This Saturday, Record Store Day Canada celebrates all things vinyl at King of Trade and Sunrise Records. This year’s Canadian Ambassadors, The Tragically Hip, are releasing an exclusive standalone live album, “Live at CBGB’s.”
The Tragically Hip Guitarist Rob Baker is a big believer in records and listens to vinyl on a daily basis. “That’s where we came from. Even before we played together, it was about getting together and talking about music and talking about records.”
“I don’t really see it’s been improved upon, as a form of delivering music.”
Baker adds it’s nice to have the portability and massive library of music on a phone, but the listening experience is lacking and there’s no information about what you’re listening to, who is playing what, where it was recorded and what date. “I’m a big fan of vinyl for many, many reasons.”
Being the art director of The Tragically Hip, Baker says a little post-it stamp on a streaming service doesn’t really cut it in the art department either.
In society, everyone is pulled in different directions when it comes to their music. Some people want quantity, volume and ease of use with portability.
“For me, as someone who cares about quality – Is it better? Does it sound better? Does it offer more information? Virtually, every change in the music industry has not necessarily been to improve quality. Cassette tapes didn’t improve quality, 8-tracks didn’t improve quality, CD did not improve quality and in spite of everyone saying it lasts forever and they’re indestructible – I’ve had far too many CDs that skipped and glitched out.”
“And yet, I can put on a record from 1960 or 1958 and it’s the original pressing and I can pop that piece of vinyl on my turntable and it sounds great if you take care of your records. They really do last more than a lifetime,” says Baker.
According to Baker, there will be a lot of great releases coming out on Record Store Day, from a lot of different artists, including The Tragically Hip’s live release. “We wanted to make our contribution. We had a great recording of us from very early on, just after we recorded ‘Fully Completely.’ We played at CBJB’s. I don’t know why, but it was recorded to a two-inch tape in a recording truck outside of the place and we had that available, so we thought why don’t we do a limited edition. If it helps get a few people into a few stores, that’s a good thing.”
With the announcement of the band being this year’s Canadian Ambassadors of Record Store Day Canada, this marks the first of many moments for The Tragically Hip, as they celebrate 40 years as a band.
“It makes me feel kind of old. It’s a big number for a band,” says Baker. “It’s tough, I’ve had to spend a lot of the last few years looking back. We prided ourselves as a band on never really looking back. We weren’t big on the five-year plan. It was always about what’s our next move and what do we want to be doing in three months.”
“To find myself in this position, where we’re constantly looking in the rearview mirror is a little tough, it’s a little bit trying, but that’s where we find ourselves in life. I listen back on it and I’m proud of what we did and stuff keeps getting turned up. There was so much music we wrote, demo’d and recorded that didn’t get released. It’s nice for a lot it to see the day, as long as we can keep the quality up, we’ll continue to do that,” adds Baker.
Baker believes it’s important to nourish the roots and record stores are part of that root system.
“Get out there and support your local stores. It’s like tipping your bartender and waitress, they can be your best friend. Get out and support these people. It is part of, not just Canadian culture, it’s part of a global culture. Vinyl records and what they do for music. They nourish people that love music the most. The people that care about the quality and that want to know everything about it,” says Baker.
In Lethbridge, Street Legal Records downtown and Caravan Records and Vintage are also great places to find vinyl and celebrate local record stores every day.