Barenaked Ladies say new album inspired by struggles, departure of Page

[Liam]

Interesting article in the Metro

http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/entertainment/article/485213--barenaked-ladies-say-new-album-inspired-by-struggles-departure-of-page?pageno=1

Enjoy!

[AnotherHeartbreak]

Wow some real emotional things revealed there. Thanks for sharing, Liam.

[garyrulez]

That's a really interesting piece. I love how Ed is able to be so candid without coming off as dickish or arrogant.

[Appleblossom28]

That's a really interesting piece. I love how Ed is able to be so candid without coming off as dickish or arrogant.

I agree. He gets his point across without being a jerk.

[sandimas]

A really good interview.

I just hope that it doesn't become a public pissing match. I like the fact that Ed isn't running away from the subject or pretending it's not there.

[Anaria]

Jake, my partner, had interesting insight when I was talking about how they had referenced the idea of divorce. That 'with a divorce with 5 people involved you can tell who the dick was'.

I'm not saying anyone was a dick, that's just the way Jake talks. But I noticed that the stuff I've heard has been kind of like Steve is all self-conscious about what is going on and the rest of the group is just all 'it is what it is'.

Before people get on me about it; yes, just about all the info I get is from this board and I'm quite aware that I don't have the full picture.

[garyrulez]

Anaria, I am inclined to agree with your post (okay, I agree with Jake), but I'll just add this: we have to judge Steve's new album in light of some of BNL's "Steve" songs.

Who knows, he might ignore the whole thing, or he might write a whole album about it.

[Serendipitypaul]

Thanks for sharing this Liam, I with Gary, love the way Ed just bats it off the cuff. Can I also say Liam that I love your posts, You take all the hard work out of finding stuff especially being in the UK like me its hard to know when stuff is on. I must tell you this, I was at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday watching Them Crooked Vultures, I checked Twitter to see you had posted BNL were on Leno and it was on Sky, I then went to the Sky app on my Iphone and set the record button and watched it when I got home. Your like my PA and I dont even have to pay! Keep up the good work :D :D :D

[sandimas]

Jake, my partner, had interesting insight when I was talking about how they had referenced the idea of divorce. That 'with a divorce with 5 people involved you can tell who the dick was'.


Funny you should mention, because at the time that's exactly what it felt like for me: a big divorce with all us 'kids' caught in the middle.

Now that time has passed, I can see that it was all for the better. And now we're going to get the benefit of two great sources of music instead of just one. :)

[TequilaMockingbird]

I never knew Steve actually responded to "You Run Away"... can't help but wonder if he'll respond to anything else BNL-related now that the album is out?

[caycay]

I thought Steve made a mistake with those tweets and should have left it alone. It really isn't all about him and it does come off a bit self serving.

I find it interesting that a few people have said they are "off" of BNL because of You Run Away. Really? If Steve releases something on his upcoming album about his recent life experiences I would accept that. I like what these people say about life through their music. It's sort of the point for me...just my 2 cents.

[McGerkey]

I thought Steve made a mistake with those tweets and should have left it alone.

Well if that's the case then Ed probably shouldn't have written the song in the first place.

You Run Away may or may not be completely about Steve, but the fact remains that it is about him. It would be weird for him to just ignore it completely, and I'd rather read him tweeting about it than listen to some kind of BNL diss album.

Clearly Ed was frustrated about Steve's departure, and it's completely understandable that he, being a songwriter, would write a song about it. But I mean, you can't really release it as your first major label single in years and expect him not to hear and be like "Hey what the fuck is this shit?"

If anything I think Steve handled it well, publicly.

[caycay]

I can't imagine that Steve was shocked by this song. He perpetuates a pissing match by giving it attention, and so it goes. His choice to comment or not.
Doesn't change my fandom of him or BNL. I was just stating my opinion.

[Den of Antiquity]

funny you should mention, because at the time that's exactly what it felt like for me: A big divorce with all us 'kids' caught in the middle.

Now that time has passed, i can see that it was all for the better. And now we're going to get the benefit of two great sources of music instead of just one. :)

yay!! Two christmases!!

[swiss lady]

Can I also say Liam that I love your posts, You take all the hard work out of finding stuff

I second that!
GREAT work Liam!
(here, on bn.net, on Facebook, on the UK board, ...)
You rock!
:)

[TheHYPO]

yay!! Two christmases!!

