Interview: Barenaked Ladies

With their live album BNL Rocks Red Rocks out now, a UK tour about to start and studio time planned for October, Barenaked Ladies are as active as ever. Drummer, Tyler Stewart did, however, find time to call us up – as he is a fan of ‘Figslutz’, apparently – for a chat that proved their passion, and sense of humour, certainly hasn’t faded.

But for a band that are well known for their live performances, a live album seems odd. How does it translate?

“I mean no matter what, live is always better; whether you’re at a concert or, I dunno, standing in front of the Grand Canyon, or trying to take a picture of Big Ben. But if you’re a fan of the band you get it, and you know that you couldn’t possibly put all of the spontaneous improvisation – the quips, jokes, laughs – on a record. We have to be selective about what we put on it, but at the same time the idea of a band playing live, the energy that comes from those songs by being in front of 10,000 people, if you do it right, it translates. And I think being live at Red Rocks we really managed to capture that.”

For Barenaked Ladies, BNL Rocks Red Rocks is just another addition to their career of exciting ways of connecting with fans. Between their Ships and Dips cruises and interactive press kits, the band have been breaking down the barrier between performer and audience throughout, but Tyler’s adamant they’re not done yet. “We’ve always talked about doing different things. We’ve actually discussed trying a camp next! Like an outdoor music festival where people come and stay in a camp-like environment where we can just wander round and interact with people. And we’ve discussed TV shows too.”

A real connection with the fans is obviously something Tyler (and the whole band) really stand for. “Access is so instantaneous now…And it makes the live concert experience even more precious. More than ever I’m really appreciating the notion of getting out there and putting on a really good show for your fans.”

Thus arises the issue of mobile phones at gigs. A contentious topic, and one that Tyler definitely feels strongly about. “People sure like to put a screen between themselves and us judging from the amount of devices held up at gigs. It’s just so weird! If the person next to you is also filming, chances are that’s going to be in YouTube. If you get their email address they can just send it to you. People who used to be dancing and jumping up and down stop, and start viewing it through a small screen. It’s a strange phenomenon. But I guess it’s here to stay until people get screens implanted in their eyeballs…”

Sure, the nature of the gigs might be changing, but are the fans changing? “I see younger people all the time! Our original generation of fans have grown up and had kids, and sometimes I recognise grown people who were tiny children at one point in the crowd. Sometimes we get three generations of people in a crowd. I feel blessed that anyone under the age of 30 gives a shit!”

It’s silly to put a divide though; music should be something that can cross generations. And it often seems to be older people snubbing younger people for their tastes… “I try not to be that kind of dad. I have teenage girls and they went to see Drake. They had the time of their lives – Kanye came out and Rihanna came out. They were texting me and sending me pictures. I wanna be supportive of that, and people need to understand that it’s not all for them.”

Age might not be an issue, but is distance? “I feel like in the UK we have very loyal fans. They’ve been coming to see us for years. We had a heyday in the UK towards the turn of the millennium where we played Wembley Arena and there’s some people on the last tour who I hadn’t seen in 10 years and they’ve come back! Across the board, no matter where we are, our fans are the best. They enjoy themselves and they have good taste. Boothby Graffoe has opened up pretty much every UK tour and last time he didn’t but everyone just said they missed Boothby.”

Whether it’s supports or bandmates, working with the same people in such a close environment for 28 years is something most people would definitely struggle with. How do Barenaked Ladies survive? “A lot of group, mutual oily handjobs.” To each their own, I suppose, although the real answer’s much more sensible. “We’ve developed mutual respect for each other. If on the road someone’s driving you crazy you just get the hell away from them. And then maybe that night on stage you’ll fall in love with them again. We’re all grown men now – or at least that’s what our passports say – and we know how to navigate each other. We can survive. And we’ve got a healthy workplace now where people can say things without feeling judged, or whatever. If it ain’t broke… it’s about to be broken”

Tyler laughs, and he can, because it’s clear BNL are far from broken. 28 years on and they still seem as solid as ever, but has there ever been any underlying pressure to ‘beat’ their initial success, so to speak? “I feel like you work so hard on everything you do that it’s hard to gain any perspective on what’s good and what isn’t. You just try to do your best every time. When we started out in Canada we sold a million records on our first album which was unheard of at the time – especially for a bunch of goofy guys in shorts jumping around. Our career took a dive but we came back again in the late 90s and had more success than we’d ever imagined. When you’re working all the time, it’s hard to even notice success. You define your success as ‘Am I happy, am I doing what I love and am I putting food on the table?’”

And are you still doing what you love? “I think I’m enjoying it more, I have the perspective and wisdom to enjoy it. I know how to, in the middle of a show, to go ‘oh shit, this is awesome!’ instead of just thinking how tired I am, or about how our single didn’t do as well as I thought it was going to. I have to appreciate that I’m a 49-year-old, bald, father of 3 who people still scream enthusiastically for.”

It’s something the rest of us can only hope for when we’re 49. And while people are still screaming, Barenaked Ladies are going to keep doing exciting things. “After the UK tour we’ve got a bunch of shows in Canada and the US. Then we’re going into the studio with an a capella vocal group called The Persuasions and record a bunch of songs with them. That’ll be new. They did a few songs with us at a show in New York and they’re writing a few arrangements of BNL songs so we’re going to record those with them.”

That can be expected when it’s “ nicely baked. Lightly crispy brown, not overdone and not underdone”, as Tyler puts it.

Until then, Barenaked Ladies will be making their way around the UK.

Dates:

Sep 02 – O2 ABC, Glasgow
Sep 03 – Bingley Music Live, Bingley
Sep 04 – Bournemouth O2 Academy, Bournemouth
Sep 06 – Tramshed, Cardiff
Sep 07 – Liverpool O2 Academy, Liverpool
Sep 08 – Cambridge Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Sep 09 – Roundhouse, London

Melissa Svensen
@MelYeaahh

Melissa Svensen

Melissa Svensen

Melissa, 22. Editor. Student, music journalist, probably talking about Blur or Bowie