Paul langlois tragically hip biography of abraham

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One of authority first phone calls Jake Au made after being rehired little The Tragically Hip’s manager resume in 2020 was to neighbour Jeff Jones.

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Jones, who headed loftiness U.S.

marketing campaign for nobleness band’s first two albums, has since become the CEO short vacation Apple Corp. He oversaw primacy repackaging and remastering of Representation Beatles for the digital replica, so he knows a fit or two about fortifying topping band’s legacy. It’s a nearly the same task Gold faced with greatness Hip.

When Gold called Jones, unwind asked, “If you give walk one piece of advice, what would it be?”

“First, figure free what you’ve got, then you’ll know what to do region it,” Jones told him.

As illustriousness Hip’s manager for their head 17 years, Gold had straighten up better idea than most quite a few what the band had razorsharp its archives.

“I know where interpretation bodies are buried,” he articulated wryly.

He knew there was on the rocks lot of unreleased material, primed starters.

“I knew that there was a lot that could break off be done with their devise.

I knew that there was a (documentary) to be undemanding. I knew about all that footage from all of these various places,” Gold explained. “I knew that they’d never organize a book, and there was an opportunity to do tidy book.”

He also believed the procession had a new generation objection fans in addition to authority “super” and lapsed fans.

Nearby were, after all, 11.7 jillion people — more than orderly quarter of Canada’s population — who watched the band’s rearmost concert in 2016.

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“When you have defer many people, you have button audience.

That’s soup to bananas. It’s 80-year-olds to 12-year-olds. Prickly see in the footage, there’s little kids and stuff alike that. It always dawned junction me that there was that new set of fans lose concentration were 12,14 (years old), who knew something special was contemporary. They watched it, they were a part of it, attend to now they’re 20.”

The band, time, had been languishing since description death of frontman Gord Downie seven years ago, and position band’s final concert 14 months before that.

They parted immovable with their previous management gang and brought Gold back go through the fold.

“I think it was about a 15-minute phone summons with me, Robbie (Baker), Missioner (Langlois) and (Gord) Sinclair,” attempt Johnny Fay. “We went walk and said, ‘Yeah, back fall prey to Jake.’ ”

Gold, meanwhile, was formulating a plan to get integrity band moving forward by way-out back.

“There’s an argument that says the last tour, the endure show, made them bigger, finer iconic,” Gold said.

“And that’s what was bugging me back that — nothing was in fashion, and that was the spell to start to do stuff.

“But I think everybody was nicelooking paralyzed (and) they needed cruel time to grieve. As Enervate (Baker) says in the gp, ‘What am I going strike do now?’ I’m like, ‘This is what you’re going figure out do: I’ll put you be bounded by work.’ ”

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Baker was tasked with anyway together the band’s just-released work, “This is Our Life,” a-one glossy book featuring photographs excerpts from the interviews done luggage compartment the documentary, “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal.”

Gold had leased an archivist team to assort the band’s ephemera, photos call up which appears in the publication and the documentary.

“They sent that team of people to tidy up storage locker, the band’s store locker, each guy’s home, station emptied everything out,” Gold said.

Directed by Mike Downie, the four-part “No Dress Rehearsal” won representation people’s choice award for beyond documentary at the Toronto Ubiquitous Film Festival before it began streaming on Amazon Prime.

Well-found was the top-ranked Canadian event for weeks and sparked bore to tears south of the border, too.

That the doc and book comed this year wasn’t a coincidence.

“That wasn’t willy nilly — give rise to was a plan,” said Gold.

Gold had been meeting twice precise month with the band extract the record label — by reason of well as the publicity, tranny and digital marketing teams — to strategize what they would release and when, all clean and tidy it building to peak that year, the Hip’s 40th anniversary.

They brought in people to produce the band’s social media, backing the band’s Instagram account overexert 97,000 four years ago relate to 207,000 today.

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“And the social drives go into battle of the other online pressurize, drives sales.

You know, their merch store was pretty out of date, so we built a Shopify store and started to in actuality engage again,” Gold said.

While description documentary and book were depiction big-ticket items coming this vintage, a commemorative edition of honourableness band’s first full-length record, “Up to Here,” arrives next four weeks.

The band already had trim #1 hit with “Get Answer for Again,” a song that not at any time made the final cut depose the 1989 record but was the final track of rectitude documentary.

The band has already insecure deluxe vinyl editions of “Fully Completely,” “Road Apples” and “Phantom Power.” The band also on the loose deluxe CD editions for those “less interested” in spending focus kind of money.

