podList 7: The Classics - 18 Hip Covers from 1987 Through "Day for Night"

podList 7 is here. 18 tribute artists tackle The Tragically Hip's earliest era - from the 1987 EP through "Day for Night."

Summary:

The seventh installment of podList drops with a focus on the foundational years of The Tragically Hip's catalogue - the 1987 self-titled EP through 1994's "Day for Night." 18 tribute acts and solo artists from across the Hip cover community contributed tracks, spanning deep cuts and signature songs alike.

The lineup includes Jay Hubbard on 'Little Bones,' Duxoop Douglas on 'Courage,' The Gracefully Hip on 'Grace, Too,' Forever Hip on '38 Years Old,' and Tragically Al closing things out with 'Opiated.' Two tracks each appear for 'Nautical Disaster' and 'Fiddler's Green' - a happy accident of the open submission format that lets listeners hear how different artists approach the same source material.

podList exists because tribute bands and solo Hip interpreters keep the catalogue alive in rooms across Canada and beyond. This volume zeroes in on the classics - the era that built the foundation everything else stands on.

Track Listing:

• Jay Hubbard - 'Little Bones'
• Duxoop Douglas - 'Courage'
• The Gracefully Hip - 'Grace, Too'
• Forever Hip - '38 Years Old'
• Urban Hip - 'Fiddler's Green'
• Little Bones - 'Scared'
• Shaun Robertson - 'Nautical Disaster'
• Trickle Down - 'Twist My Arm'
• Thomas De Bock - 'Cordelia'
• Gift Shop - 'Pigeon Camera'
• 50 Mission - 'Fully, Completely'
• Evil Tom Bosely - 'Long Time Running'
• Nautical Disaster - 'Blow At High Dough'
• Hip Check - 'On The Verge'
• The Fabulously Rich - 'Looking For A Place To Happen'
• Tim Clark & Ben Wallace - 'Nautical Disaster'
• Christian White - 'Fiddler's Green'
• Tragically Al - 'Opiated'

Guest Info:

18 contributing artists: Jay Hubbard, Duxoop Douglas, The Gracefully Hip, Forever Hip, Urban Hip, Little Bones, Shaun Robertson, Trickle Down, Thomas De Bock, Gift Shop, 50 Mission, Evil Tom Bosely, Nautical Disaster, Hip Check, The Fabulously Rich, Tim Clark & Ben Wallace, Christian White, and Tragically Al.

Resources:

• The Hip Compendium: compendium.tthpods.com
• podList submissions: podlist.tthpods.com
• The Tragically Hip Podcast Series: tthpods.com

Links - Tribute Bands:

• Forever Hip (Toronto, ON): foreverhip.ca
• The Gracefully Hip (Quebec City, QC): sites.google.com/view/thegracefullyhip | facebook.com/thegracefullyhip
• Urban Hip (Thunder Bay, ON): urbanhip.ca | facebook.com/p/Urban-Hip-100063907241104
• Little Bones (Ottawa, ON): sites.google.com/view/littlebones-ca/home | facebook.com/littlebonesottawa
• Trickle Down (Calgary, AB): trickledownband.com
• Gift Shop (Vancouver, BC): giftshophipband.ca | facebook.com/giftshophipband
• 50 Mission (Southern Ontario): 50missionband.com | facebook.com/50mission | instagram.com/50missionhip
• Nautical Disaster (Victoria, BC): nauticaldisaster.com | facebook.com/NauticalDisasterband
• Hip Check (Ontario): hipcheck.band
• The Fabulously Rich (Charlottetown, PE): thefabulouslyrich.com | instagram.com/thefabrich

Close:

podList 7 is a celebration of the artists who keep "The Tragically Hip," "Up to Here," "Road Apples," "Fully Completely," and "Day for Night" alive through their own interpretations. Eighteen takes on the classics. One catalogue. The fans always show up.

Crosslinks:

• Fully & Completely: track-by-track album walkthroughs of the same era covered here
• The Tragically Hip On Shuffle: weekly live stream covering the full catalogue
• A Forest Of Whispering Speakers: now airing weekly through June 8

Socials: Follow The Tragically Hip Podcast Series across all platforms.

A Forest Of Whispering Speakers - The Book

Two writers. Ten years of trust. One Tragically Hip catalogue. Episode two is the story of how the book got written without flattening the band.

