The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown: Song 27 — Ian from Maple Ridge

Hey, it’s jD — and this week, we’re heading westward again, this time to beautiful British Columbia to meet a guy who’s literally flying the flag. Meet Ian from Maple Ridge, frontman for Gift Shop — a Tragically Hip tribute band that’s more reverent than replica and more real than cosplay. We talk music, meaning, the magic of tribute done right, and how this band became a spiritual sidecar to Ian’s own life.

But don’t get it twisted — this episode isn’t a promo for his band. It’s a damn good conversation about why people give so much of themselves to keep the music alive. Ian doesn’t play Gord — he channels him. And you’ll feel that. Whether he’s talking about botched breakups, cassette tapes, or that time Gord blew off a fan request with the most legendary “all the way, huh?” ever uttered… this one’s loaded with resonance.

Inside, we get into:

• The girl who handed him The Hip’s debut cassette the night before he meant to break up with her
• The late-night listening parties where Music @ Work became a secret religion
• His take on tribute bands, authenticity, and “channeling without impersonating”
• The elusive beauty of Flamenco, and why it might just be the band’s most “graceful” left turn

🎙️ Next week, we head to Federal Way, Washington to meet Alan, whose Hip journey began with a grainy SNL performance and who once yelled at StubHub in public over concert tickets. It’s a ride — and it’s one you won’t want to miss.

💬 Pull Quote

“The best art doesn’t explain itself — it moves you. And Gord knew that better than anyone.”

👤 About Our Guest

Ian from Maple Ridge is a lifelong Hiphead, original songwriter, and frontman of Gift Shop, a tribute band based in BC. He’s part poet, part showman, and 100% committed to honouring Gord Downie’s legacy with humility, humanity, and volume.

Check out the band: giftshophipband.ca

🧾 Support the Show

Love what we’re doing? Toss a coin in the guitar case:

buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40 — every dollar keeps the pod rolling and supports ALS Canada.

📬 Get Involved

• 🎙️ Drop us a voicemail: castfeedback.com/tthtop40
• 📧 Tell us yer Hipstory: [email protected]

📡 Follow + Stream

• Spotify | Apple | YouTube | dewvre.com/tthtop40
• Instagram: @tthtop40
• Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/tthtop40

Transcript follows below.

The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

Join jD beginning Monday, January 6th, 2025 while he counts down the top 40 songs by The

Tragically Hip as voted by you! Every week on The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown, jD

welcomes a new guest to discuss their TTH origin story (hipstory) and dissect,

Artist: jD

Year: 2025

Transcript

[0:00] On Friday, May 26th, Podlist 6 is coming to you from the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown.

Hey, it's JD here, and I am fucking pumped to be filling you in on the latest Podlist. What is a

Podlist, you ask? It's a podcast playlist. In this case, it's a playlist full of Tragically Hip cover songs

by our talented listeners. Here's the deal this year. You can only choose a song that ranked from

169 to 41. To be included in Podlist 6, you'll need to submit your WAV files either by WeTransfer or

by emailing JD at tthtop40 at gmail.com with Podlist in the subject line. Are you ready to shoot your

shot and become podcast famous? What are you waiting for then?

[0:58] A member of the DATC Media family. Previously on the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown.

Terry from Nova Scotia, what did you think of Scared when you first heard it? Well, I loved it. You

know, minimal drums, really focused on the lyrics. Um my son described it as skeletal folk

instrumental skeletal folk instrumental okay yeah yeah like the the instrumental part.

[1:32] Music.

[1:40] It's J.D. here, and welcome back to the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown. It's my pleasure to

be with you here every Monday as we spend some time sharing stories and experiences while

counting down 40 essential songs by the hip that you chose with your very own top 20 ballads. I

simply tabulated the results using an abacus and four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle

doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. That's 10 fucking birds. I'm losing my shirt and bird seat over

here. How has your favorite song fared in the rankings? Let me know at tthtop40 at gmail.com. This

week, I'm fucking stoked to be joined by Ian from Maple Ridge. Ian from Maple Ridge, how the hell

are you doing on this hip-tastic day? JD, I couldn't be any better. Thank you for having me. Oh, it's

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 1 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

lovely to have you here. And we're going to get into what you do in your extracurriculars as we

move through this conversation. But why don't we start at the start and hear your TTH origin story?

