I can't think of very many people who work as hard at the craft of songcraft as Gord Downie does. It was life or death. Every syllable was important.

I was struck by the effortless way they moved between musical styles, all the while managing to make each their own. It was instantaneous that I knew I wanted to work with them.

The lesson there is that there's no hiding the sound of a band that is bored with its own music. Whatever it takes to create the sound of excitement, that's what you want to do.

It seems silly, but it mattered to Gord Downie. I don't know if I necessarily felt like it had to be one or the other, but he really wanted that engagement: "If you think it should be 'the' then tell me why it should be 'the.' " 'Uh, okay, well...' He was really serious.

Another hard thing that Gord Downie makes easy: singing ironically. If you don't do it right, you come off like a snarky asshole or the whole thing just falls apart on its own. He has the ability to imbue something ironic with great seriousness, which is the only way to really make it work.

Gord Downie is extraordinary. It's safe to say there's nobody like that guy that I've ever come across.

Like any band, including mine, there's a comfort zone that's hard to escape. You kind of need an outsider to tell you that. You think it's your vocabulary, but it's a cocoon that's safe. Producers are supposed to tell you to try things a different way.