Episode Summary

A Forest Of Whispering Speakers is the oral history of the Theatre Aquarius world premiere of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken, the new musical built on the music of The Tragically Hip. Act II: The Book is the writers' room episode — how an exile's journey gets shaped into a story, and how Hip songs become the emotional grammar of that story without ever turning it into a band biography or a jukebox musical.

Host jD sits down with co-writers Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe, with producer Michael Rubinoff and Tragically Hip manager Jake Gold stepping in to frame the bigger picture. The episode opens at a campfire in Prince Edward County in 2015, traces the ten-year partnership that built King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild at Soulpepper, and lands on the two different doors each writer walked through to find The Hip — one across a bridge in Bobcaygeon, the other watching Gord say goodbye from south of the border.

Inside the episode: the load-bearing wall of a decade-long friendship, the yin-yang of Ahmed's exile and Jesse's grief, a Thornton Wilder quote about platitudes, and a working theory that 700 people in a theatre cannot lie to you at once.

Guest Info

• Ahmed Moneka (Toronto, via Baghdad) — Co-writer of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken. Iraqi-Canadian actor, singer, and writer. Co-creator of King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild.
• Jesse LaVercombe (Toronto, via the United States) — Co-writer of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken. Writer and performer. Co-creator of King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild.
• Michael Rubinoff — Producer, It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken. Originating producer of Come From Away.
• Jake Gold — Manager, The Tragically Hip.

Resources & Links

• Theatre Aquarius — It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken
• King Gilgamesh and the Man of the Wild — Soulpepper Theatre
• Driftwood Theatre — Shakespeare in the Park, Southern Ontario
• The Hip Compendium - compendium.tthpods.com
• Hipbase
• HipMuseum
• This Is Our Life
• The Tragically Hip Archive

Calls to Action

• See the show. It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken runs at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton through May 16, 2026. Tickets at tickets.tthpods.com.
• Explore The Hip Compendium — 1,358 mapped live shows, full discography, On This Day, and more at compendium.tthpods.com.

Closing Paragraph

Thanks to Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe for the time, the candour, and the campfire story. Thanks to Michael Rubinoff and Jake Gold for the framing. Act II is the writers' room. Act III: The Craft drops Monday, May 18 — the design team, the orchestrator, the choreographer, and the people who turn the page into a stage. So there's that.

Promos & Crosslinks

• podList 7 - "the classics" drops Friday, May 15. Eighteen tracks of 1987–1995 era covers, including intentional duplicate covers of 'Nautical Disaster' and 'Fiddler's Green'.
• Previous episode: A Forest Of Whispering Speakers - Act I: The Idea
• Companion listening: The Tragically Hip On Shuffle - Live Stream, Wednesdays 8 PM ET

Socials & Community

• Facebook group: community.tthpods.com
• Instagram: @tthpods
• YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods
• Email: jd@tthpods.com

#TheTragicallyHip #TheHip #ItsAGoodLifeIfYouDontWeaken #TheatreAquarius #AhmedMoneka #JesseLaVercombe

podList SIX – A Fan-Made Hip Mixtape From the Deep Cuts Up

Welcome to podList SIX, the sixth annual fan-powered Tragically Hip mixtape — lovingly curated, courageously sequenced, and now spun into podcast gold. Each year, listeners submit tracks based on a theme. This year’s twist? No Top 40 allowed. That’s right: every single pick comes from songs ranked #169 to #41 in The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown.

This isn’t just a playlist — it’s a podList. One part mixtape, one part podcast. A celebration of the underdog tracks, the deep cuts, the personal anthems that never quite cracked the upper charts but still crack your heart wide open.

• ‘Gift Shop’ (feat. Justin St. Louis) – In View
• Thomas de Bock – Save the Planet
• “Tragically” Al Lunt – The Luxury
• ‘Fight in the Dog’ – Don’t Wake Daddy
• ‘Evil Tom Hanks’ – Are We Family
• Jeff Tucker – The Rules
• Kirk Lane – A Beautiful Thing
• Shaun Robertson – Pretend
• ‘Little Bones’ – Twist My Arm
• ‘Blue Jean Skier’ – Putting Down
• ‘Gift Shop’ (Solo track redux) – On the Verge

From Save the Planet’s apocalyptic swing to the tender ache of A Beautiful Thing, from the riff-heavy Twist My Arm to the existential daydream of On the Verge, this year’s podList proves that the bottom 129 has never sounded so good.

