The Tragically Hip Announce New Album Of Unreleased Songs

(hennemusic) The Tragically Hip will release a brand new album of previously-unreleased songs entitled "Saskadelphia" on May 21. The project by the iconic Canadian band delivers six tracks written in 1990; five were recorded in that same year during sessions for the "Road Apples" album in New Orleans, and one live track, "Montreal (Live from The Molson Centre, Montreal, Dec 7th, 2000)," written at the same time, but for which the original recording is yet to be found.

Originally planned as a double album, some material slated for the follow-up to 1989's "Up To Here" was trimmed when the group's US label balked at the scope of the project while the band were rising quickly in their homeland.

With classic tracks like "Little Bones," "Three Pistols" and "Twist My Arm", the released edition of "Road Apples" - which marks its 30th anniversary this year - scored the Hip their first Canadian chart-topper while going on to sell more than 1 million copies to earn Diamond status in the region.

Meanwhile, the extra material was shelved as the group moved forward with each new project; it was thought to have been lost in a 2008 fire on the Universal Studios backlot but, unbeknownst to the band, the tapes had been quietly transferred back to Canada in 2001.

As the band retired following the death of singer Gord Downie in 2017 after a lengthy battle with terminal brain cancer, the surviving members finally had a chance to review the tapes last summer while hearing the recordings for the first time in three decades.

"We didn't know what was there, so this meant baking them and listening to them as they were being transferred," explains drummer Johnny Fay. "Hearing them for the first time in 30 years was crazy."

"I went 'Wow' when I heard 'Ouch' after all this time," adds guitarist Rob Baker. "We were a pretty good little band." Check out a video preview and tracklisting here.