Episode Details

The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown: Song Twenty-Nine – Dan from Ottawa

Hey, it’s jD — and this week we’re plugging in and tuning up with Dan from Ottawa: longtime Hip fan, frontman of Little Bones (a Tragically Hip tribute band), and the kind of guy who once played a New Year’s Eve gig opposite Skydiggers and still showed up early for load-in.

Dan’s hipstory takes us back to the early ’90s — garage band jams, cassette tapes passed around like sacred texts, and the moment a slide guitar lick changed the trajectory of his life. He tells the tale of forming Little Bones, a tribute band that’s been gigging for three decades with sell-out crowds and loyal fans across Ontario. They’ve even been featured in a docuseries. (No big deal. Except… yeah, it kinda is.)

We talk about cover bands, copyright, close calls with the real band (including a brush with Gord at the Vancouver airport), and the way singing Escape Is At Hand… during a child’s birth can turn a hospital room into Massey Hall. There’s love here. And reverence. And one absolutely killer overflow brewery show.

Dan also walks us through what it’s like to live inside the music — not just listening but playing it, night after night, for people who know every lyric and expect you to feel every word. No pressure.

🎙️ Next week: We head east to Nova Scotia for a heartfelt hang with Terri, a fan whose late-blooming love for The Hip has turned into something profound. There are nephews, Christmas covers, and a lyric that changed everything. Get ready.

💬 Pull Quote

“We were the first band to play Overflow Brewery, and we still pack the place. That stage, those faces — it’s church. A loud, sweaty church.”

👤 About Our Guest

Dan from Ottawa has been fronting Little Bones, one of Canada’s longest-running Tragically Hip tribute bands, since 1995. Equal parts frontman and fan, he brings Gord’s spirit to life on stage — not by mimicking the look, but by nailing the feel.

By day, Dan’s a family man. By night, he’s belting out Fully Completely to sold-out rooms, often with his sons in the crowd. (Or sometimes on stage.) He’s met the band. He’s studied the lyrics. And he’s convinced the Meech Lake Accord might just be the key to unlocking Pigeon Camera. Honestly? He might be onto something.

📬 Get Involved

🎙️ Drop your hot take: castfeedback.com/tthtop40

📧 Send your hipstory: tthtop40@gmail.com

💸 Buy us a coffee and support ALS research: buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40

📡 Follow + Stream

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Instagram: @tthtop40

Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/tthtop40

🧠 Support the Cause

We’re raising $25K for the ALS Society of Canada in memory of our dear friend Matt Rona — a Hip fan to the end. If this pod brings you joy, pass a little of it forward.

🎧 Transcript follows below.

The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

2025-05-24, 8:50 AM

The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown

Join jD beginning Monday, January 6th, 2025 while he counts down the top 40 songs by The

Tragically Hip as voted by you! Every week on The Tragically Hip