Plug in. Press play. And remember — it’s not where it landed on the countdown. It’s where it lives in your gut.

Get ready for a blast from the fucking past! We’re revisiting the first five years of podList episodes and bringing them back to the feed—your chance to re-live the magic of TTH fan covers, back-to-back. We’re talking incredible fucking renditions of classic tracks by The Tragically Hip tracks brought to life by listeners just like you. So there’s that.

Each year, devoted Hip fans from all walks of life have picked up their guitars, banjos, pianos, and yes, even synthasysers to reimagine The Hip’s legendary catalog. It’s a celebration of artistry, community, and the music that unites us. So there’s that.

And don’t forget, podList SIX is just around the corner on May 26th. But first, let’s take a trip down memory lane. Listen, enjoy, and maybe even start practicing—your song could be featured next!

Track Listing:

The Stranger - Maria King

Lofty Pines - Tragically Al

Trick Rider - Darrin Cappe

Vancouver Divorce - Craig/ jD

Yer Ashore - Kirk Lane

Crater - Craig/Justin

Canada Geese - Lifte

Gone - Gerald McGrath

SF Song - Aye Karou

The Stranger - The Strictly Hip

The panel digs into a quiet, jammy deep cut from "In Violet Light" - and finds a father-daughter scene, a Bahamas-recorded slow burn, and one of the most conversational lyrics in the catalogue.

This week on The Tragically Hip On Shuffle, host jD pulls 'Throwing Off Glass' - track six from the 2002 Hugh Padgham-produced "In Violet Light." Joining the virtual campfire are returning panelists Adam from Tampa, Andrew from Winnipeg, and Tyler from Etobicoke, who bring opening picks for favourite last song on a Hip album: 'Opiated,' 'The New Maybe,' and a tie between 'Impossibility' and 'Machine.'

The conversation lands on a song that rewards a closer listen. The panel reads it as Gord in the car with his daughter, watching stoop-shouldered teens on a corner, trading new vocabulary back and forth - exquisite, iridescent, barbarous threats. Andrew points out the song feels jammed into existence rather than written, with the title phrase landing like a riff Gord caught on the fly. Adam zeroes in on the heartbreak underneath the scene: a dad clocking that his kid is on her way to a world he can't shield her from.

• Sequencing on vinyl versus streaming, and why the song lands differently as the closer of side A
• The "Coke Machine Glow" connection: 'Trick Rider' as a possible companion piece, and the broader fatherhood thread running through Gord's writing in this era
• Hugh Padgham's production approach and the band's decision to record the album in The Bahamas after the workshopped sessions of "Music @ Work"
• The song's life on the "Men with Brooms" soundtrack alongside Sarah Harmer, Kathleen Edwards, Our Lady Peace, and Big Sugar
• Live history: first played at the "In Violet Light" release party at the Hard Rock Cafe on Yonge Street, retired August 12, 2016 in Toronto on the Man Machine Poem tour
• Paul's understated electric work on the final tour performance, and Gord's whispered "true story" tag at the end

Of 500 votes cast on 'Throwing Off Glass':

• 56% loved it
• 28% liked it
• 9% tolerated it
• 5% skipped it
• 2% had never heard it

The shuffle landed on 'Looking For a Place to Happen' for the next episode.

A new podcast in The Tragically Hip Podcast Series, A Forest Of Whispering Speakers, premieres April 30th. The 6-episode series goes inside the Theatre Aquarius world premiere of The Tragically Hip musical "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken." Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Submissions are open for podList 7 - "The Classics," a fan cover compilation of TTH songs from 1987-1995 spanning the EP through "Day for Night." The submission deadline is April 30, with the compilation dropping May 15. Send tracks to jd@tthpods.com or submit via podlist.tthpods.com.

• Website: tthpods.com
• Newsletter: Yer Letter at tthpods.com
• Forum: forum.tthpods.com
• Hip Compendium: compendium.tthpods.com
• Email: jd@tthpods.com

Hosted by jD. Panelists: Adam from Tampa, Andrew from Winnipeg, Tyler from Etobicoke. Part of The Tragically Hip Podcast Series.

