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  We Are The Same Live - Volume One

Posted by: sean.bonner
07-27-2009, 02:28 AM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (27)

Hey Folks,
I'm compiling a three part series, which I am simply calling We Are The Same Live.
These compilations are/will be mp3s, converted from FLAC into 320kbps mp3s.
They are ready to burn/iPod/any other mp3 device ready. This compilation was edited with Audacity, and I attempted to make it flow together.
Volumes Two & Three will consist of one disc of a mix of Hits & Gems played on this this tour, and another disc devoted to the acoustic songs The Hip have been playing.
I am not a professional by any means, and I am making these compilations for my own enjoyment. I just figured I would upload them in case anybody else wanted to grab them.

I realize megaupload has its limitations, so if anybody would like to, feel free to host this. This link will expire eventually.

Here's Volume One:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q8H6BHB3">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q8H6BHB3</a><!-- m -->

We Are The Same Live, Volume One

01 - Morning Moon - 2009-04-24 - Toronto, Ontario
02 - Honey, Please - 2009-05-16 - Toronto, Ontario
03 - The Last Recluse - 2009-05-19 - Toronto, Ontario
04 - Coffee Girl - 2009-05-30 - Detroit, Michigan
05 - Now The Struggle Has A Name - 2009-06-20 - Victoria, British Columbia
06 - The Depression Suite - 2009-06-24 - Vancouver, British Columbia
07 - The Exact Feeling - 2009-05-01 - Montreal, Quebec
08 - Speed River - 2009-05-31 - Cleveland, Ohio
09 - Queen Of The Furrows - 2009-05-09 - Boston, Massachusetts
10 - Frozen In My Tracks - 2009-05-29 - Detroit, Michigan
11 - Love Is A First - 2009-06-22 - Vancouver, British Columbia
12 - Country Day - 2009-04-29 - Kitchener, Ontario

All recordings are from the sources found in the Hipfans archive.

There are also four bonus tracks for Volume One (Just some other performances of different songs on the WATS tour). These bonus tracks are in this compilation simply so the running time of the compilation is close to 80 minutes (the length of a typical CD-R).

I posted this in the Downloading & Trading section as well, but I figured I would also post here for the sake of elevated traffic.
I hope this stumbles upon a few ears.

Enjoy.

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  We Are The Same Live - Volume One

Posted by: sean.bonner
07-27-2009, 02:25 AM
Forum: Download & Trading Central
- Replies (3)

Hey Folks,
I'm compiling a three part series, which I am simply calling We Are The Same Live.
These compilations are/will be mp3s, converted from FLAC into 320kbps mp3s.
They are ready to burn/iPod/any other mp3 device ready. This compilation was edited with Audacity, and I attempted to make it flow together.
Volumes Two & Three will consist of one disc of a mix of Hits & Gems played on this this tour, and another disc devoted to the acoustic songs The Hip have been playing.
I am not a professional by any means, and I am making these compilations for my own enjoyment. I just figured I would upload them in case anybody else wanted to grab them.

I realize megaupload has its limitations, so if anybody would like to, feel free to host this. This link will expire eventually.

Here's Volume One:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q8H6BHB3">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q8H6BHB3</a><!-- m -->

We Are The Same Live, Volume One

01 - Morning Moon - 2009-04-24 - Toronto, Ontario
02 - Honey, Please - 2009-05-16 - Toronto, Ontario
03 - The Last Recluse - 2009-05-19 - Toronto, Ontario
04 - Coffee Girl - 2009-05-30 - Detroit, Michigan
05 - Now The Struggle Has A Name - 2009-06-20 - Victoria, British Columbia
06 - The Depression Suite - 2009-06-24 - Vancouver, British Columbia
07 - The Exact Feeling - 2009-05-01 - Montreal, Quebec
08 - Speed River - 2009-05-31 - Cleveland, Ohio
09 - Queen Of The Furrows - 2009-05-09 - Boston, Massachusetts
10 - Frozen In My Tracks - 2009-05-29 - Detroit, Michigan
11 - Love Is A First - 2009-06-22 - Vancouver, British Columbia
12 - Country Day - 2009-04-29 - Kitchener, Ontario

All recordings are from the sources found in the Hipfans archive.

There are also four bonus tracks for Volume One (Just some other performances of different songs on the WATS tour). These bonus tracks are in this compilation simply so the running time of the compilation is close to 80 minutes (the length of a typical CD-R).

I hope this stumbles upon a few ears.

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  Museum After Dark?

Posted by: The Travellin Man
07-27-2009, 01:01 AM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (19)

This was a cool reference site for the hip! Is it shut down?

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  Interview with Gord Sinclair [ Jan/Feb 99 ]

Posted by: BrenTheodore
07-26-2009, 11:47 AM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (2)

I haven't read through this entirely, but it deals a lot with Phantom Power and making it in the studio. Once again, I hope these are not reoccurring articles here. Enjoy, as always.

: : : . . .: : :


We tried things a bunch of different ways this time," says The Tragically Hip's Gord Sinclair, explaining the Kingston, Ontario band's process on their eighth album, Phantom Power. "That's the beauty of having our own facility to make our records in, and -- this time out, anyway -- having the time to try things a few different ways, to yield the best results." Their studio, the Bathouse, is an old farmhouse in Bath (hence the name) and is co-owned by all five members. In conjunction with producer Steve Berlin and live sound engineer Mark Vreeken, the band recorded Phantom Power over several months in the fall and winter of 1997-98.

