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Toronto musicians weigh in on the Hip’s mighty influence

Charlotte Cornfield

“The Hip’s music has always been on the wind for me. It’s a fading melody from a passing motorboat, a pulsing chorus on a friend’s basement radio, a standout lyric arcing over fluorescent lights in the Galleria Mall. It is every rest stop, every road trip, every click of the remote control past MuchMoreMusic, every moving truck symphony, every driveway. It’s in the fabric of my being.”

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Simone Schmidt, The Highest Order and Fiver

“During a neighbourhood water fight, my sister gave my brother a glass of vinegar to drink instead of water, and he spat it out in a big show to the song Courage. Joyous music. Later on, the Hip were something I could discuss when the lights went out with jocks who would otherwise harass me: ‘Is Pigeon Camera about incest?!’ Gord Downie’s writing is galvanizing like good poetry is, because we can all coexist in the room he’s left for interpretation. I like that he writes regional without patriotism. He snuck in before the music industry stopped amplifying that kind of complexity.”

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SunSun, Above Top Secret

“The first song I remember listening to was Fiddler’s Green from 1991’s Road Apples. As a young visual artist, I would paint for hours listening to Bobcaygeon, Nautical Disaster and Ahead By A Century. The Tragically Hip’s constant outpouring of albums created spaces and soundscapes where I was encouraged to explore my feelings and emotions. For me, their music evokes feelings of nostalgia, capturing a melancholy mood and vibration of timelessness in each bar.”

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Shehzaad Jiwani, Greys

“The Tragically Hip elevate what we commonly view as mundane Canadiana to a scholarly thesis statement about embracing your surroundings while reaching for something more. It’s hard not to long for historic locales like Hollywood or Greenwich Village, but Gord Downie helped me see the Canadian Shield and the great prairies as equally compelling in their own way…. Even in the context of their own music, Downie elevates a by-the-numbers rock band to a national treasure via his universally (or at least domestically) relatable words that all have humble origins but higher ambitions. How quintessentially Canadian.”

The Hip play the Air Canada Centre August 10, 12 and 14. Don’t miss Stand Up, Tragically Hip Fans by Joshua Kloke (who has seen the band close to 40 times). 

music@nowtoronto.com | @mattgeewilliams

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