In this episode of School of Hip Chaz and Heath take a detour from the Tragically Hip catalogue and into the world of Tragically Hip tribute bands interviewing Derek Lathrop, the Gord Downie doppleganger in one of the most in-demand Hip tributes on the circuit, The Hip Experience.
Lathrop, a veteran of the Canadian music industry as a touring musician, recording artist and booking agent takes us through his own Hip journey, becoming a fan after seeing the young and hungry Kingston band open for Rush at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in 1991.
It was in 2018, a year after Downie’s death, that The Hip Experience played its first gig, initially intended as a one-off for a cancer benefit show at a club in Etobicoke, Ontario. So great was the reception that The Hip Experience was asked to do more shows, eventually leading to today where the band plays around 100 shows a year, a gig Lathrop alternates with his solo career as a country artist.
Recreating the Hip concert experience is sacred ground for fans of the band that became a special part of so many lives and Lathrop shares how deeply he feels that connection, along with the unique brilliance of the band, every time The Hip Experience plays.
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.
For further exploration:
Find the Hip Experience on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
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Also:
The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip by Michael Barclay.
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!