Chances are, if you're Canadian, you don't need a history of The Hip. After more than a decade together, they're probably better known than Mackenzie King, (Canada's Prime Minister with a psychic connection) and certainly a lot more popular. So let's get to the good stuff.

Over the past 13 years, the band has naturally matured. In the case of record production, that means allowing them to take some risks. "When we first started making records," Sinclair recalls, "We were fiercely loyal to what the band's sound was on stage and really insisted that we not deviate from that sonic range of the instruments at all." The band would do take after take after take trying to re-create their live energy. This time, they decided "to use the studio and use the environment for what it is." With the help of veteran producer Steve Berlin, allowed them to "approach each song as its own entity, and make each song the best that it possibly could be, in terms of its sonic possibilities," without worrying about how it compared to their live performance. On the flip side, Sinclair points out that The Hip has never "felt constrained to duplicate what we've done on record when we're on stage," so once the record was finished, the songs were "remarkably easy to interpret live."
Writing/Creative Process

Because the band has spent 13 years together -- all with the same members -- they know and trust each other on an intimate level, one unknown to younger creative partnerships.

Over the years, Sinclair points out, "We've all gotten not only better as songwriters, but a little more confidence, in terms of what ideas we bring into the group." Additionally, each man's reliance on the band's ensemble approach has blossomed. "I'm much more comfortable bringing in an unfinished, un-flushed-out idea to show to the guys," says Sinclair, "because I'm confident that one of the other guys will have something that will be complementary to it, if not have something that will actually finish the song."

The quintet has no specific methodology for developing their songs, except for one: "Literally, we stand around in a circle and throw the ideas in," explains Sinclair. All five carry around dictaphones, so when "you get a little glimmer of an idea, be it wherever -- sitting on the toilet, or driving your car, or wherever - you try to get it down. Once I get an idea, I'll work on it from there, see if I can't add something or whatnot. But the only rule that I go by as a songwriter now is that I never set anything too firmly in stone before I show something to the guys." Sinclair would rather hear where his bandmates take his idea than impose his will on the song. The whole, all agree, is greater than the sum of its parts. "We've gotten to the point where we know each other's styles so well and play so well together that -- having it represent what we are as a band is more important than having it represent [me] as a songwriter."

When it comes to ideas, anything goes. "We place no restrictions on ourselves when we're trying to write songs. As soon as you start putting rules in things, then you're not -- I think you're limiting what you could otherwise achieve, you know?" The only other guideline, really, is that nothing be rushed. "Gord [Downie], lyrically, will build a song up over time. He won't sit down and go, `okay, I need three verses by the end of the day.' He'll compile it slowly. I think that' s how we all sort of write."

Perhaps because they're always jamming, always creating, the band has never gotten into a creative rut, churning out the same material over and over. Each man experiments in different ways at different times, so the process -- and the music -- is always dynamic. "Robby' s been in a phase for the last while where he loves working on oddball tunings, different guitar tunings, and he's got a whole pile of guitars at home, and each one seemingly tuned to a different key." Sinclair wryly notes, "When I'm over at his place, I can never pick up a guitar and play it, because I don't know how he's got it tuned." Baker's research goes beyond tunings. "He'll goof around at different points on the neck, or different tunings or throw an E-Bow on things, just to see what it'll yield." Sinclair points out that the band's last album, Trouble at the Henhouse, featured songs in A, E, and F-sharp, among other keys.
Finding Steve Berlin

Around January of 1997, The Hip began working on a few songs, "writing and compiling what turned out to be -- in some cases, beds, in some cases, masters," at the Bathouse. By the time they did Another Roadside Attraction (ARA) that summer, "we had a ton of really cool ideas, but nothing that we really had deemed master-worthy." Although they' d self-produced their last two albums, the band realized they would need an outside ear to help them sort through the many, many, many, many ... many ideas they had on tape.

When the band met Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, who is also an acclaimed producer (Crash Test Dummies, Faith No More), on the first day of ARA, they realized "this guy would be perfect for what we're looking for." For his part, Berlin was stunned that The Tragically Hip would ask him to produce their album. "They could have picked anybody in the world to do their record; the fact that they picked me -- I was amazed."

Sinclair points out that, in addition to being a renowned producer, Berlin is "also a great musician in a great band that, based on what Los Lobos is, you can hear the ensemble approach that they take, to what it is that they do." Both agree that the similarities in the two bands' philosophies -- they put friendship first and follow a democratic process -- made their working relationship remarkably easy. "He really jumped into our environment really, really naturally," says Sinclair, "to the point where it was totally about the music, totally about the track."

The band found Berlin's enthusiasm contagious, and they appreciated his openness with ideas. "Being on equal footing, the five of us, a lot of times, you may be a little reticent to say, 'well, I was going to try a keyboard part on this or whatnot'." By contrast, Berlin "is one of these guys who never seems to stop thinking about different tracks and always excited -- `let's try this,' or `let's do this'."

Berlin was thrilled with The Hip's raw materials and skills. "You have these amazing lyrics, incredibly beautiful images, you can go as deep into the songs as you want to. At the same time, the music has got great power and spirit." But because much of their material comes from jams, he points out, "A little idea turns into a big idea turns into a song like "Poets". My role was to say, well, you've got this fabulous idea, you've got these great lyrics -- let's build it back and put details and textures and contrast and stuff like that."

Not every song needed extensive treatment. "I was knocked out by a lot of the stuff they'd done," Berlin recalls. "I wouldn't even call them roughs. They're in their studio; they're recording -- what makes it a rough? They were just great performances." "Escape", "Bobcaygeon", "Chagrin Falls" and "Vapour Trails" were barely tinkered with at all.

