The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal (2024) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[fans cheering]
[chanting]
Hip! Hip! Hip!
["Blow at High Dough"]
[Denise Donlon] The Tragically Hip
were more than a rock 'n roll band.
Right from the beginning,
to those final moments on the stage,
there was something magic there.
[Randy Lennox] Ireland will have U2.
The UK will have the Beatles.
In Canada, we'll have The Tragically Hip.
They shot a movie once
In your hometown ♪
Everybody was in it
From miles around ♪
Out at the speedway ♪
Some kind of Elvis thing ♪
Well, I ain't no movie star ♪
But I can get behind anything ♪
Yeah, I can get behind anything ♪
I remember watching them
going, "Holy fuck!
These guys are from Canada
and they're so good."
Get it out
Yeah, get it all out ♪
[Jay Baruchel]
Having the biggest band in the country
singing songs and telling stories
about us,
giving a soundtrack to this beautiful,
powerful, important country.
They were just doing
what they were inspired by.
I mean, was there ever
a more authentic Canadian artist?
When you blow at high dough ♪
[Bruce] They had the audience
in the palm of their hand.
And who is this weird guy
spewing poetry in front?
["Ahead by a Century"]
Gord Downie had the poetry and lyricism
of a brilliant, brilliant writer,
and he was the perfect frontman
for this powerhouse all-Canadian band.
[Rob Baker] So many bands come along
and last four months,
six months, a year. We all plan
on doing it for a long time, together.
No dress rehearsal ♪
This is our life ♪
[fans cheer]
Thank you. Thank you. Good night.
[reporter]
We have some very tough news.
Gord Downie has been diagnosed
with terminal brain cancer.
[Geddy Lee] It was remarkable
to see an entire country
glued to this farewell performance.
[reporter] Today The Nation mourns
the death of Gord Downie.
He died at the age of 53.
I just heard that morning
and I knew it was coming, but
I didn't want to think about it coming.
[Finny McConnell] The legacy is the most
unique, crazy, wonderful, tragic
and artistic, loving story that'll ever
be told in rock 'n' roll in this country.
And now without further ado:
Gord Sinclair,
Gord Downie, Johnny Fay,
Robbie Baker and Paul Langlois.
[Mike Downie]
Paul are you ready to get started?
I'm ready.
They shot a movie once
In my hometown ♪
Everybody was in it
From miles around ♪
[Man] Gordon Downie,
The Tragically Hip. Good.
Thank you, tape number K.
[Gord Downie] When I was 16,
I mean, I wanted to be in a band,
and I wanted to tour around, you know.
I wanted to come to Florida.
Well, maybe not Florida, but I wanted
to come, you know, and tour.
Then, when you get,
you know, you're 18
you just keep readjusting how
you actually thought it would turn out.
I had no idea you know what it,
what it entails, what it means.
You know, it's a real carrot-on-a-stick
kind of business.
And at the same time,
it's what you always
you have to keep reminding yourself
it's what you always wanted to do.
[Paul Langlois]
We spend a lot of time in here.
The van is a fact of life with touring.
First thing we did was
get a good stereo.
[music playing on stereo]
Every new trip, you know,
guys make different compilations
and see who can
make the better ones. And
["View Master" by Eric's Trip]
In my stereo ♪
A view master ♪
If any of us were in another band,
I don't think we'd be able to do it
because we wouldn't be in another band
with our friends.
We'd be kinda with guys we work with.
Makes it more special
that we know each other really well.
So, a really good gig becomes even better,
and a really bad one isn't quite as bad
because, you know,
at least there were four other guys
looking at the floor with you.
[Gord Sinclair]
This sort of era set the template
for what we did our entire career.
It was kind of always about the next gig,
and having the chance
to actually have a next gig.
And then, that kind of morphed
into the chance to make another record.
It was the time of our lives,
we had a riot, you know.
[Johnny] It was a bonding experience,
getting in a van
and driving with the gear.
You always know whatever you go through
with these guys you know,
you can always rely on them,
and that's true friendship.
I feel real secure in the knowledge
that the band will never
physically break up.
The only conflicts we ever have
are like any conflict
you'd have with your best friend.
They're stupid things, like
the guy's feet smell on a particular day.
[Gord Downie] Relaxation is the key.
This morning we had a few sets of tennis,
bit o' Goonie golf, followed by a massage,
and maybe
a nice low-carbohydrate meal.
I dunno. Fuck, I'm playing golf.
[Rob Baker]
It's a good time. You just feel like
you're out collecting ideas and
experiences, which become songs.
This is what we set out to do. No one
can take it away from us. We've made it.
We were making records,
and we were playing killer live shows
all over North America and Europe.
And we just thought,
"Yeah, this is exactly what we wanted."
We were tight friends,
firing on all cylinders.
And just really, truly were
having the time of our lives.
["New Orleans Is Sinking"]
Pale as a light bulb
Hanging on a wire ♪
Sucking up to someone
Just to stoke the fire ♪
Picking out the highlights
Of the scenery ♪
Saw some little clouds
They looked a little like me ♪
I had my hands in the river
My feet back up on the banks ♪
Looked up to the Lord above
And said, "Hey, psycho, thanks" ♪
Sometimes I feel so good
I gotta scream ♪
She said, "Gordie baby
I know exactly what you mean" ♪
She said, she said
I swear to God she said ♪
My memory is muddy
What's this river that I'm in? ♪
New Orleans is sinking, man
And I don't wanna swim ♪
Swim! ♪
[fans cheer]
[Gord Downie]
A tour like this is like a huge reward.
It's one of those things
you probably are more likely
to put up on your
memories trophies shelf.
[cheering]
-[pops]
-Whoa!
So, we enjoy it. We revel in it.
Happy Birthday, bro.
Just in the ability
to have this experience,
you know, this once in a lifetime thing.
[interviewer] Are these the kind of guys
you'd hang around with
even if they weren't in a band with you?
I'm sure I would. We see each other now
when we get off the road,
and we know each other, you know?