[2:54] Oh, certainly. Well, I've been a fan of music my whole life. My family immigrated here from

Ireland. I was the only one born in Canada, and music was a big part of my life growing up.

[3:15] Some of my earliest memories are singing along to Beatles or Rolling Stone albums, playing

a tennis racket guitar, and dreaming of being on stage. And, um, so I always, uh, listen to music. I

always tried to keep up on music. I'm a child of the eighties. I, and, uh, I, um, I, um, you know was a

new wave kid a punk rock kid i listened to everything that was new and had a real appetite for live

music and listening to as much as i could.

[3:56] The first song i ever heard of the tragically hip i'm sure was last american exit and i'm sure i

saw it on much music back in the day oh when we were watching that voraciously but the, My hip

story, how I was introduced to the band, is one that I'll share with you, but I can feel all my friends

and bandmates rolling their eyes virtually as I tell this story yet again.

[4:25] It's a bit worn and frayed, but the story goes, I was dating a girl, and she was lovely, but i was

a young man and um you know idiosyncrasies bothered us more than they should have been then i

guess and i uh i i'd had enough and i wanted to end it and, all my friends were tired of hearing me

including uh my best friend at the time craig brown who plays bass in our band right now but he uh

he was tired of me complaining and and putting it off and whining and, and I didn't have the

courage to, to, you know, end it, but I wanted to be kind. And, um, so finally he's like, listen, I don't

want to hear about this anymore. Like either shut up or do what needs to be done. And I had

resolved that that night I was going to break up with my girlfriend. She had been out the night

before. This is, uh, in, uh, 88 we're talking about. And, um, Thank you.

[5:39] We met, and I was stealing myself to, I'm sorry, we're going to have to, we have something I

have to talk about. And she said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, that's fine. But before I do, I just

want to tell you, because I know you love music so much. I went out to the town pump last night,

and I saw this amazing band, and I immediately thought of you. I knew you would love it. And I

bought you their EP. and she hands me the Tragically Hips self-titled EP on cassette. That's how

old I am. And I'm like, well, that was very thoughtful.

[6:18] I guess we're going to have to meet again tomorrow night. So I have to delay it a little bit. But

she was the one that introduced me to the band and I just ate it up. And I've been following them

ever since. I've been a huge fan ever since. And every single album we bought as soon as

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 2 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

possible. We used to have listening parties, would go through it song by song. And at the time, I

was singing and a lyricist in local bands. And we took a bit of a swing for the fences. We never

really made it, but we made some progress. We had a manager. We put out a couple of CDs. We

played North by Northeast. We did what we could.

[7:10] And when I was writing lyrics or we were writing songs together, I would always hold Gord

and his poetry up as the bar. We didn't sound anything like the hip but um i would look at what i

wrote and and say you know would gord think this is crap or would he be would he give a grudging

nod of approval kind of thing you know um so yeah i've been uh i've been a huge fan ever since

and uh and i continue to be you know and thank you for everything that you do and the the podcast

right back to fully completely and then uh getting hip to the hip it really reignited um.

[7:59] That flame in me and and uh discovering downy you know i was one of those hip fans that

listened to a few songs off of coke machine glow and kind of almost felt protective of the band oh

gorge's going out on his own what is he doing this perfect group and they're all supposed to be

family and friends like why is he you know so heard a few songs and just kind of dismissed it but

um.

[8:23] Went back and really discovered that along with you guys and and your analysis was just so

spot on i just really enjoyed it so thank you oh that means so much hey we're just flying the flag

right that's what we're doing absolutely yeah so you bought the records as they came out i want to

hear more about this listening party aspect well uh as i said at the time i was in uh an original band

we started as a cover band and we played wheat kings and fiddlers green and stuff like that.