The other one's actually called 'Hannukah'

[Amicustoall]

I guess to me You Run Away is about the end of relationships. While Steve leaving might have been the catalysis for the song at this time, it isn't a song about Steve. It is not like the song says Steve is a rat bastard because he left, I hate him and all that he stands for. In fact the song is very honest about the fact that it takes two people to have a relationship and two people to break it up, and responsibility is not put on any ONE person. So I don't see the song as a fuck you Steve song. I think Ed has been candid about the Steve connection to the song, and he has made it clear it was but one "break up" that is at the root of the song.
Now I have been a bit shocked by some of the comments "retaliating" against the song, and I personally find them distasteful. I have been a bit disappointed by some of them, as I have thought that some of the people making them were bigger people than they come across as from their comments.

[Den of Antiquity]

The other one's actually called 'Hannukah'

Nice!

Does that mean I get a dreidal and an X-box?

[PilotMal]

Here's a video interview, sort of along the same lines:

http://www.thestar.com/videozone/784180--barenaked-ladies

[Den of Antiquity]

I guess to me You Run Away is about the end of relationships. While Steve leaving might have been the catalysis for the song at this time, it isn't a song about Steve. It is not like the song says Steve is a rat bastard because he left, I hate him and all that he stands for. In fact the song is very honest about the fact that it takes two people to have a relationship and two people to break it up, and responsibility is not put on any ONE person. So I don't see the song as a fuck you Steve song. I think Ed has been candid about the Steve connection to the song, and he has made it clear it was but one "break up" that is at the root of the song.
Now I have been a bit shocked by some of the comments "retaliating" against the song, and I personally find them distasteful. I have been a bit disappointed by some of them, as I have thought that some of the people making them were bigger people than they come across as from their comments.

Great post, I'm 100% in agreement with the interpretation. I have had 3 very close friends in my life all melt down around me, for various reasons. Not 20-year relationships like Ed/Steve, but 4-5 year relationships. In all three cases I felt like I tried my best to hold it together for them, but it wasn't enough. I think a lot of us have had that happen in our lives and this song is about the emotion of that parting of the ways. I didn't get one bit of an "F*** you, Steve" from it.

Still, although it's a great song, I'm not sure it was the wisest decision to make it the first single. There's a certain audaciousness to picking that song first. Kind of like Tiger's first tournament back in golf being The Masters. It puts the past up on public display with a little too much, I don't know, blatant honesty, which is just kind of an uncomfortable thing to witness.

[Liam]

Thanks for sharing this Liam, I with Gary, love the way Ed just bats it off the cuff. Can I also say Liam that I love your posts, You take all the hard work out of finding stuff especially being in the UK like me its hard to know when stuff is on. I must tell you this, I was at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday watching Them Crooked Vultures, I checked Twitter to see you had posted BNL were on Leno and it was on Sky, I then went to the Sky app on my Iphone and set the record button and watched it when I got home. Your like my PA and I dont even have to pay! Keep up the good work :D :D :D
Sorry to interrupt, I know the conversation has moved on since this, but it really made me smile (thank you too, Barbara) - I'm glad I can help, it really is my pleasure.

[JaneInANutshell]

I still maintain that Ed is a class act. He's handled the whole thing very gracefully. Steve, on the other hand...well let's just say that he made it a big issue by commenting. Both parties involved can say whatever the hell they want and more importantly, write whatever the hell they want. However, I'm betting that if there's a song similar to YRA on Steve's new album that there will be no comment from BNL. Just sayin'.

[becky11]

Still, although it's a great song, I'm not sure it was the wisest decision to make it the first single. There's a certain audaciousness to picking that song first. Kind of like Tiger's first tournament back in golf being The Masters. It puts the past up on public display with a little too much, I don't know, blatant honesty, which is just kind of an uncomfortable thing to witness.

Totally agree. When I first heard it, I said to myself, "Really? THAT had to be the first single? Nice."...with a slight eye-roll at the end. I still like the song, and I get the reference to the relationship but I can see where it's not TOTALLY about him.

But, eh. Whatever.

[garyrulez]

I was curious too. Especially after hearing a couple of the other songs which (to my untrained ears) sound more commercial.

Having said that, BNL hasn't made so much of a blip on the pop charts since Pinch Me, and here we see them trying to crack the top 20 with this song, so what do I know?

