David Bowie, Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne, Paul McCartney And Other
Famous Artists on Peace Songs CD
With Proceeds To Benefit War Child Canada
Release Date: April 15, 2003
TORONTO: March 27, 2003: Some of the world's best-known music artists are spending time in the studio for a common cause: war-affected children. These and many other artists are providing exclusive material and relevant tracks for the upcoming Peace Songs album. Proceeds from the sale of Peace Songs will help children affected by war through War Child Canada's international humanitarian projects, including humanitarian relief in Iraq. The album is scheduled to be released on April 15, 2003.
Artists have generously donated songs with timely messages of peace and hope. Some have re-recorded their own versions of classic songs about peace, while others have developed new compositions fitting with the theme and others have offered existing tracks. The artists featured in Peace Songs include: Bryan Adams, Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, David Bowie, Michelle Branch, Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Celine Dion, Gord Downie, In Essence, Garou, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), K-OS, Chantal Kreviazuk, Kyprios, Avril Lavigne, Paul McCartney, Moby, Our Lady Peace, and David Usher - to name a few. The final track listing will be released at the end of this week.
A remarkable range of international talent have volunteered their voices to Peace Songs, including Paul McCartney, who took time out from rehearsing his upcoming European tour to record an exclusive track. "Whatever the politics, whatever the rights and wrongs of war, children are always the innocent victims," commented McCartney. "I am delighted to be able to make this small contribution to a magnificent project."
Peace Songs is a joint initiative between BMG Canada Inc., Sony Music Canada, and War Child Canada. "We are very concerned for the well- being of Iraqi children and all innocent people caught in the crossfire of war," says Dr. Samantha Nutt, Executive Director of War Child Canada. "We are extremely grateful for the support of such talented artists in our efforts to help these vulnerable children and families who are at great risk".
"We are very committed to this package. The genesis of Peace Songs was long before the war in Iraq started, but whatever opinion you hold on this war or any other conflict internationally - the humanitarian impact is massive and tragic. I'm once again grateful for the power of music and the integrity of artists to help generate money for child victims of war," commented Denise Donlon, President of Sony Music Canada. "At a time when many of us feel powerless to make a difference, this initiative is a positive step towards giving a voice to those who need it most - children," adds BMG Canada Inc. President, Lisa Zbitnew.
War Child Canada is a registered Canadian charity dedicated to providing humanitarian support to war-affected children around the world. Assistance includes relief supplies, health care, education, rehabilitation and psychological support for the young victims of war. One of War Child Canada's partners in Iraq is the Karbala Children's Hospital. Since 2001, War Child Canada has provided urgently needed supplies to help improve the lives of the young patients. Working closely with the music industry, War Child Canada is also committed to providing Canadian youth with meaningful opportunities to get involved in human rights and social issues. To learn more about War Child Canada, please visit www.warchild.ca or call 1-866-WARCHILD (1-866-927-2445).
Barenaked Ladies to play Rideau Hall
Free backyard bash at Governor General's on June 16 draws all-star
lineup of Canadian musicians
Lynn Saxberg
The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, May 10, 2002
The Rideau Hall concert features (Richard Margison) and Steven Page
and the Barenaked Ladies.
The Ottawa Citizen
The Rideau Hall concert features Richard Margison and (Steven Page)
and the Barenaked Ladies.
The Barenaked Ladies are coming to play a huge backyard bash next
month at Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson's place.
So is country's Canadian man Paul Brandt, balladeer Gordon Lightfoot
and Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster.
The National Arts Centre Orchestra will be there. Star tenor Richard
Margison is dropping by. Fast-rising soprano Measha Brueggergosman
will make an appearance, and sing with Margison for the first time.
Inuk sweetheart Susan Aglu-kark, R and B fox Deborah Cox, concert
pianist Jon Kimura Parker and francophone-rocker Roch Voisine are
also invading the grounds of Rideau Hall, the Governor General's
official residence.
Live From Rideau Hall, as it has been dubbed, is a two-hour concert
and television special hosted by the Governor General herself to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the installation of the first
Canadian-born governor general, Vincent Massey, in 1952.
Music has always been a part of celebration, she said in a press
release announcing the lineup of her party. "It is a universally
accessible expression of a culture and something we can all share.
This amazing group of Canadian artists and musicians reflects the
explosion of Canadian talent in so many musical styles."
Fourteen major Canadian acts will be squeezed into the program, with
NACO and conductor Mario Bernardi providing the backing for many of
them. Stompin' Tom Connors will perform one or two songs, not with
the orchestra, but with his band as part of a non-televised pre-show.
Some 20,000 people are expected to attend the June 16 event, and 1.8
million more will be watching the broadcast on live national
television in both official languages.
Brass quintet Canadian Brass, singer Mario Pelchat and his band, Juno-
winning jazz ensemble Quartette Francois Bourassa and the chamber
orchestra Les violons du Roy are also part of the diverse lineup.
Aglukark, Cox, Parker and MacMaster will perform their selections
with the orchestra. For Cox, it's reportedly her first time with any
orchestra.
Brandt, however, is bringing his band, and the Ladies will play their
own instruments. Lightfoot will give a solo performance. Margison and
Brueggergosman will sing a solo with the orchestra, as well as a
duet.
It is the most ambitious event ever held on the grounds of Rideau
Hall, which began a series of free summer concerts 10 years ago.
The first concert at Rideau Hall, featuring the Rankin Family and
Ashley MacIsaac, was organized to celebrate the 125th anniversary of
Confederation. The biggest show so far was a performance by fiddler
MacMaster last summer that attracted about 12,000 people. This year's
series has yet to be finalized.
No wonder. The logistics of the June 16 event are daunting. Just co-
ordinating the schedules of touring musicians has been a juggling
act, says Rideau Hall media relations officer Lucie Brosseau. Never
mind the challenge of getting them on live TV.
"We were extremely lucky to get the lineup that we have and it just
so happens that it was representative of every genre of music, she "
says. "But the main focus was to have a national celebration of
music."
If they can pull it off, it will be quite the celebration. But
because there has never been an event of this size on the grounds of
Rideau Hall, organizers are starting from scratch in some ways. In
fact, they're still determining the capacity of the site, and how
much room to leave for the stage set-up and backstage tents.
Nearby roads will likely be closed that day, and parking and shuttle
buses arranged. Organizers are still debating the merits of food
concessions, but concertgoers are welcome to bring picnics.
The gates will remain open during two days of on-site rehearsal, as
well. Artists performing with the orchestra rehearse June 14, while
those playing solo or with their own ensembles rehearse June 15.
Because of time constraints, each act is limited to one or two songs
during the show. There is no rain date. Admission is free.
Monday April 15, 2002 @ 05:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
The Barenaked Ladies only just finished hosting the Juno Awards show
last night in St. John's, Newfoundland, and they're already preparing
to host another huge event.
The boys, with some friends in tow, are coming to the Molson
Amphitheater in Toronto to play a benefit for Serve Canada (a youth
opportunities program) they've dubbed The Barenaked Circus. And
anyone who's seen a BNL live show knows how crazy, fun and full of
energy they can be.
They may be lacking in the elephant and bearded lady department, but
don't let that discourage you. It may not be exactly like when you
went to the circus as a kid, but now you can go and enjoy some kick
ass music with a beer in your hand. And that beats pink popcorn and
unfunny clowns any day of the week.
The show begins at 4 p.m. and carries on into the evening. Along with
the Ladies themselves, a couple of BNL off-shoot bands will be on
hand The Brothers Creeggan (BNL bass player Jim's other band with
brother Andy) and the BNL keyboardist's band Kevin Hearn And The
Thinbuckle. And knowing those Barenaked Ladies, there'll probably be
plenty of special mystery guests thrown in for good measure.
Tickets for the circus range in price from $35 to $19.99 and can be
acquired through any Ticketmaster outlet. They go on sale this
Saturday (April 20) morning at 10 a.m.
As we've already reported, you can also catch The Brothers Creeggan
as they tour around Canada and the States promoting their new album,
Sleepyhead.
Hayley Butler
The barenaked truth about the music biz
By STEVEN PAGE
The Globe and Mail, Saturday, April 13, 2002 Edition
Everybody loves to hate awards shows. Even though we're addicted to
them, we can't stop critiquing them. They're long, they're overblown
and they're self-congratulating. They're filled with embarrassingly
inarticulate people making embarrassingly inarticulate speeches until
they get embarrassingly cut off by a director shouting, "Cue, music!
Cue music!"
We never agree with the outcome anyway, do we? Do these gala
explosions of fluffy self-importance really celebrate quality? Or do
they merely reward commercial success? Occasionally, an award winner
will straddle both sides, as did the soundtrack of the film O
Brother, Where Art Thou? when it won a truckload of Grammy's earlier
this year. When my band, Barenaked Ladies, hosts the Junos tomorrow
night, what will the Canadian music industry be celebrating? Artistic
success or the making of money? And what can we do about it, anyway?
First of all, let me explain a bit about our band and the Junos.
Barenaked Ladies first appeared on the show in 1993 when we won the
Juno for best group of the year at the tail end of a whirlwind
series of successes.
We had sold nearly one million records in Canada, appeared on every
TV show and in pretty much every newspaper in the country, and had
toured relentlessly for three years solid.
Still, we felt resented, somehow, by most of the music industry, as
if it saw us as a success story that it was obliged to acknowledge,
but also an embarrassment it wished would go away, or grow up, or
something. A comedy band winning Junos? Who could imagine such a
thing? We felt slighted, and, like the young punks that we were deep
inside, we said "Comedy? You want comedy?" and proceeded to give them
comedy by dressing in full clown makeup and costumes to perform our
song Box Set, a satire of the business end of music. I guess you
could say we weren't very co-operative.
We did come back to the Junos the following year, for our first
performance as a four-piece (after keyboard player Andy Creeggan quit
the band). But we came home empty-handed. Still, we didn't break up,
we didn't disappear. We kept slugging it out on the road and making
records. And for a few years, we didn't get invited back to the
Junos, even to present an award.
But we've since grown up, sold a bunch of albums around the world,
and in the past few years, the Junos have been very good to us. We've
appeared on the show live from Melbourne, Australia; Prince George,
B.C.; Hamilton; and even Toronto. They're actually a really fun hang,
and one of the few opportunities of the year to see a bunch of fellow
musicians in one place. This year, we'll be hosting the show live
from St. John's, and are thrilled to be doing it. We had the honour
of being one of the first bands to play in the city's new Mile One
Stadium last year.
Maybe in order to understand these award shows, we need to understand
the machine. You see, these shows are the industry's opportunity to
celebrate its own successes over the year close to 30 per cent of
the Juno votes come in the form of votes from the record companies.
So, most often the winners are the artists who worked really hard for
the label. (We really are all just label employees, without the
benefit package. As rich as you think some of us are, for every
$18.99 CD you buy, the artist usually sees a toonie or so. Pay your
producer out of that. Then your manager. Then split it five ways
among your band mates. Now don't act surprised when you see the
drummer of a platinum-selling Canadian rock band behind the drive-
thru window at Tim Hortons.)
Other votes are usually cast for people who sound familiar - I'll
admit to having my eye on the "best instrumental by a duo or group"
at next year's Grammys. Sometimes votes are because everybody has
just decided it's time: Did Santana really make the very best album
of the year in 1999? Or was it simply his turn to win a Grammy?
Occasionally, people vote because they really, really like the artist
and their work. Most often, though, people vote for hits.
And what makes a hit? Usually talent, hard work and a good song. But
there are plenty of exceptions: Even the most talented have a lot of
obstacles in their way these days. After getting your song released -
which is often where the end credits start to roll for most bands
there is the pursuit of radio play. As antiquated as radio might seem
in the Internet era, it is, in fact, more important than ever to
music sales. Right now, a company called Clear Channel Entertainment
owns over 1,140 radio stations across North America. If your song
gets added to a Clear Channel play list, you may move to the next
step: research.
Research in radio involves what are called call outs. Market-research
companies make random calls in a station's listening area, and ask
those within its target market to name their three favourite
stations. If the sponsoring station ranks number one or two, the
researcher will play a series of song snippets no more than 15
seconds long to the person on the other end, who might be watching
TV, or making dinner, or doing homework, or changing a diaper or a
tire. They then have to tell the research company (a) how familiar
they are with each song; (b) how much they like it; and (c) if
they're already sick of it.
