Tragically Hip guitarist, new band ‘enthusiastic and serious about getting it right’ at Rockin’ Thunder festival

Paul Langlois performing with his band (Credit: TheEdge/YouTube)

A member of one of Canada’s best-known rock acts is set to take the stage at a major Edmonton music festival this weekend.

And to add to the excitement, at least on a personal level: Paul Langlois and his band are flying in, not driving across the country in, say, an old van.

“We’ve flown to one gig in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and everyone was excited,” the guitarist and lead singer told CTV News Edmonton on Friday. “Just to be flying to a gig, there’s just some romance about it or something, where your equipment’s underneath, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re really doing it.’”

Langlois, who rose to fame as a guitarist with The Tragically Hip, will perform a solo show on Sunday during the second day of Rockin’ Thunder, which is being staged this weekend at the Edmonton Exhibition Lands’ racetrack.

The 61-year-old said fans can expect a range of his solo work and a selection of songs from The Hip catalogue.

He said his band is made up of himself and four musicians – good friends of his from Kingston, Ont., from where he and The Tragically Hip originally hail – who played with him on his last two solo records.

“We very much get along, have a lot of laughs, but everyone is enthusiastic and serious about getting it right,” Langlois told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

They will perform songs from each of Langlois’s four solo recordings, focusing on songs that suit a rock festival, he said.

“There’s a sprinkling of Hip songs in there, too, ones that I feel comfortable singing,” said Langlois, adding that delving back into his former band’s songs was something he once hesitated to do but has been receiving “good feedback from everybody, but especially Hip fans.”

“It’s something I’ve kind of gotten used to.”

Langlois and his band are slated to take the stage at 4 p.m. Sunday’s Rockin’ Thunder slate also includes headliner Creed (9 p.m.), Mammoth (7 p.m.), Buckcherry (5:30 p.m.) and Chilio (2:30 p.m.).

Saturday’s lineup includes Three Days Grace (9 p.m.), The Glorious Sons (7 p.m.), Grandson (5:30 p.m.), Bif Naked (4 p.m.) and Calling All Captains (2:30 p.m.).

Langlois spent 33 years recording and touring with The Tragically Hip -- which also included lead singer Gord Downie, guitarist Rob Baker, bass player Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay -- until Downie died of brain cancer nine years ago.

The band recorded 13 studio albums, nine of which went to No. 1 on the Canadian charts, and won 17 Juno Awards over their career.

The remaining members no longer perform together as The Tragically Hip but remain in business together, releasing albums of previously unreleased songs such as 2021’s Saskadelphia.

Their music continues to be heard on radio and on people’s playlists today, popular singles New Orleans is Sinking, Blow At High Dough, Little Bones, Courage, Wheat Kings, Ahead By A Century, Bobcaygeon and Music At Work among them.

The Hip staged their final cross-country tour a decade ago in the wake of Downie’s terminal diagnosis.

Langlois credits his time in the band with the person he is today.

“Being on the road so often and making such a commitment as a group taught me everything: communication and group dynamics, and all that kind of stuff, and obviously music, performing and writing,” he said. “I totally lucked out, and all that experience that I had with The Hip helps me a lot when I do my own thing.”

Today, Langlois is looking to get his music “right and not overthink it.” After years of singing backup, he’s now the lead vocalist, something he says he’s embraced.

“My first few songs on my very first record, I was just alone,” he recalls. “It turned out I liked it and enjoyed doing it. I’m trying to get better at being a front person. I feel like I’ve gotten quite a bit better and (am) singing fine.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sierra Dotson