Get ready for a blast from the fucking past! We’re revisiting the first five years of podList episodes and bringing them back to the feed—your chance to re-live the magic of TTH fan covers, back-to-back. We’re talking incredible fucking renditions of classic tracks by The Tragically Hip tracks brought to life by listeners just like you. So there’s that.

Each year, devoted Hip fans from all walks of life have picked up their guitars, banjos, pianos, and yes, even synthasysers to reimagine The Hip’s legendary catalog. It’s a celebration of artistry, community, and the music that unites us. So there’s that.

And don’t forget, podList SIX is just around the corner on May 26th. But first, let’s take a trip down memory lane. Listen, enjoy, and maybe even start practicing—your song could be featured next!

Track Listing:

In View - Shemus Gunn

Morning Moon - Uzbekistani Denzel

Lake Fever - Fandom Power

It Can't Be Nashville Every Night - Tristan Armstrong

Silver Jet - Smug Rooster

The Last Recluse - Beej

It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken - Mik Perlus

Gus: The Polar Bear from Central Park - Field of Porters

The Darkest One - Gift Shop

If New Orleans is Beat - Rico Borrego

Now For Plan A - Craig Rogers & Yvette Drews

Pretend - Marc Harwood, Tim Clarke & Ben Wallace

A Forest Of Whispering Speakers - The Idea

A new musical featuring the music of The Tragically Hip is about to open in Hamilton. Episode one is the story of how it got there - from one phone call to a world premiere.

Episode summary

A Forest Of Whispering Speakers is the brand new podcast from The Tragically Hip Podcast Series, charting the world premiere of "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" at Theatre Aquarius. The musical is built on the music of The Tragically Hip and tells the story of an exiled Iraqi journalist building a new life in Kingston, Ontario. Act I: The Idea is the origin episode - the cold-call, the pitch, the band Zoom, the moment a single CBC story unlocked the whole concept.

Host jD sits down with manager Jake Gold and producer Michael Rubinoff ("Come From Away") to trace how a Tragically Hip musical went from a polite email to a full production. Along the way, three lifelong theatre fans - Jen Towndrow, Armand Baksh-Zarate, and Autumn Tuffin-McDonald - help frame what makes a jukebox musical actually work, and what happens when the source material is a band that means this much to this many people.

This is a spoiler-free, behind-the-scenes podcast. The production is the hero. The musical is the subject. jD is the listener in the room.

Featured voices

• Jake Gold - Manager, The Tragically Hip
• Michael Rubinoff - Producer, "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" ("Come From Away")
• Jen Townrow - Lifelong musical theatre fan
• Armand - Musical theatre devotee
• Autumn Teffen-McDonald - Theatre fan, seven shows deep into 2026 already

What's covered in Act I

• The original pitch (and the original story - which wasn't Iraq)
• The Zoom call with the band that started it all
• Lindsay Perigoe's viral 2020 CBC piece on Gord Downie, 'Wheat Kings,' and discovering Canada through The Hip
• How the title "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" landed
• Why The Tragically Hip do not exist inside the world of the show (and where the Easter eggs live)
• The difference between previews and an official opening night

About the show

A Forest Of Whispering Speakers is a six-episode oral history of the Theatre Aquarius world premiere of "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken." New episodes drop weekly on Thursdays.

Resources & references

• Theatre Aquarius - theatreaquarius.org
• Lindsay Perigoe's 2020 CBC piece on The Tragically Hip and discovering Canada
• Hipbase, HipMuseum, This Is Our Life - the standing TTH Podcast Series sources

Listen & follow

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever fine podcasts are found
• Network home: home.tthpods.com
• Community: community.tthpods.com
• Email jD: jd@tthpods.com

Also happening - podList 7: the classics

Submissions for podList 7 - a fan cover compilation of Tragically Hip songs from the 1987-1995 catalogue, EP through "Day for Night" - close April 30. Drop date is May 15. Submit at podlist.tthpods.com or email jd@tthpods.com.

Tip jar

If the work hits, throw a couple bucks at the battery: buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40. Editing is hard. Coffee helps.

Socials

Facebook: community.tthpods.com | Instagram: @tthpods | YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods

#TheTragicallyHip #TheHip #GordDownie #AForestOfWhisperingSpeakers #ItsAGoodLifeIfYouDontWeaken #TragicallyHip