who's doing the back? I mean so many questions.

[1:22:48] Yeah Yeah, the backup vocals is like what who's singing that I mean, yeah, it doesn't sound like the band, but I mean, it's just like multiple overdubs, but I also Like I wish theband would have pulled a steely dan and told you know, like a rock to go to hit the bricks, but But, you know, and when I say that, I mean, you know.

Put this song on a completely different album. It's a cool tune, it's unique, but it's just like throwing...

[1:23:24] I don't know, man. It's like going to a Japanese restaurant, getting a five-course sushi meal, and then course four, they serve you a fucking cheeseburger.

You're like, what? I thought this was sushi. I thought I was getting sashimi for the fourth course.

Then we're gonna get like, you know, for the dessert, like some wasabi ice cream or something. But no.

[1:23:48] It's just, it's weird. I don't know. I like it. I'm not saying I don't like it. It's just... Yeah. Yeah. Really out of place. I'm with you.

I'm with you. No idea what's going on.

It's like a band doing somebody else's material or something. Yeah. Yeah.

And as I keep looking up these songs and how many times they were played live, many of songs were not played often live.

I'm just gonna say. You know, if I produced this album and started looking up like my history of how I did with The Hip and how they enjoyed my songs live and I found like the averageof this album, just making this up, but the average of this album they played live was like, I mean granted 2009, but was like 26.2 I'd be, whoo, but how many shows did they play from2009 on?

I don't know. I don't know. It's definitely a lot.

Yeah, I'm sure quite a few I'm sure yeah.

All right first single from the record Which is baffling to me Because if I'm trying to define what this record is Like it or not if I'm trying to define what what you're about to get You knowwith the first single which is often what you try to do You try to accomplish to get across that.

Hey, this is what you're gonna get with this record You know, from a sound perspective, sonically, song construction, you know, this is just, This is... this is it.

[1:25:13] And it's love is the first, which nothing else sounds like this on this record.

[1:25:22] Like really. Again, whether I like it or not is here nor there.

I'm curious to hear what your thoughts were on your first listens.

Tim? I, you know, this one I couldn't pinpoint it, but it was really reminding me of another band or another song.

[1:25:38] Like this, the chorus, there's something about this song. There's some other band or song that is all over this one and I could not figure out what it was.

And to have that feeling in general while listening to it a bunch of times trying to figure out what it sounds like isn't the best feeling to review a song with.

You know, I felt like they were trying to do something maybe a little bit different with the structure of the song, with the chorus of the song especially, and it was kind of cool, and itmaybe works as its own single, but also it made me think like are they trying to embrace like whatever this song reference or band reference is, I can't figure out, are they trying toembrace like some music-archived radio hit from the 90s.

You know, I just, I couldn't pinpoint this one. I couldn't make heads or tails.

It was these strumming chords kind of leaning in and out.

This, I like, you know, it's kind of fun, His whole love is a curse, love is a first.

[1:26:52] I'm not sure what or why like that reference is just so profound in there.

I would this this there's a few it'd be so fun to sit around and talk to the guys in the band about this album and their experience and I'm pretty sure they're coming to the finale.

Yeah I was I was just to hear what we to hear what us fucking assholes have to say about our albums.

[1:27:26] I'm calling, I wouldn't be surprised if, if when I'm hassling through border control on the way, come to the rec room that I get pulled aside and full search happens, it's just totallygetting flagged.

There's a, there's a line of, well, I keep wearing that shirt that says that.

Oh, search me deep. There you go. JD. Well done. Yeah. Oh, search me deep.

There you go, JD. Well done. No, but there's a, there's a line of four people who really want to like, do you know, meet Tim and I were like, wow, it's just like fans of the show.

Cool. That's just so happens. There were four.

Gord Sinclair, it's fucking Rob Baker, you know, Paul Langlois, Johnny Fay. And they just fucking, just fucking one after another, punch us in the face and kick us in the balls.

Fuck you, man, I'm out. Bob Rock walks up and he's got, what's the gun Clint Eastwood used in his 70s, maybe the Magnum, 351, Bob Rock's got his Magnum and he just obliterates ourheads. Our heads are unrecognizable.

He just finishes us. No, he's Canadian. No. Canadian, oh. I pictured him as this British guy, but yeah.

Yeah, you guys don't have guns, so I guess you're assed out on the 357 there, Timmy.