If a song passes this stage, the station might declare that the cut
is "researching" well enough to be moved into heavier rotation. If
this happens in a few cities, maybe, just maybe with some poking
and prodding and promises of doing a free show for the station's
listeners, or agreeing to meet contest-winners or to donate a
truckload of signed CDs - more Clear Channel stations might add the
record to their play lists.
Now we're on our way to a hit. But we're not quite there yet.
Springtime? Early summer? It's the season for radio-sponsored
festivals. Maybe KISS-tival or KICK-nic or something like that: 18
bands playing for nominal fees as payment due on those earlier
promises. These are the festivals that killed off Lollapalooza. They
take place largely on stages owned by Clear Channel (which now runs
most outdoor venues in the U.S.) and are promoted by Clear Channel
Concerts, the largest concert promoter in North America.
So when the artists return on their own tours, with their own
production and set and sound and lights, half of the potential
audience doesn't bother coming. Why should it? It just saw the same
band two months ago for 15 bucks. Now you want it to come back for
40?
The half that do show up are largely unaware that of the $40 they've
shelled out, the artist sees far less than half. At last summer's
Barenaked Ladies concert in Irvine Meadows, Calif., the cheapest
ticket was $10.75 (U.S.) but that was strictly a base price. To
that sum must be immediately added the "non-sharing revenue"
surcharges that the fan pays, but that the artist never sees.
At the Irvine concert, that included a $3.25 facility fee (rent,
often for venues that Clear Channel already owns), a $3.25 parking
fee (per person, so it would make no difference if you walked, took
the bus, or stuffed 20 people in your minivan), an $8.75 Ticketmaster
convenience fee (even more convenient is the fact that the promoter
and the venue share in this, too) and a $3.50 Ticketmaster handling
fee. That amounts to $18.75 in surcharges on a $10.75 ticket. Then,
they get between 30 and 40 per cent of the band's merchandise sales,
and 100 per cent of the food and drink - and of those little glow-in-
the-dark gel things. Ooh, I hate those things.
And I've actually had promoters tell me to my face that it's the
artists who are getting greedy.
So what is the average music fan to do? How to get out from under the
giant, sweaty thumb of corporate America? Start with Internet radio.
If you've got the bandwidth (and you don't need a lot for most of
these stations), there are thousands of great conventional and Net-
only stations out there waiting for you to discover their eclectic,
exciting and deep play lists of everything from electronica and punk
rock to oldies and country.
Many of these, such as spinner.com and shoutcast.com, are actually
owned by corporate behemoths like America Online, but they really do
a good job of passing for "underground." The Recording Industry
Association of America is even trying to shut these stations down by
demanding they pay nearly $20 per listener per year to the major
labels (including the AOL-owned Warner Music Group, which owns the
souls of such artists as Madonna, REM, Neil Young, Blue Rodeo
and . . . Barenaked Ladies). Listen for free while you can.
Next option: Get out there and exercise that pocketbook. We in Canada
are blessed with the cheapest CD prices in the world. Trust me, I'm
addicted to record stores; I've been in them all around the globe.
(Okay, they're cheaper in Vietnam, but they're also pirated there.)
In Canada, unlike in the rest of the world, new releases are the
cheapest thing in the store. Take a chance, buy some discs, and make
your own decisions. Don't let a couple of programmers with a bad
attitude order you around. It's your taste; find what you like. Find
the record stores (bricks and mortar, and also on-line) that
specialize in what you like, and ask them what's new, or what you've
missed.
So if the music business is hell, just out to take advantage of the
artists, why are Barenaked Ladies hosting the Junos this year? So
that we can do exactly what these awards shows are all about: cheer
on the musicians who have survived thus far. Everybody loves a
survivor, and that's exactly what Canadian musicians are.
I'm going to be at the finish line with the towel and the Gatorade
yelling, "Go Nickelback! Hang on to that last shred of your soul! You
can do it, Sum 41! Only one more radio show! Nelly Furtado, I can't
believe you still like music after the year and a half you've had!
Run, Diana Krall, run!"
Come, join us.
Steven Page is a singer, songwriter and guitarist with the Barenaked
Ladies, which won three Junos in 2001.
Sarah Harmer, BNL members to play GAS CD shows
On April 25 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, 3/5 of
Barenaked Ladies will perform (Steve, Tyler, and Jim).
By JAM! Music
Members of Barenaked Ladies, plus Ron Sexsmith, Sarah Harmer, and
Chris Brown & Kate Fenner are joining with other artists for a mini-
tour in support of anti-free trade protestors.
The organization behind the "GAS CD" -- which was released last year
to support activists arrested at the Summit Of The Americas in Quebec
City -- is putting together the tour, which will visit Toronto,
Ottawa, and Montreal.
The organization's website (gascd.com) said Brown and Fenner, Luther
Wright And The Wrongs, Jason Collett, Tony Scherr, and The Dinner Is
Ruined will perform at all the shows.
The Toronto date will feature BNL's Steven Page, Jim Creeggan, and
Tyler Stewart, along with Sexsmith and Ember Swift. The Ottawa show
will feature "special surprise guests", while the Montreal date will
include Sarah Harmer.
Organizers said each stop of the tour will also feature speakers and
multi-media presentations.
The Toronto date takes place April 25 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
That will be followed by stops April 26 at Ottawa's Babylon and April
27 at Montreal's Club Soda. Tickets are available online via
Maplemusic.com.
Last February, $200,000 raised by sales of the GAS CD was donated to
the Quebec Legal Collective to support people arrested at the Quebec
City demonstrations. The double-disc set featured among its 32 tracks
contributions from Ani DiFranco, Gordon Downie, Bruce Cockburn,
Michael Franti, Gil Scott-Heron, The Tragically Hip, Sarah Harmer,
Barenaked Ladies, and Bill Frisell.
This article from MTV.com mentions Thinbuckle
For The Record: Quick News On Eve, Ricky Martin, Uncle Kracker,
Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Lit & More
Getting sent to the principal's office may not be such a bad thing
after all if Eve or Ricky Martin rule the school. Along with more
than 1000 civic leaders and celebrities, the First Lady of Ruff
Ryders and the hip-swiveling pop star will serve as principals for a
day as part of an education initiative in New York City taking place
April 19. ...
Outkast, Nickelback, P.O.D., Godsmack, Alien Ant Farm, Sevendust,
Default and Injected will take the stage for the third annual Rolling
Rock Town Fair, taking place July 27 at the namesake beer's
birthplace of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Last year's concert featured
Stone Temple Pilots, Staind and Incubus, among others. ...
Sheryl Crow, the Goo Goo Dolls, Jewel, Five for Fighting, Ryan Adams
and John Mayer will perform at the second annual Fan Nation concert
April 27 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, California.
Each of the acts will participate in autograph sessions at a special
interactive tent. ...
No Stranger to Shame, the second album from Kid Rock DJ Uncle
Kracker, will hit shelves in mid-summer. Among the tracks slated for
the follow-up to 2000's Double Wide is a version of Kracker's concert
staple, Dobie Gray's 1973 hit "Drift Away," featuring Gray himself on
backing vocals. ...
Sarah McLachlan and her drummer husband Ashwin Sood welcomed their
first child Saturday, a baby girl named India. McLachlan and the baby
are doing well. ...
SoCal punks Lit are going back to school Paloma Valley High School
in Menifee, California, that is, to host a fund-raising concert on
April 10, called the Punk Rock Prom. Proceeds from the advance sale
of 1,500 tickets have helped the school located in Riverside
County, adjacent to Lit's home turf of Orange County meet its
financial goal of building a new athletic complex. ...
Barenaked Ladies keyboardist Kevin Hearn will hit the road for a few
weeks to promote his 2001 solo album, H-Wing. The tour begins May 5
in Montreal and ends May 18 in Ferndale, Michigan. ...
Goldfinger will release their fourth full-length album, Open Your
Eyes, on May 21. The band recently filmed a "Twilight Zone"-like
video for the title track first single. ...
Trance wizard Paul Van Dyk has remixed "Be Angled," the latest single
from fellow German electronic artists Jam & Spoon. ...
Charleston, South Carolina's Jump, Little Children recently filmed a
hometown show to be the centerpiece of a DVD titled "J,LC Return to
the Farm," due this summer. Meanwhile, the band, whose 2001 album,
Vertigo, is a favorite at college radio, will sing the national
anthem at a Boston Red Sox game May 1. ... Ohio roots rockers O.A.R.
will release the double-disc live album Any Time Now on May 7.
04.07.02
Ozzy Osbourne will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on
Friday. The metal-pioneer-turned-TV-star will be immortalized in
front of the Ripley's Believe It or Not? Museum. ... Rapper Capone's
day in court to face charges of second-degree assault has been
adjourned to April 29. The accusations stem from a fight at a Queens,
New York, nightclub last September, in which Capone was allegedly
involved. ... Boomkat, a duo composed of multi-instrumentalist Kellin
Manning and his actress sister, Taryn co-star of Britney
Spears' "Crossroads" and the upcoming Eminem flick, "8 Mile" have
inked a deal with DreamWorks Records, which will release their debut
in September. A yet-to-be-determined single is expected to surface at
radio in late May. ...
Darling buds of punk Green Day have posted news of a forthcoming B-
sides, covers and rarities compilation on their Web site. Among the
tracks that may end up on the disc, which is expected this summer,
are covers of the Kinks' "Tired of Waiting for You" and the
Ramones' "Outsider." ... Punk-O-Rama Vol. 7, the latest addition in
the popular (and cheap) punk compilation series, is due June 25.
Among the 19 tracks on the album are Guttermouth's "My Girlfriend"
(from their upcoming summer release), Bad Religion's "The Defense,"
Rancid's "Bob," the Hives' "Supply and Demand" and "Black City" from
the Swedish garage band the Division of Laura Lee. ...
Electronic music innovator Frank Tovey, perhaps better known as Fad
Gadget, died of heart failure April 3 at his London home. Tovey, who
suffered from heart problems since his childhood, recently toured
with Depeche Mode and was working on new material at the time of his
death, according to Mute Records, his longtime label, which released
The Best of Fad Gadget in December. ... To commemorate this year's
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, event promoter Goldenvoice
has produced trading cards featuring performers on the eclectic
lineup, according to the Los Angeles Times. Artists taking the stage
at the event include headliners Bjφrk and Oasis, the Foo Fighters,
the Strokes, Dilated Peoples, Pete Yorn, Belle and Sebastian, Queens
of the Stone Age, the Beta Band, Cake, Jurassic 5 and Saves the
Day. ...
Alcon III, a fan convention in honor of crown prince of parody "Weird
Al" Yankovic, is set for April 26-27 in Elk Grove, Illinois. Although
the creator of such classics as "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" and "The
Night Santa Went Crazy" won't be attending the event which is
scheduled to include live performances, lookalike contests, lip-
synchs and a charity auction of "weird" wares the presence of
drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz should appease the 400 fans expected
to attend. ... The Who will issue four previously unreleased songs
June 11 on a new best-of record called The Who: Ultimate
Collection. ... Goo Goo Dolls drummer Mike Malinin performed with his
Latin-flavored side project, Act of Faith, Thursday at the Roxy in
West Hollywood. Ex-Oingo Boingo bassist John Avila is in the band as
well. ... The Flying Tigers, the Los Angeles rock trio featuring ex-
Powerman 5000 bassist Dorian Heartsong, will release their self-
titled debut on April 16. "Maybe" is the first single. ...
MTV News staff report
Here's an article about the new BC album, Sleepyhead.
Ed sings on a track ("Anna And The Moon.") with Sarah Harmer.
http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2002/04/1202.cfm
Brothers Creeggan Wipe The Sleep From Their Eyes
Friday April 12, 2002 @ 04:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
In the grand tradition of sibling musical acts, the Brothers Creeggan
are at it again and about to release their fourth album thus far,
Sleepyhead.
The album features guest vocalists Sarah Harmer and Barenaked Ladies'
Ed Robertson who join forces on the track "Anna And The Moon."
Sleepyhead hits Canadian shelves on May 7, but won't be in American
stores until July 2.
The Creeggan boys (Jim and Andy) are old hat at this album release
business they have been in 13 different bands between them, and
still have many different projects on the go. Former drummer for the
Barenaked Ladies, Andy (the youngest of the Creeggan clan), left that
band in 1994 to pursue his academic goals. In between work with his
brother, Andy has been working on his solo album, Andiwork, and
produced Dr. Tom's Leather, a Montreal based band comprised of some
of Andy's old classmates.
Jim, currently still BNL's bass player, used his hiatus time from
that band to complete the album with his brother after playing at the
Superbowl and the Olympics with those four boys from Scarborough.
Watch for Jim and the rest of the Barenaked boys on TV they're
hosting the Juno's on April 14.
The Creeggans' Canadian tour stops include:
May 9 Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus May 10 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod
Beeblebrox May 11 Toronto, ON @ Rancho Relaxo May 23 Moncton, NB @
Aberdeen Cultural Center May 24 Halifax, NS @ Khyber Center for the
Arts
Hayley Butler
Take Action Now.
Prominent musicians across the nation today launched a nationwide
grassroots effort to stop the Senate from passing the dangerous
energy plan which oil lobbyists helped write. Musicians and tens of
thousands of their fans will be contacting their Senators to tell
them to vote against the plan, which has already won approval from
the House.
"Drilling in our last wild places like the Arctic Refuge? Risking
Three Mile Islands with more nuclear power? That thinking is as old
as fossil fuels. We would all benefit from a plan inclusive of
environmental conservation, fuel efficiency and alternative energy
sources,says Mike Diamond of the Beastie Boys, who has been "
organizing members of the music community in this effort, called the
New Power Project, since last May.
Starting on February 11th, dozens of well-known musicians will
mobilize their fans by encouraging them to visit the
www.saveourenvironment.org/newpower site where they can send a free
fax to their senators about the plan. Kevin Richardson (of the
Backstreet Boys), REM, the Roots and Live join the effort that has
already included the Beastie Boys, Barenaked Ladies, Tom Petty & the
Heartbreakers, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, Moby, Trey
Anastasio (from Phish), Jackson Browne, Alanis Morissette, James
Taylor and others.
The Energy Plan being considered by the Senate was passed in the
House last year, after heavy lobbying by the oil drilling industry.
The plan calls for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
and other public lands, weakening the Clean Air Act, and increasing
subsidies to coal and nuclear industries. An alternative bill is
being proposed by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D - S.D.) that
would prohibit drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, invest in
clean energy and raise fuel efficiency standards.
By raising fuel economy standards for new cars, SUVs, and trucks to
40 mpg, we would save four million barrels of oil a day by 2020
more oil than we import from the Persian Gulf each day and could
expect to get from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
combined! America needs an energy plan that emphasizes efficiency and
conservation. The New Power Project artists believe that is the kind
of plan the Senate should pass.
Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys said, "Our country consumes
25 percent of the world's oil and holds less than three percent of
the world's reserves. The House's position that drilling our way out
of dependence on foreign oil is ridiculous. If we are to be truly
self-reliant, let's be leaders and increase our fuel efficiency
instead of violating our natural treasures."
The music community has allied with the Save Our Environment
Coalition--a collaborative effort of over a dozen of the nation's
most influential environmental advocacy organizations. Dubbed the New
Power Project, the innovative effort has rallied tens of thousands of
fans and other supporters to sign petitions and to fax their members
of Congress, expressing outrage over the plan's disregard for
environmental protection and failure to support conservation and
renewable energy programs.
Visit http://www.saveourenvironment.org/action/index.asp?
item=345&step=2&ms=barenakedl adies to contact your legislators. Put
up this banner
(http://www.saveourenvironment.org/npb/banner_np.html) on your
website to link to the aforementioned page. Forward this email to
your friends.
Olympics postcard: Music fans flock to games
By Brent Zwerneman
San Antonio Express-News
SALT LAKE CITY Irene Farrelly and Brenda Paynter, in town to help NBC with production during the Olympics, were working hard during Friday nights Opening Ceremony.
Working hard to come up with tickets for the Barenaked Ladies concert at the Olympics Medals Plaza in Downtown Salt Lake on Wednesday, that is.
The friends and co-workers finally came up with a couple of ducats for the free show on the eBay Internet auction site courtesy of Farrellys boyfriend, who did all of the grunt work by paying about $65 each.
I guess every Olympic City milks its visitors, Farrelly said with a half-smile.
Utah doesnt have any laws against selling free tickets, however, and the two women also realize they may not have gotten into the concert without shelling out some cash.
Performers like the Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, N Sync, Brooks & Dunn and Martina McBride will take the stage nightly over the next couple of weeks following the awarding of medals to that days winners.
NBC also is showing the concerts.
Free passes for the awards ceremony and shows were distributed before the Games began, and they quickly began showing up on Internet auction sites.
Such is the American way, right?
The greatest entertainers in the world are going to be here, said Paynter, who lives in Great Falls, Mont. So I said Id pay whatever it takes.
And shes not alone. Tickets for the more in-demand shows like N Sync are fetching hundreds of dollars.
If the concert was in my hometown (of Philadelphia) or something, I wouldnt pay that much to see it,Farrelly said.
But youve got to do something like this when youre at the Olympics.
Organizers passed on booking any rap or heavy metal acts and chose more mainstream favorites like Macy Gray, Alanis Morrissette, Nelly Furtado and Marc Anthony to perform nightly before about 20,000 cold but happy folks.
And if you somehow got the free tickets that you might have even paid big money for come early to the plaza. Officials arent letting anyone in the gates after 7:30 p.m (MST). But if you do get stuck outside, at least your keepsake ticket didnt get torn.
2/9/02
Ladies ready to rock 800 million fans
Canadian band adds light-hearted note to fervently patriotic Super Bowl show
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page was ridiculed as a wimpy geek by the jocks at his suburban Toronto high school.
Now Page and his band mates have pulled off a Revenge of the Nerds-style triumph for sensitive guys everywhere.
The Barenaked Ladies will perform Sunday at the Super Bowl -- the ultimate sports event with a worldwide TV audience estimated at 800 million.
That makes it Nerds: 1 -- Jocks: 0, if you're keeping score in the big game called life after high school.
The Ladies will be rubbing shoulders with rock's royalty at the Super Bowl -- including U2, Mariah Carey and Sir
Paul McCartney.
And they are making rock history as the first Canadian band to take part in a Super Bowl show. The Ladies' job will be to add a lighter note to what promises to be a fervently patriotic pre-game extravaganza. Called Heroes, Hope and Homeland, the show features NFL players of the past and present reading portions of the Declaration of Independence.
The Barenaked Ladies are a fun band and are really well known here now, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said yesterday.
There's not too many people in America who haven't heard of If I Had $1000000, McCarthy said in a telephone interview from New Orleans, site of Super Bowl XXXVI. "We thought they'd be great."
The NFL knows, but won't say what song the Ladies will be singing on the show. But it's a pretty good bet the song will include a seven-digit number in its title. One of the first songs Page and co-leader Ed Robertson wrote together, If I Had $1000000 has become the band's theme.
It alternates as our crowning achievement, a modern-day standard and, well, the bane of our existence, Page has
said. "Still, it seems to resonate with people, and we're definitely proud of that."
The song has a line about eating Kraft Dinner, which has led fans to pelt the band with boxes of macaroni and cheese.
But there's a chance the band could sing One Week, so far their only No. 1 hit in the U.S.
In the last line of that song Page sings, "Birchmount Stadium, Home of the Robbie." It's a joking reference to an invitational youth soccer tournament called the Robbie. The tournament is held at the small high school stadium where Page, a chunky kid who became a chubby adult, participated forlornly in Scarborough Track and Field Day events.
The pre-game show is being televised in its entirety for the first time. As a finale, Sir Paul McCartney will sing his anthem Freedom, written in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
McCarthy said the Ladies will be playing a live one-hour set at a special VIP "Friends of the NFL" party for about 7,000 corporate executives before the pre-game show.
It's a tailgate party for the NFL's corporate sponsors, and we know the Ladies will really get the crowd going.
The Barenaked Ladies were formed in the early 1990s at the height of the grunge era, when it seemed every band wore black and sang whiny, self-pitying songs about how unfair life is. With songs such as Be My Yoko Ono, the Ladies put some fun back in rock 'n' roll.
A spokeswoman for Warner Music Canada said the Ladies will not comment on Sunday's show. "I talked to them yesterday, but they have decided not to make themselves available to the media this week."
Just before the coin toss in Sunday's game, with both teams on the field, Mary J. Blige and Marc Anthony will sing America The Beautiful followed by Mariah Carey's rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, backed by the Boston Pops orchestra.
The centrepiece is a tribute to the United States through classical composer Aaron Copeland's Lincoln Portrait played by the orchestra. Lincoln's words will be spoken on film by several former presidents, including Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
U2 headlines the halftime show. The Irish superstars are expected to sing the rousing Walk On, which they played on a fundraising telethon in New York City 10 days after the terrorist attacks.
Ladies' politics laid bare naked by Sept. 11: Support for Afghani refugees may threaten popularity in U.S.
From the Calgary Herald:
November 13, 2001 Tuesday Final EDITION
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a list of songs that were deemed insensitive and hence unplayable on commercial radio was circulated on the Internet.
Fallin' for the First Time, a new single from Canada's Barenaked Ladies, was among the tunes, which included Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire, The Foo Fighters' Learn To Fly, Peter Paul and Mary's Leavin' On a Jet Plane, and REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It.
The Clear Channel list, so called because it was allegedly created by executives at Clear Channel Communications, owner of radio stations that reach 110 million listeners in the United States, recommended that certain "lyrically questionable" songs not be played for an indefinite period. It couldn't have taken much to figure out the list was a hoax, but it was not without fallout.
It worked. All the Clear Channel stations dropped the single, says Barenaked Ladies drummer Tyler Stewart, with a sigh. "It was ridiculous.
It points to the concentrated ownership issue, because Clear Channel owns everything in the radio world, as well as venues and promoters. Because of some idiot at Clear Channel, any momentum the single had was stopped.
The single was the last release from the Barenaked Ladies' quadruple-platinum-selling Maroon album. And it was intended to be the boost behind the Toronto quintet's greatest hits compilation, out today. Its loss of momentum was no joke.
The Barenaked Ladies, which includes Steven Page, Ed Robertson, Kevin Hearn and Jim Creegan, sell more records in the United States than in Canada. While the band has the star power to draw 12,000 people to concerts in Calgary, it can draw 44,000 in Boston. Its last Canadian tour in February was the first in five years, and the band has no immediate plans to return to Canada. In fact, the Ladies might as well be a U.S. act.
We do well there, Stewart, 34, admits.
Which is why, after the Ladies performed at the Music Without Borders benefit concert in Toronto last month, a concert held to benefit starving Afghans, the band was chastised for turning its back on the country that gave it a million dollars and then some.
After all, almost every star-studded event in the U.S. following Sept. 11 was held to benefit U.S. victims, not Afghans.
But, Stewart says, it's Canadians who are giving the Barenaked Ladies a hard time for the charity the band chose, not Americans.
We've certainly received flak in newspaper editorials and through letters and stuff, he says. "People are calling us wimps and apologists, and they're saying we're enemies of humanity for doing this. . . .
We got involved to help people in need. They're victims just like the victims in the World Trade Center. Senseless death is senseless death.
Stewart says the members of the Barenaked Ladies consider themselves musicians, not politicians, but it's hard for them to ignore an issue all of them feel strongly about. The band will begin touring in the States later this month, and Stewart is unsure of how it will be received.
We've made our money in the United States over the last 10 years, he says. "And we have a lot of friends and loyal fans there and it was a great place to be. But I should point out that was during the Clinton administration and things do change with different political leaders.
"It's going to be very hard for me to go back down there and play happy, cheery Barenaked Ladies music. I feel guilty going down there to work and earn American dollars without necessarily supporting their government's position in all this.
I'm really appreciating not living in the United States right now."" "
Tyler says that Canadians, like Americans, should try to find their identity in this crisis.
Patriotism-slash-jingoism is at an all-time high, he says. "It's not necessarily bad, but it rubs a lot of Canadians the wrong way. We're not like that ourselves. We don't define ourselves as Canadians, we define ourselves as what we aren't -- Americans. It's time for Canadians to stand up and decide our identity.
"We have to look at things that make us uniquely Canadian: the United Nations, universal health care, gun control, unemployment insurance, relatively safe cities and a reputation as a friendly place.
If that makes us wimps and apologists, that's fine. It sure does make it a nice place to live."" "
No Doubt, McCartney, BNL Make Super Bowl More Super
From VH1.com: The Wire:
http://www.vh1.com/thewire/content/news/1451815.jhtml
By Jon Wiederhorn
1/16/02
Paul McCartney, No Doubt and Barenaked Ladies have been added to the Super Bowl pre-game show at the Louisiana Superdome on February 3.
McCartney will headline the event and lead what is being called a "Tribute to Everyday Heroes" to honor the acts of kindness and heroism that people contributed in the wake of September 11. The Beatles bassist will perform his song "Freedom" with 500 young people who will symbolically represent the 180 countries broadcasting the football game across the globe.
The pre-show party will begin hours earlier with a performance by Barenaked Ladies at the Fox Tailgate Party in the parking lot of the stadium. They'll be followed by a set from No Doubt. Then Mary J. Blige and Marc Anthony will perform "America the Beautiful" along with the Boston Pops and America's Heroes Chorus. (see "Mary J. Blige, Marc Anthony Score Super Bowl Pre-Game Gig" ). The Pops will also back up Mariah Carey's singing of the national anthem right before kickoff, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. (see "Mariah To Sing National Anthem At Super Bowl XXXVI" ).
Additional pre-show performers may be announced at a later date.
Grammy nomination-gobblers U2 will provide halftime entertainment for the event (see "U2 To Elevate Super Bowl XXXVI Halftime Show" ). The band has yet to announce what its short set will consist of or who may join the group onstage.
Last year, Aerosmith and 'NSYNC performed the halftime show along with a host of guests including Britney Spears, Run-D.M.C., Nelly and Mary J. Blige (see "Britney, Nelly Joining Aerosmith At Super Bowl" ). Last year's pre-show entertainment included Bon Jovi, Sting, Styx and Backstreet Boys (see "Bon Jovi, Sting, Styx In Super Bowl Pregame Show" ).
Globe and mail article
Making music on a wing and a prayer
Leukemia almost killed the Barenaked Ladies' Kevin Hearn. But it also gave birth to a poignant solo album
By ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 Print Edition, Page R1
By his own account, Kevin Hearn was taking way too many bad drugs while writing the songs for his recent solo album, H-Wing. He was also spending most of his time in bed, wondering if he would die before he could finish the record.
Hearn, who plays keyboards and guitar with the Barenaked Ladies, was no self-destructive pop star. All his drugs were prescribed, by doctors trying to beat the leukemia that nearly killed him.
They succeeded, and so did he. H-Wing is a gently insightful collection of pop songs about a month in the purgatory of a cancer ward.
I didn't want it to be too heavy for people, said Hearn, whose low-keyed presence matches the soft, vulnerable sound of his singing voice. "I put a lot of my fears and anxieties into these songs, but I also wanted to reflect the fact that humour is so important."
Even with the worst of the chemical demons rampaging through his body, Hearn somehow found something cheering in the experience. The Good One, the album's deceptively peaceful opening song, describes how a few words and a moment of human contact lightened a particularly brutal episode of chemotherapy, "while I just lay there waiting to turn into Mr. Hyde."
Hearn's nightmare started in late 1998, just as the Barenakeds were hitting the top of the North American pop charts with their single, One Week. As tonight's CBC-TV Life & Times documentary about the Barenakeds points out, the sharp divergence in fortunes gave the relentlessly light-hearted band a lot less to joke about.
As we went off on the biggest tour ever, Kevin went into the hospital to die, drummer Tyler Stewart tells the camera, with a look on his face that still registers a shadow of disbelief. The band sent regular e-mails from the road which "really made me know I was missed and valued," Hearn said.
His illness is in remission now, thanks largely to a transplant of bone marrow from his brother. But his view of life and relationships has changed permanently.
Some people can stand the intensity of a health crisis, and some can't, he said. Like others who have endured such a crisis, he was sometimes surprised to discover who fell into which camp.
He also has a much keener sense of the passage of time, and the finite nature of opportunity. He's committed to the Barenakeds, and loved playing on Letterman and selling out the Madison Square Gardens and the Royal Albert Hall. But like any full-time job, touring and recording with the band eats up a lot of living.
I often wonder if I'm doing the right thing, if I'm making the best use of my time, he said. He flinches at the comparison, but admits that the dominance of Steven Page and Ed Robertson as creators of the Barenakeds' material sometimes leaves him playing George Harrison to their Lennon & McCartney.
I think they're great songwriters, and I like working on their songs with them, he said. "I wish I could express myself within the band more, but up to now that hasn't been a priority for anyone."
Hearn was recruited in 1995, after the departure of Andy Creeggan. The band was looking for someone who could fill in Page's and Robertson's songs with instrumental hooks, melodic solos and expressive colours.
Ed always jokes, 'Okay, Kevin, now it's time for you to go into the studio and give the song exactly what it needs,' Hearn said. He's very much a background figure in the CBC film, until the narrative turns to his illness.
H-Wing was recorded while he was still under heavy medical care. He said he was lucky that he and the members of Thin Buckle, his backing band, knew each other's style so well from years of previous experience.
I had a pretty complicated recovery, and almost died a couple of times after the transplant, he said. "I was by no means healthy when I made the record. I was in and out of the hospital, taking a lot of bad drugs, including steroids. I became very puffy, and I could barely play by the end."
You'd never know that, listening to the record. Hearn's meditations on pain and fate sound like those of someone who has drifted clear of being too much affected by either. The album has a feeling of timelessness, and not just because he's writing about universal themes. He deliberately tried to replicate the suspended world of the overmedicated.
Let's float here together, one last time. / In the sweet peroxide. . . he sings in Death Bed Love Letter. Swimming pools, fog and bits of driftwood carry Hearn through reflections on himself and his experience that often have the droll simplicity and solemnity of childlike visions.
His best review to date came in a short note from one of his pop idols, Lou Reed, who he got to know through common acquaintances. He recites it like a memory that won't ever fade.
He said 'You've made a beautiful record, Kevin, and you must have balls of steel.' Hearn can't help crumpling with laughter at that last part.
He recently took the songs of H-Wing on the road with the Rheostatics, whose lead singer Martin Tielli also performs in Thin Buckle. It felt good, and he wants to do more while the Barenakeds take a year off from touring.
Writing new songs is another matter. It's harder now than it was in the hospital, even though there was no telling then whether he'd live to perform any of the tunes he was picking out on his guitar.
Writing those songs was easy, because it was all there, and it was so extreme, he said. Returning to normal life, it turns out, can be almost as hard as leaving it.
JOHN BERRY "All the Way to There" Ark 21
(This article only mentions Ed)
JOHN BERRY
All the Way to There
Ark 21
Recording for an independent label has its advantages. Working at home, for example. Country crooner John Berry recorded "All the Way to There" in his Georgia basement studio after gathering a few songs from Nashville pros and writing eight new tunes.
The emphasis on original material is a big plus, since it creates some distance from Music City's orbit and helps produce a more personal and intimate sound. Not surprisingly, the self-penned tunes also suit Berry a lot better than some of the songs he's covered in the past. He's never required a great lyric to sell a song -- his striking, heartfelt tenor usually does most of the work anyway -- but it's good to hear him performing a collection of tunes that consistently sound tailor-made.
In playing to his strengths, Berry doesn't stray far from what mainstream country fans have come to expect. But this time around, most of the love songs and inspirational ballads, including those co-composed by Fastball's Miles Zuniga ("You Make Me Believe") and Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson ("He Makes Me Want Her Again"), are a cut above average. And adding to the album's homespun charm are some rousing harmonies, which envelop the standout track "Let's Find Out" and the tuneful ode "Eternally."
Mike Joyce
CBC to profile the Canadian band that everyone loves to hate
BY Tony Atherton
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, January 13, 2002
'When the music history of the '90s is written, Barenaked Ladies will merit only a footnote," according to the current edition of Maxim magazine's glossy musical spin-off, Blender.
An article rating greatest-hit CDs dismisses the music of BNL as "unbearably silly," but gives four stars to the Backstreet Boys' new compilation, The Hits -- Chapter One.
Ouch. Now we know what Steve Page means when he says, in a Life & Times profile of the band (on CBC Tuesday at 7 p.m.), that he never knew what it was like to be hated until Barenaked Ladies became popular. "People would call across the street: 'Barenaked Ladies suck!' " he recalls.
This was when the band enjoyed a relatively circumscribed popularity, just after the release of its breakout album, Gordon, when BNL was world famous only in Canada. And when the consensus was that they would never be anything more.
In The Bare Naked Truth: The Life & Times of the Barenaked Ladies, drummer Tyler Stewart says the knives were out then in Canada, in much the same way they glint on the pages of Blender today. Since the band had been more successful than might be presumed, given its geeky appearance, people "were ready to write us off," says Stewart.
According to the documentary (directed by National Arts Centre TV guru David Langer), the band was experiencing internal problems as well. The five guys from Scarborough had been together four years, gained success through hard work and enthusiastic word-of-mouth, and then found that it simply wasn't as much fun as it used to be.
We were probably at our most dysfunctional at that point, says Page, "where Ed (Robertson) and I barely talked to each other at all, and we had almost nothing in common except the fact that we were the front men of this group."
Enter Vancouver-based manager Terry McBride, who realized the band was undermining itself. The Barenaked Ladies' public persona, portrayed in music videos and public appearances, was goofy.
Any seriousness that the songwriting had, the craft that they had ... they buried it, McBride says in the film.
McBride repackaged the guys, put them in leather instead of baggy shorts, and oversaw the production of some soulful videos. Given that BNL subsequently overcame its slump and became a popular touring act in the U.S. with a No. 1 hit, it is tempting to regard such put downs as contained in the Blender review with a certain knowing irony. Barenaked Ladies a mere footnote, indeed!
Before we climb on our patriotic high horse, however, we should note that McBride assesses the band's impact in much the same way, even if he says it with more grace.
They'll keep selling millions of albums but they're not going to be The Massive Artist. They're not going to be the high-profile media artist, he says, adding, perhaps ruefully, "but I think that's a choice they made quite some time ago."
The film shows the band members with their wives, girlfriends and babies, living suburban lives not much different from what they knew growing up. In many ways, they're still the outsiders looking in on the excesses of showbiz, still the awkward kids who, as Robertson says, would boast about their lack of cool when they drove their moms' cars from the 'burbs to play downtown Toronto gigs.
Their private lives are very important to them, says McBride, "and that's what makes them who they are as artists. That's what makes them Barenaked Ladies."
And that's ultimately what might limit their success, but it doesn't seem to bother them a whit.
Also coming up:
Mark Twain: Tomorrow, and Tuesday, PBS at 8 p.m. The 19th century humourist and moralist is an ideal subject for documentary filmmaker Ken Burns: familiar and nostalgic, a little controversial but touched with nobility. Burns's approach here is also familiar, not to say clichιd. Lingering shots of old photographs and evocative commentary by urbane experts are presented against a background of gentle period music played on simple instruments.
The film chronicles a childhood rich in the raw material of his later books, and a young adulthood spent plying the waters of the Mississippi as a steamboat pilot.
The author's later life is portrayed as a conflict: between him as the successful writer and lecturer Twain; and his alter ego, the overreaching and improvident Samuel Clemens.
At four hours (the last half of the biography airs Tuesday at 8 p.m.), the biography is thorough, unhurried and insightful.
First Monday: Tomorrow, CH at 9 p.m., or Tuesday, 9 p.m. on CBS. Donald P. Bellesario (JAG) would like to do for the U.S. Supreme Court what The West Wing does for the White House. But while this new series is pretty to look at and blessed with a remarkable cast (including James Garner as the irascible conservative chief justice, Charles Durning as his blunt, like-minded colleague, and Joe Mantegna as a more liberal new appointee), it doesn't have the heart or the head of The West Wing. The opening episode, about a request for a stay of execution for a death-row inmate who recently survived a lightning strike, is contrived and predictable.
Close-up: Wednesday, Star! at 8:30 p.m. Leonard Cohen looks just the tiniest bit frail in the most recent interview among this collection of chats and video clips dating back to the 1960s. A down-and-dirty biography, the retrospective includes archival comments by admirers like the Barenaked Ladies' Steve Page and Jennifer Warnes.
Antiques Roadshow: Wednesday, Newsworld at 10 p.m. They lined up for hours at the National Gallery last fall, clutching family heirlooms to share with the experts of BBC's travelling appraisal circus. Now the rest of us can see what all the fuss was about.
Muhammad Ali's 60th Birthday Celebration: Wednesday, CBS and CH at 9 p.m. Where does this hour-long gala leave off being a tribute and take up being a movie trailer?
Actually, there is no dividing line; it's a marketing ploy from front to back. Ali star Will Smith is the headline performer (along with Mariah Carey and R. Kelly) on the program, which also features behind-the-scenes footage from the movie.
Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson
www.bnl.org
With a name like Barenaked Ladies, it's hard to be taken seriously. That is, unless you're the five fully clothed Canadian men whose fifth American album, Stunt, could bring the zany group the mainstream stardom in America that they already enjoy in Canada. Their latest album, "Stunt", was released in early June of 1998, with a song already on 'Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks' top ten chart. I do a lot of driving and listen to music in the car, and, I have to say, I'm still listening to this album 3 weeks later. I really like the zany feel this album has. From start to finish, the music makes me feel great. From the Free-style rapping that Ed Robertson does in the albums first track (One Week), to the beautiful acoustic harmonies, this album seems to have something for everyone.
Recently, Ed Robertson (Acoustic Guitarist in BNL) brought his Larrivιe guitars back to us for a bit of a reunion. Ed plays an L-09 from late seventies on stage, but also has a second L-09 from 1976 which is used solely for the purpose of recording. Apparently, this guitar is one of his most prized possessions, and it never leaves the hands of his guitar tech. Surprisingly, after 23 years away from home, 5 albums, and countless road trips, the guitars were in immaculate condition. We fit new saddles on both instruments, dressed the frets, buffed the guitar, and repaired some minor belt buckle damage. Here is a link to today's version of the L-09.
Chicago's Thirty #&!@* Miles Away! - Barenaked in Rosemont, IL (12/31/01)
by Leslie R. from the Newsletter Jan 02 '02
The Bottom Line A nice way to say good-bye to a very bad year.
Chicago's thirty #&!@* miles away! is the line I'll remember most from the Barenaked Ladies' 2001 New Year's Eve show. It was part of their best rap of the night. Unfortunately, the Allstate Arena's acoustics and a pair of drunken concertgoers prevented me from hearing much of what the guys said most of the night. But, I'm going to try to relate an overview of the show from my perspective.
The Allstate Arena, located in Rosemont, IL, is home to the Chicago Wolves hockey team. Basketball is played there, and concerts are held there, too. I've heard bands in all sorts of settings, and I have to declare Allstate Arena the worst venue of all. It seemed that everything that was said and sung bounced off the back of the arena.
I know the words to every BNL song, so I was able to follow along. However, it was difficult to understand a lot of what the guys said in their onstage banter and in their raps. We were seated 5th row center and friends were seated in the lower level about 2 sections from the right side of the stage. One of the first things we all commented on when we hooked up after the show was the poor sound quality. So, I know the problem wasn't just from the drunks sitting next to me. Those two darling boys must've thought their singing was better than BNL's 'cause they subjected us all to their very loud performance in each song. They didn't have any interest in what went on between songs though, so I heard all about their personal lives and how great they were feeling instead of hearing what the band had to say. Luckily, they left before the show ended, so I was able to hear the last couple of songs in peace and also avoid prison because thoughts of strangling at least one of them came to mind.
After experiencing one of the best Barenaked Ladies shows ever (Buffalo, 12/31/99), I've been waiting for a letdown of a show, and I guess this one was it. HOWEVER, I want to be perfectly clear when I say that it was NOT BNL's fault. They were doing what they do best: entertaining their fans. The gods of concerts just weren't watching over us all night.
Steve's voice was strained, and he said he'd do his best. Well, he did better than I would've expected after hearing the difference in his voice. If I didn't know what he usually sounds like, I probably wouldn't have known there was a problem. He belted out all the great classic BNL tunes in fantastic Steve Page fashion. They even did "Break Your Heart", which has to be the most difficult song for him anyway, let alone when his throat is sore. It was funny to watch him prepare for some of the difficult parts of various songs, like the end of "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" when he kicks it into high gear. He'd look at the crowd with an expression on his face as if to say, "I'm going to go for it and we'll see what happens." He didn't disappoint.
It was obvious, however, that everyone was tired. The shows on New Year's Eve always get a late start so the guys can be onstage when the clock strikes midnight. Action Figure Party was the warm-up this night, and they came on around 9:30pm. Jim even sat in with them on a couple of songs in their set. It was well after 10pm when BNL took the stage. And they played until after 12:30am but performed just one song in encore.
After the balloons fell from the ceiling at 12am, and after everyone had popped most of them or batted them onto the stage, the guys started in on "Auld Lang Syne". Ed informed us that they had discovered the lyrics to ALL of the verses, so each guy then sang one verse by himself. It's something we look forward to every New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, this year's was tinged with a bit of regret because the guys had stated that they would be taking some time off. Well, to put it more bluntly, Tyler's verse included a thank you to all the fans, but he also said they were going to take some "mother &*#$! time off!" Kevin's verse was sweet, as always, as he wished that in the new year we could live in peace and no one would have to live in fear. If only...
As Steve noted during the show, the band has been working and touring nearly non-stop since 1995. If they're not in a town near you, that means they're performing somewhere else on the planet. They've given us 2 original albums and a Greatest Hits CD in the last 3 years. They've hit the airwaves via TV shows on all sorts of networks. "Barenaked In America" was made, and they performed in 2 Pay-Per-View events. And, if that's not enough, they have been involved in various side projects, like performing "Little Green Bag" with Tom Jones or making "Green Christmas" for the Grinch movie. Then there are the CD's and performances that Jim has done as part of The Brothers Creeggan and that Kevin has done as Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. And, let's not forget that Kevin was battling leukemia for a couple years, too.
We can all agree they deserve a vacation, but it will be a long year without them.
Barenaked Ladies have given me many years of happiness through their albums and their live shows. Each time a tour ends, I look forward to the announcement of the next one so I can start making plans to catch at least one show. We saw them 3 times in 2001 alone.
Now we can look forward to their next album and the accompanying tour. And I'll be there, whenever & wherever that might be.
Set List (*not* in correct order)
The Old Apartment
Get In Line
Pinch Me
It's All Been Done
Thanks, That Was Fun
Be My Yoko Ono
It's Only Me (The Wizard Of Magic Land)
One Week + Chicken Dance + Big Guys Kissing While Wearing Black-Rimmed Glasses
Lovers In A Dangerous Time
Jim's Solo, including Now I Know My ABC's & If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands
Conventioneers
Falling For The First Time
What A Good Boy
Enid
Too Little Too Late
Break Your Heart
Auld Lang Syne + BNL's Extra Verses
Million Dollars + Medley + Homeboy Dance Routine
Encore:
Brian Wilson
BARENAKED LADIES TO HOST 2002 JUNO AWARDS TELECAST SUNDAY, APRIL 14 at 8 p.m.
Tickets for Canada's Premier Awards Show go on Sale Saturday
TORONTO, January 9, 2002
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) together with CTV today announced that last year's triple JUNO AWARD winners (Best Group, Best Album and Best Pop Album) - Barenaked Ladies - will host the live telecast of the upcoming 2002 JUNO AWARDS.
The "ladies" will hit the stage at Mile One Stadium in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday, April 14 at 8 p.m. Viewers can expect the usual heady mix of cheeky humour and high energy from vocalists/guitarists Steven Page and Ed Robertson, drummer Tyler Stewart, bassist Jim Creeggan, and keyboardist Kevin Hearn.
Tickets to the show are priced at $49.50 (including GST) and go on sale this Saturday, January 12 at Ticketmaster outlets across the country, online at www.ticketmaster.ca, or in person at the Mile One Stadium Box Office. Full packages, including the Welcome Reception and Premier's Gala and Awards, are available through the CARAS office by calling 416-485-3135 or 1-888-440-JUNO (Canada only).
In choosing the multi-platinum quintet as hosts of the telecast, CARAS Chairman Ross Reynolds, said: "We're pleased to have the Barenaked Ladies back on the heels of a very successful year. The fact that they've gone on to even greater international fame since last year's program only adds to their unique and outspoken 'star' quality and enhances what we believe will be the best JUNO AWARDS show ever."
Barenaked Ladies formed in 1989, and released several independent cassette tapes before hitting it big with a 1991 self-titled tape, the first independent release to reach the Top 20 and go platinum in Canada. In all the band has released nine albums, including their most recent, a "greatest hits" package entitled, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits [1991 - 2001]. BNL, as they are affectionately known, will headline the celebration at the Olympic Medals Plaza in Salt Lake City on February 13, 2002. The band has been on an extensive tour of the United States, which has seen them perform on LIVE with Regis and Kelly and appear on their own Much More Music "Intimate & Interactive" special.
This year's broadcast, the first ever for CTV, will be augmented by a comprehensive marketing and promotion campaign by CTV, its sister services and its extended partners within the Bell Globemedia family. Full details of the campaign will be announced in February. General information can be found at www.junos.sympatico.ca, the official site of the 2002 JUNO AWARDS.
CTV's presentation of the 2002 JUNO AWARDS is made possible through the network's new BCE-CTV Benefits Package. The broadcast rights to the 2002 and 2003 JUNO AWARDS, Canada's premiere music awards show, were acquired by CTV in August 2001. The live telecast will be produced by Toronto's Insight Productions in association with CTV. John Brunton is Executive Producer.
About CARAS: The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Science/L'academie canadienne des arts et des sciences de l'enregistrement (CARAS) is a not-for-profit organization created to preserve and enhance the Canadian music and recording industries and to contribute toward higher artistic and industry standards. The main focus of CARAS is the exploration and development of opportunities to showcase and promote Canadian artists and music through television vehicles such as the JUNO AWARDS.
About CTV: CTV, Canada's largest private broadcaster, offers a wide range of quality news, sports, information, and entertainment programming. It boasts the number-one national newscast, CTV News With Lloyd Robertson, and is the number-one choice for prime-time viewing. CTV owns 27 conventional television stations across Canada and has interests in 33 pay and specialty channels, including Canada's number-one specialty channel, TSN. CTV is owned by Bell Globemedia, Canada's premier multi-media company.
About The CTV-BCE Benefits Package: The purchase of CTV by BCE resulted in a $230 million Benefits package; the largest in Canadian television history (Pursuant to the CRTC policy, transfer of ownership necessitates benefits to the Canadian broadcasting system as a whole). The Benefits package will be spent over seven years, with $140 million earmarked for priority programming - drama, documentary and variety programming - produced by Canadian independent producers. This expenditure will result in a minimum of 175 hours of new Canadian priority programming, beyond present CRTC requirements.
Web Links:
Barenaked Ladies Official Site: http://www.bnlmusic.com
2002 JUNO AWARDS Web site: http://www.junos.sympatico.ca
CARAS: http://www.juno-awards.ca
CTV: http://www.ctv.ca
An article From when BNL was nominated for a Grammy
WE REALLY WANT TO WIN THAT GRAMMY by Steven Page (Barenaked Ladies)
Date: Feb 23, 1999
Source: New York Times, Sunday February 21, 1999, Arts and Leisure
section http://www.nytimes.com
Submitted by: Y. C.
[Note from Y.C: SOMETHING TO PONDER WHILE WATCHING THE GRAMMYS:
Something for all of you fans to think about when you are boohooing
over the Backstreet Boys not winning their Grammy. I remember the
reactions when they didn't win at the American Music Awards. Pay
particular attention to the 2nd to last paragraph.]
[Note from Caitlin: I still have high hopes for the Boys this coming
Wednesday, but I thought that this article was well written and would
be of interest to BSB fans... thanks Y.C.!]
WE REALLY WANT TO WIN THAT GRAMMY by Steven Page (Barenaked Ladies)
This Wednesday, Los Angeles will play host to the Grammy Awards, and
for the first time ever, my band, Barenaked Ladies, will be sitting
in the audience, nails bitten to the quick, awaiting our loss. Yes,
I've already resigned myself to the fact that we won't win, but it
won't stop me from fretting about what I'm going to wear, what
celebrities we're going to gawk at or what our acceptance speech
might have been like.
After 10 years of wallowing in relative obscurity, this Grammy
nomination marks a big, tangible plunge into the mainstream for us.
Especially considering the category in which we've been nominated:
Longest Title for a Grammy Category, otherwise known as Best Pop
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Although it's not as
prestigious as say, Record of the Year, it does hold more cachet than
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, Instrumental.
Our category is a good one to be nominated in, as it celebrates the
band's actual performance, rather than songwriting, which often
credits only one or two band members, or engineering or album
artwork, which usually excludes the entire band. The phrase "we won a
Grammy for best album artwork" tends to lose some of its excitement
in the translation. The unfortunate thing is that we're up against
Aerosmith, and although our band features members named Steven and
Tyler, we don't have Steven Tyler. The other nominees are the Goo Goo
Dolls, the Dave Matthews Band and the Brian Setzer Orchestra.
It would be very polite of us to say, "We're just happy to be here,"
and it would be partly true, as it is nice to be invited to the same
event as Madonna and the Beastie Boys. However, the other common quip
of potential Grammy losers, "They don't really matter anyway," is
complete bunk. Come on, it's not your high school attendance awards,
it's the Grammy's! It doesn't get any bigger than this, really,
unless we were nominated for the Nobel Prize. So, when it comes down
to it, we want to win. We'd be really excited if we won. And we'd be
good winners; we'd represent the category with grace and honor. We
promise not to get caught doing a Penthouse magazine pictorial. It
does feel a bit like being nominated for Miss America, and for five
guys from Toronto known for our observations and satires of popular
culture, this gives us great, perverse pleasure.
Last year, while we were recording our latest album, "Stunt," we
watched the Grammy Awards from the studio and jokingly said, "That'll
be us next year." Now, after what has been the most incredible year
in our band's history, our nomination comes as the icing on the cake.
Alas, we are still up against some mighty competition, particularly
from Aerosmith and the Goo Goo Dolls, both of whom had huge hits this
year from movie soundtracks, that perplexing record-business
phenomenon. We probably have an edge over the Dave Matthews Band,
which shares our history of having cult status and a word-of-mouth
fan base but which didn't have the giant pop hit we did this year
with "One Week." Brian Setzer will have to win something this year,
being the best of the swing fad, and also for his years of service. I
just hope that he wins in some other category.
[BSB fans listen up]
We won't win for several reasons: We're an unproven entity without
any previous hits and possibly no future hits, either, a distinction
usually reserved for the Best New Artist category,. However, we got
scooped for that award by two-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill (who won
with her group the Fugees) and Andrea Bocelli (destined to bring in
the over-50 viewership). Aerosmith, Goo Goo Dolls and Brian Setzer
(formerly of the Stray Cats) all have a history of hit songs. We
don't look like rock stars and have yet to hire a stylist for the
awards, so again, Aerosmith has the upper hand. We wouldn't thank God
in our acceptance speech. We have no movie tie-in, which means no
studio money is behind our Grammy campaign. This is also our only
nomination, and Grammy voters tend to like multiple nominees, which
again gives the lead to several of our competitors.
It makes me incredibly uncomfortable to be thrust into competition
with other musicians for anything: sales, awards, radio play. I
always try to leave the competition up to the record companies. I
avoided sports in school because I couldn't handle the competition.
But, now that I have been forced to stand in line with the other
beauty pageant contestants, I'm ready to fight. Gracious losers at
awards shows have always rubbed me the wrong way, so proud of the
winners, so humble in defeat. I propose that all losers at this
year's Grammys storm out just as the winners names are announced. We
need more looks of disgust, like Burt Reynolds's at last year's
Oscars. We need more people crashing the stage as Ol' Dirty Bastard
of the Wu-Tang Clan did at last year's Grammys. Maybe we'll start
shouting obscenities from the crowd. Or throw eggs. Then again, we
could fall back on the old lines: these things don't really matter
anyway, and we're just happy to be invited.
Steven Page is a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Barenaked
Ladies.
HEADLINE: Ladies of distinction; Witty Canadian songsmiths never imagined they would release a greatest-hits package
SECTION: NIGHTLIFE; Pg. D3
LENGTH: 886 words
HEADLINE: Ladies of distinction; Witty Canadian songsmiths never imagined they would release a greatest-hits package
SOURCE: New York Times Special Features
BODY:
When singer-guitarists Steven Page and Ed Robertson formed Barenaked Ladies in Toronto, they never imagined that a decade later they'd be releasing a greatest-hits album.
We had no idea we were going to continue doing it, even, Page recalls. "For us, it was a fun trip for a year or so. It was in some ways very folky in its style and in its genesis, two guys singing together with acoustic guitars. We barely had any greater ambitions than that in the very beginning of the band." But as Disc One 1991-2001 shows, the Ladies achieved considerably more. Hooking people with its infectiously melodic songcraft and the good humour and wit implied by the band's name, the quintet was an immediate sensation in its native Canada and gradually built a following in the United States as well. Then came Stunt (1998), a multiplatinum sensation sparked by the lightning-fast verses of One Week, which is currently enjoying a second life in a Mitsubishi commercial.
Maroon (2000) has only sold about half as many copies as Stunt, but Robertson says that he, Page and their bandmates --bassist Jim Creeggan, keyboardist Kevin Hearn and drummer Tyler Stewart -- have nothing to complain about.
Actually, for the first time in my life, in a 13-year career, I don't care anymore, the 31-year-old Robertson says. "I feel really proud of the band right now as performers and writers and the records we make and stuff. I feel like we've made it to all the kind of popular milestones -- we've got Grammy nominations, we sold out Madison Square Garden, we've got multiplatinum records . . . In a lot of ways, it actually released a lot of the pressure.
At this point, he says, "I'm pretty content. I just want to keep working for my own creative interest and writing songs that are rewarding and interesting to me. And I'm really thankful to have a loyal fan base."
Page and Robertson met in 1998 as college students in Scarborough. Having played in their share of hard-rock bands, the two craved something more cerebral and more distinct.
We were really, in some ways, purists about being acoustic -- I think because it wasn't fashionable, the 31-year-old Page recalls. "We didn't want to be roots rock. We wanted something that was acoustic that didn't limit itself stylistically. That was the common thread."
Beginning as street performers, Page and Robertson -- who came up with the name Barenaked Ladies on a lark -- eventually signed up Stewart, Creeggan and his younger brother Andy on keyboards. After they independently released a series of tapes -- including one, The Yellow Tape (1991), that sold 85,000 copies and included early versions of future hits Brian Wilson and Be My Yoko Ono -- the major labels came calling.
Sire Records won the bidding war, signing the Ladies in front of Toronto's City Hall -- chosen because then-mayor June Rowlands had refused to allow the band to perform on city property because she felt the band's name "objectified women."
I think she may have regretted that, Page says dryly.
The Ladies' debut album, Gordon (1993), was a smash in Canada. A subsequent single, If I Had $1,000,000, mentioned Kraft macaroni and cheese and inspired an audience ritual of throwing macaroni at the band at the point when it was mentioned, a practice the group has spent many years discouraging.
Despite the group's acoustic beginnings, Page notes, "we also learned how to be a good rock band" in subsequent releases such as Maybe You Should Drive (1994) and Born on a Pirate Ship (1996).
Meanwhile, the Ladies soldiered though some hard times, including a short-lived schism between Page and Robertson and the 1995 departure of Andy Creeggan, who was replaced by Hearn. Even the band's joy over Stunt's runaway success was tempered by Hearn's near-fatal battle with chronic leukemia, a struggle that largely kept him off the road and out of the band until recording for Maroon began in early 2000.
That was the worst thing that ever happened to us, no question, Robertson says. "We know there was a very real possibility that we could have lost him, which I don't even like to think about. After what he's been through and, vicariously, what we've all been through, right now is pretty rewarding."
Disc One is not entirely retrospective, because it includes four new songs -- among them the upbeat, charged It's Only Me (The Wizard of Magicland) and the textured, ironic Thanks That Was Fun -- recorded this past summer with Maroon engineer Jim Scott.
Thanks That Was Fun, released as a single, is a bit of a dry-humoured joke directed at the Ladies' fans and at Canadian songstress Sarah McLachlan, who shares a manager with the Ladies.
We bug our manager about the fact Sarah sells more records than us, Page says. "It seems like she has a lot of songs that have the word 'yearning' in them. So as a joke we started (Thanks That Was Fun) with 'I'm yearning . . . ' It sucked, and we wrote a song about it.
It's a bit of a joke for us as well -- it would be the perfect breakup song for the band, but we have no intention of doing that.
In fact, Page and Robertson expect to write and record the next Ladies album next year. They don't necessarily predict a severe change in direction, but do say that Disc One has tidily summed up an era.
Terry Mcbride Article:
Looking behind new Barenaked documentary
By PAUL CANTIN
Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz
Back when Nettwerk Records boss Terry McBride first signed up to manage Barenaked Ladies, he was scheduled to appear on a panel at Vancouver's MusicWest industry conference.
The group had just completed their third album, 1996's "Born On A Pirate Ship", and were trying to recover from a dramatic career slump that followed their meteoric big-label debut, 1992's "Gordon." Their stature within the music business could not have been any lower.
When he appeared before a panel of music industry figures and media at the music conference, McBride said he was taken aback by the reaction to news that he had assumed management of the group.
People were just taking shots at me, that I was ruining Nettwerk's credibility. How could you do this after breaking Sarah (McLachlan, Nettwerk's cornerstone artist)?, McBride recalls.
I said: People get your heads out of your asses! What is the cornerstone of any career? Songwriting and live performance. (Barenaked Ladies) had that down.
McBride, who manages the group with Pierre Tremblay, said some of what BNL had done up to that point was "a total joke." But the quality of the band's songwriting and live show convinced him they had a future.
I can't make a great songwriter or a great performer. Nobody has got that except the musicians themselves. It is not learned. It is intuitive. And they had that.
Jump ahead five years, and McBride's faith in the band has been amply rewarded. They escaped their faltering success in Canada, achieved a giant hit in the U.S. with their fifth album "Stunt", and look like they will enjoy enduring success.
It's a remarkable comeback story covered by CBC's upcoming "Life And Times" special on the band. The documentary, which airs Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m., captures a behind-the-scenes look at what went into the band's success. How did they make it where so many others have faltered?
McBride said long-term success for Canadian bands still depends on achieving something in the U.S.
A lot of bands become Canada-only. That shortens your life, even if you become the biggest of the biggest, says McBride, whose management and label empire also includes Sum 41, Coldplay, Dido, and up-and-comers Swollen Members and The Be Good Tanyas.
The Hip have become one of the biggest things to ever happen here, yet because they didn't get out of here, it has been on the decline, albeit much, much slower than a lot of other instant careers that have come and gone here, he says.
(BNL) had to go be big somewhere else before anybody would start to give them credit in their home country.
With the release of their new best-of album, "Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits," Barenaked Ladies are about to step back from the limelight for a time. They will perform at the Super Bowl pre-game show and at the upcoming Olympics, but they'll spend most of their time writing a new album, anticipated for April 2003.
Here's what McBride had to say about Barenaked Ladies and making it in the music business.
On his personal view of Barenaked Ladies when he signed on as their manager:
"I had the same point of view of other people: I was sick and tired of them. It had been too much, too fast. (Their label, Warner Music Canada) went five singles into the first album. They burned everyone on it.
There are two things in this business: You can burn a song, (and) people get tired of hearing an actual song. Or you can burn an artist by having consecutive songs that people hear too much of. "
I think MCA has done that with Shaggy. Nobody wants to hear another Shaggy song. They worked five songs from the album (2000's Hot Shot"). Dido is the number one selling artist in the world this year, but there is still a mystery about her. She has not burned out. To me, she is the textbook of how you basically do it. She sold more records than Shaggy, but she is not burned out. Some of her songs have burned out, but she hasn't.
Sarah (McLachlan) hasn't burned out. She came right to the edge of it. But rather than doing a fourth single (from Surfacing"), we walked away from it, and we forced the record label to walk away from it.
"Barenaked Ladies didn't do that on their first album within Canada. As such, they set themselves up for a huge first album, but the inevitable backlash. No matter how good the second album (was), it would not have mattered.
You have got to control it and go long-term. You have got to keep an artist with a cool factor or mystique. You don't need to tell everyone everything. It is not how you create careers. That is how you create hit albums, but not how you create careers. That is something record companies don't understand unless you sit down and have that heart-to-heart with them"". "
On his strategy for getting the band out of the rut they were in at the time:
The band had just finished their third album (Born On A Pirate Ship"). They wanted to go do a six-week promo tour for the album, and then all take time off. I said that is ass-backward. I had never worked with Warner before. I said I needed six months to learn your record company. Why don't you take the time off now?
"When you come back, come back fresh. Come back wanting it. And realize, for the next couple of years, I own your life. That is the only way we are going to make this work, and that is the only way I am going to sign on.
I said at a meeting, we have to do the following. If you don't want to do it, I won't sign on. It is either my way or no way. Because you have to approach this completely different than how you have. We have got one chance to make this work, but it is going to be a 30 month thing. "
And I said we are going to ignore Canada ... They needed to get back to it (in Canada) through osmosis. Not by having it be in front of them, but by hearing about it in the background.
On the upside and downside of the band's humour:
"Why did I buy into this thing? Great songs, great live show. Everything else they had done had sucked.
They were known as a novelty act. How do you get through that? The way you show they are great at what they are doing is to play live. And rather than playing bars for the biggest dollar, which was what they were doing, was, let's do all-agers, radio shows, support slots. And let's go blow people away. ""Who the f--k is this band? Holy s--t!"" "
"Their humour is best used in a live context because their jokes are about something that has happened that day, or something national that everyone gets. When they play live, they are the best entertaining artists around. I'm not saying they are the best live artist, but they are the best entertaining artist. They can turn any situation into people laughing, having a good time, and even people who don't want to like them, walk away grudgingly giving them respect.
They are great live, and to do that, you have got to be a great musician. You have to be able to sing so people go: 'Holy s--t, Steve (Page) has got a great voice'!"" "
On the crisis when keyboardist Kevin Hearn was diagnosed with cancer, just as their 1999 breakthrough album "Stunt" was being released:
I can remember sitting in a hotel bar in New York, after everything had gone down, and we were about to start this album (Stunt"): What the hell are we going to do? That was the most bizarre meeting I have ever had.
They were just devastated. I could come in with an objective view, but they said: 'We have to do this for Kevin ... Kevin worked his ass off.' Quit his other job, bought into the situation when they were at their low, and helped them get it to this situation. This was about delivering for him. It became a cause. In retrospect, it was the best way to deal with it. Wrapping it up and going away, what would that have accomplished? There would have been nothing to come back to for Kevin.
On the group's practice of performing radio shows and private concerts for contest-winners in the U.S., to help them land airplay at key radio stations:
"I see contests of this nature as a chance for a fan to get close to a band, to do a one-on-one thing. Stations love it when an artist does this sort of thing, but it really makes it special for the fans. It is a huge amount of good will. A lot of artists don't take that attitude.
The reason I play that game is I am branding an artist to a station. Top 40 radio just plays the top 40 hits. How do you brand yourself to all the other stations and make yourself a core artist, so they play five or six different songs? That is how you go do it. "
"A lot of people see it about the current single. I see it as branding yourself to a station. Now we have got ourselves in a situation where two stations think they own us. That is a luxury problem. There are artists begging for those problems.
Sometimes they get wicked and a little stressful part of my life. But I would rather have that problem than be calling up people to get them to pay attention"". "
On the ritual of meet-and-greets, where people in each city file past to shake the artist's hands:
"A lot of artists won't do meet-and-greets before a concert. I have Coldplay do it. I have Dido do it. I have Sarah do it. No one is immune to it. Sum 41 does it. It is what you do.
If Garth Brooks can do it, anyone can do it. Put your ego in a bag and leave it on the bus. We work for a living. We are out there eight months a year, doing 80 hour weeks, working. That means you are doing a radio thing. The radio station politics can get ugly, but the fans just want the contest. This is unbelievable to them"". "
On the decision to release a BNL best-of album:
"They have had five albums. I want them to go away and take a year off. They are right on the edge of that burn. They have been going hard and heavy for almost five years now.
They have had three really big singles in that timeframe. I need them to go away. The best way to go away is to do a greatest hits"". "
On the decision to license the group's song "One Week" to Mitsubishi for a car commercial, and "If I Had $1,000,000" to a New York-based lottery:
That was part of the marketing around the greatest hits. Being that I wasn't going to drive a single, how am I supposed to let people know I have got something coming? How am I supposed to connect the dots that the band has done this song and that song? In my mind, it was a very classy way of doing it, and it doesn't burn the band any. (More on: The Barenaked Ladies).
CBC's upcoming "Life And Times" special on the band airs Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m(it was changed from the 8th at 7pm to the new date and time)
The Bare Naked Truth: The Life & Times of Barenaked Ladies
They are five guys from Scarborough, Ontario who started their musical careers jamming in their parents' rec rooms over a decade ago. Their smart, catchy tunes about suburban teenage life caught the ear of a generation, and today the all grown-up Barenaked Ladies are international pop music stars. The Bare Naked Truth is the revealing story of this unusual journey, featuring intimate access to band members and great music from exclusive concert footage.
Chip away the gloss and you are down to songs and you are down to people who write those songs. That's what the Barenaked Ladies are, says band manager Terry McBride. Funny and poignant, their music is gimmick-free pop at its best. The band's signature tune, "If I had $1000000," has become an anthem for their loyal fans, and still closes their live concerts today.
The Bare Naked Truth follows the band from its early days, when Toronto's mayor banned them from performing at City Hall because the band's name was deemed offensive. It was publicity money couldn't buy, and the Ladies never looked back. A string of popular CD's combined with an aggressive touring schedule has gained the band a loyal following in Canada and the U.S. But as they reached a pinnacle of fame in 1998, keyboard player Kevin Hearn was diagnosed with a life-threatening form of leukemia. Now in remission, Hearn is back with fellow band members Ed Robertson, Steven Page, Jim Creeggan and Tyler Stewart.
Like their fans, the Barenaked Ladies have grown up, and the documentary looks at the new pressures of juggling young families with the demands of rock stardom. To make careers and private lives compatible, a platoon of buses escorts the tours - one for each family. "There was a time when the road was the road and home is home and never the two shall meet," says Steven Page. "You can't survive that way because you end up leading two separate lives." From groupies to Huggies, the band takes success in measured strides, but then isn't that what you'd expect from a bunch of nice, Canadian boys?
Canadian Band Real PuckHeads
Thursday, December 20, 2001 - As the arena lights went down, five Barenaked Ladies sashayed on the ice, and the crowd went wild. Grown men whistled. Young girls shrieked.
The Colorado Avalanche will do anything to keep a streak of 310 sold-out home games alive.
The Barenaked Ladies love hockey players. Hockey players love the Barenaked Ladies.
When we meet hockey players, they all want to be rock musicians. And so many Canadian rockers grow up wanting to be hockey players, said Tyler Stewart, who should know.
Stewart was a hockey player until he became a Barenaked Lady.
The Barenaked Ladies are Canadian pop band with a wicked sense of humor as crooked as a hockey player's nose.
After recording a string of hit songs from "If I Had $1,000,000" to "One Week," the Barenaked Ladies have become the No. 1 U.S. import from north of the border.
From lead singer Steve Page to drummer Stewart, the musical quintet has been on the Top 40 charts more often than Patrick Roy's name has been engraved on the Stanley Cup.
On their way to a concert appearance in Denver tonight, the Barenaked Ladies dressed up in Avalanche sweaters and dropped in on Colorado's game against the Mighty Ducks. They performed the national anthem. Ours, not theirs. The singers didn't miss a note. And they knew all the players without a scorecard.
Patrick R-WAAAAH, Page excitedly screamed, as the Avs were being introduced.
If they had a million dollars, the Barenaked Ladies wouldn't buy a real fur coat. That's cruel. They'd buy season tickets to every hockey team in the NHL. That's cool.
The Barenaked Ladies are puckheads. And proud of it. All the five musicians need for their own team is a goalie.
I think hockey is the most fun sport to watch. It's a beautiful combination of finesse and brutality, Stewart said Wednesday night, as his bandmates warmed up for their one-song gig at the Pepsi Center by turning clothing from their dressing room into goofy hats.
To get exercise between performances, the band members don't run. They skate. It's in the genes.
Those guys have no choice but to love hockey. They're Canadian, Avs defenseman Rob Blake said after Colorado's 2-1 victory.
In Canada, Stewart added, "the three things that everybody talks about are politics, hockey and religion."
In that order? "Hockey might be first," admitted Stewart, who admires the Avalanche, but loves the Maple Leafs best.
Born near Toronto, Stewart pledged allegiance to the Leafs as a child. He has known all-star goalie Curtis Joseph since the ninth grade. Strangely enough, they met on a baseball diamond, not at the blue line.
Stewart was the pitcher. Joseph was the batter. And "Cujo" beat Stewart like a drum. If the pun fits, wear it.
First time I ever saw Joseph, recalled Stewart, "he hit a home run off me. A grand slam."
Stewart didn't get serious about trading in his hockey stick for a drum kit until he was 15 years old. "I was an agitator, sort of like Claude Lemieux, with a lot less talent," said Stewart, a forward who could talk some trash. "Everybody hated my guts on the ice. I was sandpaper to the other team."
And, this season, he finally made the NHL as a musician. The group recorded three tunes for the soundtrack of the EA Sports video game "NHL 2002." In appreciation, the computer programmed all the Ladies into the game's roster of players. Although Stewart is short and a little pudgy, game users can watch a drummer wearing granny glasses deliver a check with the bone-rattling force of Blake.
The Barenaked Ladies, however, have grown into all-stars in all sports. They have been invited to perform at the upcoming Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.
While Joseph will play for Canada at the Games, the goalie probably wishes he could jam with his buddy Stewart. Because being a Barenaked Lady is a hockey player's secret fantasy. Doubt it? Here's proof:
After finishing an encore at Madison Square Garden one night, the band bounced off the stage to a thumbs-up from Wayne Gretzky.
I've been following you guys for years, Gretzky shouted. "I'm a big fan."
For once, the ever-witty Barenaked Ladies were speechless.
You've been following us? Stewart stammered back at Gretzky. "Who are we? You're the Great One."
Barenaked Ladies plan to toast Guiness for Leukemia Society
"After a bandmate was diagnosed with the disease the band decided to help out."
Los Angeles-On November 30, Canadian rockers the Barenaked Ladies plan to play some tunes, life a pint and raise some money for a good cause.
That day marks the occasin of the 10th anniversary of the Great Guiness Toast, in which consumers 21 and older in participating bars and pubs attempt to break a record by having a huge, simultaneous toast. The current Guiness World Record stands at 450,000 participants.
This year, the event is linked to raising funds for The Leulemia & Lymphoma Society, as part of a monthlong promotion. Guiness has already pleged $100,000 to the cause, and hopes to raise $500,000 more.
DIAGNOSIS:The cause is close to the hearts of the Ladies, as one of the, keyboard/guitarist Kevin Hearn, was diagnosed with leukimia in 1998. He has battled his way back to health, but he hasn't forgotten the work of the dedicated scientists, doctors and researchers who helped him along the way.
So, on Nov. 30, the band performs at New York's Roseland Ballroomas part of a live pay-per-view special. Tickets for the show sold out in 10 minutes; it will be simulcast on radio through Westwood One.
"Do we need a good cause to drink to a Guiness?" Hearn asked."I think if you're going to do a promotional event with Guiness, you need a good cause."
Asked how his leukimia has changed how his fans viewed him, Hearn said "I think my illness and recovery is defiantly a big part of my identity now. I reviever alot of letters
and talk to alot of fans who are dealing with cancer or a serious illness n their family or with their friends.
Backstreet, BNL Showcase Greatest Hits
Artcle from katrillion.com:
(Katrillion) -- Isn't it strange how music lovers have to buy several
CDs from a favorite band just to hear a few hits?
Not this season. Fans of the Backstreet Boys, Barenaked Ladies, Pearl
Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Outkast and TLC will be treated to hits
compilation albums just in time for Christmas.
With the exception of Pearl Jam, whose "Hits" disc is due Oct. 23,
the Pumpkins, Outkast and TLC are keeping it simple with the same
title: "Greatest Hits." Outkast and TLC also share a Nov. 20 release
date.
Barenaked Ladies took their hits record to a new level by asking
VH1.com readers to vote on the 18th track for their Nov. 13
release, "Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits/1991-2001." The result?
Fifty percent voted for "Be My Yoko Ono" and 50 percent
picked "Alternative Girlfriend." The band has decided to include both
songs.
Although the Backstreet Boys insist their "Chapter 1," due to hit
shelves Oct. 23, isn't their last album, the same cannot be said for
Smashing Pumpkins, whose "Greatest Hits," due Oct. 30, is the group's
swan song.
Kevin Hearn article
(Katrillion) -- Barenaked Ladies keyboardist Kevin Hearn is following
the lead of Ben Folds by setting out to become a superstar in his own
right. .
Hearn is set to release "H Wing" on Nov. 6 with his new group, Kevin
Hearn and the Thin Buckle Band. .
The singer, who recently battled leukemia, said the music is darker
than BNL's lilting melodies like "If I Had a $1,000,000," "Pinch Me,"
and "Too Little Too Late." .
"It's like psychedelic alternative country," he said. .
The first single, "The Good One," was inspired by his bout with
cancer. .
"It's about going through things that are not pleasant for a good
ending," he said. "I wrote the record when I was going through cancer
treatment and it helped me get through it." .
Don't worry, Barenaked Ladies fans. The band's not breaking up just
because Hearn has a new project. .
The Canadian crooners, who release a greatest hits album Nov. 13,
plan to record a new album next summer.
KEVIN HEARN AND THIN BUCKLE H-Wing (Nettwerk/EMI)
Thinbuckle CD review: .
While battling leukemia, Barenaked Ladies keyboard player Kevin Hearn
spent a month in isolation in the H-Wing of Toronto's Princess
Margaret Hospital. The appropriately titled H-Wing is the product of
his songwriting therapy during this tumultuous time. Emerging cancer-
free, Hearn teamed up with former Look People bandmates Great Bob
Scott (drums) and Chris Gartner (bass), Rheostatics singer-guitarist
Martin Tielli and multi-instrumentalist Derek Aardy Orford. The
resulting band, Thin Buckle, add alt.country twang and oddball funk
and jazz touches to Hearn's maudlin vocals. Members of Barenaked
Ladies, By Divine Right and the Rheostatics add instrumental and
vocal support. Hearn's quirky lyrics range from humorous asides, he
feels like "Nick Rhodes without his gel" on "Driftwood" to direct
confrontations with his illness. "Mouth Of A Shadow" offers his most
enlightening lines: "Don't give in they'll say/ There's nowhere to
run anyway/I have decided to stay/And take on the shadow/That darkens
the day." While others would drown these lyrics in melodramatic song
arrangements, Hearn and company opt instead for minimal
instrumentation, letting the words carry their own power. It's this
Spartan aesthetic that makes H-Wing such an engaging listen. .
Darrin Keene .
Barenaked Ladies
by Jae-Ha Kim 8/13/01
Their overnight success took more than 13 years to happen, but the
Barenaked ladies have arrived. A band that gets a kick out of writing
lyrics such as, "i just made you say underwear", the Ladies will
perform Aug. 24 at the Tweeter Center in Tinley Park. Vocalist Steven
Page (middle of photo) called from the road to sound off on rental
cars, "Plante of the Apes", and why Debbie Gibson rules.
On My Day Off: I discovered the pleasure of renting a car. I'd never
done that before while on tour. For 30$, I got a Ford Escort that was
in terrible condition and drove around. Luckily, I have an uncanny
sense of direction so i was OK without a map.
The Last Movie I saw: was "Planet of The Apes". The first half is
kind of crappy. It had the most awkward dialogue I've heard in a long
time. But the second half was good. It was kind of like "Batman"
meets "Mars Attacks". The worst thing about movies is that we as an
audience are so jaded. We expect a lot and most can't deliver.
TV Stars: like us! Jason Priestly [of beverly hills, 90210] did a
documentary on us, and Eric McCormack [from Will and Grace] is a big
fan. We put him in one of our videos. Teen Dreams: have their place. I had a little bit of a crush on
Debbie Gibson. I was more into The Smiths than her kind of music, but
i did have a cassette of her "Out of The Blue".
My Bandmates: call me Poker-Face-Page because i can't keep a straight
face. When we're onstage, we're the best friends in the world.
Offstage, we give each other space. When you've been in a band
together for 13 years, you need to have a personal life away from
each other, too.
Barenaked Ladies Talk New Tunes For 'Greatest Hits'
Two of the new songs Barenaked Ladies (BNL) recorded earlier this
year in Toronto with producer Jim Scott are slated for inclusion on
Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 1992-2001, which is due out
November 13. The two fresh tracks are "Thanks For The Fun" and "It's
Only Me (The Wizard Of Magicland)." The latter track is also the
theme for the NHL 2002 video game, which--in addition to the song--
also gives players the opportunity to compete against the five
members of Barenaked Ladies, who are depicted wearing the uniforms of
their hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.
BNL's Ed Robertson tells us that the group was pleased that its
spring recording sessions with Scott were so productive, especially
since they were approached somewhat lightly: "It was more just
a 'Let's see what we get. Let's go in. Let's cram and write some
songs and go into the studio in a week and see what we can get done.'
We thought we might get a song or two, and we ended up with four, so
it was really cool. It was a fun and very creative experience.''
As previously reported, the other tracks slated for Disc One: All
Their Greatest Hits 1992-2001 include: "Brian Wilson," "Call And
Answer," "Enid," "Falling For The First Time," "Get In Line," "If I
Had $1,000,000," "It's All Been Done," "Jane," "Lovers In A Dangerous
Time," "Old Apartment," "One Week," "Pinch Me," "Shoebox," "Too
Little Too Late" and "What A Good Boy." The fan-chosen song for the
collection is a dead heat so far between "Alternative Girlfriend"
and "Be My Yoko Ono," and one will eventually be chosen for
inclusion.
Real Detroit Weekly news article
How many millions of albums have the Barenaked Ladies sold by now? If
their last release, Maroon, was any indication, these guys are
certainly not wondering what they'd do if they had a $1 million
anymore. With their yearly visit to Detroit, the Barenaked Ladies
have never let their fans down with their energetic, charismatic and
humorous live shows. If there's one thing these guys are known for,
it's putting on one hell of a performance. Steven Page, Ed Robertson,
Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart have worked so hard to
get to this point they have become a popular culture reference
point themselves instead of just singing about them and it could
not have happened to a nicer, more approachable group of musicians
and men. The band, which has been releasing albums since 1992, will
finally release their first greatest hits album this November.
Through keyboardist Kevin Hearn's back-and-forth battle with
leukemia, Steven Page's bout with alcoholism and the pitfalls of
being one of the most popular and "funniest" pop bands in North
America, BNL has persevered well beyond their humble suburban Toronto
beginnings. You've read the stories and heard the songs, many of them
described in the band's new authorized biography, Barenaked Ladies:
Public Stunts, Private Stories, written by Paul Myers (Mike's look-
alike brother). The quirky Canadian group also released the
documentary Barenaked in America (directed by Jason Priestly), and
their latest video for "Falling for the First Time" has just started
airing. The video stars comedian/actor Harland Williams who happens
to be Kevin's cousin. As you can tell, not much has been kept secret
in this band, especially their fine skills as chefs. Bassist Jim
Creeggan, tall and lanky as he is, loves his food, but he likes to
make it a challenge. I bet you didn't know he could cook almost as
well as he can play the bass.
"I like to feel like I'm a hunter or gatherer. I like to go out and
find it. A little forage," Jim said over the phone. "I chose the
double bass as my instrument and I think it's my nature to work hard
for my food or for my music. Just the fact that one feeds my soul and
one feeds my stomach." OK, Jim.
Recently Jim has discovered the Italian pasta dish gnocchi and his
rules for making it should be strictly followed. "I can't say I was
fully successful on my first attempt. When I first made it, I really
didn't know what it was supposed to turn out like or look like," he
said. "Since then I've started eating it, and it's not an amazing
food, but it's a very nice textured food, it's like mmm, num, num.
These little num, nums. I think gnocchi is my favorite thing right
now. You don't have to pick bones out of it; you barely have to chew
it. It's a nice little snack." Jim's had his practice now, the few
times he's been at home and had time to cook. "It's made out of
potatoes and flour. And sometimes you can make it with spinach but
you've got to make sure the spinach isn't too wet because the gnocchi
will be too mushy. It's got to have that spongy quality to it. It's
all about texture. I did hear the Italian moms and grandmothers, when
they cook they don't cook very fast. It's all about all day, making
the gnocchi. Slowly." Thanks, Jim.
And if that isn't enough for you to chew on before you see BNL
perform at DTE, you can revel in the fact that their stage set will
be just as crazy as last year's. They've still got the giant blow-up
thing, which Jim swears looks like Tyler. "It looks like Ty back
seven years when he had his dreads. He's got a big head already, it's
really blown up," and the giant Kiss-like BNL sign. But still no
pyrotechnics? Come on, guys. It's the only thing you haven't done on
stage. We've seen you with your pants off enough times. "We're
learning from our mentor Michael Jackson," Jim said. "I think we're
realizing that he took one for the team, for the rest of us in the
entertainment industry, when he got injured in the Pepsi commercial.
We are just paying attention to our leaders. I also think we have not
been modest in our BNL sign it's still with us but you have to wait
for that to come out in the show. I can't tell you when. It's not
always there it kind of comes out in a specific moment in a
specific moment that has the initials R and R.
Barenaked Ladies dress up their shows with antics
07/13/01
By JOHN SOEDER
Ed Robertson has resigned himself to the fact that some people are
never going to take his band seriously - at least not with a name
like Barenaked Ladies.
"We'll always carry misconceptions," he said. "We like to do silly
things. It's a whole side of who we are and we don't shut it out from
what we do. We goof around a lot. But it only serves to enhance the
depth that is also there."
In concert, these fun-loving Canadian pop-rockers routinely break
into cheesy Top 40 medleys, improvise hilarious raps and slip into
underwear that gets thrown onstage. They also dodge uncooked macaroni
tossed by fans in response to a line about Kraft Dinner in the rags-
to-riches ditty "If I Had $1,000,000," although the band has
attempted to raise awareness about the hazards of playing with
food. "Handguns are next," Robertson said.
Without going into detail, he promised more madcap antics when BNL
(as devotees refer to the quintet) performs Monday at Blossom Music
Center.
"It's going to be an unprecedented display of musical creativity and
live excitement," said Robertson, 30. He checked in by phone last
week from a lakeside cottage three hours north of the band's hometown
of Toronto, where he was enjoying some pre-tour R&R with his wife
Natalie and their children, Hannah, 5, and Lyle, 1.
"We try hard to make every show different," said Robertson, who
shares singing and guitar-strumming duties with Steven Page. The high-
school pals formed Barenaked Ladies in 1988. Rounding out the group
are drummer Tyler Stewart, bassist Jim Creeggan and keyboardist Kevin
Hearn.
Long before the rest of the United States jumped on the BNL
bandwagon, Northeast Ohio was a stronghold for the group.
"Because of the proximity to our hometown, we always crossed through
Ohio to get wherever we were going," Robertson said. "There are fans
in Ohio from way, way back, which is nice for us. The fans there have
that sense of history. We know we can play some older stuff . . . and
really stretch out."
They recently recorded four new tunes, possibly for inclusion on a
forthcoming compilation that will feature one CD of hits and a bonus
disc of B-sides and other rarities. They plan to head back into the
studio in March to begin work on a new album.
Their latest release, "Maroon," finds chief songwriters Robertson and
Page filtering their trademark sense of humor through a dark lens
on "Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel," a macabre love
song crooned from the perspective of a guy who just died in a car
crash. Toss in a couple of upbeat numbers about matters of the heart
("Go Home" and "Falling for the First Time"), a Burt Bacharach-style
ballad about a one-night stand.
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