  The Tragically Hip. |
It can't be easy, being the Tragically Hip.
Think about it -- you're one of the biggest bands in Canada but barely make a dent in the American market, your back catalogue has been keeping cover bands in business for decades, and fans can just as easily switch on the radio as buy one of your CDs whenever they're in the mood to hear your music.
Of course, the glass-half-full way of looking at things is that you've also served as the soundtrack for countless real-life coming-of-age stories over the years, fans can recite the lyrics to your songs better than their own national anthem and in the pantheon of patriotic, proudly Canadian music-makers, well, you rank right up there.
But that's just our opinion.
"I don't worry too much about what we should or shouldn't be," Hip frontman Gord Downie told the Sun recently. "I remember reading something recently about Chris Murphy from Sloan ... saying he wanted his record to be a polarizing thing and that he wanted Sloan fans to fistfight over his record.
"He wasn't being literal, but you get the inference. He wants -- well, I don't know what he wants, but I thought to myself, at the risk of sounding immodest, that we already have that and we've had that for a long time.
"People, it's almost the second thing (they ask) when they meet someone from somewhere else in Canada, especially abroad -- 'Where are you from, and are you into the Hip?' And the answer will either be resolutely yes, or resolutely no."
That relationship between the Hip's music and their listeners has helped cement the band's status as one of the most influential and ubiquitous in the country, as well as allowed it to be judged on its merits and nothing else.
"It's not because of our sparkling personalities or because we're intrinsically Canadian," Downie says. "It's about the tunes."
For instance, he says,"My 11-year-old daughter just listened to that new Killers track, like, 44 times in a row. That's no different than what I do and what I've always done when I get something I like.
"You play it over and over and over again. You almost think, 'Well, this is indulgent, I can't possibly play this again, can I? No I am. I'm going to play it again, because it's the only thing I want to hear.' That's about all I could ask for."
Of course, Downie has had more than music on his mind since the Hip (Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair round out the roster) released their latest album, the Bob Rock-produced World Container. In addition to his solo work and poetry, he's also been working as a trustee for the Lake Ontario Waterkeepers, a group that advocates on behalf of residents of smaller waterfront communities that have been affected by industrial pollution.
And while that may sound like hard work, it's gotta be easier than the Hip's now-legendary live shows, which tend to find a seemingly-manic Downie delivering one his trademark enigmatic rants.
"I generally stagger off the stage," says Downie of the toll taken by his performance antics. "But if I'm staggering from some kind of moment of transcendence, where I feel like I've just been taken somewhere, then I don't mind. Generally, I can't escape it. I've tried different ways but I can't escape the punishment. The blues have to hurt, I guess."
See how badly Downie gets hurt when the Hip return to MTS Centre on Saturday night with opening act The Sadies.
Tickets are $39.50, $55.50 and $69.50 at Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.ca or 780-3333).
