Music has been a part of Erin McGuire’s life for as long as he can remember, even though he’s admittedly not so musically inclined himself.

“I always wanted to sneak into a band,” he says, laughing. “I’m not a good musician and I can’t sing. But if I’m nearby and they need someone to play tambourine, I’m their guy.”

Erin got involved in the music scene from a different perspective—one of a photographer and graphic designer. Growing up in Halifax through the ’80s and ’90s, Erin was the go-to photographer and designer for local bands and friends who were signing record deals.

“I’m still doing it, for some of them,” he says. “It’s always been my passion.”

Erin also teaches photography and graphic design at a college in Nova Scotia, where students of his look to follow in his footsteps.

“There’s no money in it, but it’s still my favourite design work to do,” he says, of working with musicians.

Witnessing Canadian music history

A Canadian music buff, Erin naturally followed The Tragically Hip. He saw them play at Acadia University in 1989, while he was a student there, and later attended a show at a club in Halifax. When The Hip moved on to bigger venues, such as Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Erin was there, too.

“I saw them play half a dozen times,” he says. “I’m sure I could have seen them 100 times. And I just said, ‘We’ll go next year.’ It’s weird how you don’t think about it, at the time.”

Erin and some friends from Acadia met up at The Hip’s second-last show with frontman Gord Downie in Ottawa, before they played their final show together in Kingston.

“It was amazing,” Erin says. “We had seats behind the stage, but the band would play to the back a lot and acknowledge that we were there.”

Seeing Gord Downie show such strength on stage, after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, was inspiring.

“When the band would have a break, you’d see him go down these stairs and two big security guys would grab him by the arms,” says Erin. “He looked like he was going to collapse. When he’d return to the stage, he’d take a deep breath and walk out with confidence. It was hard on him, for sure.”

Connecting through music

When asked what it was about Gord’s passing that affected him so deeply, Erin says he felt a connection through his music.

“I listen to music 24 hours a day,” Erin says. “I’ve never had a band hit me where I am, age-wise and taste-wise. They really matured musically with me, or me with them.”

Gord, specifically, was revered for his lyrics. The way he would tell stories through his music, while weaving in references to Canadian culture, resonated with Erin.

He’d become a lyricist himself, eventually joining a band where he contributes his own unique skills.

“They’re all really good musicians,” he says, of the band members he plays with, “but they’re not so into the lyrics. They’re much more into the music and I’m just the opposite. The lyrics are the first thing I gravitate towards.”

Turning grief into art

The day Gord announced he had brain cancer is one that Erin recalls clearly.

“It was just like the wind was knocked out of me,” he says.

Erin had been touched by brain cancer before, losing two friends from university to the disease. He’d also experienced the loss of a close friend’s three-year-old son to brain cancer.

His creative energy is what helped him cope through such significant events. Erin spent hours poring through The Hip’s lyrics, pulling out every numerical reference, and coming up with a design he calls By the Numbers.

“This is going to sound really cliché, but it came to me in a dream,” he says. “My wife took the kids out for the day, I grabbed a coffee, and I just started thinking about the process. I wrote all the numerical references on a blank document, before I thought about what the design would look like. Then, I started to lay out each line.”

He used the design on a poster first, selling it to raise funds for the Sunnybrook Foundation in Toronto. Since then, Erin’s design has been featured on beer labels for a local Nova Scotian brew, face masks, beverage glasses, T-shirts and more—all with the goal of raising funds for causes that mattered to Gord Downie and those that serve others with a similar diagnosis, such as Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada.

Designing for change

Erin’s By the Numbers design was such a hit that BTFC staff reached out to him about adopting a similar design for the 2025 Brain Tumour Walk. While Erin’s design focuses on numeric references in The Tragically Hip’s lyrics, BTFC’s version speaks to the strength in numbers, as they relate to brain tumours.

“I’m inspired by Erin McGuire’s passion and creativity, which have turned personal loss into a powerful force for good,” says Nicole Farrell, interim CEO of Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. “His By the Numbers design not only celebrates Canadian music, but also brings awareness to the challenges faced by individuals and families affected by brain tumours. In Canada, 27 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour each day.”

“At Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, we know that every number represents a person, a story, and a community. Collaborations like this remind us that strength truly lies in numbers—whether in design, community, or the fight for a future without brain tumours.”

“I was pumped,” Erin says, of learning that Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada was inspired by his design. “I thought it was really cool.”

A design reaches its inspiration

For the record (pun intended), Erin’s design has reached The Tragically Hip. After connecting with the band’s social media manager, he boxed up some merchandise and sent it their way.

“Every time there’s a social media post, I’m checking to see if one of them is wearing the T-shirt,” Erin says. “But, I haven’t seen it yet.”

He has made fans of the Canadian TV stars from the hit show, Trailer Park Boys, who have proudly shown off their By the Numbers gear.

“I’m glad I did it,” says Erin. “I always say I have great ideas, but I never follow through. This time, it worked out.”

From all of us at BTFC, we’d like to thank Erin for his hard work and dedication in supporting the brain tumour community. Visit Facebook.com/bythenumbersforcharity to see Erin’s work and register to take part in the 2025 Brain Tumour Walk today!