For Rob Graham, the sad news that Tragically Hip lead singer Gord Downie has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer really hit home.
As the longtime drummer with the local band MLC reads and hears about the hype surrounding the bands final tour, he now embraces something he calls is a “piece of Rock History” that he acquired from the band.
Back in 2007, Graham saw an ad for an Ayotte drum kit in a Toronto drum shop which was owned by Tragically Hip drummer Johnny Fay.
He decided the kit had to be his.
“I was more interested with the story behind the drum kit based on the fact that this was a kit that was on a world tour with the Tragically Hip so I drove down to Toronto and put an offer in to the drum kit and one of the provisions I put on the offer was that I have a chance to meet Johnny Fay at some point,” said Graham.
“He was on tour at that time but wrote me some nice letters and gave me some nice souvenirs to accompany the kit.”
Perhaps disappointed, Graham was still very appreciative of the souvenirs that came along with the beautiful rare Ayotte kit which was specially designed for Fay, and included rare wooden hoops on the drums.
But Graham got a surprise as the Hip drummer did not forget about the promise.
On August 1st, 2009, the Tragically Hip were scheduled to play in the North Bay Rocks the Bay Festival.
“I came home from work and on my voicemail there was a message from Johnny’s publicist saying that Johnny Fay would like to invite me and my wife backstage before the concert,” Graham recalls.
“So that was just outstanding that he would have even taken the time and to make good on that deal, but even more surprising to me was halfway through the show receiving another text saying that Mr. Fay would like to invite my wife and I backstage after the show.”
It was a dream night for the local musician and a night he will never forget.
The news of Downie’s illness, and the band going on one last farewell tour obviously hit Graham hard.
“I have a real personal connection, I feel, to the band and especially to have a piece of what I call ‘Rock History’ here,” he said.
Graham says he has only used the drum kit for one MLC show at a wedding in Ottawa. He doesn’t know when he will use it again, but one thing is for sure, he’s not selling it anytime soon.
“There’s been a period of time in my life over the past year considered selling the drum kit but at this time I just said to my wife there’s no chance I would be selling the kit. It’s going to stay with me and I think my girls will need to be prepared to see how they are going to break it up because I think it will be their main inheritance.”
