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IVL Record Biography Come in, come in, come in, come in From under these darling skies, come in - "The Darkest One" Music and me, we have a special bond. Sometimes we meet in a dark room and slow dance, alone together. Sometimes we hook up in a jam-packed arena, and yet we're the only two souls there. Sometimes I look across a crowded room and see what I'm feeling on the faces of a thousand others. Sometimes I put headphones on and can hear the universe calling. Ah, music, sweet music. When it's on, when all of the rhythmic planets have aligned and I can close my eyes and feel both immersion and transcendence, I know I'm right where I want to be. And that's what The Tragically Hip are all about: Connecting with the music, and connecting you with their music. Their ninth studio album, In Violet Light, reflects the pursuit and the realization of their passion, mirroring the world around them and refracting their (and our) feelings about where we are and where we're going. That Raison d'Hip is all over songs like the roaring "Silver Jet," the reflective "Throwing Off Glass," the breakneck dirty jam of "Dark Canuck," and the churning curveball that is the first single, "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken." The latter song, says singer Gordon Downie, "refers to the Road, or the Life of the Road -- which, of course, is a life in search of somewhere to go, all the while suspecting that one grows where one is needed." In Violet Light's 11 tracks comprise 45 minutes worth of, to borrow a line from the album's second song, "Use It Up," "music that can take you away." "That's what you're looking for," agrees bassist Gord Sinclair. "Music has always offered me a refuge. It's an important part of my life. I believe in the power of music to move you on an emotional and intellectual level like nothing else can. Only music can do that for me." Deciding to break from the patterns of the familiar at their home studio -- the Bathouse, in Bath, Ontario -- The Hip enlisted producer Hugh Padgham (Sting, Genesis, David Bowie) and engineer Terry Manning (Led Zeppelin, Shakira, Lenny Kravitz) and headed down to Manning's Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas last fall to work on what would become In Violet Light. "Hugh's a sonic master," marvels drummer Johnny Fay. "We'd always admired his production on the Police's Synchronicity and especially XTC's English Settlement. He doesn't believe the vibe is right until the sound is right. And I'm only happy when the band sounds good -- and he helped us sound good." Adds guitarist Robby Baker, "I was very happy to defer to Hugh. Ultimately, we're there to serve the song first, and he favors a lean and melodic approach. He challenged us. He listened back to the mixes loud, which I really liked," grins guitarist Paul Langlois. "His intent was to capture the band and let us do what we do. It was refreshing to have that kind of freedom." Says Sinclair, "Hugh wanted the record to feel live because he knew of our live reputation. And that's what sets us apart, because we do play well together." Agrees Padgham, "I wanted to capture the live atmosphere of the band in full flight. The Hip are great musicians who have been together for a long time now. All that experience creates a certain empathy when they play together. This makes for a powerful sound -- and feeling -- when you hear them play." The Hip had first crossed paths with Manning when he worked at Ardent Studios in Memphis, where the band cut their debut full-length album, 1989's Up to Here. "I like that they have a lot of different elements to their music," says Manning. "They're not, say, just a loud rock band and they're not a folk band with the sole emphasis being on the words. They have everything put together in a complete package." "Terry has some amazing gear down there at Compass Point, like Robert Johnson's dobro and Bob Marley's Martin acoustic guitar, which I got to play," says Baker. "Terry was a real help," notes Langlois. "He had a great effect on all of us. He's the Zen master of engineering." Says Fay, "He's in the family now, a wonderful man. It was great to have another fine set of ears in the studio." (Speaking of family, longtime Hip soundman Mark Vreeken plied his magic after the band returned from the Bahamas. At the Bathouse, Vreeken both recorded and co-produced the album's lead track "Are You Ready" and the aforementioned "Silver Jet" with The Hip.) For Manning, letting The Hip do what they do best was paramount. "My goal is to get the very best out of the artist," he states. "Some producers make the album their album more than the artist's album, which is ok in some cases. Not for these guys. Me, I tried to add what I could add and let them do the rest." Padgham was impressed with singer Gordon Downie's songwriting abilities. "Gordon's lyrics are his best strength, and they also read wonderfully well as prose," he observes. "He is a writer, singer, performer, and poet, and that makes him pretty unique in the music business today." Downie had a unique experience when writing the album's lead track, "Are You Ready." "This song literally came to me in a dream," he reveals. "The 'Are you ready, are you ready, are you ready to love' part -- I woke up in the middle of the night in the Bahamas singing that exact melody. I've always read about the wake-up-scrambling-for-a-pen-bit happening to people, but, until then, it had never happened to me. Of course, it's as John Gardner says: 'Originality is normally a quality achieved by diligence, not a natural condition.' At the risk of sounding immodest, 'Are you ready to love' sounds new to me." As is often the case with Downie's lyrics, the album title, In Violet Light -- which comes from a line in "Silver Jet" -- is open to multiple interpretations. Observes Baker, "Violet light is the light of the shortest wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye." "It could be about a beautiful night," offers Sinclair. "It could refer to other things hiding in the shadows; the darker elements." On the other hand, muses Baker, "you could also look at it as inviolate light, light that cannot be extinguished." "It's a message of hope, something that can't be corrupted by darkness and evil," says Sinclair. "I worked very hard on this record, as did the rest of the guys," reports Downie, "toiling in and around what Rick Groen calls 'the collective wisdom of committees.' That said, I tried to honour the inviolate lights of my life." Staying close is a hallmark of the bandmates themselves, who've entered their 18th year together and are looking forward to jump-starting another extensive tour that will keep them on the road at least through the end of 2002. "I still feel like the music I love defines who I am," says Baker. "Making music is what I always wanted to do with my life. I wouldn't know who I was if I wasn't doing this." Observes Sinclair, "Sometimes on stage you can't communicate verbally, so you communicate musically. I rely heavily on what John and Paul do, and I also make sure my riffs play off what Rob and Gord are doing. What we do together live -- a computer will never duplicate that." A computer will also never be able to replicate The Hip's camaraderie. "We still have that 'one-for-all' feeling," says Langlois. "We're not a band where the majority rules; we like to have 100-percent consensus. Our main success is that we're still doing it with the same five people after all this time. We like to be together, whether it's recording music, having a group meeting, watching a game, or going on the road." "It can be a difficult path, because we're passionate about what we do," admits Sinclair. "But it's still fun, especially when we perform live. In fact, 18 years doesn't seem that long at all. It's just the beginning." Concludes Manning, "Ultimately, on the album, they sound pretty much like they do live. You've got great lyrics and a great voice singing over great music. I think In Violet Light reminds us of why they got into doing this in the first place: They love playing live, and they love getting in front of an audience and connecting with it. You capture that, and it makes you feel 18 again." It's true. In Violet Light is an album that connects (and reconnects) listeners with the spirit and promise of what music brings into our lives. Step into In Violet Light and bask in its glow. --Mike Mettler |