Where Berlin thought he could help was in "sorting out the guitar stuff." Robby Baker (lead guitar) and Paul Langlois (rhythm guitar) "both like a similar sound, they both use the same amplifier," he explains. "Sometimes, they use the same guitar pick-up, and that's what they like."

The producer sat down with the two guitarists and told them, "I think you should work on guitar sounds, make sure that you don't sound the same -- even remotely -- and then work on the parts, so the parts are clear, and you can really hear what Robby's doing over Paul and vice-versa." He spent a great deal of time working out intricate arrangements with Baker and Langlois, so that their parts would complement and add texture to each other. The "massive guitar sound" has always been a Hip trademark, but Berlin points out, "you can accomplish that and still build in detail if you listen closely to it and then think about it."

"The job was more challenging for Paul, because he had a little more weight to carry than Robby did." Although Berlin didn't want to hamper either man's "spirit," he was more concerned about keeping Baker's style intact, "so basically, Robby was -- probably unfairly in some cases --just allowed to be Robby, and then Paul had to fit into that." Berlin's respect for Langlois is never-ending. "He's truly one of the most amazing rhythm guitar players I've ever worked with. He's got such an incredibly deep knowledge of how rhythm parts work." That didn't keep him from making Langlois "play guitars I know he didn' t want to play," he recalls, laughing. "He'd give me this look like, are you sure this is worthwhile? But then it would sound great."

Berlin aimed to get everything "as live as possible," only doing overdubs when absolutely necessary. As a band, you want that [energy], of those guys playing together." The most common overdubs were vocals, including "Something On" and "Escape". "When the vocals were done in time to do it live, that was great," he recalls, "but Gord Downie -- he is the hardest-working guy I have ever seen. Down to apostrophes and everything, the grammatic spaces have to be perfect for him to be happy. A lot of times, it would be a work in progress lyrically until later on. But the times when we'd get it live, it was amazing to watch and to hear."
Triple-Threat Mixing

"Mixing was definitely a challenge for this record," Sinclair admits. "The [recording] environment was one that, if you had any kind of idea or wanted to try something, we were always encouraging each other -- and Steve, for that matter -- to throw it on, and we figured, well, when it comes time to mix, we'll figure it out." And then, inevitably, it came time to mix ... and to figure everything out. Yikes. "You' d put the different mixes up and realize that, depending on who's interpreting the song, it can go in any one or two or ten different directions."

To get the most effective mix for each song, The Tragically Hip used three different people to mix. First up was Jim Rondinelli, who has worked with The Jayhawks and Odds, among others. His approach "was a lot more lush, and his sensibility was to put everything up into the mix and sort of slowly subtract from there, to the point where his ear was sort of satisfied," explains Sinclair. "I think you can hear that in a track like "Bobcaygeon", for example, which he mixed. I think the mixing on that is absolutely amazing." Rondinelli also mixed "Something On" and "Chagrin Falls".

Rondinelli worked out of Bryan Adams' The Warehouse in Vancouver, British Columbia which boasts an enormous SSL console. "It has a tendency to be a little ... mechanical sounding, I think," Sinclair concludes. "A little top-heavy."

Then they went to Don Smith, who had produced Up to Here (1989) and Road Apples (1991). His influence can be heard on "Poets", "Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man", "Save the Planet", "Emperor Penguin", "Vapour Trail" and "Membership". "Don's a minimalist, he's very old-school," Sinclair explains. "He works from the ground floor up; he builds and builds and adds instruments one at a time, until he thinks it represents what we sound like."

Smith's home studio includes an old Neve board, and his approach was more analog. "He uses old tube compression on everything, and sort of shies away from the digital stuff."

Whereas "Jim's stuff was done on an automated console, where all the moves were meticulously memorized by the computer and would work with a track-a-day kind of thing," Sinclair explains, "Don's approach is very, very organic. He kind of mixes by feel, and some days he'd blast off two songs; other tracks would take him three or four days until he felt comfortable with them."

There were three tracks, the bassist explains -- "Fireworks", "Thompson Girl" and "The Rules" -- on which "We felt that neither Jim nor Don had successfully interpreted what we were trying to achieve, and so the logical step was to have Mark [Vreeken], our live engineer, do it. Mark's been involved with the creation of all the records, really, since Road Apples. No one knows the band better."

Vreeken's approach was a "synthesis" of Rondinelli's and Smith's. Sinclair says, "The way we've got our studio set up, Mark has been able to watch some of the best guys in the business do their thing, and he's learned from them all." Although the Bathouse has automated capability, "Mark's tendency is not to rely on that. He tries to go for a really strong performance mix, and he bases his final impression on what he considers his sort of optimum mix and then will adjust slightly, sort of only relying on automation if he absolutely has to."
Towards The Future

Although the band thoroughly enjoyed making Phantom Power, Sinclair sees it as "the record we had to make at this juncture in our career. We had the time to approach it with a "no stone unturned" sort of philosophy, and we had the time to work on things and bring the ideas to their fruition." However satisfying that may have been, "I think we learned that there is a pitfall to having unlimited time to make your record. I think there's a pitfall to having an unlimited number of tracks that you can work on things. It makes the mixing process a little difficult, when you're trying to layer things in and out like that."

Sinclair's wish for The Tragically Hip's next album is to "write it in advance, and rehearse it in advance of going into the studio; and to make a really fast record the next time, in the John Hyatt, `bring the family' kind of thing, where everyone knows the song in and out, and it's just bang-bang-bang. Just for the sake of seeing what can come out of it." The advantage the band has is that, with its own studio, "we have the resources to work on things till the cows come home." With Phantom Power, they did, and they learned that sometimes, those cows are out real late. "Knowing when to stop is something that you have to learn, you have to learn it in the studio -- this is done, this is finished, or in some cases, too finished, it's too polished for us, and we have to strip off some of the sheen."

