School of Hip

In this episode of School of Hip Chaz and Heath are joined by friend of the show and bonafide Tragically Hip Super Fan Chris Doucher, a comic book reporter whose work is featured at GeekNerdNet.com and on the GNN Instagram page.

Chris shares the deep connection he feels to the lyrics of Gord Downie, with a special emphasis on two meaningful passages in particular, which he’s tattooed to his forearms (one featured on this very show). Talk also turns to his concert experience on that final tour, prior to Gord’s passing (yes, tears were shed in streams) and a humorous chance run-in with the Hip frontman and guitarist Paul Langois mere days later.

Then it’s off the races with Side A of Trouble at Henhouse. The acknowledged masterpiece of the collection is undoubtedly the tender Ahead by a Century, arguably the band’s biggest song. But did you know about an earlier version of the song, an eye-raising “dirty version,” as it’s been called? We also review a newly released cover of the classic, featuring City and Colour, Ruby Waters, and Boi-1da.

The ambitious album side also takes us to the Grand Canyon (Gift Shop) and brings us face to face with Kurt Cobain, reincarnated as a sled dog on Don’t Wake Daddy. This leads to a tale of from 1989 when the Hip and Nirvana played a gig together, pre-fame.

Other tunes from the classic album include: Springtime in Vienna, Flamenco, and 700 Foot Ceiling.

Whether you’re a lifelong Hip fan or just curious about what makes this band so iconic in Canada, School of Hip is your guide to the sounds and the story of the Tragically Hip, one album side per episode. Episodes drop every two weeks.

For further exploration:

School of Hip is a proud part of the burgeoning empire that is the Boneless Podcasting Network. Listen there, or find us on iTunes, Spotify, Acast and other podcasting platforms. Please subscribe, review and give us five stars reviews to help grow our beloved show!
Reach out to us on our School of Hip Facebook Group or on our School of Hip Discord page and watch for our posts in the awesome Reddit Tragically Hip community.
Also:

The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip by Michael Barclay.

https://www.hipmuseum.com/

https://hipbase.com/

https://thehip.com/

Chaz Charles is the founder of the Boneless Podcasting Network, currently hosting five fantastic shows (and appearing in many more!)
Heath McCoy is the author of Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, available on Amazon.ca and at ECW Press. He appears in the award winning documentary Singhs in the Ring on Crave TV.
And once again, to all you rock n’ roll podcast lovers .... GO BONELESS!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of School of Hip Chaz and Heath are joined by their good friend (and occasional frenemy / nemesis) Kevin Brown, host of topnotch podcasts The Tom Petty Project, The Ultimate Catalogue Clash, Seaside Pod Review: A Queen Podcast, and Rock Court, where he was the formidable thorn in their respective sides!

A spirited chat touchs on Kevin’s discovery of The Tragically Hip as a Brit drawn to the Canadian prairies by the love of his life, and an appraisal of the band’s impeccable, oft overlooked rhythm section, this week’s album Day for Night an absolute tour de force for bassist Gord Sinclair. A consideration of the Hip’s expectation defying turn on the album, away from the arena ready rock on previous releases to the darker, moodier stylings within then leads to the lads’ track by track review of that album’s B Side, chalk full of deep cuts and at least one of the band’s all-time greats.

Could the mysterious, darkly beautiful folk ballad Scared be the Hip’s finest moment? Kevin makes a strong case for it. Other tunes tackled include Thugs, Inevitability of Death and the trippy Titanic Terrarium. But did Day for Night take the Hip to a new level of artistic reverence in Canada while limiting their chances of an international breakthrough?

Whether you’re a lifelong Hip fan or just curious about what makes this band so iconic in Canada, School of Hip is your guide to the sounds and the story of the Tragically Hip, one album side per episode. Episodes drop every two weeks. 

For further exploration: 

School of Hip is a proud part of the burgeoning empire that is the Boneless Podcasting Network. Listen there, or find us on iTunes, Spotify, Acast and other podcasting platforms. Please subscribe, review and give us five stars reviews to help grow our beloved show!