We're in a bar in Kingston,
and it's like and we get together.
We don't avoid each other,
and we have fun.
We have more fun off the road
than on the road, I think.
-[man] Are you rolling, Steve?
-[Steve] Yep.
[Steve]
Have you heard about the Tragically Hip?
-Yeah!
-Yeah!
-[man] Tell us a bit about 'em.
-They're the best!
-[man] Where they from?
-Kingston.
-[bus starts]
-Gotta go.
[ferry horn blows]
["Are We Family"]
[narrator]
And here's the city of Kingston,
the oldest settlement in Upper Canada.
[Gord] Everywhere we go,
we say we're from Kingston,
and we, you know, we praise its,
its Kingston-ness.
[narrator] Today, Kingston's
inventory of institutions
includes federal prisons,
the Royal Military College,
and its noted university, Queen's.
[Tom Wilson] I always found Kingston
had a very rigid dividing line
between wealth and knowledge,
and poverty and survival.
So, you do get both cultures
running through your veins.
[Bruce] Growing up in Kingston,
there's something about
that little working-class,
sort of, town that is The Hip.
They got to just hone their thing
in this little, unique, but sort of,
obvious Canadian city.
It's only human to want to
Inhabit every feeling you've got ♪
And more often than not
Let's take it to the nth degree ♪
Here he goes, "Give me ten bucks
And a head start" ♪
Here's where he goes,
"The puzzle's pulling apart" ♪
And here's the scene
You're yelling calmly up the street ♪
"Are we family?"
Or what? ♪
I think that so much of
The Tragically Hip story was Kingston.
The band isn't the band
without Kingston, Ontario.
"Oh, Kingston. That's down the 401
between Montreal and Toronto."
No. Kingston is the town
that built The Hip.
And here's the scene where
You whisper down the crookedest street ♪
"Are we family?"
Or what? ♪
Are we family
When it's only if not when ♪
Sisters and brothers
Wolf, wolf lover ♪
And the boy who stamped too many ants?
Are we family? ♪
[interviewer] In terms of
history of the band, how did it start?
We all went to the same high school,
and it was sort of like a solar eclipse.
Johnny was in grade 9,
Robbie and Gord were in 13,
and Paul and I were both in grade 11.
[school bell ringing]
["Let's Shake" by Teenage Head]
[Rob Baker] I have thought about
this place a lot, KCVI.
The high school years are really important
for everyone, on some level.
[Johnny Fay] KCVI
has been part of our connective tissue.
I think that that really kinda
was our real, initial bond.
Give me that opener
Give me that beer ♪
I'd skipped a grade in elementary school,
and I was a November kid,
so I was green behind the ears,
trying to keep my head down
and not get beat up.
C'mon, let's shake
Ooh, let's shake ♪
C'mon, shake ♪
I loved the parties,
and I played sports.
I was a decent student
until the dope got the better of that.
But I was pretty good
for a while. [laughs]
[Paul] First day of grade 11,
probably the first period,
there's a new kid sittin' beside me,
and it was Gord. Gord Downie.
Don't make me blush ♪
I remember just kind of seeing him
around the hallways,
and he always had a book
tucked under his arm,
and the other arm,
he had a cheerleader. [laughs]
He definitely had drive and passion.
He was such a reader, so into music,
so into poetry.
There was just something so engaging
about Gord.
He surprised me by saying, "I know you."
I'm like, "You, you know me?"
"Yeah, you broke into a store."
I'm like, "What?"
"Well, such and such has been blabbin'
about it all over Amherstview."
I'm like, "Seriously?"
It was a drunken break and enter
that was my friend's fault.
But if it hadn't have happened,
I wouldn't have met Gord and
clicked with him immediately.
Let's shake! ♪
[Gord Sinclair] We moved
to our house on Churchill Crescent,
which is right across from Rob's
Mom and Dad, in 1966.
[Rob]
Gord moved in across the street from me
when he was about one and a half.
I think I was three.
Gordie and I played in the sandbox.
We've kind of been playin' together,
in some form, ever since then.
[Gord Sinclair] My mom and dad
were both super, super musical.
They had a great record collection.
My mom was a classically trained pianist.
[piano music]
[Rob] And she attempted
to teach me a little bit.
And she taught Gord and
his little brother, Colin, as well.
Gord was one of those guys
who could pick up any instrument.
Very good bagpipe player.
It was pretty crazy.
It was something that I'd grown up with
my whole life, so in retrospect,
I was really, really fortunate.
[Rob] My sister had a guitar
that she never touched,
and I would listen to music
and pretend I was rockin' out.
Then I'd graduate to the tennis racquet,
and I'd leap off the furniture
listening to Led Zeppelin
and David Bowie records.
My parents were always
very encouraging about it.
I think for my 12th birthday,
they got me a guitar.
[Gord Sinclair]
Then, one day in grade 10,
Robbie announced,
"I'm gonna put a band together
and you're gonna be the bass player."
[Rob]
It seems like it was a week later,
a little trainer bass-amp and
a bass, and we were on our way.
Now, we need a drummer.
We're walking home after stage band,
Robby was behind me,
and he says, "Can I talk to you?"
He said, "Gord and I
are putting a band together.
We need a drummer, you interested?"
I said, "Yeah!"
[Rob] It became
Rick and the Rodents because
you should always name your band
after the drummer.
Rick and the Rodents. And I'm like,
"Well, that's kinda silly.
It's the drummer sitting in the back."
And he goes, "That's the trick."
I don't know.
["I Fought the Law" by The Clash]
It felt like we had something on the go.
I guess, by grade 12,
our musical taste kinda grew
and changed together.
Breakin' rocks in the hot sun ♪
I fought the law and the law won ♪
When punk rock first came out,
you know,
the Sex Pistols' first record,
that was a big changing moment.
There was an energy that was
inescapable for me.
I really caught onto it.
We kinda became Clash devotees.
Learned the Sex Pistols album in a day
and played everything on that.