After a pause, Sinclair adds, "I think the beauty of being in this band is that each situation, be it recording or live, is different or new, and we're able to take the situation, whatever it may be, and ultimately, turn it to our advantage and learn from it. I think we learned a lot from making this last record."
Home Studios

Each of the five members has a home studio, so he can work on song ideas independently. Explains Sinclair, "The idea behind them is that the hardware is all compatible with each other, so we can exchange tapes fairly freely." The gear, however, varies, depending on each man's taste. A sampling of Sinclair's setup includes a 12-channel Mackie console, a Tascam DA-88, an Avalon compressor and an Earthworks mic for acoustic guitars. Drummer Johnny Fay, on the other hand, is "a real collector of gnarly old analog effects," his bandmate explains. The cover art on Phantom Power is a 1970s Air Force line tester that he found at an antique store. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be terribly functional music-wise. On the more practical end, Fay recently acquired an old Echoplex. On "Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man", there's an odd washing-machine kind of sound, which is Fay "playing an old radio with a scrub brush, run through his Echoplex."
The Bathouse Dimensions

Main room: 500 square feet with 12-foot ceiling

Control room: 540 square feet with 12-foot ceiling

* 2 additional isolated rooms 200 square feet each
* 1 stairwell 140 square feet
* 1 isolation booth, All rooms with natural light and good sightlines, with windows that open

Consoles

* 16 x 8 x 24 API console with 24 channels of Uptown moving fader automation
* 12 x 4 Neve Melbourne sidecar console

Neve BCM 10 with 1073 modules available on request
Tape Machines

Studer A80 24-track with Dolby SR PURC cards (gapless)

Ampex ATR 102 1/2" 2-track mastering desk

24 tracks of Tascam DA-88

Akai DR4 4-track hard disk recorder

2 Tascam DA-30 MkII DAT machines
Signal Processor

Apogee AD500 converter

Eventide H3000, 949

EMT 250 2 stereo plate reverbs with EMT electronics

Yamaha SPX 90

Roland SDE-3000 DDL

Roland Space echo

Echoplex

Sansamp

Klark-Teknik RTA, GML 8200 parametric equalizer, Drawmer DS201 noise gates LA2A, 1176, 2 x LA3, Tubetech, Cranesong STC8, 2 x DBX 160x, Fairchild 663, Distressor, 2 x Neve 2254A compressors/limiters, CCA AGC
Monitors

Genelec 1031A nearfield monitors

Tannoy Gold large monitors

Auratone reference monitors
Microphones

AKG C12VR, D12E, D112, Sony C37A, Neumann U47, 2 x FET47, 2 x U87, Coles 4038, Altec 201 condensers, RCA BK1 ribbon, Microtech UM70, Earthworks TC30 omnis, Resloribbon mic, Sennheiser 421s, Shure SM7, 56, 57, 58, 81, 91
Instruments

Hammond B3, upright piano, Fender Bassman, Ampeg portaflex, Filmsound photo amp, Theremin, Moog Taurus pedals and lots of effects pedals
Headphones

Sony V6, Sony V900, 75600 5 separate 12-channel mixers for the players 2 bi-amped floor wedges, 2 x 12", 2" horn with BSS crossover, QSC power
Road Gear Manifest

Mackie micro mixer 1202

Elite Micron 400 (2)

Ashly EQ 131

QSC MX1500a

Shure SM58 (3)

Photo Amp (2)

Ampeg Portoflex Bass Amp

Ayotte Drum Kit (14" Bass, 10" Snare, 10" Rack

Tom, Paiste Cymbals (4))

Gibson Les Paul (black)

Epiphone Acoustic Bass

Takamine Guitar

Takamine FP3175 Acoustic

Patch Cables (20)