Well, maybe we can move the venue to Detroit.

There you go. Definitely got guns there.

[1:28:53] I mean, I kind of felt the same. This song was...

It was built for a live show. It was a single. It was 3D printed and manufactured to be a pop single.

It was beautifully manufactured. The chorus is great. It's pop as shit.

Gord's got a great speaking little lick that's top-notch. I love it.

It's certainly a radio hit, But you know Rob Baker's got some I don't know if he's even using I don't think Xivix was around when when This record came out, but like it sounds like Thatsqueal-y shit That if you if you if you if you get some of the more modern-day boutique Fuzz pedals nowadays you can you can squeal them to where it sounds like his guitar on this oneBut it sounds like half Michael Jackson black or white half what the fuck is going on Like, it's a modulation something and it's cool, but I'm just like, yeah, all right.

[1:29:57] Did you scream the chorus at the top of your lungs while driving around in your car?

I mean, that's... I did not. You can with this one. I thought, JD, I thought, is this listed in a book of karaoke at karaoke bars in Canada?

Like, I can hear people singing this one, but I also could hear the audience just kind of cringing if somebody slaughtered it. Yeah, I wonder, you know, it's, it's, I don't know. It's, uh, canwe go to country day?

Cause country day, man. Okay. So remind me that I have a question to ask you at the end of country day.

Both of you. Okay. Okay. Okay. Country. Oh, real quick. Sorry.

Sorry, Tim. I will give you my answer. JD when we're in Toronto, the night before I'm singing tiger, the fucking lion.

So, so when we're, when we're karaoke, I've called it, I'm singing tiger, the lion. So, fuck you, Tim. I called it. If we can find that on karaoke.

Oh my god. Wow. I'm really hoping that after the end of that trip, I can remember more than 50% of it, because it's already feeling like trouble.

It's going to be rough, dude. Let's go to country day. And did anyone think...

[1:31:08] I really hope I experience Willie Nelson playing this song someday.

Because I heard Willie Nelson. Like this is, I just want to hear Willie Nelson play this song. It just felt like a Willie song.

You know, it's, it's, um, what do we got here? That rocket missed your head.

Somehow it's not enough. God keep our land because we cannot like this, you know, it's my favorite line from this one.

I wrote, I love you on a rock and through it. And I think the reference is like throwing it into the lake.

It's so good. Oh, that's great. It's so good. Maybe how I feel about this album, you know?

Writing I love you on a stone and chucking it.

[1:31:53] There's kind of a hard fade out. Maybe it's suitable to end the song.

I wondered also, JD, is this song perhaps a glimpse into any of Gord's solo stuff, which I've barely listened to. I've maybe listened to three solo songs.

Does this take us anywhere I'm not really sure about as far as his music goes?

I don't think so, no. This is again, this is produced to the absolute teats with that arrangement, that string arrangement, taking a campfire song, you know, something that could be acampfire song, and changing it into a, you know, magnum opus.

I just thought this was, this one was an odd ender, especially after Love Is A First to throw in this song.

This song could be, it's a standalone more than an ender of a song, you know? I, Again, I think it would be great to hear someone else perform it and change it up a little bit. I don't know.

It was fucking weird. Weird ender of a song. When it started, the first time I heard it, I was like, seriously?

Now this? Ugh. This was a painful album for me to get through, guys.

This was my first impression. I'm just like, goddamn, I have two more weeks to listen to this to figure it out.

[1:33:12] I love that says a lot to me about where you're at in terms of this experiment that you're that optimistic.

You know what I mean? Like you're like, when something's not jiving, you're not necessarily blaming it on the band or the producer or whatever, but you're, you're, you're taking like onuson it almost. And that's really fascinating to hear.

Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah, I think to a degree, for sure. But I'm also being exhausted by Mr.

Bob Rock. Like, it's just, we got through our Bob Rock phase, you know?

Like, it's time to sell the Bentleys, whatever the fucking eight-car garage is full of that Bob Rock gave us on this one.

I don't know that Bob Rock is, you know, owning an A-car garage after this record.

Maybe he is, I don't know.

But I didn't, I didn't get that vibe. This song, I mean, I could pick up what you're putting down to me in terms of somebody else singing it.

I just thought, like, started country, end country.

[1:34:29] This was so random. they threw the strings in. I feel like this song was just...

