When Hockey Night pay you a visit, you can’t always expect them to sing (literally) about the glories of hamburgers for a sound checking, but you can undoubtedly expect to hear about shenanigans from other far-reaching places. Here at the Daytrotter world headquarters in mid-March, these lovable Minnesotans, men of the Red Wing, had stories. A few nights earlier, while on the East Coast jag of their tour, guitarist Scott Wells struck gold in the form of some unattended cases of beer, which he later sold for absurd prices to drunkards jonesing for the juice after hours. Said Alex Achen, “We stole a lot of beer in Boston.” This is not to say that you shouldn’t let them into your house should they be at your front door. Please do let them in. Your valuables and daughters are perfectly safe. While here, Hockey Night was forced into a situation that forced it to stick its landing. It showed its sleet and blizzard-hardened mettle when we had to throw a deadline at them. Not only did they still have driving to do to get to a show that night with Rainer Maria and Scout Niblett, but the a news broadcast was about to be taped across the wall and a gag order was coming down the pipeline. They had 15 minutes. They first two songs were done back-to-back in a harried way and they sound inspired, almost lending a pleasant veneer of newness and the fresh to their unreleased, new song status. Both are huge steps into a different phase for the band, with “Who We Are” being the best song the band’s ever written. Don’t believe me? Well, you’re wrong and I mean that in the gentlest possible way. The third and final song we were able to sneak in was done completely striped down to a point where the band actually became something you would have seen in the parking lot of the Newport Folk Festival in the early 60s – playing whatever was around and doing it for the moving spirit of the tune. Achen, Zach Rose and Adam Harness were lightly tapping their sticks and percussive instruments against plywood risers and whatever else was around. Wells and lead singer Paul Sprangers were muffling themselves to a point way beyond a lights-out curfew. It’s something that’s got to be heard and, well, this is the only place to do that. – Sean Moeller

Here Sprangers gives the lowdown (not rubdown).

Psychic Lightning (Hockey Night) [2.61MB] [3779 downloads]


– unreleased

“It is kind of an homage to Thin Lizzy. It’s a simple pop song. It’s upbeat. It’s asking if it’s ever gonna get better. It makes you feel like things might be getting better.”

Who We Are (Hockey Night) [4.95MB] [4118 downloads]


– unreleased

“It’s the dancey one. It’s a collaboratively written song and it kind of fits into our growing peace attack style. Like, I think it’s the beginning of the next phase in Hockey Night: direct, honest and catchy, with an undeniable politically-progressive subtext. Not to get all fucking talky here, but I think it’s the beginning of simpler, more timeless Hockey Night songs, with meaningful, and hopefully really creative lyrics.”

For Guys Eyes Only (Hockey Night) [2.18MB] [3346 downloads]


– original version appears on “Keep Guessin’” out on Lookout! Records in 2005

“That was an old riff we had changed and twisted and tried for a year or two. We couldn’t figure it out. Then it just solidified the week before we recorded. I came up with a new singing melody and we just cranked it out. It was super easy. It feels lighter than any other song on the record. I think that’s partly why people respond to it.”