[9:00] But you know a myriad of of songs that were popular on the radio like you do and um but the

Hip, as I said, was always the bar that we strived to at least make proud. And an album would

come out regardless. It wasn't always in one spot or whatever, but our group of friends, including

bandmates, we would buy the album and we'd sit down and have a few drinks and have a few

other things and listen to the album. And little will and elson that's right and um and then discuss

you know and that you know some of those were in my buddy's basement some of them were we

were we would camp often um and play, uh music up in the okanagan in british columbia here

that's a beautiful area to do so in the summer and um it was just always an event and it was always

something to look forward to and, so often you.

[10:13] The feelings we had on our first listen would change drastically after the 5th or 10th or 12th

or 15th listen, you know, as they do, you know. But, yeah, those were good times and something I

miss.

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 3 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

[10:35] Yeah there's something about the 20s right or our 20s you know where you just uh it was just

a magical time for music you know you didn't really have a ton of responsibility you had a little bit of

scratch finally in your pocket you know a little bit but uh yeah you sort of started making your way

and carving out who your you know real true friends are and listening to just great fucking music

together yeah and i think sometimes you know it was discussed in the in the documentary and in

the book and amongst hip fans you know there seems to be a divide between uh early, bar rock hip

fans and later um art rock maybe like it's more arty yeah yeah and and you know the Bob Rock

stuff and the, and, uh, you know, now for plan a and, and man machine there, there always seems

to be a divide that, you know, there's some people who are like, well, I liked the first three albums

and then other people who are, I liked the last three albums or whatever. And I think maybe some

of that is, you know, it reminds you of your youth and, and that carefreeness and that, uh, you

know, the songs that were really the soundtrack of her life at that time, you know? Absolutely. But I,

uh, I found so much...

[11:59] To feed from from every album and uh i would consider myself more of a b-side kind of guy

where the songs that played on the radio i appreciate and continue to appreciate but the songs that

really moved me were the songs that no one else really heard very often you know right or they i

was and and and that's the genius of gourd too is he allows you to breathe within his lyrics the

whole idea of trying to decipher what he's talking about um i try to stay away from too much um

because the best lyricist the best poetry the best art in general, moves you it it creates emotion it

causes you to feel something but i think if the artist were to come right out and then black and white

say no it's not about what you're feeling it's it's about what I was feeling at this moment in this time,

this is how I dealt with this problem.

[13:01] Then it robs you of that, right? And so I know that Gord, in many interviews, people would

ask him, what does pigeon camera mean? And he'd say, what does it mean to you? And he allows

you to live in that. I think it means this. I think it means that. And Gord would say, yes, it does, if

that's how you feel about it, right? But it's vague enough that we can put our own interpretation to it.

And to me, that's absolute genius.

[13:32] There's no doubt about it. There's no doubt about it. And the band around was so tight and

so musical and able to sort of weave in and out of his melodies and lyrical rants and whatnot. Now,

Ian, we buried the lead here a little bit because you are the lead vocalist. You are the gourd in a hit

tribute band named Gift Shop out of British Columbia that is taking the scene by storm. And I'm

really glad to hear that because I've seen you live and I think you're great. Talk to me about when

you made the pivot to completely and fully embrace The Tragically Hip as a tribute.

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 4 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

[14:23] Well, as I said, I started with... Learning how to play music, all of us did in a cover band. And

then we went to writing our own music. And then, much like you want to use a Canadian analogy.

[14:47] When does a hockey player say, I'm not getting to the show, right? When do you practice

and you train and you work out and you dream, And then there comes a time, whether it's 17 or 22

or whatever age it is, where you say, okay, I'm not going to be able to make it to the show. I'm not

going to be the next U2 or whatever. What do you do? Do you hang up the skates and never do it

again? Or do you form a band with your buddies and have a few beers and have some fun and talk

about the old days and what could have been kind of thing? Music to me now is, it's the thing that I

do solely for myself. I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm a grandfather, and I'm a business owner. I have

responsibilities all around me, but music is just for me. I'm thinking about myself and my

bandmates. It's a purely selfish endeavor.