Gibson Blues King

Fender Blond USA Telecaster

PRS Custom Guitar

DIAGRAM: Fireworks -- intro

DIAGRAM: Something On -- intro

PHOTO (COLOR): Gord Downie

PHOTO (COLOR): Gord Sinclair

PHOTO (COLOR): Johnny Fay

PHOTO (COLOR): Robby Baker

PHOTO (COLOR): Paul Langlois

~~~~~~~~

By Sarah Chauncey

Sarah Chauncey is a toronto-based freelance writer.

FIREWORKS

Many times during the recording process, Berlin admits, he would make Langlois try several different options, only to wind up back with the part that Langlois had originally played. "A good example of that is "Fireworks", he says. Berlin wanted it "to be like a Who song, where there's a really powerful acoustic guitar part --the rhythm is an acoustic part -- and a great lead over the top." To that end, they did numerous takes "with this rigged-up acoustic with a pickup and a mic, and we tried five different amplifiers. [Nothing worked], so we plugged in a 335, which had exactly what we were looking for, although it's not acoustic, and that was their take. That performance is on the record." The oddly roomy quality of the sound comes from "two or three different amplifiers. We miked one in back, and one in front. There's a Matchless, and then -- there's a friend of theirs in Ontario who makes amplifiers out of old film projectors -- we used that one a lot." Langlois' performance on the 335 "was so cool," Berlin says, "that everything else had to go around it." Although normally it would be Baker's guitar part at the centre, the producer didn't want anything getting in the way of the kick-ass guitar track, and he arranged the rest accordingly.

The quality of the drum tones comes from another strange location: the kitchen. "Linoleum certainly is not an acoustic surface," Berlin admits, "but in this case, it sounded really good. We used Johnny's Ayotte traveling kit, which is this little folding drum kit, where the drums all fit into one another. They're really small, but they sound amazing." Additionally, "We added a second drum kit on the choruses, so it gets a little bit bigger." Berlin was looking for a "sloppy, Grateful Dead-type" performance, but Fay "played it pretty dead on. He just plays so good, it wasn't like the second drum kit was going to change that much." At the end of the last chorus, though, "when it stops, you get the sense of the track expanding and contracting."

SOMETHING ON

The album's second single, "Something On", grew out of some "goofing around" in the studio. "Paul played the opening riff," Sinclair recalls, "and I fell in love with the idea." Downie began working on the lyrics, but the band "just had more pressing concerns, to finish overdubbing and stuff." At the end of November, with most of the tracks in the can, the band took a Christmas hiatus. Although they had planned to reconvene in early January for fine-tuning, the weather had other plans: the massive ice storm that hit Eastern Canada left four out of five Hip families power-less, in the Ontario Hydro sense. When they did gather back in Bath, Sinclair says, "I think that circumstance, and the whole idea of blackout and whatnot really affected Gord in a lyrical kind of way. By the time the power came back on, we'd reconvened in the studio, and he'd finished the song. He'd found the missing verse, the missing piece of the puzzle, the whole concept of the `phantom power,' where that energy and electricity comes from."

To the desired drum sound, "We moved the drums into the amp room," recalls Berlin, "which is probably the loudest, most ambient room in the house." The `amp room' was actually the mudroom, mostly made of windows, with lots of large surfaces. "We put some mics down the hall -- the drums are a lot more ambient on that track than on any other track."

POETS

"Poets," the first single off Phantom Power, "owes the greatest debt to Steve," according to Sinclair. Lyrically, the idea grew out of Downie's rants during "Hundredth Meridian" jams. Then "Robby brought in that main guitar riff," Sinclair recalls, "but it wasn't something that we were able to take anywhere [alone] in the studio."

When the band made a demo tape for Berlin, the producer's reaction was strong and immediate. "The demo was pretty rough," he recalls, "But it had great lyrics, and I thought, `this is just so cool.' But it was almost like the vocals were superimposed over the track. The track wasn't really cohesive, but it had the three elements: what became the verse, what became the bridge and what became the solo."

On a whim one day, Berlin turned to Sinclair and said, "How about if we just used this part for a verse, this part for a chorus, and we'll call this part the solo and see where it goes. And it was just like BOOM, instantly, and they said "let's track it," and it was done." What you hear on the album is the second take. "Usually, with arrangement stuff," the producer explains, " - for anybody, not just the Hip -- it takes a while to sink in, for whatever reason. On that one, it was sort of instantaneous."

Berlin's favourite aspect of the song is the "drum sticks that are like shaker sticks. I love the way that the shakers got into everything -- the amps -- they're so loud, and Johnny plays so good and strong that it's just undeniable." Enthused, he adds, "Robby's lick, that Stones-y thing, you can't go wrong -- that's what rock and roll's all about!"

For those who may be wondering, Sinclair admits, "I don't know what tuning Robby's in for that; I know he changes guitars live for it, so I'm assuming he's in some sort of oddball open tuning kind of thing." The song, for the record, is in C, "not one of our big keys, " Sinclair chuckles.

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  A HUGE thanks to the Hip's manager

Posted by: jgardz
07-25-2009, 10:31 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (4)

I just wanted to extend a huge, personal thanks to the band's manager for the way he helped out a young (12 year old) hip fan at thursday's Harris Park show. The young girl, who is the daughter of a friend, was getting absolutely squashed in the crowd during the opening 2 songs, and when the event security refused to help her out, the band's manager stepped in, got us out of the crowd, and found us a great spot to enjoy the show safely. Just to help paint the picture, this event occurred back near the sound tower...having been to hundred's of GA shows over the years, we knew better than to take a young girl anywhere close to the throng at the front of the crowd..however, due to a TERRIBLE setup at the venue, even a couple hundred yards back it wasn't safe. Thanks again to the manager (I didn't catch his name, but my wife described him to MAv, who informed us who he was) for helping out 2 long time fans, and 1 young fan whose birthday was made extra special by the classy and selfless actions of 1 person. Glad to see that the Hip continue to employ high quality folks! I know this probably could have gone in the show review section, but I just felt that this needed to be recognized on a larger scale. Looking forward to our next show, Oct. 3 in Hamilton

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  Need A Little Help

Posted by: MrGoldenSeals
07-25-2009, 06:04 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (1)