[crowd cheering]
KC decided to have a punk dance.
We were it. We were the high school band,
and so we got the gig.
[Rob]
That's a big deal in high school.
So much of your personal identity
is wrapped up in that moment,
and you've never really done this,
been on stage. It was huge.
[Johnny] They definitely
tweaked the interest of people.
You're in high school and
you see these guys playing a gig.
You're like, "Wow, maybe I can do that."
It was pretty inspiring to see them.
Everyone considered them
ahead of their time and super cool.
[Rob] We played one dance
at the end of grade 12.
When we were in grade 13, there was
a competing band, which was The Slinks.
[Steve Holy] I saw Rick and
the Rodents play. KC talent show.
And I thought,
"I want to be on that stage."
[Andrew Fontini] Rick and the Rodents,
they were a year older than us.
They had very much, like, a punk,
Sex Pistols, Clash, thing going on.
And we were gonna offer something,
you know, different.
[Steve] So, we started our band.
That would be in the summer of 1980.
It was a foggy night in June,
and we were playing a party,
and a guy came up and requested
if he could sit in with the band.
You might have heard of him.
His name is Gord Downie.
[Gord Downie]
I got way into it, fast.
It's incredible. It was just so cool.
It felt really good.
[Steve]
It was the first time he'd ever
played any kind of music with people.
[Gord Downie] At 16,
you just want to get into a band and play.
You don't even know why.
He hadn't said he wanted to sing.
He listened to a lot of music.
He was probably thinking about it.
[Heather] He was so into music.
Various bands and performers, leading men.
He loved Jim Morrison.
I think the belt buckle thing
comes from Jim Morrison.
He kinda looked like him, too.
[Steve] He loved to dance.
His physicality being on the stage,
it was almost like it was
just born into him.
[Patrick Downie]
All that showmanship was there, for sure.
He was a natural leader
and not afraid to,
sort of, stand in front of a crowd.
[Charlyn Downie]
Always, in Gord, he was an entertainer.
He also was mischievous and very funny.
I knew he had a good ear
because when he was young,
I would be listening on the radio
to classical music
and when it was over,
you would hear him humming these tunes.
Sort of thought
he would make a fine choirboy.
Which, uh, didn't come to pass.
[chuckles] No.
The first gig I saw with Gord
was in this gym.
[man over PA]
The Slinks are gonna come on now.
[indistinct chatter]
[student over PA]
We're doing a song by Teenage Head.
["Let's Shake" by Teenage Head]
He was dressed up in a blazer and
he was dancing, not just standing there.
Give me that opener
Give me that beer ♪
Move your ass
On out of here ♪
I remember being floored
with how good he was.
That's probably where he discovered,
you know, "I can be someone to watch."
I don't think he knew that going in.
C'mon, baby, let's shake! ♪
[students cheering]
[Rob] I would have become aware of Gord
around the time of The Slinks dance.
He was a dynamic frontman,
hard to take your eyes off him.
[Andrew] We played together
for two and a half years.
First, he's a guy,
we're letting you sing in the band.
Then he thinks of it as the platform
from which he's gonna grow and develop.
Like, "I want to perform.
I want to dance, to be a rock singer,
to write poetry."
[girl]
Gord!
[Andrew] But the band didn't think
that Gord had what it took
to be like a lead singer
of a rock band.
[Steve] Gord's instrument was his voice,
and it was the voice of a teenager.
He was a sitting duck for criticism.
And he was very hard on himself.
Extremely hard on himself.
[Andrew]
Rather than kick Gord out,
we told him we were gonna end the band
and pursue other things.
We immediately took the whole band,
except Gord,
and started playing with two other guys.
That was the end of The Slinks.
So, I think that was painful for him.
But I think he, sort of,
didn't really miss a beat
because after high school,
he and Finton McConnell
put together a band
to work as The Filters.
[knock at door]
-Finton.
-Mookie.
How are ya, my brother?
-C'mon in, brother.
-Okay, comin'.
I've got some stuff for you.
Ah!
I made a little record for ya.
So, basically what happened was,
I was in The Filters with Gord.
I needed to get a band
I could play in my dad's bar. All right?
Do you want me to look in there
or what way?
I came up with the idea of asking Gord
to start a band with me and my drummer,
and him and his bass player.
And then, Gord suggested,
"Could we get Rob in the band,
from The Rodents?"
He's the only guy with any fuckin' talent
here, I need to say.
[Rob]
We had just finished high school
and my high school band,
The Rodents, was done.
Sinclair was going
to Queen's University in Kingston.
And, in fact, Gord Sinclair and I weren't
really playing together at that time.
So, the idea of being in a band
with Gord Downie was very appealing.
I was very mercenary
about the whole thing, and I said, "Well,
my rate is $50 a night and
all my drinks free."
[laughs] Thinking that I was pricing
myself out of the market or something.
[interviewer]
What did you have for breakfast?
What'd I have for breakfast?
I had two beers and an aspirin.
I was always a big fan of Rob Baker.
He was my guitar hero in high school.
Bit of a star, you know. All the hair
and the nice suits and stuff.
I just love Rob's style, too.
He plays a sexy kind of guitar.
Kinda slides in and out between the notes
and does all these really nice sounds.
And he adds atmosphere to the music.
We all kind of felt, if you get Rob
in your band, you kinda made it. [laughs]
This is us. We were 18 years old.
Well it sounds so sweet
I had to take me a chance ♪
Started movin' my feet
Whoa to clappin' my hands ♪
[Finny]
Then we rocked out. Ready?
I said the joint was rockin'
Goin' round and round ♪
That was probably the best learning
experience I ever had as a musician,
playing those first gigs in the bars.
These people, we had to please them
and impress them.
If they weren't impressed,
they'd let us know.
["Baby, Please Don't Go"]
[Rob] Gord and I were
both going to Queen's at the time
and suddenly we were playing gigs,
you know, sometimes,
four, five nights a week.
We were rock 'n' roll school 101.
