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From the first, loon-soothed acoustic notes of Wheat Kings to his reliable, Gord Downie-adjacent backing yowls across 15 albums plus, Tragically Hip guitarist Paul Langlois is an artist of national magnitude and sonic poetry, permanent scaffolding in the long story of Canadian music.
What a unified nation went through watching Langlois’ high-school best friend and decades-long bandmate endure in a Jaws T-shirt was its own bittersweet collective thing about to be commemorated next month by a new triple live album, out 10 years and one day after the band’s final show in hometown Kingston on Aug. 20, 2016.
But imagine being inside that whirl of impossible emotions, just a few feet (sorry, metres) stage right of all that explosive, tragicomic and singalong certainty of the mortality of absolutely everything ever.
When Rockin’ Thunder announced its Northlands Racetrack lineup in March (topped by Three Days Grace and Creed), Langlois’ name was the first name to jump off my screen right into a big smile – there he is! – on 4 p.m. Sunday.
Bringing great songs from his long solo career and terrific new album Smooth Rock Falls (and indeed singing some Hip classics), Langlois discusses life during and after that which defined him and indeed our entire country, driving down the highway to a garden party at his sister’s place outside of Kingston.
Q The new album is great, really solid, wistful, angsty. How does it feel to be on the other side of it?
A I’m not a natural workaholic songwriter, more kind of a last-minute, desperate kind of songwriter, and the guys, my band – this is the second one we’ve done together – are all really quick on their feet. It’s nice to get it out. It’s out there and nothing we can do. We’re playing shows (laughs), that’s all we can do.
Q Your lyrics “Don’t be a dick, don’t be a prick” is such good advice. If only the world would listen.
A That was last-minute, desperation. We only had nine (songs), I wanted 10. So I just started, as one does, thinking about myself. True story, that guy: morning guy, night guy. And the morning guy’s never pleased but I’m just trying to shepherd over them both.
Q This is the band you’re bringing to Edmonton?
A Yeah, all Kingston guys I knew a little bit through music, but they’re just buddies. When I was putting the band together I just thought of these four guys. They’re very enthusiastic, they have my back, and they love the gigs, so that really helps me mentally.
Q This came together post Hip?
A Yeah, coming out of the fog. A guy I know said, “There’s this gig in August.” So four years (since the last Kingston show) in August, the Canada Summer Games in Niagara Falls. And I’m like, “I don’t have a band,” and he was, “Well, can you pull one together?” That was our first gig, a fairly big outdoor thing, but I very much lean towards the big summer festivals. I don’t like playing shows under Paul Langlois and looking at tickets. “Oh my god, we’re only at 450 and it holds 850! (Laughs.)
Q I shot you from the pit at Roadside, a pretty seminal time for anyone who went to college at a certain time, halcyon days, just looking out at the crowd singing Wheat Kings. You said you were in a bit of daze after Gordon died, can you talk about how that fog started to lift?
A The fog and the grieving, yeah. The four of us left, we kind of went through it on our own with our own families, that might have been a mistake in hindsight. People have said, you should have got together. But no one felt like it. All enthusiasm was gone. We were like, no way we’re getting another singer. We had a good run but we’re not doing it without Gordie. And months went by and it’s like, what are you going to do, go back to school? And I just slowly started realizing, almost subconsciously, that I’m really only qualified to do music. So the Canada Summer Games was just good timing, coming out of the fog, and we (The Hip) were finding each other again within the band.
Q How’d that go?
A We got new management, who was our old manager, Jake Gold. He injected some energy and we just started talking about ideas for The Hip, like, “Let’s find stuff.” Because we have so much unheard material, or if it was, it was on a shitty bootleg. We started having more meeting, on Zoom because it was COVID, and it was good. Everyone went through that same kind of thinking “I’m done with music, I’m not gonna play any more.” That didn’t last too long, fortunately, so everyone’s up to their own little things and we’re still very much in touch. The friendship is lifelong, so it’s good.
Q It’s really nice to hear you singing, that guitar and your voice, which is not 100% different than Gord’s.
A We were best friends before the band and we had very similar ranges. Within the Hip, I’m up there nasally, singing higher notes than Gord, but he could go just as high, higher, and we could both sing low. I do Hip songs, there’s some that are more challenging or the phrasing is so nutty, but I’m comfortable doing three now in a 15-song set.
Q Your Escape Is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man is terrific, I hope you do it here.
A Thanks a lot, I love doing that one. Consider it done.
Q Can you talk about a “How did I get here” heights for a Kingston bar band?
A I mean Roadside you mentioned was a very big achievement for us, ’93, ’95, ’97, every other summer, setting ourselves up to fail following Midnight Oil and Ziggy Marley and Sheryl Crow. (Laughs.) But it really worked out, it couldn’t have been better.
Q It must have been something knowing basically the whole country was listening to that last gig. How was it for you?
A We felt it, coming in. The day was long and I was anxious and just kind of like, ‘This is it.” We had 14 shows under our belt, Gord was doing great, but there was hanging over us that very likely fact that it was going to be our last show. I caught the heaviness of the day, just pacing around the venue. But sound check, Gord showed up and he was like, ‘This is gonna be fun! This is gonna be so cool!” He had kind of a magic attitude about it that totally allowed me to relax. Like, oh, I hadn’t thought about that. I don’t think we had any idea the whole country would be watching. And the first thing Gord said after the show was, “That felt like the last one.” And it was.
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Q What do you miss about him?
A To be honest, he needed me. I think that’s why we were best friends. It’s not like he struggled in life, he’s good socially. He sort of got some girl trouble in high school and I was someone he could talk to and I really liked him. I got everything from him that he got from me. He was just a very caring guy, you know. He’s sick with cancer and I had a bout of some stomach thing and had to go to the hospital and it drove him crazy. “Oh my god, you’re sick! I hate this so much!” And I’m like, “Gord you have brain cancer. I don’t, you know?” He was just so dignified about it. He was worried about me, not him.
Q What will you be doing on the 10-year anniversary of the Kingston show?
A They’re doing a thing at city hall, they grabbed a bunch of our studio gear. I have a wedding, so I won’t be there. It wouldn’t shock me if the guys came up with a pretend wedding just to get out of town. (Laughs.)
Q Those Hip fans are insatiable!
A Our manager, and the record company, they want this stuff to keep coming. But we keep saying, can we just go away for a while?
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