[garyrulez]

Nice!

Does that mean I get a dreidal and an X-box?

Yeah, and some socks, and a disposable camera, and whatever else your parents have laying around the house when they realize it's only the 5th day and they've run out of gifts.

[Appleblossom28]

I still maintain that Ed is a class act. He's handled the whole thing very gracefully. Steve, on the other hand...well let's just say that he made it a big issue by commenting. Both parties involved can say whatever the hell they want and more importantly, write whatever the hell they want. However, I'm betting that if there's a song similar to YRA on Steve's new album that there will be no comment from BNL. Just sayin'.

Amen sister. Ed has been nothing but classy. I don't see why he should bottle up his feelings. He's releasing not dissing.

[amylee1178]

Interesting article in the Metro

http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/entertainment/article/485213--barenaked-ladies-say-new-album-inspired-by-struggles-departure-of-page?pageno=1

Enjoy!

The article isn't there anymore :( I'm trying to search the site, nothing yet.

[dq_29]

I know, I missed it, too! So bummed. :(

Wait...is this it or similar, at least? Click (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100323/entertainment/music_barenaked_ladies)

Barenaked Ladies say new album inspired by struggles, departure of Page

Tue Mar 23, 2:36 PM

By Nick Patch, The Canadian Press
ADVERTISEMENT

TORONTO - The Barenaked Ladies' first single following the high-profile exit of Steven Page was an anguished tune called "You Run Away," featuring frontman Ed Robertson singing about a fleeing friend and a broken brotherhood.

And Robertson isn't being coy about the subject matter.

If "You Run Away" sounds like it was inspired by the departure of founding member Page - sample lyric: "I tried to be your brother/ You cried and ran for cover/ I made a mess, who doesn't?" - that's because it was.

"It was absolutely inspired by some of that relationship," Robertson said in an interview outside the band's crammed Toronto rehearsal space.

"But it's not totally about him, you know. There are lots of moments on the record that come from dealing with that relationship. I worked with the guy for 20 years and I knew him for 15 years before that. It's a huge relationship in my life.

"That parting is like a marriage break-up. There was a lot, emotionally, to sort through."

That's been the theme of the past few years for a band that's gone through more than just the loss of one of its signature voices.

The Barenaked Ladies, whose public image has always centred on the sort of high-energy, goofy good disposition required by children's television hosts, endured a tumultuous period fraught with private and public disappointments.

Robertson's mother died and he crashed a small float plane near Algonquin Park. Then there was Page's drug arrest (the charges were eventually dropped) and the '09 announcement that he was leaving the band that he helped found more than 20 years prior.

Those involved at the time said that scheduling had become a headache for the band, and Page said he wanted to pursue solo opportunities. The parting was said to be amicable.

But following the January release of "You Run Away," Page seemed to take umbrage with the song.

After paraphrasing a line from the tune in his Twitter account ("He tried his best. But it wasn't enough," Page wrote), he responded to fans who lamented the apparently rocky relationship between Page and the rest of the band.

"That song was a pretty low blow, wasn't it?" Page tweeted. "I wish them lots of success, but it sucks being a target."

Robertson says he and Page haven't been communicating much since the departure (Robertson says he tried reaching out immediately after the split but says that, for now, their relationship is a "tough thing to bridge.")

But he insists he didn't intend to offend Page with the song.

"I would just say it's not a low blow," he said. "It's never intended as such. It's just a song. And it's not to him, for him, or about him. It certainly draws from that relationship but I don't do low blows."

Robertson doesn't bristle when asked about Page, greeting questions about the split openly and patiently ("It's not the elephant in the room," he says. "I don't mind talking about it at all.")

Similarly, if there's much discomfort for the Ladies stepping forward in their newly slimmed-down configuration on "All in Good Time," it scarcely shows.

The stark, black-and-white cover, which shows the quartet looking rather glum, hints at the yearning, introspective material within.

Themes of endurance and withstanding hardship are everywhere on the band's 11th studio album, from Kevin Hearn's brittle "Another Heartbreak" to the spiky pop tune "Summertime," on which Robertson asks: "How do we make it through the days? How do we not cave in and bottom out?"

And "The Love We're In," written after Robertson's plane crash, finds the singer feeling appreciative of life following his brush with death.

