Andrea Loera (fellow Canadian and worshipful Hip fan) interviewed Johnny Fay, the drummer for one of Canada's most popular bands, for Citysearch.com.

Ask an American to name a Canadian icon and the answer will inevitably involve a Mountie, beer, or back bacon. Ask most Canadians to single out (oot) a far-reaching symbol of their nationalism, and the Tragically Hip are sure to come up in conversation. Perhaps I'm a tad biased, having grown up listening to the Hip back home in Canada, but if you've ever caught them live you know what I'm talking about.

The Hip have been around for 14 years, selling out huge arenas, winning countless awards and a devoted legion of fans willing to drive across Canada or down into the States to catch one of their shows. Bassist Gord Sinclair, guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, drummer Johnny Fay, and singer Gordon Downie play their trademark guitar-driven rock with their eighth album, "Phantom Power," which The Toronto Star labeled "the most eagerly anticipated Canadian album of the year" (it debuted in the U.S. at No.151).

But this is hardly a new phenomenon for The Hip; they maintain cult status in the States, playing small- to medium-sized clubs, and receiving neither TV nor radio play. But that's not stopping the band that has played more than 50 shows on their current tour. Tragically Hip will be in Austin to play a concert at the Austin Music Hall on Oct. 29. I recently had the honor of talking with drummer Johnny Fay about "Phantom Power" and what's next for the band.

Citysearch: What are some of the more remarkable shows you've played over the last 14 years?

Johnny Fay: Playing with the Rolling Stones in Europe for four dates. Playing to 75,000 people a night is pretty OK (he says sarcastically). You kind of do that to tell your grandchildren you're part of that whole thing because that band (Stones), for as long as they've been doing it, nobody has ever been able to touch them really. And the other day we were up in Vancouver and we were in a Robert Altman project ("Killer App" is a pilot by Robert Altman, written by Gary Trudeau, that's loosely based on Paul Allen of Microsoft infamy. The show is scheduled to be on network TV by March of 1999); they're all little time capsules and I think you sort of look at it that way.

C: Why do you think there is a huge difference from being the biggest band in Canada to an up-and-comer here in the States?

JF: One guy actually said to me, "You guys are moving on the fast train. Get ready because it is going to happen." Every year, we hear this is the one. We never really put much weight behind it. The United States is definitely a great place for us to play. We do more dates down here because, obviously, there are more cities for us to play.

C: Is that important to you? Do you mind playing the small clubs when you're in the States, or do you like the way it is set up?

JF: We play smaller clubs in the States. We do 30 dates every two years in Canada. Tops. That's it. We spend a lot more time down here. I wouldn't be surprised to find out we cover the same amount of people playing smaller clubs. We look at it as being fortunate working musicians. We've always done it our way. We could have cut corners, I am sure. We could have sold our publishing. That was one of the first things that people wanted us to do. We said no. We could have had music in commercials. We said no to that. After 14 years, we just started doing music for some movies. There was a Canadian production called "Justice," in which we did the soundtrack for the first addition. Which, I think, airs next summer. It seems the longer we are playing, the more people we are getting exposed to, even in Canada, but definitely down here (in the U.S.).

C: My favorite songs on the new album would have to be "Thompson Girl" and "Fireworks." How do you find the crowds responding to this album?

JF: Whenever we put a record out or we play it for friends, there is this golden time when you have a new record. When it is not been pressed, it's not been mastered, and you have copy of it that you might play for your friends and family. It takes about a good three months before people start coming up to say, "Hey, I really like that record," but you're never really sure if people are just blowing smoke up your skirt or what. I think it is definitely a time capsule from where we are at this moment in time.

C: How has Phantom Power evolved from the last seven albums?

JF: We recorded this album over much longer periods of time. We have our own studio, which can be nice, but also confusing to know actually what you have on tape. Then you find you have 30 reels of tape and you wonder what kind of ideas you have. That is kind of why we brought Steve Berlin into the loop, because we definitely needed someone to come in and say, "Yes, that is great take," or, "I think you guys can play this one better," and "I like this idea from your demo reel." It was more of having that other set of ears to say yea or nay. We were smart enough to know that we needed a producer to come in and tweak a few sounds.

C: You have a new record out, and you're on a new label (Sire). What kind of things are you expecting to happen with both of these?

JF: If you are a musician, I think you want to get as many people as possible to hear your music. Radio has never really played a lot of our stuff. We definitely don't have a lot of coverage on MTV. They wouldn't play us.

C: They wouldn't, why?

JF: It is beyond me. And Rolling Stone Magazine refused to cover us. So, we come down here and play San Francisco and sell 1,000 tickets. And we play New York City, and sell a couple thousand tickets. Word of mouth is definitely doing us some good. The fact that people kind of look at it as we are the undiscovered gem is kinda cool, too. We got fans like nobody else. There was this kid the other day when we were playing in Minneapolis and he had driven to the show from Saskatchewan. He said it was a 16-hour drive.

C: In all of the press that I have been reading lately about you guys they compare you to REM. Does that bother you?

JF: They have been doing that since the dawn of time. Those are people who really have not listened to the band. The comparison we have with REM is that the roots of both of our bands is probably bands like the Yardbirds and guitar bands. So I can see that. Do you know World Party's music?

C: Yes.

JF: Karl Wallinger (lead singer of World Party), I was listening to him sing. He sounds like Mick Jagger with the Beatles playing behind him. He has also got Bob Dylan's phrasing. And, I thought if I had to describe him in a few sentences, that probably would be it. He would hate it, of course, because he is totally original. I can see getting things out of the press that they have got to say, "This sounds like this" or, "That sounds like that one."

C: I heard you were responsible for the little gadget on the front cover?

JF: I am indeed. I was living in New York City for a couple of years. I am quite into antiquing. There's a great antique store there, and I walked by and this thing caught my eye. And, I said, "Oh, my god." I was with my girlfriend, Andrea. I walked in and asked the guy what it was. He said it was an airline tester in the '70s for the United States Air Force. And I thought I would be able to get a sound out of it. I like to go looking for microphones and things like that to try to get sounds out of them. Because when I write stuff, I write it out of sound effects, sound loops. But when I got it home I found out that there was no way I was going to get a sound out of it and so it sat around the studio. It was a common piece around the studio. We started seeing faces and dials. We actually have a T-shirt with the two little eyes and the nose. And the mouth means malfunction. This light would light up if the fuses and switches didn't work. So that is the long story of that.

C: That's a good long story. What about another Another Roadside Attraction?

JF: Yeah, we are going to do that. We just have to figure out who is able to do it. We didn't have one last year, but the year before was with Sheryl Crow, Wilco, and Los Lobos.

C: That tour pretty much stays up north, though?

JF: We did two U.S. dates. Vermont and Buffalo. That is the first time we did anything like that.

C: I truly thank you for your time. It was fantastic. I will see you at the show. I'll be the one in the little Canadian T-shirt.

JF: Little Canadian T-shirt, OK. Grand.

Andrea Loera