As with any music that one feels quite close to, I'm very critical, too. I care a lot. I pay a lot of attention.

I remember getting up and singing with them at Mile One arena in St. John's. It was such an honour that they asked me, but all I could think of was, "But I'm such a fan!" Later I sang on one of their records, that was awesome.

No offence to Hugh MacLennan, but you don't even have to know or understand any deep philosophy that's being espoused, you can just have the feeling of those words together, and that you know them and can sing along with that melody with your fist up in the air. It's a wild vehicle for sentiment, because it's so powerful on the musical front.

As with any music that one feels quite close to, I'm very critical, too. I care a lot. I pay a lot of attention.

Music is amazing, because you get to take it into your office or your living room or wherever you get to know it, and later you bring all those personal connections into a room with thousands and thousands of people.

Ah come on, these streams of light are not so subtle. All along the ditch, signs of life in sinking puddles!

[Gord] Downie has become more animated than the early days, but he's still the same charismatic performer. And as a whole, that band is really the result of each individual member. If one member was not a part of it, it wouldn't be the Hip. They're all crucial to the whole thing.