Literally going to the school of rock.
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go ♪
Baby, please don't go
Down to New Orleans ♪
A year and a bit later,
The Filters had become too much work,
and Gord felt exactly the same way.
It was getting a little hard to
go to school and play in this band.
Gord Downie said,
"Why don't we form a band
with some buddies at Queen's
and do it for fun."
[Gord Sinclair] We started
talkin' to Robbie, more and more,
about startin' to play together and sure
enough, we started to jam together again.
[Finny] Sinclair's a fantastic musician,
a fantastic bass player.
Always been with Rob.
They're like a team,
and they play together perfectly. I
don't think they even look at each other.
[Gord Sinclair]
We were third year at university,
and it just slowly became the thing.
This is what we wanted to do.
[Rob] Gord Downie said, "there's a guy,
I think he's still in KC"
Who are you? Smarty pants!
[Rob] "and he's supposed to be
a really kind of hotshot drummer."
While I was in high school,
I really wasn't in a band.
I was just kinda studying,
until grade 11 or 12,
when Gord Downie called and said,
you wanna come audition
for this band we're starting?
Ladies and Gentlemen, it's about time
to introduce our drummer.
Now that I've got your attention.
His name is Mr. John Fay.
[crowd cheers]
Sweet Jane.
[Johnny] This was the first gig
we played in a Kingston bar.
It was a pretty heavy moment.
The stage was like right here,
'cause I remember
I remember resting pints right here.
Standing on a corner ♪
A suitcase in my hand ♪
Jack is in his corset
Jane is in her vest ♪
Hey, honey,
I'm in a rock'n'roll band ♪
[Mike]
What's down here, Johnny?
[Johnny] This was the dressing room
that we used back in the day.
And, um you know,
our seats were the, uh, beer cases.
I actually did some homework
down here.
Robbie was in charge of English and
Gord Sinclair was the historian.
I remember doing a Great Gatsby paper
that was due at nine o'clock.
I'm sure it was 12:30.
I was in between the third set.
Hi, this is Katie Tucker for Around Town.
And we're here in St. Catharine's
at the Hideaway with the one and only,
The Tragically Hip. Hi, guys.
-Hey, Katie.
-This is Gord here, and Rob.
-Hi, I'm Gord.
-Rob.
First of all, where did you guys
get a name like The Tragically Hip?
We were booked to play
the Kingston Artists' Association
as The Bedspring Symphony Orchestra.
And at the last minute,
we changed our name to The Tragically Hip.
Quite fortuitously, I would suggest.
[Gord Sinclair] I grew up
watching the Monkees on TV
and Mike Nesmith had done
a longform show called Elephant Parts,
which is a series
of music-based film vignettes,
one of which was the foundation
for The Tragically Hip.
It's a happy sight, isn't it,
children playing?
But not Bobby. Bobby is tragically hip.
We thought it sounded pretty cool.
And the sentiment behind it
was definitely one we could identify with.
[Bruce McCulloch]
Nothing about them is "tragically hip."
I still don't understand the name,
because I can't reconcile it with
the guys who feel more like The Band.
It took me a moment. Then I heard it
and I said, "I get it now."
["Mary, Mary"]
[Tom Wilson] They looked
like a bunch of Boy Scouts.
That's how fresh they were.
Mary, Mary, where you goin' to? ♪
Mary, Mary ♪
[Tom] They played
like they knew each other's moves.
They knew what each other were thinking.
They were on the ball. They were good.
I'd rather die than to live without ya ♪
Mary, Mary, where you goin' to? ♪
[Rob] We used to judge a gig
by how quickly people got up dancing
and were there any fights.
'Cause if there's fights,
then the energy was up.
Bikers liked us,
Queen's students like us.
It doesn't really make a lot of sense
but it's working.
The band was highly watchable,
not just because Gord was magnetic.
You had Johnny. I spent more time,
or as much time,
watching Johnny hold down that groove.
Bobby Baker,
just shimmying back and forth.
And then, there was Davis Manning,
who was visually an odd-man-out.
[Bernie] He was like
the cool Muppet dude.
Like that horn-player, he kinda had shades
and, you know, he had the 'stache
and "Groovy, man."
[Steve Jordan] Davis Manning,
international man of mystery.
He just added that sense of the unknown
to the band,
and no one really seemed to know
where he came from
and how he came to meet these guys.
Hi, I'm Davis Manning and
I played saxophone
with the band Tragically Hip
from 1984 to 1986.
So, it started out in Washington,
where I was born.
Getting into school, I liked music,
so joined the band.
I thought I had said trombone,
but it turned out
that I didn't know a trombone
from a saxophone.
So, I played all through school.
And then, in 1969,
I'm 19, I went into the Navy.
[reporter] In this jungle war,
the United States is becoming
more fully involved
with each passing day.
Love is a curse ♪
That he who would own it deserves ♪
As a young man, boy, did I feel betrayed,
lied to, and played.
Even all the way from the recruiter.
[Rob]
They said, "You're goin' to Vietnam."
And he said,
"no, I'm not goin' to Vietnam."
And he split. Did some time
in a military prison.
When he got out, he made a run for it,
and he got across the border
and he settled in Hope.
I made my choice. I came to Canada.
Became an immigrant.
[Rob] He had fallen in love with
one of the gals I went to school with
and followed her back to Kingston.
And she said, "This guy's a musician.
He plays sax, would you be interested
in jamming with him?"
The first impression I got is
they had a good taste for rock and roll.
They asked if I would join them,
and I did.
Can't live to die, too easy ♪
Why stick around? ♪
All my life ♪
Small town hometown bringdown ♪
This is it
You might as well get pissed ♪
You're a crazy child ♪
Make your trip ♪
Davis Manning, he made
a lot of contributions to the group,
certainly when we were super-young,
but probably the most important
was he was
an absolutely wonderful songwriter.
This is one of our very own songs.
It's called Evelyn.
He really pushed us,
"The money's in the songwriting, boys.