Reach out to us on our School of Hip Facebook Group, School of Hip Discord and watch for our posts in the awesome Reddit Tragically Hip community.

Also:

The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip by Michael Barclay. 

https://www.hipmuseum.com/

https://hipbase.com/

https://thehip.com/

Chaz Charles is the founder of the Boneless Podcasting Network, currently hosting five fantastic shows (and appearing in many more!)

Heath McCoy is the author of Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, available on Amazon.ca and at ECW Press. He appears in the award winning documentary Singhs in the Ring on Crave TV.

And once again, to all you rock n’ roll podcast lovers .... GO BONELESS!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this re-duxed for improved sound quality episode of School of Hip Chaz and Heath are joined by an Irishman living in Germany, none other than Ian Winick host of Black Adder podcast Lord of Adders Black and the brand new Eat the Pudding: A Simpsons Podcast. Despite being stricken with illness and even more unrested than anticipated – curse you, time zone trickery – Winick plants his boots on hallowed Hip ground sharing the story of his first Tragically Hip exposure, via – weirdly enough – Metal Hammer magazine in the ‘90s.

While there’s been much School of Hip talk about the beloved Canadian band’s presence in the American market, Ian brings insights into the Hip’s European profile. The Australian reception to the band is touched on too, though the test group is select, observations gleaned from a busload of drunken Aussie twentysomethings hearing this episode’s featured album, Day for Night, for the first time.

Ushering in a new era for the band – one that is subjectively darker and more subdued than on previous albums, as in a work of film noir – side A of Day for Night includes some of the Hip’s most revered songs, including the masterpieces Grace, Too, So Hard Done By, Greasy Jungle and the epic, historically grounded fever dream, Nautical Disaster. Elsewhere armed cops storm into mosh pits while sheer lust for life leads to the riding of a barrel down a raging waterfall. It’s no wonder Day for the Night is one of the Hip’s most acclaimed works.

Whether you’re a lifelong Hip fan or just curious about what makes this band so iconic in Canada, School of Hip is your guide to the sounds and the story of the Tragically Hip, one album side per episode. Episodes drop every two weeks.

For further exploration:

School of Hip is a proud part of the burgeoning empire that is the Boneless Podcasting Network. Listen there, or find us on iTunes, Spotify, Acast and other podcasting platforms. Please subscribe, review and give us five stars reviews to help grow our beloved show!
Reach out to us on our School of Hip Facebook Group, School of Hip Discord and watch for our posts in the awesome Reddit Tragically Hip community.
Also:

The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip by Michael Barclay.

https://www.hipmuseum.com/

https://hipbase.com/

https://thehip.com/

Chaz Charles is the founder of the Boneless Podcasting Network, currently hosting five fantastic shows (and appearing in many more!)
Heath McCoy is the author of Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, available on Amazon.ca and at ECW Press. He appears in the award winning documentary Singhs in the Ring on Crave TV.
And once again, to all you rock n’ roll podcast lovers .... GO BONELESS!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of School of Hip Chaz and Heath take a detour from their chronological deep dive through the Tragically Hip’s discography to instead explore the newly released live album by Gord Downie & The Sadies, Live at 6 O’Clock. It’s a dynamic snapshot from the short 2014 tour the late Hip frontman embarked on in support of a solo album he released that same year with psychedelic alt-country band The Sadies, entitled And the Conquering Sun, and it finds the pairing exploding in a manner only hinted at on that studio record.

Live at 6 O’Clock burns with garage rock intensity as Downie and The Sadies storm through inspired covers of deep cuts by The Who, Neil Young, and Iggy and the Stooges, along with gems by the underground likes of Roky Erickson, Fucked Up, and The Gun Club. It finds Downie in raw, animated, vulnerable form, in a manner quite distinct from his work with the Hip. It’s a posthumous release not only for Gord, but also from Sadies co-founder Dallas Good, who died in 2022. “If you have ghosts” indeed (to quote the eccentric Roky Erickson).

