Now here I go again.. I don't normally write about cover bands or tribute bands or anything like that but I feel compelled to review these guys.  I've always liked going to see a good tribute band.  Key word GOOD tribute band.  Some are GREAT.  And some suck the big one.  The things I think are crucial to a cover band are first and foremost, the music has to be perfect.  Dead on.  No fuckin around.  Don't try to fake a fuckin tune with me pal.. If I KNOW the band and I KNOW the music, chances are I'm just waiting for you to fuck something up.  I think if you have the balls to call yourself a tribute band you better deliver the goods or you should be sued.  And I've seen a lotta bands that should be sued.  Don't call yerself a RUSH tribute band if ya can't SING like Geddy Lee.  And don't even THINK about calling yerself a RUSH tribute if your drummer blows chunks.  I don't care so much about the look of the band if the music is dead on.  I remember one time in London I was walking down to Harris Park and I could hear someone bitching Pink Floyd's The Wall album through a PA.  A smile came across my face as I'd never heard this, my favourite album of all time, cranked THAT loud.  I noticed an awful big crowd had gathered at the front of one of the stages which entertained the Balloonfest that year.  As I came around to see the music was not canned.  There was actually a BAND playing that music, and I stood awestruck at how perfectly they brought to life my favourite album.  Now this being my favourite album means I've heard it a lot.  I'm talking 8 million times man.  I'm talking every symbol, every note, every sound effect, everything about that album I know well.  I was actually disappointed with some of the sound clips from the movie cuz they didn't match the album close enough.  I know... that's pretty fuckin anal isn't it??!!! I don't even know if they exist anymore but "In The Flesh" is/was a fuckin hell of a tribute band.. I never did get close enough to notice how many musicians made up that band, what they looked like, or what gear they were playing and I didn't give a fuck.  I had a good buzz on and I was feeling great so I just sat back against this tree by the river, closed my eyes and took it in... the crowd disappeared and for a brief moment in time, it was just me and Pink Floyd in the cosmos.  Fast forward to 2002.  I'd just recently shot the Hip at Sarnia Bayfest and was stumbling along down town one night half corked when I heard some great Hip tunes blasting out of a small bar.  Now I knew that it was a band playing cuz I knew that the only music ever coming out of that bar, that loud, was a band.  

I slipped inside and made myself at home.  I ordered a beer and took in the rest of their first set.  In between sets I met their bass player, Trent Richer, a fellow photographer, who buzzed around the room during their down time, snapping pics of the crowd and yapping with everyone in the room.  Good PR.  You'd be surprised how many small bands alienate themselves by hiding backstage with their beer or disappearing into the crack room upstairs.. Trent made everyone feel welcome there.  Like he wasn't just there to take yer fuckin money and run.  I gave him my card and told him he should check out my Hip shots I was so proud of.  For five years we kept in touch through email and then I got the announcement that they were playing in Guelph on the very night that I was gonna be all dressed up and I had nowhere to go.  What perfect timing... a Halloween bash.  Now THAT'S my kinda party.  The first thing I was happy to see was that the original band I'd seen a few years before was still together.  That always means one thing for sure.  TIGHT.  When a band jams together that long, you know they're gonna be fuckin tight.  As Donald "Duck" Dunn put it in the Blues Brothers movie, "we had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline".. and so does Practically Hip.  Sure, take away Dean "Gord Downie" Hughes and you still have a fuckin good band.  In fact part of their two hour set, they laid aside the hip while Dean slipped out the back door to puff one with me.  The remaining 4 members, John, lead guitar and vocals, Glen, rhythm guitar and vocals, Trent, bass guitar and Mark, drummer, treated us to a load of other classic rock from the Beatles to the Ramones.  Their level of professionalism totally impressed me.  I can't get near a bar and NOT drink my face off.  These guys, all of them, are committed to making the music the number one priority.  Glen heads up a band as a Buddy Holly/geek look alike. John too has headed up a Beatles tribute band and others, but they all gladly play second fiddle when mista Hughes rolls up his sleeves and pulls out his Gord Downieisms for all to enjoy.  He's got the voice, the look and the unmistakable moves of Canada's number one front man.  Even so, nobody in this band pulls rank.  They are all number one.  Dean will tell you, the band is everything.  It takes ALL of them to pull it together and deliver the Hip.  The fuckin flawless Hip that these guys throw at you.  So if you're in the mood for the Hip, and they aren't touring, get your ass over to the Practically Hip's web site and check their schedule cuz they're probably playing in your back yard soon.