I guarantee you that there was one person in the band, at least one person in the band, maybe it was only one, but it was at least one person in the band said, I don't think we should put thissong on the record.

[1:34:51] It just, it just feels like, I don't know, a bunch of shit thrown together.

And this song was like, yeah, let's put this song on there. Like, like, this song is not Fiddler's Green.

So no, no, not even. Not even. Not even a whisper.

It's just like, okay, cool acoustic song.

Yeah. Dig it. Dig it.

I wouldn't if I heard if like it was the part of the show where the band like tones it down a minute maybe a little more than halfway through the bar stool comes out Gord breaks out anacoustic guitar or Rob Baker does and Pauline Juan they sit down on the stools and Gord's just sitting there singing this is not the song, no not the song and I also the onus that you talkedabout JD I I don't, I don't, I take it too, I don't, I don't diss the whole band.

I also think there's myself and other factors that may, that may contribute to my, my candor on this particular record, but I don't know, what can I say at this point, kind of like I was thefirst one or two records, not feeling it, but maybe one day I will.

Yeah. You might have that nostalgia, that strange nostalgia.

[1:36:17] Yeah, but slap on fucking music at work, or fucking trouble at the hen house, or... Amen. Bye.

You know? Violet Light, punch me in the fucking balls.

I'm fine. Like, I don't care. Those are fucking banger albums.

Yeah. Goddamn. We talked before about kind of REM's Evolution or U2's albums, how they really had some profound changes and mix ups.

And, you know, when I think when bands reach a certain height in their career, or many heights, there's almost...

[1:36:58] During this time frame, really, also 90s and 2000s, that there's this license to do stuff like this, to produce albums like this, where you are mixing it up and changing things andgoing kind of next level production-wise.

Or maybe this is like when they were touring, you know, know, that that the tours were just bigger and more expansive and crazier lighting.

And they felt like we can do an Epic different album with this mega producer.

I mean, Bob rock touched on so many bands from Metallica to fucking share.

So, you know, what do, what do we, what did we really, what did I really expect at this point in their career?

Um, this album. I don't think I would have necessarily gone here with my whole take on this album, like that this would be in the place of their catalogue.

But again, it's leaving me hanging for more.

So we were persevering here to move on in the discography of the Tragically Hip.

I feel like Bob Rock producing The Hip in 2009 because he produced the Black Album and fucking, what was that, 91, 92, is like trying to get, you know.

[1:38:25] Fucking Nigel Godrich to fucking produce an indie rock album today, you know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. Sure. Cool. He did some cool shit in the 90s.

And, you know, he's done some cool shit since then, so that's not entirely fair, but he's He's not.

[1:38:43] Don't expect the fucking Black Album. Don't go into it thinking that.

Interesting parallel with the Godrich reference.

I immediately thought of Terror Twilight and In the Pavement's oeuvre, like how that record is so divisive, right?

I feel like this record is very divisive as well.

Like, be talking out of school here, but there's there's some people that say it's their absolute favorite record.

I don't know if they're being genuine or if they're defending, defending it from the people who say it's the worst record.

You know, I genuinely enjoy that record, but I'll say this. I don't think it's the best fucking record.

No, you know, but I genuinely enjoy it.

The difference is, is, is that this record, I hate to say it.

I don't genuinely enjoy it. I mean, I think it's decent work, but like if you want to put this against even the EP or fully completely, like go fuck yourself.

Don't even, don't even, wow.

[1:39:55] Siri just told me that she wanted to translate what I just said into a different. Oh, she sure does.

She's been hot after you since the invention of the iPhone once you didn't even exist yet.

I don't know. I just feel like, I just feel like, I see what you're saying, JD, But I think Bob Ronk.

I don't know. This just jumped the shark, man.

[1:40:22] JD, the iTunes and TELUS pre-order bonus tracks, Hush and Skeleton Park, I have not listened to those. I looked them up yesterday to try to find it and didn't.

But have you listened to those bonus tracks? Hush is 2 minutes and 29 seconds.

I'm curious about that song. Me too.

Obviously not singles, but, you know, it left me when I read that there were these bonus tracks on this album.

I mean, I was really... That was a thing to do back in the day, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was a thing to do. Yeah. But I was like, okay, are these bonus tracks like something the band did more so without heavy production or...

I don't know. I wish I could speak to that.

It's like that. A lot of people will tell us we missed the boat with In Violet Light as well.

