THE TRAGICALLY HIP's Paul Langlois on Gord Downie & moving on

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Montreal Rocks chats with The Tragically Hip's guitarist Paul Langlois about the legacy of Gord Downie and how he's now ready to take on the role as frontman for his own band. We also chat about The Bruins and future live shows.

Interview by Richard Brunette.

The Paul Langlois Band this week released a new album, Guess What via Pheromone Recordings / Cadence Music Group.

The band is led by Paul Langlois, who is familiar to fans as guitarist for the legendary Canadian Rock act, The Tragically Hip. When Langlois was asked to play the closing ceremonies of the Canada Summer Games in Niagara Falls in August of 2022, the gig got him playing again and rekindled his love for songwriting. From there, the collection of songs that became Guess What emerged, and represents an exciting new phase of the band’s musical journey and its debut on Pheromone Recordings/ Cadence Music Group.

Featuring Langlois on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and the ample talents of bandmates Greg Ball on guitar and backing vocals, lead guitarist Joe Carscallen, Matt Mulvihill on bass, and drummer Billy Anglin, Guess What offers up the kind of thoughtful, straight-up rock and roll that’s timely and timeless.

“It Matters To Me” is a laid-back rocker that sets the tone for an album and plays out like an often raucous meditation on our relationship with time; what you make of it, who you spend it with, and why. “I think I started with picturing myself in a precarious, possibly life-threatening situation as a teenager, which obviously happens to a lot of us at that age and stage” says Langlois. “Then I just went from there thinking about my life and growth since then, and some of the things that became important to me over time I guess.”

The title track itself – which closes out the record – is an expression of Langlois’ surprise that one gig could lead to the formation of a new band and a full record.“We started rehearsing for that show, and then it was like, well, I guess I’m gonna start writing,” says Langlois.

Across the ten songs on Guess What, Langlois finds himself ruminating on time – not just on how it passes, but the moments that stand still and stand out, from the highs of finding the “Will To Fight” and just rocking out on “Peels Is Sleep Backwards” to the lows of finding yourself on the receiving end of “Desperation Calling.” And perhaps nowhere more poignantly on the plaintive and raw “Don’t Leave Me, Brother” a revealing take on loss that, while rooted in Gord Downie’s untimely passing, is sure to be a comfort to anyone suffering grief of any kind.

Recorded over eight days and nights in November 2022, with a bare minimum of overdubs, and co-produced by Langlois, the band, and engineer Niles Spencer, Guess What is fuelled by the kind of immediacy and energy that comes from making a band-based record. Chock full of subtle vocal and instrumental hooks that stick with you long after the album finishes, it's a testament to what a tight group of talented musicians can accomplish in relatively short order. “It was more a live experience, recording live off the floor until we got the takes we wanted and having a blast playing together,” says Langlois.

That immediacy comes across on every track, in Langlois’ growing comfort in the role of frontman, Ball’s urgent backing vocals, Carscallen’s blazing and beautifully phrased leads, and Mulvihill and Anglin’s deep connection and rock-solid grooves.

If there’s one thing he’ll take from this experience, Langlois says: “I think it’s the support. It was very much a group effort, and in The Hip, it felt like that, too, except I wasn’t front and centre.”

Langlois has done plenty of songwriting over time, both with The Hip and for two previous solo albums, Fix This Head (2012) and Not Guilty (2014). His work with The Tragically Hip has earned him a number of achievements including 17 JUNO Awards, a SOCAN National Achievement Award, a coveted placement on Canada’s Walk Of Fame, and an appointment to the Order of Canada.