Two months after the death of The Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, a young Tri-City tribute band will honour the Canadian legend with a show in Coquitlam.
Harry Last, lead singer for the Four Pistols (a name play on The Hip tune Three Pistols), will perform with his bandmates Dec. 29 at the Evergreen Cultural Centre.
Last said the group’s plan for the all-ages concert is to cover about 26 songs from The Hip catalogue.
“The Hip have been a massive inspiration for us,” Last told The Tri-City News last week. “We are Canadian and, as far as Canadian rock goes, The Hip are Canada’s band.”
It’s not the first time Last and his colleagues — Elias Harman on guitar, Jonathan Hartt on drums and Lyle Witfield on bass guitar — have saluted the iconic ensemble.
As the Four Pistols or Broken Fog Machine, they’ve also played at their school for a iHub talks event, at the Cottage Bistro in Vancouver and various house parties.
But with the passing of Downie, their upcoming gig brings more weight, he said: The band will donate half of their show proceeds to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. And any cash contributions made that night will also be spent on the cause, Last said.
“We are definitely not the first band inspired by The Hip — and nor will we be the last — but we believe this band deserves to be at the forefront of Canadian rock music for years to come and we intend to do our part to honour the career of The Hip and the life or Gord Downie.”
• For tickets at $20, call the Evergreen Cultural Centre box office (1205 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam) at 604-927-6555 or visit evergreenculturalcentre.ca.