This cover stuff is fun,
but you gotta get
into writing your own tunes."
Evelyn ♪
Evelyn ♪
Yeah, that was a good crasher.
Where were you last night? ♪
I think maybe Gord Sinclair
might have wrote that song.
I remember him fondly.
Our relationship with him in the group
did not end well, unfortunately.
Thank you, very much. Please,
stick around, we'll be right back.
[cheers]
[Rob] Putting his life in the hands
of a bunch of 20-year-old college kids
trying to make it up as they go along,
and he thought he knew the template.
He knew the formula,
and we were getting it all wrong.
And the fighting broke out.
He said, "I'm not
putting my life in the hands
of a bunch of dumb college fucks!"
Now, I gotta say that the parting, um
wasn't amicable at the time,
and a lot was said that
maybe some of it regrettable.
Certainly regrettable.
[Gord Sinclair]
I think each of us quit in succession
until there was only Rob and Davis left.
[Davis] What a guy.
-Hey, Rob.
-[laughs]
How ya doin', buddy?
[Davis] Rob got the job
of calling me up and saying
that the band wasn't gonna be
needing me anymore.
And he said, "Yeah, I know.
It's all good. Love ya."
I said, "I love you too, man."
[Bernie] So, when Davis left the band,
it was a weird time.
Robbie said, "We're thinking about
maybe a guitar player to replace Davis."
[Paul] I went to Carleton and
Gord was going to Queen's.
But by Christmas, I couldn't
take it anymore. I dropped out.
So, I moved back to Kingston,
and I got my cab licence.
Basically, when I wasn't working,
I was playing piano
and playing guitar and
starting to write songs.
"What am I gonna do with my life?"
I wasn't really too interested
in going back to school yet,
but I was interested
in being a songwriter.
My mom played piano,
so we always had a piano,
and she wanted us all to play.
When I was about 13 or 14,
she had heard me sing.
She kinda stayed on me
for years and years,
just like, "You should do this.
Learn guitar and sing.
You've got a really nice voice."
So, when I finally did learn guitar,
which was halfway through
my first year of university at Carleton,
she was pretty pleased.
When the colour of the night ♪
Paul definitely wanted to pursue music.
And all the smoke for one life ♪
[Paula] And Gord and Paul
got along really well.
Just his easygoing, go with the flow.
I think Gord felt a comfort with Paul.
They just kinda rolled well together,
really rolled well together.
[Paul] We became best friends
pretty quickly in Grade 11,
like literally in the first couple days.
For some reason,
he took to me, and I took to him
because he was
a nice kind of spirit for me
to be around. It just went from there.
Never stopped. Never stopped.
[Rob] Paul, who was a chum
of all of ours,
he was thinking about going to Nashville
to try his hand as a singer/songwriter.
And Gord was like, "What?
You're goin' to Nashville?"
I said, "I want to take a shot.
Be a songwriter."
And I'm like, "Oh, my God. I'll miss ya."
'Cause we were best friends.
I went to the guys and said,
"We should get Paul to join us."
And find somewhere to go ♪
Go somewhere we're needed ♪
Find somewhere to grow ♪
Go somewhere we're needed ♪
He was so into it, and he joined.
Made my life.
Asked me to be in the band.
[Rob] Instead of
going for the hotshot guitar player,
we thought, "Well, any asshole
can learn how to play the guitar.
It's not rocket science. But it's hard
to find someone that you get along with."
[Johnny] I think it was really important
to have Paul there as Gord's best mate.
I thought it was a good idea
to get Paul in the band
because we'd have these girls
in the front row and then,
Paul would be gone
and so would the girls.
I'd be like, "We should
get him in the band."
"He can play guitar or tambourine
or something.
Let's get him off the street."
[Paul]
I bought a guitar a few months before
and was still, you know,
looking at my fingers kinda style.
So, for the first six months,
I kind of faked my way through it.
[Rob] He learned how to do it
really quickly, and he was incredible,
indispensable member of the band.
[Finny] Paul, to me,
is the Keith Richards of the band.
He brought the edge to the band,
and that look.
[Bernie] He was just
the coolest motherfucker there was.
["I'm A Werewolf Baby"]
I'm a werewolf, baby
And here I come ♪
I'm a werewolf, baby
Shut your mouth ♪
I'm a werewolf, baby
And here I come ♪
I'm a werewolf, baby ♪
[Bernie] When Paul joined the band,
it was immediate for them,
they found their legs and what
rhythm guitar meant to the band.
They hit their stride. You don't
have to look much further than,
"I'm a Werewolf, Baby",
every single night.
I'm a werewolf, baby
Here I come ♪
I'm a werewolf, baby ♪
I'm a werewolf, baby
Here I come ♪
I'm a werewolf, baby
Howl right now ♪
[Paul] For some reason,
someone suggested I play the shaker.
And then me sort of dancing
and doing backups with a shaker
brought the werewolf out in Gord,
I think, over time.
Ow! Ow! Ow!
And then, at the crucial moment,
I would jump him, and
[vocalizing] "I'm a werewolf, baby!
And here I come!" ♪
And, uh, I'd attack Paul.
He would totally, like just charge
and really tackle me.
He was always looking after me
as you can do as the tackler
better than you can at getting tackled.
Eventually I got sick of it.
But we did have fun with it
for a good year and a half, or so.
[chuckles]
[Gord Sinclair]
We had begun the conquest of the world
in little 50 to 100-kilometer
expeditions outside of Kingston.
[Johnny] We were playing Belleville,
Brockville, Cornwall, Trenton, Toronto.
[train horn blows]
[Gord Sinclair] Rob's dad was
a larger-than-life figure
and drove a larger-than-life car,
and we would shove amps
and as many drums as we could get
into the trunk of his car.
I think the judge got tired
of lending his vehicle.
So, I had a good chat
with my dear mother.
She ponied up to buy this,
this crazy, crappy old Dodge van.
[Rob] Leona financed the van.