[16:00] After the original music, it was apparent that we weren't going to get signed or we weren't

good enough or whatever the reason was. I floated around and did a few different cover bands and

enjoyed all of them and I.

[16:21] Years had gone by, and two of the band members from my first original band, Craig Brown

on bass guitar, Corey Davis on drums, that band right out of high school, we had kind of lost touch,

hadn't talked to each other in a while, and we bumped into each other and started talking and said,

hey, we should get a band together. And I was in a couple of bands at the time and wasn't really

happy with the directions that we were going or annoyed at the lack of enthusiasm from other band

members or whatever the case was. And they said, would you be interested? And I said, I would

love to. and uh cory our drummer suggested all along that we should do a tragically hip tribute

because.

[17:15] When we did hip songs back in the day i would really get into it and uh and you know we felt

a little magic on stage so that's what we decided to do oh that is so cool and then the the journey

continues at this point you guys are gigging quite often at this point right, Yeah, we're gigging as

much as real life will allow us, and we're rehearsing, and we put a lot of effort into being as

authentic as we can, and learning as many songs as we can.

[17:56] We try to play the songs as accurately as possible. My big thing as being a singer in the

band is.

[18:08] Gord Downey is beloved He's beloved to you, he's beloved to me He's beloved to Canada,

to hip fans especially, I take very seriously the fact that.

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 5 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

[18:29] I'm paying tribute to him but, I don't want to imitate Gord I don't want like an Elvis

impersonator I'm not I don't want to disrespect him in that way I'm trying to respectfully sing his

melodies and capture his unique phrasing and And to be honest, I'll close my eyes and try to

channel him. I try to give the crowd the feeling of him. But I'll never wear a Jaws t-shirt. I'll never

wear a silver suit. And I certainly don't feel like I'm... Any kind of substitute for gourd i'm just trying

to pay tribute to him and i'm just trying to do as good a job as i can and make people for a little

while forget the tragedy that we all shared in that you know um i do some of his rants i do um the

double suicide when we, very rarely do highway girl i do shark tank every once in a while but other

than that i am, i try to use my own imagination i try to use my own stream of consciousness as

much as possible.

[19:57] And the band in general we all have that same kind of attitude and we do it because we love

the band and the music and we love the audience's reactions and then coming up to us and telling

us their hip story their interactions with the band members and uh and how the them coming to see

us makes them feel you know it's it's completely gratifying oh i bet i bet i mean i can't, i i can't quite

imagine i had one experience once where i sat on stage i sang nautical and it was uh electrifying it

was an electrifying experience and i wish i had done it more but i didn't and um i i envy you i envy

you because going up there the power of that music um and the muse is palpable and.

[20:57] I really have a tremendous amount of respect for tribute bands that that bring it in an

authentic way um they stay true to the band without without mimicking the band like you said you

know we don't need to see uh we don't need to see all the pop and circumstances and it's funny it's

funny because i mentioned an elvis impersonator right like there's many many many elvis

impersonators out there and and there's elvis is king of rock and roll i mean how many people grew

up loving and adoring Elvis, but people that go to see those shows and those, performers they're

trying to look like him, they're trying to move like him, they're trying to do everything and those fans

appreciate that, it's different with the Tragically Hit it's different with Gord in my opinion there's a

respect that should be paid you know um, I can't be Gord Downie, and I don't think anybody can or

ever will. And some of the best tribute bands that I've seen to them, including the ones that are

prevalent out your way in Ontario, don't seem to really do that.

[22:23] You know, so I'm a little bit more chaotic on stage because I'm just jamming out to the music

that I love. That would make me act the way that I do. But in no way am I trying to be Gore

Downey. But many people come up to me afterwards and say, you're channeling him. I can see him

within you. And that's the greatest compliment I could get. Oh, fuck. I can't even imagine. Yeah, I

can't imagine.

