I've always thought that something more Canadian bands should do, and The Hip do it quite a lot, is to mention Canadian place names and Canadiana in their songs. For a long time it seemed that bands here were afraid to do that because they were afraid that, y'know, "Oh, the Americans won't get it if we mention Timmins or Yonge Street or something…

Downie: Or keep it neutral. Like they used to do in TV shows or films, 'cause there's always the off-chance it might get picked up. Keep it neutral.

But to me, growing up listening to The Beatles or The Stones, they'd mention British places in their songs, places around London or Liverpool, and that made it more romantic to me. So I always thought, regarding Canadian bands, why not write about Toronto or Winnipeg or wherever? Of course, there were some who did that…

Contreras: There were always the people with more balls who talked about it: Like Neil Young dove right into it, Rheostatics dove right into it. The other thing is that I'm not Canadian - I was born in Chilé - so I think that makes me more Canadian than both of you [laughs]. I'm born somewhere else. I ended up here as a political exile, so I'm sort of a nothing culturally, to a certain extent.

Downie: Hey, that's my friend you're talking about!

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