And I gotta say, Duncan and Leona,
and my parents, Edgar and Lorna,
the Fays, the Langlois,
everyone's parents
were super supportive of us
when it feels like
we're out there trying to
capture lighting in a bottle or something.
[Johnny] Our parents really believed in us
when other people didn't,
and we definitely didn't want
to disappoint them.
To begin with,
he didn't have drums or drumsticks.
He had my knitting needles,
and he'd
And then a friend had drums for sale
and his Dad said,
"I'll buy them,
but you have to work and
pay me back half."
So, that's what we did.
[Johnny]
My mom pushed me to do music
and if I really wanted to do it,
then I was gonna do it.
I remember, I was in grade 11.
My mom said,
"We're going on a trip tomorrow."
She had seen me
look at this brochure
for the Berklee College of Music.
His father and I discussed it,
and then we said, "The best thing
we can do is ship him out
if they'll accept him."
And so, I drove him down to Boston
to the Berklee School of Music.
[Johnny]
And we walked in, and my mom said,
"My son would like to
go to the summer program."
And this guy said, "No, no.
You just, you can't show up."
And my mom said, "Well,
we drove all the way from Canada.
Could you at least listen to him
before we go home."
This guy took me into a room,
and I played.
And they said, "Yes, we'll accept you.
Where are your drums?"
My mom said, "Oh, they're, they're
in the car out front. We'll go get them."
And we didn't bring any drums.
So, she went across the street to
this place called "Daddy's Junky Music."
Got me a kit. It was just, you know,
what great parents do.
They open doors.
And for me, she was kickin' doors down.
[indistinct chatter]
[woman on PA] Be really excited
about this next band.
-They're from Kingston, Ontario. Yeah.
-[cheers]
Live at Zorbas, from Mystic Productions
from CIC-FM,
Tragically Hip!
Thank you! Happy to have you.
Welcome to Zorbas.
["All Canadian Surf Club"]
We could feel that it was starting to get
a little bit more traction there.
It wasn't just the Kingstonians
showing up.
And if you wanna make the scene
You'll make it sooner or later ♪
You're really hanging with the crowd
You know the ins and the outs here ♪
[Denise Donlon] It wasn't just a band,
it was like a movement.
It's because one person would
see the band and fall in love with them,
and then drag their three friends
to see them and then their three friends.
Yeah, when you're dancin' next to me,
I want to roll and die there ♪
I'll be designing my buggy
While I'm thinking about next year ♪
[Sarah Harmer] They put on a monster show.
Like, I was, you know, 16.
I'd never seen sweaty rock 'n' roll
up close.
And they just played like song
after song after song,
like just segue to so much energy.
[screams]
[Denise]
The band was loud and tight and forceful,
and then Gord was mesmerizing.
Gord Downie did evolve into his own thing.
You watched him take pieces
of Frank Venom, maybe Mick Jagger,
and you know, Michael Stipe. Whoever
it was, he put those pieces together.
But once they got in there with some
butter and onions, and celery and garlic,
it became its own thing.
Stop the car! That's my girlfriend! ♪
He actually just became himself.
Stop it! ♪
[crowd cheers]
[Gord Sinclair] We'd taken things
about as far as we could.
We didn't know what a manager was,
but we were told,
"You gotta get a manager."
[Mike Downie]
So, this is where it all happens, Jake?
Well, you know, this is where, uh,
it starts.
It all happens out there.
What we do here is we, uh,
I like to say we create the opportunities
here.
[announcer] Jake Gold's
still waiting on his first big score.
But now, with Allan Gregg's
seed money in play,
at Jacob J. Gold and Associates, he's
managing their joint roster of four bands.
[Jake Gold] I was introduced to Allan
at a party in December 1985.
At one point during the conversation,
his wife Marjorie walks in
and says, "His Nibs is on the phone."
Unbeknownst to me who "His Nibs" was,
Allan excuses himself,
comes back in after the call and said,
"Sorry, it was the Prime Minister."
And at that point, I was like,
"Okay. Where am I? Who is this guy?"
[Allan Gregg] I've worked with creators
for a long time.
I've worked on politicians
for even a longer time.
And my job, with politicians, has always
been to help them find their voice.
My first love was always music.
Allan came from
a very academic background,
and I came, basically,
from a street background.
It was an odd couple,
but we are very similar in a lot of ways.
[receptionist]
Gold and Associates.
-Hi, it's Allan. Is Jake there?
-[receptionist] Yes. Hold one moment.
[Jake Gold]
Allan gives me a call.
He says that he got sent this tape
from his friend, Hugh Segal,
whose brother-in-law was friends
with the guys in Kingston.
["Killing Time"]
I need your confidence ♪
Need to know you're mine ♪
When it gets right down
To the killing time ♪
And I went,
"This guy's got an interesting voice."
And Allan was like,
"Maybe we should set up a gig."
[announcer]
Welcome, The Tragically Hip!
[Jake Gold]
They walked on stage.
Gord said,
"I can only give you everything,"
grabbed the mic and
did that jackknife thing that he does.
I can't give you more
Than all I am ♪
And every hair on my body and my neck,
everywhere, just stood up.
Just a man ♪
It took us about a song and a half
to look at each other
and just say,
this frontman is off the charts.
[Jake Gold] The way they played as a unit,
they were a machine.
And I looked at Allan and said,
we're signing these guys tonight.
[crowd cheering]
[Gord Sinclair] When we hooked up
with Jake and Allan, it was good
'cause we had just been
hanging around in Kingston,
kind of playing local bars and stuff.
And Jake had a few connections
at different agencies
in all the worst clubs in Ontario,
but they put us out on the road
for like four months,
which kind of brought everything together
for us.
Allan, he loaned us money
to make our first EP,
about six grand,
which was great for us, you know?
[Allan]
It was seven songs, and it was good.
Jake and I said,
"Let's try to do something with this."
We needed a calling card so we could
get them out of basically Ontario
and get them right across the country.
At the time, people were aware
of music videos.
They could break bands.
And so, you needed to make a video.