So I went to Chicago Night 2 a few months ago and had the time of my life. My buddies from back in Buffalo came up to Chicago for pretty much the whole week, we got an awesome set list, and I got a shout out from Gord! He looked right at me and told everyone how he thought my CGS jersey was awesome. So I have been looking for audio or video from the show that includes the shout out pretty much since that night but haven't been able to find it. Can anybody here help me out? Does anybody have it or know someone who may have it? It would really mean a lot to me as well as my friends who were there.

Thanks everybody,
Bob

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  Interview with Gord Sinclair [ Sep/Oct 2004 ]

Posted by: BrenTheodore
07-25-2009, 05:31 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (5)

While researching my paper on the Hip, I found this online in the Dal library. It is an old interview with Sinclair from Canadian Musician. Not sure if anyone has ever seen this, but it explains about some of the inspiration for some songs IBE and other cool stuff. Enjoy.

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Capturing the essence of The Tragically Hip live

"It's amazing in this business how sometimes things just work out to be the best possible combination of things," says Hip Bassist, Gord Sinclair. Although he's talking about the process of making In Between Evolution. The Hip's latest record and the events that led up to it. It's also a statement that could sum up his feeling about the band in general.

After almost 20 years together and 11 albums, the Tragically Hip remains enviably vital in performance and on record, there's no mystery to the appeal of The Hip's live show. Whether it's the sonic interplay between guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, Gord Downie's "just on loan from the asylum" delivery or the band's ever deepening grab bag of songs you know like the back of your hand, there's just something exciting about these Ave guys on stage that keeps people coming back. There's more to it than that though; their music tends to creep up on you, both lyrically and instrumentally. They've never beat listeners over the head with the obvious and Downie's lyrics are rarely instantly transparent. So, although it might take more time for a Hip track to sink in than the average summer mega hit, they tend to kick around in the corners of your mind, find a good soft spot, dig in deep, and settle in for the long haul.

The new record, recorded in Seattle at Studio X (formerly Bad Animals) with producer Adam Kasper (Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age), is no different in that respect. But where their last effort, In Violet Light, was more of a pure studio record, this one is a conscious effort to capture The Hip's live energy. Driven by songs that are often as aggressive as they are to the point, the result is raw at times, but that was the idea. In one interview Hip drummer, Johnny Fay, likens the new album's live, spare vibe to an earlier Hip Record, 1991's Road Apples.

After finishing up tour commitments in December 2003 and then spending roughly four weeks away from each other. The Hip were ready to start writing. Although the band, Sinclair says, was more organized than in the past, there was still a clean slate before them that needed to be filled. "You look around the room at each other thinking, 'How the fuck did we start it the last time? What happened?' Then all of a sudden it starts and six, eight months later you're mastering a record with Bob Ludwig again. It's great. It's exciting."

As Sinclair points out, though, it's easy to say you want to capture the live essence of the band live in studio, but another thing entirely to achieve it. As a starting point the band would get together for a day or two and hammer their ideas into shape, different members grabbing onto different elements of the songs, running with them and letting the songs evolve naturally. "Usually all five of us kind of gravitate towards the same sort of thing," he says. "Slowly, but surely, what began to evolve was a real hard-edged collection of songs. I'm really fortunate to be in a situation where there're four other resources of musical material. It never gets boring." And boredom, he believes, can kill the writing process. "If you try and force something to come and say I'm going to work from 9 to 5 and finish this song by hook or by crook you sometimes end up taking it to a place where it may not want to go. We've always gone out of our way to record everything we're doing with each other, because sometimes you come back and you've lost the essence of what you were doing. You realize, 'Well I've been working too hard at this. I've made my part too slick.' I think we've removed the ego from the equation enough that none of us feel too precious about what we're doing."

Disagreements are resolved by "leaving no stone unturned" in the writing/arranging process; allowing each member free reign in terms of their contribution individually and finding the best solutions in consensus. "It's very direct the way we deal with each other. Do I get a 100 per cent of my way all the time within the band? No, but creatively it's really satisfying. I know if I bounce an idea off them and no one responds that maybe it wasn't the best idea I've ever had." Flexibility and compromise is key.

With a collection of 15 to 20 songs in as near a state of completion as they could get them, but still without a producer locked in, the band headed west to Whistler, BC to finish arranging the songs free from the distractions of home. While there, local tragedy struck when Rutherford Creek flooded, sweeping away a car carrying several locals returning home after work. "It's a small community. It hit everybody really, really hard and beyond condolences, we wanted to do something for these young guys and their families. So we set up a couple gigs at the Boot Pub." First and foremost, the shows allowed The Hip to give something back to a community they have longstanding ties to, but it also gave them a chance to flesh out the new material on stage with the crowd packed in around them and people hanging over their heads. It was an event that, Sinclair says, inspired them to take the writing process to a new level just about the time that Adam Kasper was to meet with them.

"He was a fan of ours from the stage, not from on record. He kept coming back to what he felt was a gap between what the band is in a live setting and what the band is in a recorded work." By the time recording started, Sinclair says; "We had the stuff cold; it was just a matter of capturing that intangible performance aspect. But." he continues, "It's the most difficult thing going to try to capture the essence of a band on tape." He credits Adam with applying his meticulous sense of detail to creating an environment that enabled them to do just that. "It was all very chilled. Very much like going up on stage. There's no pressure, like, 'Oh, the tape machine is rolling. I better tense up my ass and overplay.'"

Like any normal gig day, the band would spend some time doing a live sound check, trying out different combinations of amps and guitars and jamming on the songs they were going to record. "We'd work on one, maybe two tracks a day, in a big room where we were able to set up two, sometimes three different kits. So we'd do it, very laid back, have a little lunch, kick back and spend the rest of the day playing. The end result was that half the record is single versions; that's what the band is all about, this simultaneous performance of five guys."