The co-hosts also address online criticisms about the podcast’s length and their supposed lack of sufficient “deep Hip knowledge,” as they defend their format and explain the concept of schoolin’!

Whether you’re a lifelong Hip fan or just curious about what makes this band so iconic in Canada, School of Hip is your guide to the sounds and the story of the Tragically Hip, one album side per episode (with the odd detour in between!). Episodes drop every two weeks. 

For further exploration: 

School of Hip is a proud part of the burgeoning empire that is the Boneless Podcasting Network. Listen there, or find us on iTunes, Spotify, Acast and other podcasting platforms. Please subscribe, review and give us five stars reviews to help grow our beloved show!

Reach out to us on our School of Hip Facebook Group, School of Hip Discord and watch for our posts in the awesome Reddit Tragically Hip community.

Also:

If You Have Ghosts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueEGIHhcU8c
Generation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvDHKOyxnY0

Grey Riders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTlDniwX53I

The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip by Michael Barclay. 

https://www.hipmuseum.com/

https://hipbase.com/

https://thehip.com/



Chaz Charles is the founder of the Boneless Podcasting Network, currently hosting seven fantastic shows (and appearing in many more!)

Heath McCoy is the author of Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, available on Amazon.ca and at ECW Press. He appears in the award winning documentary Singhs in the Ring on Crave TV.

And once again, to all you rock n’ roll podcast lovers .... GO BONELESS!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of School of Hip Chaz and Heath are joined by the acknowledged Godfather of their podcasting universe, now forever crowned the Podfather! That’s Corey Morrissette, whose flagship show, Van Halen podcast And the Podcast Will Rock, is the very venue where our School of Hip co-hosts met.

A spirited talk between the three pod pals touches on the vast differences between the Canadiana of Gord Downie and that of Canuck folk troubadour Stompin’ Tom Connors. Then talk turns to side B of Corey’s favorite Tragically Hip album (and that of a huge portion of the fanbase) Fully Completely.

Of course, the tragic tale of hockey hero and Toronto Maple Leafs legend Bill Barilko is covered during Fifty Mission Cap, as is the story of the fifty mission caps worn by pilots who had survived 50 bombing missions during the Second World War. The inspired brilliance of marrying these two seemingly disparate narratives in song is not lost on our trio.

As for iconic ballad Wheat Kings, the story of David Milgaard, wrongly convicted for a Saskatoon murder in 1969, this leads to Heath and Corey attempting to correct Chaz the American of the insane notion, fairly borne on this show, that grisly murders are somehow central to the lived Canadian experience. Alas, then Corey shares his own boyhood story of a brush with prison escaped killers and their argument is self-torpedoed. ‘Tis an episode of much laughter amidst probing insight!

Whether you’re a lifelong Hip fan or just curious about what makes this band so iconic in Canada, School of Hip is your guide to the sounds and the story of the Tragically Hip, one album side per episode. Episodes drop every two weeks. 

For further exploration: 

School of Hip is a proud part of the burgeoning empire that is the Boneless Podcasting Network. Listen there, or find us on iTunes, Spotify, Acast and other podcasting platforms. Please subscribe, review and give us five stars reviews to help grow our beloved show!

Reach out to us on our School of Hip Facebook Group, School of Hip Discord and watch for our posts in the awesome Reddit Tragically Hip community.

Also:

The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip by Michael Barclay. 

https://www.hipmuseum.com/

https://hipbase.com/

https://thehip.com/

Chaz Charles is the founder of the Boneless Podcasting Network, currently hosting five fantastic shows (and appearing in many more!)

Heath McCoy is the author of Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, available on Amazon.ca and at ECW Press. He appears in the award winning documentary Singhs in the Ring on Crave TV.

And once again, to all you rock n’ roll podcast lovers .... GO BONELESS!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.