[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
our very own, Tragically Hip!
["Small Town Bringdown"]
[Rob]
The baby blue record was out.
The "Small Town Bringdown" video
was getting a lot of play on MuchMusic.
Was Kingston the subject matter
for the "Smalltown Bringdown" single?
Well, our bass player, Gord Sinclair
wrote that song and, uh, I don't know.
I think you can apply it to almost
any town, you know, or any sort of,
anyone that comes from a small town.
It could be very much autobiographical.
You'd have to ask him, I guess. It doesn't
reflect how we feel about Kingston
'cause we quite frankly love it there.
[Jake] Having a video, having a record
in stores right away, legitimized you.
At the end of the day,
we probably sold about 11,000 records.
[Rob] For an up and coming,
nobody-knows-'em band,
it was doin' very well.
And that allowed us to play new markets.
[Jake]
They were workin' every day.
Three nights here, three nights there,
all over.
We were playing small places,
multiple nights.
Because we felt going into a city
for one show
didn't leave enough time
to get that word-of-mouth thing going.
So, by the third night,
it was always packed.
They were like the tightest band
you ever heard. All the time.
I never went to a bad Hip show.
They felt they had a duty to be amazing
because you came to their show.
[Johnny] We needed
to get in front of more people.
We needed to travel and
really be heard by some people.
It took some time, you know?
[Gord Sinclair] Anybody can play
a sold-out show
in downtown Toronto on Friday night.
Part of comin' up in Canada
is learning how to play,
you know, the half-empty rooms,
or the completely empty rooms.
That's what makes you what you are.
They were a band that had played
every fuckin' venue in the country.
You know, like
this is a very big land mass,
and so I know a lot of Canadian bands
that just won't tour the country.
They'll go tour the States
'cause they can get a show
every five hours on the highway.
It's just not like that necessarily here.
There's like huge swaths of like
Siberian-esque fucking T-Can. [laughs]
[interviewer] What's the biggest obstacle
you've faced so far?
The Canadian Shield's
probably the biggest obstacle.
You know driving out to Winnipeg
and stuff.
It's hard touring in Canada.
There's lots of long drives and
lots of late nights and stuff.
They toured madly, but no one
wanted to sign them.
There was no big cry and demand.
[Gord Downie] We played in New York City
for the CMJ, College Music Journal.
It's a conference there. And we
were fortunate enough to get our song,
"Small Town Bringdown" on a compact disc
that goes about
to all these programmers
and college music people,
and Bruce Dickinson happened to hear it.
[Bruce Dickinson] I grabbed the phone
and called Jake Gold
and said I really liked the song
that I just heard on the CD
and that I would like to come
see his band.
And I said, so what's the next date?
And he says,
"Well, we have one coming up,
but it's two songs
and it's for industry people,"
and I'm thinkin', "I'm comin' anyway."
[indistinct chatter]
[Gord Sinclair]
In our minds, this is like,
"Wow, this is the proverbial,
possible big break."
[Johnny]
We were nervous.
It was like, this is Massey Hall.
This is like our Grand Old Opry.
We knew that we had to get up there
for two songs and really make it happen
according to our manager, once again.
And, uh,
I guess we kinda made it happen
or we were trying too hard
or got nervous and got drunk or something,
'cause everything fell apart.
Thanks for having us.
Thanks a lot.
New Orleans is sinking,
and I don't want to swim.
["New Orleans Is Sinking"]
[Allan]
The Toronto Music Awards was a disaster.
Here, in front of all of these people,
including Bruce Dickinson,
A&R guy from New York City,
MCA Records, and Gord's mic breaks.
[Bruce Dickinson] The microphone
comes out of the stand
and falls and breaks
into its component parts.
And even the cable comes out.
And I'll always remember the look
on Gord Sinclair's face was like,
"Oh, crap."
You could tell this was not rehearsed.
Gord starts to pantomime and
improvise and mock his misfortune
of not being able to sing, long enough
that they finally get the mic fixed.
Bourbon blues on the street
Loose and complete ♪
Under skies of smoky blue-green ♪
I can't forsake a dixie dead-shake ♪
So we danced the sidewalk clean ♪
My memory is muddy
What's this river that I'm in? ♪
New Orleans is sinking, man
And I don't wanna swim ♪
It could have been disastrous and he,
you know, made it part of the show.
Colonel Tom, what's wrong?
What's going on? ♪
[Jake] That was part of what we
were selling was this enigmatic front guy
that was spontaneous, and you never knew
what was gonna happen next.
At that point, I'm sold.
So then, I turn to Jake and Allan,
"I want to sign your band."
My baby, she don't know me
When I'm thinking 'bout those years ♪
A Canadian band being signed
out of New York, it was big news.
[Rob]
We met Bruce after the show,
and he said, "I'd like to sign you
to a seven-record deal."
So, when that happened
and Bruce made that offer,
that put us firmly on the track
that we always dreamed of being on.
[guitar music]
We're negotiating the contract.
It gets signed by early January,
and by the end of the month,
the band's in Memphis.
Like, that's how fast things happened.
[Johnny] We were a band
going down to prove ourselves,
make a record for the very first time.
It was like, "Okay. Here we go."
[Gord Sinclair]
As music fans,
and we're making our first record
in Memphis, Tennessee, you know?
Jerry Lee Lewis is across the river,
and the King lived there.
[Gord Downie]
I was really excited to come,
just 'cause I figured that it would,
you know, the music environment
would sort of sit very close,
very far down in the air, kinda thing.
[Jake] You could tell
that there was this real sense of like,
"Holy fuck, man. We're in Memphis?"
Five guys from Kingston
are now on the precipice of putting out
a first major label record in the U.S.
[Rob] I think we really felt
we were something walkin' into Ardent.
Buddy!
-Buddy, has this got sound to it?
-Oh, yeah.
[Rob] I think The Replacements
had just finished before we went in.
It was pretty heady stuff.
Say hi to your wife, Gord.
We're gonna send her this tape.