[1:41:13] There are bonus tracks that are they're supposed to be really good.

And you know, I haven't, I haven't given them proper time.

Maybe we'll do a bonus track episode. Oh, there you go.

Bonus track episode. Okay. So, um, my question that I wanted to ask you, you guys have really sort of answered it because my question was, uh, based on how I know you feel about thisrecord now, you're both, if you, if, if this kid is a little, if, if this record is a little Johnny in, in, in your class, your grade two class, and, um, he's got 65%, you're going to bump him to66%.

So he gets the C plus that's how you guys, that's how I feel.

You guys might think of this record. you're not ready to give it a C-minus, or maybe you are.

But what I want to get at is, A, where are you with that?

We don't normally rank the records, but I'm curious of your ranking with this one.

Does that influence what you're expecting of the next record? Do you think it's over?

[1:42:34] I'm feeling like the... I'm going into the next album, different producer, I'm going into the next album as if I have some knowledge about the Tragically Hit, but that this particular,album.

[1:42:53] We are the same, that it's just not in me.

It hasn't resonated in me. It's not like stuck in me as a hip-hop album.

So I can go into the next one with still a pretty open mind.

Oh, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure.

I'd like to watch this bathhouse recording, this video they did that aired in movie theaters.

I would like to see it and, you know, see if I'm like catching what the vibe is. Yeah, me too. Just seeing if Bob had these guys, even on video, just... I don't know.

But I'm still anxious for the next one, because this one, even the singles were just not really grabbers.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know about ranking wise.

I just know that, you know, I don't have any expectations for the next record.

So I'm excited in the terms of like, I don't want to say I was disappointed with this, but I wasn't, I wasn't over the moon with it. So anything that comes next is most likely going to maybenot blow my socks off, but going to blow my skirt up a little bit.

So, and I am wearing a skirt right now, just for those of you who are just listening to the podcast, instead of watching it.

[1:44:06] And it's lovely by the way. There's a poodle skirt. It's got a poodle.

Yeah. He he's got a, he's got a crinoline in it. It's, it's really wonderful.

What do you send? Oxford shoes.

Yes, I still think you can turn that under desk camera on. You don't, you don't have to save it for that other podcast you work on.

That's bonus feed, baby.

[1:44:26] That's right. It's on your bonus feed pizza. You get live footage of Pete's under desk feed.

I think I'll, I think I actually will show up at the fucking, uh, at the live show with a poodle skirt on. Oh, that'd be great.

We should get it. You know what we should do? It's fine. We should get a sacrifice. It's a poodle life.

Let's get some money going. Let's get some money going. If we get money, if we get, let's say this, We get.

500 bucks so we can donate it, like, beside the ticket sales, besides all the other stuff, the raffle, all that jazz.

But if we get $500 for people that donate so we can just take a chunk of 500 and call it the Poodle Skirt Fund to the Downey Wendzik Foundation, I will wear a fucking skirt, a poodleskirt, no less.

I'll do that. I'm on board. Yeah. Okay, then it's going to be a thousand.

Tim? I mean, I own at least one.

There's no poodles, but I have a skirt, so I'm not afraid. All right.

It's got to be a poodle skirt, but it's neither here nor there.

We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it in the next episode. And with that...

[1:45:39] We've got one last thing to deal with on this record of songs that you didn't necessarily love.

You've got to pick one to represent as the MVP, but also something that will work in your playlist. You know what I mean?

So this is tough. It's getting tough. I.

[1:46:11] Got mine, it's pressure sweet, 100%.

Pressure sweet, yeah. 9 minutes 27 seconds. I was back and forth on a few, honestly, between Queen of the Furrows, which I just had such a fun time learning about.

Yeah, that's so great. To Speed River, which I thought was kind of a cool song.

I know we talked about all the things.

But I ultimately kind of like Frozen in my tracks. I felt this one was just a little bit different enough in how these songs feel on this album.

[1:46:48] And to leave me hanging wondering about soldiers in war, like I love that shit. I kind of eat that up.

So Frozen in my tracks is mine. Excellent. I love this.

This is great. Okay. Well, that's all I've got.

How about you guys? Anything else you'd like to add? Make it a great day or not. The choice is yours. Namaste. Namaste. Pick up your shed.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/fully-and-completely/donations

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Call for Submissions - Gord Downie Podcast Playlist