Robertson jokes that because the band is best known for breezy - even slightly silly - singles like "One Week," each of their albums, which incorporate a broader range of moods, have been greeted with the dubious designation of being their "most mature yet."

Except this time it might be true.

"This record is X-rated, it has to be," he says with a laugh. "Because this one actually maybe is more mature."

That's not to say it can't be fun, too.

The spritely rave-up "Four Seconds," for example, lays Robertson's rapid-fire non-sequiturs over a swaggering bedrock of mellotron loops and old jazz combos, making for an constantly surprising oddball of a tune.

It sounds spontaneous, a feeling that Robertson said characterized the songwriting approach behind the album.

"I think I've intellectualized the writing process a lot more in the past," he said. "With this record, I just tried to be more cathartic and more literal and more emotional and more raw. ...

"I'm really proud of everything Steve and I did together but you fall into patterns. I ended up writing trying to impress him and not just express myself, which can create really great things, that creative partnership. But I think we'd explored that, and this was a great opportunity for me to just breathe."

On April 6, the band will begin a two-month North American tour, with shows scheduled in six Canadian provinces.

In preparation for the spring trek, Robertson says the band has re-worked some old favourites that heavily featured Page's influence.

The band played their first live show without Page in Florida around a year ago, an experience Robertson called terrifying and "sort of like walking onstage with no pants."

And then? Well, once again, the Barenaked Ladies survived.

"I had this familiarity with Steve and I just thought, 'How are we going to do this?' What's it going to be like? Is it going to work?"' Robertson recalled.

"And then you walk out onstage and everybody's going nuts, and you realize: 'Of course it's going to work.' We've been in a rock band for 20 years, we know what we're doing, and all these people love it.

"We just realized we'd really been overthinking it. People were there to see a great show and that's what we do."

[Emmie77]

All I know, is that when BNL was in Cleveland doing a radio show, the DJ's in the morning couldn't stop talking about what a jerk Steve was. And I can kind of see it. Sorry, I said it!

[Cynful1]

Thanks for the posting dq.

[Appleblossom28]

All I know, is that when BNL was in Cleveland doing a radio show, the DJ's in the morning couldn't stop talking about what a jerk Steve was. And I can kind of see it. Sorry, I said it!

I think Steve just had to be the centre of attention ALL THE TIME! and yes that can come off as jerky. I can't help but love his voice. But Ed was always my favorite. Even if he isn't as strong musicially or whatever.

[Liam]

I think Steve just had to be the centre of attention ALL THE TIME! and yes that can come off as jerky. I can't help but love his voice. But Ed was always my favorite. Even if he isn't as strong musicially or whatever.
This confuses me - how did Steve "have to be the centre of attention at all times"? I've actually heard a lot of people talk about how shy and reserved he usually is in person. On stage, completely the opposite, but hey, he is an entertainer and that is what he is paid to do. I don't think he was ever any more "attention seeking" than any other front man of a band - or even any other member of BNL, in fact. :confused:

PS - Ed is actually a lot more skilled a guitarist than Steve, so I'd have to disagree there too - I think Ed is much more *musically* skilled, although not as vocally gifted as Steve.

Sorry - I didn't mean to pull your post to shreds, but it did confuse me a little...

[Liam]

Oh, and any radio DJ calling someone a jerk live on air probably needs to re-consider their professionalism, in my opinion. Especially about a situation that only 5 people are immediately involved in. If I was a local, I'd stop tuning in to that guy's show. He sounds like a jerk! ;)

[Amicustoall]

Apparently Liam does not listen to Howard Stern :)

[Liam]

The name rings a bell, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about him!

[sandimas]

Steve comes across in interviews as reserved and wary of folks, but not afraid to voice some definite opinions. I really don't think that's really self-centered or jerky, though I can see where others might think that. Ed comes across in interviews as the more open and eager to please of the two, but not afraid to stand up for something he believe in (hence, we still have a Barenaked Ladies).

Having said that, it seems a wonder that the two had stayed together for so long in a band, but actually, I think that's precisely why they were so good together: their personalities complimented each other very nicely.

As the old Dave Mason song goes: "There ain't no good guy/ There ain't no bad guy/There's only you and me and we just disagree."

Amen, gentlemen. Now go out and make some great music without each other! :)

[bayouBNL]

Very well said, sandimas!