Gord Downie? This is for Laura.
[Rob]
With Bruce Dickinson came Don Smith.
He just produced the Keith Richards album,
just done the Traveling Wilburys,
and like a whole host of Tom Petty albums.
And we were like, "Yeah. That'll work."
["I'll Believe in You"]
The Tragically Hip went
down to Memphis.
They've already been working
on their second record,
and we sent Kim Clark Champness
to see what happened.
Well, it's 7 a.m.
And she woke by the radio ♪
[interviewer] How was it to work
this year with established rock legends
and then suddenly work
with a young Canadian band?
It's refreshing, actually.
I think this band can hold its own
against all the people I worked with.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! ♪
It's getting very good. It seems like
To me, it feels like it's too fast
'cause you're rushing every word,
you know?
Go slow. But I don't know.
It actually does feel kinda slow,
but what's happening,
I think you're rushing every lyric.
-[woman] Do you want a beer, Gordie?
-[Gordie] No, thanks.
[Paul] We'd record and then go back
to the hotel at night and keep writing.
Talkin' about the songs and
tryin' to improve them,
and add new ones, like "38 Years Old"
was written in a hotel.
Like, I played bass on that
because Gord Sinclair,
it was his guitar riff. [mimics guitar]
[Gord Sinclair]
I mistuned an acoustic guitar.
I wasn't much of a guitar player
back then,
and it dropped the top E and top B string
down a full tone.
Started playing D shapes and C shapes,
and came up with
the musical idea for that song.
And then we started writing it.
[Gord Downie] Where I grew up is a place
called Amherstview outside Kingston,
and even closer to Amherstview is
a place called Millhaven Penitentiary.
And I remember one summer,
there was this big, huge jailbreak,
it sort of threw the outlying area
into a real panic.
[reporter]
The man in charge of the hunt
says he's still working on the theory
that six of the missing seven
are in the Millhaven area.
Twelve men broke loose in '73 ♪
From Millhaven Maximum Security ♪
[Gord Sinclair] There was a real bad man
named Donald Oag,
who was among those guys who got out.
He had it in for Robbie's dad,
who was a Provincial Court judge. And
they actually moved Robbie and his family,
to a hotel downtown.
[Gord Downie]
I remember it was tense.
Everyone was pretty scared
'cause these were
[Rob] It was front page news
for over a year.
But it was also really exciting,
you know.
It made the summer kind of exciting.
-Kinda magical. [laughs]
-Well, who knows, you know?
Same pattern on the table
Same clock on the wall ♪
Been one seat empty
Eighteen years in all ♪
Freezing slow time
Away from the world ♪
He's 38 years old
Never kissed a girl ♪
"Thirty-eight years old
and never kissed a girl."
That's how he describes a prisoner
who's been in prison his whole life.
That's storytelling.
That is poetry. Not the kind of thing
you hear from a rock band, period,
let alone a rock band
putting out their first record.
That's why we fell in love
with The Tragically Hip were the lyrics.
Every single song would destroy us
in some little way.
The Tragically Hip LP
out in your store now.
It's real good. It's very rock 'n' roll.
When we put out "Up To Here,"
we felt it was success
and we were moving in the right direction.
In Canada, the record went exponential.
30,000 at Christmas, to 50,000,
which was gold,
to 100,000 a month later,
which was platinum,
to double platinum a month later.
Just blew up.
[CASBY presenter] The 1990 CASBY
for fave album of the year goes to
The Tragically Hip. "Up To Here."
[crowd cheers]
[JUNO presenter] For Group of The Year
for 1990, The Tragically Hip.
[crowd cheers]
"Up To Here," yeah.
This is my personal favourite.
Um, there are songs
on absolutely every record that I like.
This one has just the fuckin' highest
concentration of them in a row for me.
"I'll Believe In You, or
"I'll Be Leaving You Tonight". What a
Come on, get the fuck outta here.
I'm not gonna talk about
"Blow At High Dough"
because how the fuck do you talk about,
"Oh, Canada."
I remember spending an entire night,
uh, with "Blow At High Dough" on repeat.
And for me, that just You know, this
This was how it all started.
["Blow At High Dough"]
[Sarah Harmer] Hearing that record
for the first time, and those songs,
and those stories, you know,
there is meat on the bone here.
There is a lot of amazing material.
I mean, "New Orleans is sinking, man,
and I don't want to swim."
Like, how do you get
fuckin' heavier than that?
Like that
That's why rock 'n' roll exists!
Yeah, I can get behind anything ♪
[Jake] And before you knew it, we were
offered big money to play bigger venues.
It was like, "Holy fuck!
Things are goin' in the right direction."
[Bernie] Nobody really knew
what they were on the precipice of,
and what was happenin'.
We just knew it was happening.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Kingston's own, The Tragically Hip!
We were hyper aware at the very beginning
that The Tragically Hip were different.
They're the band that was
just lookin' for a place to happen
and it just happened to be at a time
when we were ready for it.
Whoo-hoo!
Yeah, I can get behind anything ♪
Yeah, I can get behind anything ♪
[interviewer]
In terms of your musical future,
would you even attempt to anticipate
where the band's gonna go?
I don't know. It kinda, it gets
kinda scary because I, you know, I
Um We out of film? Cool.
[camera whirs, stops]
["New Orleans Is Sinking"]
All right! ♪
Bourbon blues on the street
Loose and complete ♪
Under skies of smoky blue-green ♪
I can't forsake a dixie dead-shake ♪
So we danced the sidewalk clean ♪
My memory is muddy
What's this river that I'm in? ♪
New Orleans is sinking, man
And I don't wanna swim ♪
Colonel Tom, what's wrong?
What's going on? ♪
Can't tie yourself up for a deal ♪
He said, "Hey, north, you're south
Shut your big mouth ♪
You gotta do what you feel is real" ♪
Ain't got no picture postcards
Ain't got no souvenirs ♪
My baby, she don't know me
When I'm thinking 'bout those years ♪