How seeing a Tragically Hip show in the '90s changed Raine Maida's aspirations

TORONTO — When Raine Maida was trying to break into the music scene more than 30 years ago, he says he bought tickets to the Toronto Music Awards at Massey Hall, in hopes he could use the event to network with industry folks. But the night didn’t unfold as expected. Rather, the Our Lady Peace frontman said he thought the performances weren’t great and left him uninspired.

He was ready to leave, but decided to watch the final act. That’s when the Tragically Hip stepped on stage. Maida said he watched as lead singer Gord Downie and the band commanded the show with an authenticity and a nod to poetry that he hadn’t seen from the other artists that night.

The Hip’s 1988 performance at the awards show is part of the band’s lore, as members have described the night as “disastrous” but it led to them being signed. At the time, Maida says he thought to himself: “That’s the connection I want to be able to make someday.” He left the concert venue and ripped up a potential record deal that he said now would have been “the worst deal in the world” and listened to more music by the Hip. Today, the 56-year-old Toronto-born singer said that night remains a seminal moment that impacted the trajectory of his career, which spans more than three decades and includes over 10 albums with his band and as a solo artist.

“That performance by the Hip gave me enough stock to be like, OK, slow this down. We’re not just chasing getting a record deal, we are trying to chase the art first and then the things will come, hopefully. That’s how I started to think when I left there,” said Maida, who later wrote the song “Ballad Of A Poet” about watching Downie and the Hip perform that night.

Now, Maida will come full circle as Our Lady Peace will perform a tribute to the Tragically Hip when the Kingston band is inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on Saturday during a gala held at Massey Hall. Maida said he’s had many amazing career moments, but “this is up there.” “Getting to honour literally one of my favourite bands and favourite singers, now that you’re making me, like, talk about it, actually I’m starting to get nervous,” he said. Meanwhile, Hip guitarist Rob Baker has had months to absorb the news that the band will be inducted alongside Toronto indie pioneer Feist, Mike Reno and Paul Dean of Loverboy and French-Canadian singer-songwriter Roch Voisine.