Photo by Matt Barnes
Barenaked Ladies Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson and Tyler Stewart (from left) are touring the country on the Canada 1-Five-0 tour, celebrating Canada and the 25th anniversary of the album "Gordon." The band plays at the Esplanade Nov. 21.
Stan Ashbee
Special to the News
Touring Canuck Country earlier in November during the Barenaked Ladies’ Canada 1-Five-0 tour, the Canadian icons noticed a plethora of great live music venues.
“There’s smaller towns and they invest in good sounding quality theatres,” said Barenaked Ladies drummer and vocalist Tyler Stewart, from Camrose, smack dab in the middle of the tour earlier this month. “Where people can come hear great music, whether it’s local acts or touring acts. I really believe, with the advent of MP3s, downloads and streams and all that stuff, the real venue for discovery now is live music. And if you’re a good live band, there’s a lot of opportunities for you to get out there and play.
“I think maybe the Canadian music scene is doing pretty well, from what I can tell. All the posters up at these venues, there’s lots of acts touring and it seems to be a real thriving scene. I’m happy about that.”
Barenaked Ladies are currently on a trek in support of the band’s 15th studio album and latest release, “Fake Nudes” — with a return visit to Medicine Hat Nov. 21 at the Esplanade. The show starts at 8 p.m.
“I’m pretty excited about this tour because our buddy Ron Sexsmith is going to come with us,” he said.
“We’re very excited about the whole record and excited with the opportunity to get back out in front of people and play new songs and their old favourites — play the hits. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
According to Stewart, the Canada 1-Five-0 Tour was a chance for the band to celebrate its heritage going across Canada.
“This year was the 25th anniversary of our album ‘Gordon’ coming out in 1992. Back then we undertook a huge tour, where we played like 76 shows in Canada. It’s crazy, we never did it again. But, we were thinking what would be an interesting way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album? So, get back out into the country that created us,” Stewart said, adding the band played smaller venues and the fans were greatly appreciative.
Stewart added this year marked the first time “Gordon” was released on vinyl. In 1992, vinyl was obsolete and compact discs and cassettes were the medium of choice for many audiophiles.
“Now, those don’t exist either. Now vinyl’s back. Everything old is new again, to quote one of our own songs. It’s kind of interesting, the physical medium of sales for music now is vinyl. It’s kind of a delightful throwback. We’re happy to finally have work out on wax,” he joked.
The new LP, “Fake Nudes,” is probably one of the band’s most diverse recordings released, according to Stewart.
“I think there’s a real variety of different styles of songs and singers, etc. But, at the end of the day, I believe it still sounds like Barenaked Ladies. I think we have a unique sound and all of our fans over the years that have come to love us for that sound won’t be disappointed on this record. It gave us an opportunity to really spread our wings and stretch. After being in this band for almost 30 years for me, it’s a real pleasure to be able to go in and create new music and explore fresh ideas every time we make a record,” Stewart said.
“We’ve been playing three or four of them live and they’ve been going over really well. I think the thing is, they fit in with the rest of the catalogue. They don’t necessarily stand out or stick out like sore thumbs,” he added.
In the context of the band’s live show, where anything goes, Stewart said the new songs fit in quite nicely. At a BNL live show, “anything can happen,” said Stewart.
“We have almost 30 years of music to choose from — so, there’s lots of songs. There’s also our penchant for improvisation and especially to try and make each other laugh on the stage, which I think translates well for the show,” he said.
Barenaked Ladies is comprised of Ed Robertson (guitar, vocals), Jim Creeggan (bass, vocals), Kevin Hearn (keyboard, guitar, vocals) and Stewart on drums and vocals. Next year, marks the 30th anniversary of the Grammy-nominated and multiple Juno Award-Winning Toronto-based band. Some of the band’s multitude of hits include “Enid,” “Be My Yoko Ono,” “Brian Wilson” and “If I Had $1,000,000.”
Tickets, starting at $74.45 plus service charges and GST, are available online at http://www.tixx.ca, by calling 403-502-8777, and in person at the Esplanade box office or the Medicine Hat Mall customer service desk. Every ticket includes a digital download of the new album, as well as a $1 MusiCounts donation.
