In his new documentary series, The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, award-winning documentarian Mike Downie introduces viewers to a bunch of scrappy kids from Kingston, Ontario — Gord Downie, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair — whose music went on to define Canada not only to the world but to those who call this country home.
This definitive four-part series explores the origin, impact, and legacy of this iconic Canadian rock band through never-before-seen archival footage and new interviews with the band, family, friends, and famous fans, including Will Arnett, Dan Aykroyd, Jay Baruchel, Sarah Harmer, and Geddy Lee.
Directed and produced by Mike — the older brother of The Hip’s late frontman, Gord Downie — the series premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival to great acclaim in advance of its Prime Video debut on Sept. 20.
In Conversation with Mike Downie and The Tragically Hip
Global News recently sat down with Mike and the remaining members of the band — Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair, and Johnny Fay — to talk about what the docuseries means to them, their incredible career as Canadian rock icons, and life after Gord’s death.
Global News: When revisiting all of the archival footage, reflecting on past performances and everything that you’ve all been through together, how did it feel to watch?
Gord Sinclair: It’s like the drone shot in a lot of ways. We always kept a fairly narrow horizon throughout our careers, getting to the next gig and then the next opportunity to make a record, next opportunity to take some time off, writing and stuff. When you step back and look at it, to me, it’s a feeling of gratitude for the opportunity that we had…. We were never sure whether we were going to be able to make another record after the previous one.
Gratitude to the fans that came along and the guys I played music with. Rewatching it made me really appreciate what Mike went through. Mike moved with Gord from Amherstview when we were only 13, and he’s coming at it not only as a friend, but honouring his family and honouring the group. I think he did a wonderful job. Again, it’s a nice look back, for sure.
Global News: Why did you decide on now as the time to put this docuseries out there?
Mike Downie: I think timing was a big part of it, and it’s explained in the film.
I know for the guys in the band, the years after Gord’s passing were… a little bit lost. You just kind of retreat into your own sort of experience, and I had a similar experience as well. You know, trying to figure out what it’s all about. But, when we went into our old high school, it was vacant. It had been sold to Queen’s University. Students were all gone, and in October of 2021, we were able to go in there for four days and really just kind of take it over, use it as our set.
That was almost four years to the day that Gord had passed. And I kind of just realized recently that it was probably the right amount of time, like it was still really close. You see it in the interviews. But there was also enough distance to have some clarity as well, and to start thinking about, or talking about, the band and certainly the early days because it’s what we wanted to do when we were in high school.
I remember that feeling, the lump in my throat, you know, as we started talking about the band and everything. But soon the story takes over. Gord’s not with us anymore, but he’s alive in those stories. It always got me when I’d hear another story, obviously something I didn’t know about my brother that these guys did. They were spending most of their time away together. So, that was really great for me. And a lot of that’s probably not in the doc, but it’s, you know, it’s in here [gestures to his heart] forever now.
Global News: Has diving into the film, creating it, looking at everything, having the lump in the throat… has that helped each of you with your sense of grief?
Rob Baker: I think grief is always going to be with you. It never goes away. The good times, you remember them; they’re like a nice cleansing bath or a night out. You have great memories of it. But grief is something that pierces your skin and leaves scars, you have to reform the way you move through life, to accommodate. Time is really just the best way to deal with it. Like we did in the band, you put one foot in front of the other. We never focused on the horizon, conquering the world. It was all about the next gig, the next song we’re going to write. And it’s the same thing with dealing with grief.
We lost a brother. We went through everything that we did together, very collectively and openly together, and then we all went off separately and grieved. Completely alone. And that was really hard.
Global News: Watching this footage is just mind-blowing. It’s like you’re right there in the pit. In the ’90s, Canadian rock was such a beast. What was it like to have a meteoric rise during that time?
Johnny Fay: It was fun! I was thinking back to some of the stuff that we had done. We had this one gig we were really excited about, we were opening for 54-40 at the Spectrum in Montreal. And then a year to the day later, 54-40 opened for us at Penguin Park in Saskatoon.
I remember talking to some people and they said to me, “It felt like we were watching a plane take off, and you guys went into the clouds!”
Having a conversation like that afterwards, it was like, “Really?” 54-40, Blue Rodeo, The Northern Pikes… we were all using the same PA companies and stuff. We were touring in the winter, which was pretty treacherous, and the fact that we went through that and lived is a story in itself. It was a pretty exciting time to be a band that was playing rock ‘n’ roll in this country at that time. There were some really, really great bands in this country. And then Great Big Sea out east, and it was like, yeah! We were all doing it and we were all having fun. It was a great time to be making music because it was pre-phones, which at our last show, that’s all you saw. Some people put the phone down and watched it for real, but (back then) was a pretty golden age of people going and listening to music.
Global News: Canadian success vs. U.S. success: Does it matter if The Tragically Hip were as popular in the U.S. as they were in Canada?
Mike Downie: Certainly, when I was setting out to do this doc, I really wanted to answer this question once and for all. Because, I feel, for a lot of people, there’s this asterisk about huge success in Canada, but not nearly as much in America. I think we really took a good run at it in the documentary, because the truth is, it really wasn’t about measuring country to country. It was really this idea of validation that Canadians, especially in the ’80s and ’90s, we’re looking at our own artists, our own anything and saying, “Yeah, that’s pretty great, but what do the Americans think?”
Back then it was almost a parental approval kind of thing that we needed. And that’s what happened to the Hip. And then of course, it flipped, because then Canadians were like, “Wait a minute, this means everything to us. We love this.” And we realized it doesn’t matter what the rest of the world thinks because it’s ours. That confidence wasn’t really there before. And I think the band had this inherent confidence because of this brotherhood and this partnership and this collaboration. The band had this confidence in their songwriting and in their performance.
Canadians were coming out of our shells, growing up in the shadow of Great Britain and the United States. It just took us a while to find our footing, and I believe The Tragically Hip helped move that forward in a big way.
Hire Mike Downie to Speak at Your Event
Contact us to learn more about Mike Downie and how to book him to speak at your next event. A celebrated and inspirational storyteller, his captivating keynote presentations explore how our individual and collective stories define us and shape our future, leading us on a never-ending journey inwards, onwards, and upwards.
Hear more from Mike and The Hip in this incredible interview with Tom Power on CBC’s Q.