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 6 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

[23:04] Jeez. piece yeah do you have at this point i know you're a b-side guy but do you have like a

record that you go to yeah and it may surprise you it surprises a lot of people when i tell them um i

haven't met many people that echo my sentiment but one of my favorite albums and now the

caveat is is that it depends on the time of day and what mood i'm in you know like and and that's

why i participated in this countdown with my own 20 favorite songs and um it was so hard to do

because it it really changes as the wind blows and i'm like you know i'll hear somebody else's just

choice and i go oh yeah why didn't i put that you know it's just crazy and their catalog is so long and

so wonderful it's it's just it's like choosing your favorite child it's just impossible to do but um, i really

like music at work.

[24:08] Love that record too yeah and i know and and especially i was disappointed to kind of hear

uh johnny fay's kind of reaction to potentially are we going to get like uh cuts from that album he's

like uh-uh and i was like whoa i love that and i love how it flows i love how it almost like a concept

album how it kind of goes from one song into the other i thought it was a departure um there's

there's you know different songs on there you know tiger the lion just blew me away and one of my

guitar work on that song is just out of this world unbelievable unbelievable songwriting every song

is a little bit different than the one before it um it's a it's a departure sure you know i loved um i went

and saw them tour that album um in november of 2000.

[25:06] It was at the moore theater in seattle which uh if you pack people in it would the capacity

was about 1800 people and uh this old-fashioned kind of opera house two weeks later they played

the coliseum on this in vancouver where the canucks used to play um and it's a 17 000 person

venue that they sold out um we that was the tour in the show where chris brown and kate fenner

joined them on stage that's right yeah some hip fans and apparently the band themselves weren't

too happy with that decision i thought it was magic i thought it was magic i thought that they were.

[25:53] You know so wonderful and uh just added just a little spice that didn't detract from what the

hip do when they you know were doing the hits or the classics or whatever they weren't you know

you didn't have to play piano all over top of new orleans is sinking or whatever you didn't have to to

make space for these people they just added a little color to the picture and i thought it was It's

absolutely fantastic. I have a funny story if we have time to talk about the Moore Theater in Seattle.

As I said, right next door to it, funny enough, is the Moore Hotel, which we were staying. So we

literally just walked out the front door, walked 20 feet, and we were in front of the theater. We had

just checked in, and we were sitting the day of the show, and we were standing out front, milling

around, wondering what we were going to do. My wife and I and some bandmates and some

friends and the tour bus pulls up in front of the theater and we're like, holy crap, right? And we

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 7 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

could hear kind of...

[26:58] Crackle of uh you know the walkie-talkies or whatever and they were the production guys

were calling in the band members one at a time to come in for a sound check and as they got off

the bus and walked past we were you know yay fanboys standing outside of the thing we're like

gourd and robbie and johnny and then last to come out was gourd downy and he looked like you

know he had been on safari or something he was tired took was pulled down over his face almost

and he was weary and he was road sore and you know trudging into a day of work kind of you

know first thing in the morning with his lunch pail kind of vibe and he walks past us and i'm standing

there with my jaw open i i didn't i couldn't bring myself to utter anything but my buddy next to us

says hey gourd let us in to hear sound check we drove all the way from vancouver which is like a

three hour drive right and gourd stops and he looks this up and down he goes all the way huh and

just keep.

[28:11] Oh fuck you know that didn't work out but uh it was pretty magical nice try yeah and that

show that show is so unbelievable and they played tiger the lion they played daredevil they played

putting down they played chagrin falls like.

