Interview: Barenaked Ladies

On October 5, 2006, members of the Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies treated me to an interview in Cleveland, Ohio.

Some of the songs on your new album go as far back as Maroon.  What made you decide to re-record those now when you had such a large amount of brand new material?

Ed Robertson: Being on our own was really liberating, and there were songs that we liked then but we never really had time to realize them. When you’re on a label, they have a lot to say about what goes on the record. We were listening to a compilation of songs we had never released or at best were B-sides, just songs that fell through the cracks.

We were listening to a collection of them in a dressing room in Boston one time and Jim said, “I think this is my favorite record by us.” It was all stuff we had never put out there. So when it came to making this record and we weren’t dealing with a major label, we decided we wanted to take the time with some of the songs that had slipped through the cracks and see them through.

In what other ways has being king of your destiny influenced your music on this new album and its follow up to be released early next year?

Kevin Hearn: Being kings of our own destiny, how has it influenced our music?  When we made this record, we produced it ourselves and we weren’t under a time constraint from a big label. It influenced our music in that we could just do it the way we really wanted to and felt like doing it.

Ed: I think it’s allowed us to be more adventurous and more nimble maybe…

Kevin: That’s good.

Ed: Thank you. In a pinch it will rhyme with thimble.

Have you ever had a song which you thought just rocked, but when you presented it to the audience, their response was not what you anticipated?

Ed: Oh Yeah.

Kevin: “Happy Birthday”.

Steven Page: “One Week,” the first time we played it.

Ed: Oh yeah. (Everyone Laughs) The first time we played it, it just wasn’t very good.

Steve: And that was in front of 50,000 people at RFK Stadium in D.C.

Kevin: Wow, really? That was the first we played it?

Ed: Yep.

Steve: I remember the dude from the label coming backstage and saying, “Boy, that new song really needs some work, huh?”

Ed: That’s right. Yeah, we never know what the reaction is going to be. We have gotten better and better at understanding what it takes to play something live. We didn’t really rehearse "One Week," we just got on stage at RFK Stadium and tried it.

Article Author: Josh Phillips

I am your everyday 17 year old. Between my attempts of world domination, I enjoy music, playing both the guitar and bass but not the bass guitar. When I am not watching Stephen Colbert I am watching the Detroit Red Wings…or coloring in my coloring books. …

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