The Never-ending Present

(Paperback, 2nd edition)

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Description

The long-awaited, first-ever print biography of "Canada's band" now in paperback!

"A clever, touching, and very informative book that may well be the definitive work on an important piece of Canadian pop culture." Publishers Weekly, starred review

In the summer of 2016, more than a third of Canadians tuned in to watch the Tragically Hip's final performance. Why Partially because Gord Downie's terminal brain cancer made the event much bigger than merely a musical occasion. But also because these five men were always more than just a chart-topping band. They defined a generation of Canadian rock music. They were a tabula rasa onto which fans could project their own ideas: of performance, of poetry, of history, of Canada itself.

Acclaimed music journalist Michael Barclay talks to dozens of the band's peers and friends about not just the Hip's music but about the opening bands, dealing with disease through art, Gord Downie's role in reconciliation with Indigenous people, and the Hip's role in Canadian culture. It's a book for those who have always loved the Hip, and for everyone else. As Downie said at that final show watched by millions, "Everyone is invited. Everyone is involved."

Reviews

"The Never-Ending Present climaxes with that exclamation mark, that night in August 2016, and even though the material borrows heavily from Barclay's in-depth reporting and the time for Maclean's, I minded little; it was appointment reading for me then, and it is a full and evocative accounting of the occasion now. It helps to explain why an event that had every reason to seem sad and funereal instead ended up indeed feeling like 'a national celebration.'" -- Literary Review of Canada
"Barclay's remarkable chronicle of the Tragically Hip is as wide as it is deep. He sets down their story with a historian's care and an artist's rambling curiosity, revisiting each note with wit, expertise and so much heart. It's eminently readable, clever and funny -- what an achievement." -- Sean Michaels, Giller Prize-winning author of Us Conductors
"Laying out the history of the band from the early years of its members and its founding in Kingston in the 1980s through to Downie's final weeks, The Never-Ending Present is indeed as definitive a work on the band as anything that exists, and stands on its own against last year's excellent documentary of the band, Long Time Running." -- Winnipeg Free Press
"Woven from a vast range of secondary sources as well as new interviews with crucial figures in the band's community and orbit, shot through with both a critic's rigour and a fan's fervour, it's a book fully worthy of its beloved subjects' unique place in the Canadian firmament." -- Montreal Gazette

Author Bio

Michael Barclay has worked for Macleans, CBC Radios Brave New Waves, and Exclaim! He co-authored Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 19851995, which told the stories of the Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, k.d. lang, and dozens more. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.