[28:30] Stay uh the completest which is one of my favorite songs springtime in vienna they ended

with inch an hour like songs that i just didn't hear previously or after really in all of the times that i

saw them live you know so a real standout moment for me like just unbelievable fucking brilliant oh

i love it any chance you get to meet the you know meet the boys whether it's, whether it's in

passing or whether it's a deep conversation i just think that that's so wonderful like yeah they're so

real they say you should never meet your heroes but the times that, i did because we went down

again a few years later and saw them for the in-between evolution tour during the nhl lockout so

there was all we had the ed jovanovsky and brad may and stuff standing shoulder to shoulder with

those guys talking about the the work stoppage in hockey as we're watching sam roberts open up

for the tragically hip at uh another small venue called the show box in seattle and again it's just

absolutely amazing and as we're milling around outside we.

[29:43] Passed uh sam roberts said hello to him he was going into a little coffee shop to meet

someone met paul langwa having a smoke outside of the theaters talk to him for a little bit he

couldn't have been more gracious couldn't have been he is the best uh yeah you know so yeah and

from what i hear from friends and and uh compatriots that have met each in one individual they just

couldn't be more stand-up guys so i'm just so glad to hear that me too well ian what do you think

we uh get to the song of the week at this point. You ready? I'm all ready. Well, we'll be back right

after this. Hey, this is Paul Langlois from the Tragically Hip saying hello. Now on with the

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 8 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

countdown. 26.

[30:30] Music.

[34:37] This is one of those tracks that when Gordy finished the lyrics, he must have grabbed his

overcoat, fedora, and briefcase to leave the office for the day. Because his fucking work is capital D

done. Ian from Maple Ridge, what do you think of Flamenco?

[34:58] Well, I thought that the whole album was absolutely magical. Flamenco, right in the middle of

the album, was such a magical song and kind of gave a hint, I think, at the experimental nature that

the band was kind of moving towards. Was this album in general, or was it the first album where

they really started to kind of think, You know, we're going to just start doing what we want to do, you

know, and we're going to put songs on the album that maybe producers or record execs would

shake their head at or wag their finger about. And this song fits that whole. When I listen to this

song, it's so beautiful. It's so relaxing. It's so wonderful. And the story within it, so up for

interpretation. Right? Like so often with Gord, as you know, we, we previously said, we.

[36:08] He never really is too on the nose. He allows you to breathe within his lyrics. And while

preparing for this conversation that we're having, I took the time to listen to the song a bunch of

times and to read as much as I could about it. And my initial reaction is, if I had to kind of say what I

thought it was about.

[36:35] I would think, is Gord... Trying to reassure someone is he trying to kind of give someone,

more confidence and then or is he being introspective is he is he talking to himself like because we

know that gord was um very confident and very extroverted on stage but off stage he was more

reserved and a little bit shyer on off stage i could see gord, behind the curtain kind of you know

giving himself a little confidence pep talk you know come on just get out there walk like a matador

don't be chicken shit like that whole thing and and it conjures up visions for me of uh you know

childhood and and again a theme of gourd, so often it's down by the lake or by the water

somewhere where you know can you remember yourself as a child maybe thinking i want to go

down that slide or i want to go off that diving board and you you wait in line and you you creep up

there and then you get up there and see how high it is and go uh and the person behind you is

going come on come on don't be chicken shit do it you know.

[38:02] Um it makes me feel that way in the pit of my stomach for some reason um and then by the

end of the song.

[38:12] Has the person that he's speaking to, have they gained that confidence? You know, maybe

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 9 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

I'll go to New York. Maybe I'll drag you there. And the person says, no one drags me anywhere.

They have that confidence, right? You know, I don't know. But in general, yeah, in general, it's just a

magical song. And I, again, when I was kind of researching it, And so often, J.D., so often with his

songs, I sing along to them, I listen, and I can clearly hear the words that he's using. And then I

bring up the lyrics on the computer or whatever, and I go, is that all the words? There's a lot of

words that I thought. Yeah, shouldn't there be more words? I'm sure that there's more words.

There's an economy there right? Yeah absolutely some great musicians would say it's not the notes

you play it's the notes you don't play or the space in between, and sometimes when other artists do

that it sounds repetitive with Gord it's not and I was just shocked at.