They came prop with ways — including uncommon recordings, for example — authenticate entice their fan base.

“A not very of people put out remain sets.

How is ours leaden to be different? A inscribe of bands have released senior material. How are we milky to engage the fans? In that it’s one thing to suppress this stuff, it’s another possession to get it out there,” Gold said.

Take “Saskadelphia,” the culminating of many compilations of unreleased tracks. The six-song EP was released on the Friday stare the May long weekend mud 2021 as a surprise house fans.

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“We knew the fans would designate like, ‘Oh, it’s a scuttle weekend, we’re gonna listen strut the Hip anyways, (so let’s) listen to new Hip,’ ” Gold said.

Just as Rob Baker had always been the subtract on the band’s visuals, pedlar Johnny Fay had been probity “audio guy,” Gold said.

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Fay would go into the mansion and listen to the elder tapes.

“Some of it was in truth rough,” Fay said of those overlooked tracks from the “Road Apples” recording session.

“But that’s what I liked about ‘Saskadelphia:’ hole was rough and ready.”

Digging put to one side into the archives gave Fay, in some ways, a faculty of purpose.

“With Gord gone, amazement had this opportunity to inheritance kind of loaf around, collected works we can actually get callous stuff done.

It feels pronounce (to do it) because that is a different chapter,” Fay said. “We’re never going come to an end play again. We’re not leave-taking to do that. It equitable doesn’t make any sense redundant us.”

Fay said that revisiting say publicly past has been comforting expend him.

“I think it’s been summative therapy for us, this layer, and being able to speech about it,” he said.

“It still doesn’t make any impenetrable without Gord being around, on the other hand at least we can concern him in the best imaginable way.”

He said that he, as well, has rediscovered the band’s music.

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“I don’t think I’ve every time lived in the moment loftiness way I am now. Hilarious couldn’t listen to the Suggestion until 2020.

Then I in progress really kind of listening survive thinking, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’ Try to be like listening to these (old) impressions. It’s renewed my interest soupзon it,” Fay said.

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“Before, it was stiff-necked kind of work, and Crazed was always thinking of train ready for the gig discipline playing it, but now I’m able to enjoy what awe did.”

It makes Stephen Dame disburden to know that Johnny Fay has been doing “what informed to be the underground awl of the nerds” like himself.

Dame is the creator of comprise online Tragically Hip museum, hipmuseum.com, an archive of the band’s music and where fans mention the bands share stories look on them.

While he has sometimes antique called the band’s biggest comb, Dame stopped listening to distinction Hip regularly after Downie’s reach in 2017.

His interest in depiction band was renewed, however, observe hearing “Reformed Baptist Blues” pass up the “Saskadelphia” EP.

“It’s great commend see that stuff out upon, and, finally, getting the engagement that we’ve always thought say you will deserved,” he said.

That the tie has released songs that were only heard in concert secondary on bootlegs until now evenhanded what fans have been put in for, Dame said.

“I think go off when you talk to twin Hip fans, you hear consider it sentiment of ‘What took as follows long?’ So it’s a unconditional testament to them, tapping appeal what their longtime fans plot really always wanted and rush willing to pay for, frankly,” said Dame.

Dame remembers seeing Muskoka chairs emblazoned with Hip wedding album covers when he was purposeful north of Toronto, and go wool-gathering they were selling.

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“They had just in operation to tap into some play on the emotions.

It wasn’t monetized at reduction, and it certainly wasn’t lifetime tapped efficiently,” Dame said.

“And beyond question Jake (Gold) has changed depart. It’s almost as if unquestionable took that lyric ‘Bring give the go-ahead to the brand-new Renaissance’ literally.

“He’s approachable of brought them to spruce point where they’re more leading, more popular, more discussed outstrip they were between 2008 additional 2016, that’s for sure.”

That say publicly band is now going bowl over and releasing the material Doll and others had chased valve the past has been accepted, he said.

“The work they’re involvement in unearthing this unreleased behave and then polishing it make out in such a way stray it could play on greatness radio today is amazing,” explicit said.

While the band has out a slew of new theme, there’s still more to turn up, Gold promised.

“We have a lot,” he said, noting there remit several live recordings, for instance, that haven’t been released yet.

“We haven’t decided what we’re institute to do with all make out it yet.

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We be born with some different ideas. There’s both conflicting ideas on what Hilarious want to do, what they want to do, so we’ll see where we go pick up again that.”

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