Hip’s Sinclair explores love and loss with solo effort
‘Introverted’ Hip bassist Gord Sinclair reluctantly goes it alone with new album
The Tragically Hip’s other Gord — bassist Gord Sinclair — calls himself “a reluctant solo artist.”
And yet, the 56-year-old Kingston musician is the first member of the Hip to release a decidedly softer-sounding solo album,
Taxi Dancers, due Feb. 28, since the 2017 passing of the band’s beloved frontman-lyricist, Gord Downie.
“It really wasn’t until about a year ago when I wrote a song for the album called The Next Life,” Sinclair said in Toronto recently on what would have been Downie’s 56th birthday.
“And after I finished, it was like I felt like I had enough material dealing with the themes of love and loss, and enduring those things, that would make a decent record. Losing him. Losing Dave. Losing a big piece of myself. Losing my youth.”
In addition to Downie’s death, the Hip’s road manager Dave Powell died in 2018.
Sinclair recorded during a trio of three-day sessions at his Kingston home with The Trews’ guitarist John-angus Macdonald and drummer Chris Gormley and engineer James Mckenty last summer and not at the Hip’s Bathouse Studios.
We caught up with Sinclair in Toronto recently.
Q Is it a coincidence you are starting to talk to the press on what would have been Downie’s 56th birthday (Feb. 6)?
A Are there any coincidences? You know, it’s not intentional. And yet here I am talking about a new record on Gord’s birthday. This was a guy I lived with in university and we’ve known each other forever. I think that’s the important thing about our humanity is we’re all going to experience loss at some point. And hopefully, we all get to experience love at some point. And losing that is really, really difficult, but you’ve got to fill that loss with the love that you’ve found to move on. I think about Gord every day. I think about my mom every day. And my brother.
Q Was saying goodbye to
Gord made any easier by that cross-canada farewell tour in 2016?
A It was such a buoying thing. It was incredible for me to be a part of. It really truly was. Now, that said, I would trade the whole experience to have him back. But it was a gift for us as a group.
Q What did the other members of the Hip think about you doing this record?
A They were very supportive. I certainly let them know this was what I was going to do and got nothing but encouragement from them.
Q What, if anything, is next for the Hip?
A We certainly talk to each other all of the time. Collectively, we haven’t figured out what we’re going to do creatively, or if we’re going to do something creatively together again. In my case, I just felt compelled to do this.
Q I spoke with you, Hip guitarist Rob Baker and rhythm guitarist Paul Langlois last summer about your involvement as advisers with cannabis brand Up, but drummer Johnny Fay seems to be lower profile. What’s he up to?
A Johnny’s got a young family. And he still continues to play. And he’s actively working on a Hip archive. I don’t know what we’re going to do with it. Again, we’re just in the process of starting and see where that’s going to lead. I understand that Paul’s intending to do a record at some point. I know he’s always in the process of writing. And Robby was just out on tour with Justin Rutledge a couple months back.
I loved writing with the guys. And I loved being in
The Hip. … Writing songs was a better way for me to express my emotions.
Q Why do you call yourself a reluctant solo artist?
A I’m a band guy. I loved writing with the guys. And I loved being in the Hip. And through the process of mourning and grieving after Gord died, a big part of that was I no longer had that creative outlet anymore that I’d come to rely on for 40 years.
Q You can work through stuff in music too, right?
A Very much so. I’m, I guess, by nature, a quiet guy and introverted guy. I always found that writing songs was a better way for me to express my emotions than necessarily verbalize them.
Q You’ve got seven Ontario dates opening for The Trews in February and March. What will going on tour like be for you?
A I’ll be up there singing and playing and that will be a new experience for me. But anytime I start getting anxious about it, I think about Gord singing in (the Hip song) Flamenco, ‘Walk like a matador, don’t be a chicken sh--.’ And I can hear him, literally in my ear saying, ‘Don’t be a chicken sh--.’ Get out there and do it. So that’s what I’m going to do.
Q Will you play any Hip songs? A Absolutely. That was a big part of my life. I think those songs endure (and are) the legacy of my friend Gord and it’s part of the legacy of the band. I felt many times before that last tour, we would play a song like Bobcaygeon and you’d see a buddy put an arm around his buddy like “This means something to me.” We can’t not play those. There’s a couple I can do comfortably and I think I’ll surprise people. That’s kind of the fun thing to do.