[39:34] How few actual words he uses how many words repeat but how it doesn't give me a feeling

of copping out or repetitiveness, right? This song in particular. One thing I looked up and I kind of

ripped off of the hip archive was when dealing with flamenco and obviously the flamenco dance,

this person described the flamenco.

[40:09] The flamenco dance has been performed with passion, fervor, and tortured expressions, but

striving for grace and dignity. Now, does that describe the hip?

[40:27] Like, you know, I thought that that was pretty cool. I did too. Where did you find that? That

was on the hip archives, yeah. Oh, very cool. Uh there there was a bunch of things with that they

they described flamenco being associated with gypsies and and uh and other things you could tie

back to to kind of the traveling people or um things that you could relate to the hip in general but

that one tortured expressions, that uh grace and dignity you know passion and fervor like boy if that

doesn't describe Gord on stage I don't know what does, I love the part about like I'm going to

paraphrase here but being chaotic but being graceful you know like there's something that definitely

describes his movement on stage because it's so, cathartic and spastic but it makes sense you

know it's very it just makes sense and it's almost like like you say it's like their music, it's cathartic

and it's rock and roll and it's great, any other thoughts on Flamenco Ian?

[41:46] Not really, other than just, I mean, can you, the hip have had slower songs, they've had

atmospheric songs, you know, up until this point. But can you point to another song that has, you

know, a similar melody, a similar instrumentation, a similar feel to that song? I certainly can't. And

when you look at the other songs on Trouble at the Hen House, it's such a departure. And it's like

walking through a museum and seeing beautiful paintings one after the other. And then the fifth one

you see is like, ah, but completely different from the ones beside it, you know. And you know in

between Don't Wake Daddy and 700 foot ceiling I mean the placement is strange and wonderful

and I know that, when it comes up on my rotation on my playlist it's always one that I just catch my

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 10 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

breath a little bit too, yeah it's beautiful it's absolutely gorgeous and.

[43:01] It's a wonderful song and i'm glad it's on the countdown that's that's yeah yeah yeah i i'd like

to you know just as an off site just to kind of because we've had our little arguments back and forth

and i know that when the uh the songs that didn't make the top 40 came out there was a lot of.

[43:20] Uh some of us hip fans were like what and there's you know consternation about our favorite

songs not making it but I think it's just um you know it's just a testament to how many wonderful

songs that they wrote how many albums of quality they put out and songs that meant so much to all

of us, that um you couldn't, squeeze in to the top 40 of the songs you know um so i don't think that

anybody should take it too harshly if your favorite song didn't make the the top 40 or the top 20 or

the top 10 you know there's uh the countdown is ultimately just window dressing, yeah people are

listening to this i'm convinced people are listening to this to hear people like Ian McDonnell and

Hawksley Workman and whoever else I've had on the show at this point. Interview that was, man, I

enjoyed that so much. I could have just listened to you guys for hours. Like what an amazing

interview. He's a, he's a really easy to talk to. So yeah, yeah, it worked out really nice.

[44:32] Well, Ian, that brings us to the end of our conversation today. I want to thank you so much for

joining me. uh it was a blast talking to you about gift shop and i'm wondering if there's anything that

you want to plug in terms of a website or upcoming gigs yeah um i i certainly would like to put out

that um we have our own website it's called gift shop hip band dot ca we're on all the socials except

for one which i won't get into but uh at gift shop hip band on your social media sites and yeah

please you know check us out leave uh constructive criticism uh we've got some live recordings

we've got some video on there and we've got a total uh list of our upcoming shows past and

present and we would love to connect with more hip fans and, just kind of spread the good news so

to speak, Absolutely Fly the flag, that's what I say man Fly the flag Well that's what we got for you

this week Ian I want to thank you so much for joining me today, thanks for stopping by and pick up

your shit.

[45:59] Thanks for listening to the tragically hip top 40 countdown to email us send an email to tth

top 40 at gmail.com we're social find us on all the socials at tth top 40.

[46:25] Music.

file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20614.html

Page 11 of 11

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donations

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy