Ladies’ man

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This article was published 08/07/2017 (3348 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twenty-five years ago this month, Barenaked Ladies released their debut CD, Gordon.

A quarter-century ago, the Scarborough, Ont., band also played the Winnipeg Folk Festival for the first time, and the two experiences are indelibly linked in drummer Tyler Stewart’s mind.  

“If I rewind 25 years and think about what 1992 was like, it was the craziest year of my life,” Stewart, 49, recalls. “The Gordon album came out that summer — either it had just come out when we played the fest or it was about to come out — and I remember we were a pretty big deal then… We thought, ‘Holy crap, this is our first album and it’s No. 1 and we’re playing all these big stages, big arenas all of a sudden.’ It felt like that was gonna be the way it was forever: ‘OK, we’ve arrived; we’re rock stars now.’”

Newly minted rock stars they may have been, but at the time, the then-quintet — Stewart, keyboardist/percussionist Andy Creeggan, standup bassist Jim Creeggan, singer Steven Page and singer-guitarist Ed Robertson — wore the folk mantle easily. The band members all played acoustic instruments, their strummier songs — If I Had $1,000,000, Brian Wilson, Be My Yoko Ono — were made for campfire sing-alongs, and at the festival they shared the main stage with the likes of Richard Thompson, Loreena McKennitt and the Oysterband.

“I remember because of our energy at the time, the old-school folk types who come to the festival were both excited about the possibility of this kind of folky band being huge and also a little bit pissed off at our… antics,” Stewart says. “It was this mixture of, ‘Oh, you guys are the great white hope, if only you’d settle down.’”

You might say the Ladies have settled down somewhat, if not quite to “elder statesmen” levels. All fathers in their 40s now, they long ago abandoned their boyish shorts-and-ballcaps stage attire; in 2008, they released Snacktime!, a Juno-winning children’s album. 

Andy Creeggan left the band in 1994; he was replaced by Kevin Hearn. In 2009, Page departed to pursue a solo career; the band continued as a quartet. 

What hasn’t changed, however, is their dedication to live performance, to making every gig feel fresh and fun. In an age where concerts are meticulously set-listed and choreographed into cookie-cutter banality, BNL shows are looser affairs, filled with ad libbing, off-the-cuff jokes and songs made up on the spot. It’s something that hasn’t changed from their early days.

 

 

“We tried to make friends with everybody; that was our gig,” Stewart says of their 1992 folk-fest show, “including the Tuva Ensemble, the throat singers from Tuva. I remember, I think it was during $1,000,000, Ed was like, ‘Throat singing’s not such a big thing; we could do that.’ Then he did this low thing (imitates guttural sound of throat-singing) and then Steve whistled over top of it — ‘See? What’s the big deal?’

“I remember this look of shock from some of the performers standing at the side of the stage, and a couple of the audience members. I looked over and saw the members of the Tuva Ensemble, these guys from Mongolia in their traditional dress, just laughing their heads off, totally getting the joke, so we felt vindicated.

“We were definitely young whippersnappers the first time we played folk festival.”

The band has weathered some storms since then. In 1998, Hearn was diagnosed with leukemia, which went into remission after treatment; in 2015, he battled oral cancer. Page was arrested in connection with cocaine possession in 2008; the charges were eventually dropped, but it cast a pall over the band’s image.

However, they’ve cheerfully adapted and soldiered on, touring endlessly on land and at sea (the band has hosted its own Ships and Dip cruises; next year they headline the Rock Boat cruise) and recording new material. A new album, Fake Nudes, is due out this fall. 

After three decades on the Canadian music scene, Stewart has some perspective what he thinks BNL’s legacy will be.

“We’re talking about two different legacies, I think — we’re talking about the fun, goofy guys in shorts, which was the first impression and which arguably was our biggest. Later on, the One Week era and to today in the United States, where we’re just another rock band. There’s no baggage associated with members leaving the band and that stuff; it’s just people who want to rock out and have a good time — and lo and behold, they still pay by the thousands to come see us.

“In Canada, I think it’s more, ‘Oh, those lovable goofballs.’ I totally think it’s a nostalgic thing… but I still think that they appreciate what they initially loved about us, which is our live show energy and our sense of humour.

“I could wax lyrical about how Ed and Steve are, were, some of the best songwriters in the country. It’s easy to say that, that we deserve a lot more respect. That is probably the case. But at the same time, we’re headlining the Winnipeg Folk Festival on closing night, so I’ve got nothing to complain about.”

In April, BNL released a collaborative album, Ladies and Gentleman: Barenaked Ladies and the Persuasions, recorded live in studio with the venerable New York a cappella group.

 

 

Hearn initially met the members of the Persuasions when they toured with Lou Reed (in addition to his solo career, the keyboardist was the music director of Reed’s live band in the early 2000s). He hit it off with lead vocalist Dave Revels and they discussed working on a project together; reuniting at the Velvet Underground founder’s funeral in 2013 re-ignited that spark.

“We had a gig in Central Park (in New York) two summers ago and they came and sang with us,” Stewart says. “We just sat backstage in the park at a picnic table, singing, all afternoon. It was such a great hang that we thought we should do it again.”

When the Persuasions found themselves in Toronto for a benefit show, the two bands went into the studio with producer Gavin Brown for two days; the result was an album of mostly BNL covers that contains what Stewart says feel like definitive versions of certain tracks.

“We perked right up,” Stewart says of the joyful experience. “It jumps off the tape, if you will. Those guys, they have the light and they bring the light.”

Speaking of joyful experiences, Stewart counts the Winnipeg Folk Festival among them. 

“I remember the vibe, I remember it being sunny, everyone hanging out,” he recalls. “If you look up ‘folk festival’ in the dictionary, I think Winnipeg is your shining example. I think it’s run well and there really is a community vibe.

“You’ve got a lot of hippies, which is great, a lot of folkies, and then you have this real commitment to music. The barriers and genres seem to disappear over the course of the weekend, and there’s so much interaction and genuine respect among the performers that it’s a really magical place to be.”

jill.wilson@freepress.mb.ca  

Twitter: @dedaumier