School of Hip

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.

In this episode of School of Hip Chaz and Heath are joined by special guest Michael Barclay, author of Canadian best seller The Never-Ending Present: The Story of the Tragically Hip – which has been a constant reference point for this show – as well as the book Hearts on Fire: Six Years That Changed Canadian Music 2000-20005.

Michael takes us on his Tragically Hip journey, from falling in love with the band in his teenage years when they were a live sensation on the Ontario indie rock scene to writing the definitive biography of the band, published in 2018, the year after singer Gord Downie’s death.

Hip news includes the upcoming Gord Downie and the Sadies live album, Live at 6 O’Clock, and a new record by guitarist Paul Langois, Smooth Rock Falls.

Then it’s on to Side 1 of the Hip’s third full length release, the diamond certified Fully Completely. We discuss the heavy Canadiana in the lyrics, running through six tracks, including some of the bands’ biggest hits: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan), Looking for a Place to Happen, At the Hundredth Meridian and Locked in the Trunk of a Car. Also, is Pigeon Camera about incest and sexual abuse? Can it be compared to other popular songs of the era that touch on the topic (see Janie’s Got a Gun by Aerosmith and Pearl Jam’s Daughter).

Hot take on this one, Barclay is not a Fully Completely fan, giving a few of these songs the lowest rankings we’ve ever had on the show! That leads to an analysis of the radio ready production techniques of Chris Tsangarides. We compare Tsangarides to Don Smith whose rougher “live off the floor” recording shaped the sonics of Up to Here and Road Apples.

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 hosted on Acast and can be found on iTunes, Spotify and other podcasting platforms. Reach out to us on our School of Hip Facebook Group and our School of Hip Discord.

Also:
Hearts on Fire: Six Years that Changed Canadian Music 2000–2005

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

That Night in Toronto: https://michaelbarclay.substack.com

https://www.hipmuseum.com/

https://hipbase.com/

https://thehip.com/

Chaz Charles is also the co-host of podcasts: RushRash, Regarding… Series, Those Who Are About To Dive: Chronicling Colosseum Track By Bloody Track With Dr. Glund, and he’s a rocktorney on season two of Rock Court. 

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. He is a rocktorney on season one of Rock Court.


GO BONELESS!

Boneless makes a better podcast. Find 20 more like-minded podcast nuggets at The Boneless Podcasting Network. https://goboneless.loveable.app

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

In this episode of School of Hip:

Chaz and Heath are joined by Nick Lewis, a former journalist who covered Calgary’s arts and entertainment scene with Heath in the early 2000s, writing for the Calgary Herald. Reunited for the first time in well over a decade they share stories from the rock critic trenches.

Nick’s tale of a near fisticuffs encounter with a drunken, belligerent Tragically Hip fan in the ‘90s serves as an intro to the episode’s review of the EP Saskadelphia. Released in 2021 but compiled from lost, leftover tracks from the Hip’s 1991 masterpiece, Road Apples – which were thought to have been destroyed in the devastating Universal Studios fire of 2008 – our reviewers discover that Saskadelphia is far from a collection of throwaways. Rather, it’s a treasure in its own right.

While one poignant track turns talk to the Montreal Massacre of 1989, most of the EP is a wild ride wherein spines crack like whips, skeletons play dumb and the Hip gets their southern rock on. Quality was surely not a factor which led these songs to the cutting room floor three decades ago.

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.

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 are joined by special guest Todd McGinity who co-hosts the SeanGeek and FastFret Podcast with his brother Sean. Yes, the same Sean who joined us a few weeks back. Can’t get enough of those rockin’ rollin’ McGinity Bros!
Todd remembers his earliest memories of road apples. No, not the Hip album, but rather the album’s namesake, horse poop, which, when frozen, made for great hockey pucks shot across icy ponds in the McGinity’s youth. (A bit of the Canadian experience for ya,’ Chaz!) Talk also turns fondly to Maritime kitchen parties in the McGinity home and the family band the brothers played in with their dad.
Then Heath apologizes to all of Canada for last week’s regrettable fk up regarding Tragically Hip team ups with TV’s Trailer Park Boys and their appearance on CTV’s Corner Gas. It takes a big man to admit to his mistakes, Heath, but don’t let it happen again!
Then it’s on to Side 2 of the Tragically Hip’s first number one album in Canada, Road Apples.
Tunes include: the Stonesy swagger and spiderweb alphabets of Bring It All Back; the Tom Thomson Canadiana and pistols-at-dawn perfection of Three Pistols; and the deliriously hard-driving On the Verge.
During the simmering slow groove of Fight Heath delivers a hot take which he immediately regrets when Chaz zeroes in on those seething, burning pillows.
Chaz sees shades of Led Zeppelin III in Fiddler’s Green, a beautifully devastating masterpiece and quite possibly the most heart-wrenching song in the Hip’s canon (which became all the more moving on the Hip’s final tour.
Finally, it’s the trippy serenade which drifts this incredible album to a close, Last of the Unplucked Gems. A precursor to Downie’s first solo album, Coke Machine Glow (released 10 years after Road Apples).
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.

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 are joined by special guest Paul Beaulieu of the Canadian Music
Scene website and founder of the annual RushFest event, celebrating the music
and legacy of legendary Canadian rock trio, Rush (a band near and dear to Chaz,
who is also the co-host of the RushRash podcast!)

Paul shares stories of his interactions with the Tragically Hip over the years
through his Canadian Music Scene website which celebrates and promotes
Canadian music. Paul met the band on several occasions, behind the scenes at
such history-making events as numerous Juno Awards and the Canadian edition
of the Live 8 concert series, dedicated to aiding impoverished nations. Paul also
discusses the two concerts he attended on the Hip’s emotional final tour, after
singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

From there our co-hosts and their esteemed guests begin their track-by-track
review of side one of the Tragically Hip’s first number one album in Canada, Road
Apples. Highlights include two of the Hip’s most beloved singles, Little Bones and
Twist My Arm as well as the soulful balladry of Long Time Running. But truthfully,
the entire side is outstanding with the Stonesy Born in the Water, surreal
Shakespearean nods on Cordelia, and the jazzy cool of The Luxury, the growing
poetic powers of Downie a beacon throughout.

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:
https://www.thecanadianmusicscene.com
https://rushfestcanada.ca
https://www.hipmuseum.com/
https://hipbase.com/
https://thehip.com/

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

School of Hip is hosted on Acast and can be found on iTunes, Spotify and other podcasting platforms.

We love to hear from our listeners! Reach out to us on our School of Hip Facebook Group and our School of Hip Discord

Chaz Charles is also the co-host of podcasts: RushRash, Regarding… Series, Those Who Are About To Dive: Chronicling Colosseum Track By Bloody Track With Dr. Glund, and he’s a rocktorney on season two of Rock Court.

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. He is a rocktorney on season one of Rock Court.

GO BONELESS!

Boneless makes a better podcast. Find 20 more like-minded podcast nuggets at The Boneless Podcasting Network. https://goboneless.loveable.app

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