For Sinclair it's a return to earlier days, the way the band did their first recordings; "As simple as that sounds it was kind of a complex approach; you're out on the road, you're playing, you get a recording contract, you finally get a chance to go in the studio, minimal budget, minimal amount of time — you gotta know your shit going in — you set up, play and lo and behold, three weeks later, you've got a record." On some records, particularly those recorded in the band's own studio, The Bathouse, Sinclair says they had a tendency to micromanage the songs, to really pick them apart in the digital realm. It's part of the luxury of having your own studio, he says, but adds that your chances of getting a truly live sound go out the window pretty quickly.

"We wanted to create this environment: We're on someone else's nickel, the meter's running and this is costing us. So we fired up the 2" machine and stayed away from the Pro Tools rigs, which to me was perfect. It's kind of like this process of rediscovering what the essence of the band is. I've been at every show we've ever played, but I've never had the chance to stand out front to see what the impact is — we're very proud of our recorded output, but what people have always focused on is what the five guys in the group do on stage. Adam jumped at the chance to work with the group based upon his experiences live, not anything that we'd done on record. Clearly he thought there was something he could rediscover that we'd lost sight of, or that other producers hadn't been able to find, and I think he achieved it."

Although some of the tracks required a certain amount of fixes, overdubs and buffing up in the digital realm, the band and Adam did their best to keep the album as purely live as possible. "It's all about creating a musical arrangement where the parts just blend very naturally, like we do on stage." Sharing space in the mix, glory in the arrangements and taking meticulous notes that any overdubs match the original live track.

As much as the recording process helped bring out the grunt instrumentally it also suited Gord Downie's latest batch of lyrics and his trademark growl. "I know Gord's trying to capture place and mood, and specific events, in a roundabout way. It's all about creating a sense of atmosphere. I know 'Mean Street' was written when he was on the road for Battle Of The Nudes (Gord Downie's second solo record), about a run in that he had with a person on the street. I think that song, lyrically, came together for Gord after we'd been working on the record. Being in Seattle, having to watch CNN constantly definitely informed that particular track."

Sinclair describes the songs as short, beefy and meant to be delivered aggressively — a product of forces that were affecting the band long before the actual recording took place: "One Night In Copenhagen", for example, talks about a time that had a great deal to do with how the new record would evolve: "'Copenhagen' was inspired when we were touring at the end of the In Violet Light sessions. Professionally it was a difficult time for us; we'd just left our long-term manager of 15 years; we'd come through a very difficult tour and yet, amidst it all, the group was playing better than we ever had. The stage, and the five of us, became a real refuge. It was our last month of touring in Europe that inspired that song. You're a million miles away from home. There's no sunlight. Everything is falling apart around you and yet, there's this life raft and the life raft happens to be the five guys in this band on stage."

In the end the experiences brought the band closer together, more inspired than ever and with a renewed belief in what they do. "You set that as a backdrop to everything we're going through in a global sense, particularly our exposure to the United States and what we're seeing every day on the news and the kind of the world in which we live. There's an urgency to the way the world is right now. I think that coloured a lot of what Gord was writing thematically. It can't help but infiltrate your mindset and how you're approaching what you're doing." It's a sentiment that shows up in a number of places, but nowhere as starkly as on "Are We Family", where Downie's lyrics ask; "Are we family... when taking care of each other one bullet to another." It's hardly all doom and gloom, mind you. There are lighter moments and the opaque quality of The Hip's lyrics have always allowed listeners to put their own spin on the song's meanings.

Sinclair is quick to express his satisfaction with where the band is now and a deep pride in what they've accomplished. "I've had the same job for almost 20 years with the same guys as my co-workers and I still love going to work everyday. We're at the stage of our career that if we didn't enjoy the writing process and the performance process we wouldn't be doing it." Although, he says, The Hip have never achieved the variety of universal acceptance globally that they have in Canada, that they've been together for as long as they have and can continue to do what they do so well together is the very definition of success. "The road to American stardom is littered with groups like ours. I've honestly always believed that if we had achieved proportional success in the United States compared to what we did in Canada earlier in our career I doubt the band would still be together."

Although we often define our national identity in terms of some vague differences between the Americans and ourselves, we know there's more to it than that. The relationship between Canada and the US is impossible for Canadian artists to ignore and has always informed Canadian music and fascinated musicians. Years ago, Sinclair wrote a paper for a fourth-year Canadian History course on the Gordon Lightfoot song, "A Black Day In July". More recently, he and The Hip were asked to cover the song for Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. "I always loved the piece of music. The images he evokes from literally across the river; you're watching Detroit burn — I always loved the concept that here, literally a stone's throw away, while we have tones of social problems that are uniquely Canadian, that we don't have this one, clearly nagging, monstrous problem that the United States have." When the chance came to record the song, the band jumped at it.

Differences or not, for most Canadian artists American success is the holy grail of music — America is, after all, where they keep all the fancy real estate and such. But it's all a matter of perspective. "For us, it's always been a very, very strange career," he says. "In the US and Europe it's a market by market trip for the band; one night we're an arena band, the next a bar band, the next a theatre act." With the support of the band's Canadian label as well as fans in Canada, the US and Europe they've managed to stay pretty much in the black over their careers. "We were never making anyone in the business enough money that they wanted to fuck around with what we were doing, you know? We never had someone coming in and saying, 'Okay, you've sold 200,000 copies of Fully Completely — let's try to make that 2 million.' We've just sort of flown — it's kind of like a little drug runner from the Bahamas — safely under the radar, dropped our product off and flown right back to the safety of grand old Canada."

Sinclair points out that there are, no doubt, some people who might view their success as failure, but he says; "Other groups look to us as being successful because of the length of our career and the fact that we can still gig. I'll never be living in Bel Air with Britney Spears as my next-door neighbour, but I'm quite content living where I'm living. You can see the cost of American success by the number of artists who never have the chance to achieve, what I think, is their creative potential, because of the demands placed on them by the star making machine. For me the opportunity to explore who I am as a writer, who my bandmates are as writers, that's really what it's all comes down to."

For a band that has weathered, and at times defied the trends, with their output and experience, you'd think that once the album was done and in the can the hard part of the creative process would be done. "Ridiculously enough, naming the record, trying to find one phrase that encompasses all the ideas that are there, has always been really difficult for us. Again we found ourselves with the record completed, the artwork underway and no title for the thing." He laughs. In this case the cover art supplied by artist, Cameron Tomsett, took the pressure off the band. The visual connection between Cameron's art and their music is something The Hip has already expanded, by using some of his animations in the video for "Vaccination Scar" as well as on their Web site. They also hope to incorporate it into visual for their tour when they hit the road in the fall. "We knew that we wanted to work with Cameron and when he presented us with the piece we fell head over heels in love with it. And as soon as I heard the title of the piece, to me, it was perfect for the album." Perfect, because it applies to the individuals in the band, the band itself as well as being a reflection of what the world around them is up to and being a return to early day and a more aggressive recording. Maybe it's a stretch, but the title could also sum up Sinclair's feelings about the state of the industry...

Although he admits it's not such a great time in the music business — he mentions that a number of the band's friends have lost their jobs at record companies and a number of bands have lost their deals — he's refreshingly upbeat about both the present and future of the music industry. "What will never change is that there are musicians out there who will find a way to record their output, a way to get up onto the stage. Music fans will seek them out. If it means something to you, then you support it and go to see them play. It doesn't matter if you're formerly on a major label and now you're on an indie. It doesn't matter if you're selling your records at the front of the stage with your T-shirts. There's too much press about the demise of the music business. There are more groups playing now and there's better music available in a million different formats."

At the time of this interview The Hip are hours away from a show at Toronto's Mod Club to celebrate In Between Evolution's release. Over the summer they'll be playing a variety of festivals and one offs and starting to tour Canada and worldwide in earnest in September. I know I should probably let Sinclair go to sound check for tonight's show, but before I do I wonder aloud if they've ever thought of bringing Roadside Attraction back...

"We actually considered at one point this summer. It just didn't come off. You know I've always been a fan of the all-day rock festival. It's a great way to see good old bands and hot young bands all together — sort of a one-stop-shopping kind of thing. When we first started Roadside it was all about getting into unusual places like Seabird Island, that Speedway in Ottawa, Stittsville. You bring your tent and you get a bag of weed and a box of beer and you camp out. You get ready for a fun day out in the sun. I think the desire for people to make it a little more convenient; with ample parking, flush toilets, 'here's your concession stand,' and all, has taken a lot of the charm away from the outdoor festival. It's a little difficult to sell that when you know it's happening in two weeks at the same venue with another festival type combination — you know, ultimately, what people really want from their musicians is the sense that this is special, that I'm part of something here. That's what we've always tried to do with every gig."

"We've always gone out of our way to record everything, because sometimes you come back and you've lost the essence of what you are doing."

"We've removed the ego front the equation enough that none of us feel too precious about what we're doing."

For More Info On... The Tragically Hip check out <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.thehip.com">www.thehip.com</a><!-- w -->

Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot check out <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.northernblues.com">www.northernblues.com</a><!-- w --> • Artist Cameron Tomsett out <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.tomsett.com">www.tomsett.com</a><!-- w -->

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By Kevin Young

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  Is Anyone Worried...

Posted by: bstrauss24
07-25-2009, 04:19 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (6)

Now that we have kicked off the second leg of the tour, the biggest difference has to be the lack of multiple night stints in one city, as well as the fact that the band is venturing out of the "hotbeds" so to speak.

I know many of the people on the base like to travel around to see shows, so my question is this:

Is anyone else worried that the diversity of the setlists may take a hit now? If I saw the band on consecutive nights earlier this year, I could usually be sure to see a pretty different show. Now I'm not quite as certain.

Thoughts?

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  Phantom Power Rankings

Posted by: Marcus1970
07-25-2009, 01:47 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (36)

Listening to Phantom Power the other day, I was reminded just how many great songs are on that album. Here is my challange to you:

Rank the songs on Phantom Power from most favourite to least favourite (ie. #1=most favourite --> #12=least favourite).

Below is how the songs appear on the album. I'd be interested to see how each person's rankings compare. Will there be similarities or complete opposites. Will anyone have the exact same rankings? Will any songs remain in their original album position.

Phantom Power
1. Poets
2. Something On
3. Save The Planet
4. Bobcaygeon
5. Thompson Girl
6. Membership
7. Fireworks
8. Vapour Trails
9. The Rules
10. Chagrin Falls
11. Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man
12. Emperor Penguin

Good luck and thanks for playing.

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  Tracker Upload: SRB: 2007-07-05 - Buffalo, NY

Posted by: mojo_mattv
07-25-2009, 01:25 PM
Forum: Download & Trading Central
- Replies (3)

Collection: : SamRobertsBand
Band/Artist: Sam Roberts Band
Date: July 5, 2007
Venue: Lafayette Square
Location: Buffalo, NY

Source: Source: Beyerdynamic MC 930's -> Edirol R4
Lineage: Transfer: R4 -> audition (fades/M bit + dither/resample) -> CDwav -> flac **16 bit**
Taped by: Taped by: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:daniel@upstatetapers.org">daniel@upstatetapers.org</a><!-- e -->

1) The Bootleg Saint
2) The Resistance
3) Hard Road
4) The Gate
5) Fixed To Ruin
6) Taj Mahal
7) Dead End
8) Bridge To Nowhere
9) Brother Down
10) Magic On My Mind
11) Uprising Down Under
12) Mind Flood
13) With A Bullet
14) Where Have All The Good People Gone

Enjoy…

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  1. PunBB