Hello
Nine years is a long time. The Barenaked Ladies haven't been in the
same room as their former frontman Stephen page since their split in 2009
even now they aren't being interviewed in the same place at the same time but
they're about to perform together. You have to wonder how's that going to go?
Fulfil fist fight, choreographed, yeah choreographed, it's gonna be like a Batman episode.
Joking is sometimes an easier way to deal with the awkward.
For me, I'm not looking at it like time to rehash everything or like I'm just going for the celebration.
Even they admit, they're not sure what to expect.
Seriously until we get into the same room together at the end of the month at JUNO time
I don't think we're gonna know.
It's been three decades since the
fresh-faced performers solidified their image as a group of buds.. just having fun
Hi we're Barenaked Ladies and we're a little too cheap to make our own video
so here you go.
Their first video shot for a buck in
Toronto speakers corner convinced fans they didn't take much seriously
But when it came to building their success it's the hard work and sacrifice they remember.
I moved the date of my wedding because we got in, I don't
even remember what it was now but we got some gig that might have been important
to the career of the band so... How did that conversation go over?
It was not easy.
Also not easy, a big blow at the peak of their career.
I also apologized to all of those
I have hurt or embarrassed during this episode.
Paige was arrested in New York
for cocaine possession. It was the beginning of the end
seven months later the band abruptly splits.
It's been 10 years that people ask what happened.
Why do you think people are still asking that 10 years later?
Well I think because people had their own
vision of what the band was and what the relationship was between the band
members and people are nostalgic for their own impressions of what that thing was.
It's an intense sort of relationship, personal and creative and business-wise so we tried to deal with
it in the best way possible.
You think of it as like a group of brothers or a group of buddies
but it's all it's almost more like a marriage and it couldn't hold on anymore.
But it's a breakup fans have long been reluctant to accept.
It's like every day
there's somebody who says, just suck it up and get back together like as if like
someone was ever gonna say to anybody else suck it up and go back to your
ex-wife even though you've moved on and you're remarried and you've got kids or
whatever else it is.
And both sides have moved on. Steven page with a solo career sometimes pairing with
other musicians.
The Barenaked Ladies currently on tour performing songs from their new album is
a classics too - including this early fan favourite
That's a song we played right from the beginning maybe even that song was
beginning of the band.
It's a song they still perform every night but for Paige
it's one of the few he's dropped from his set.
For me it's special it's a
duet between me and Ed and I always thought it would feel weird and would sound weird
to the audience too if I was saying it either on my own or with somebody else.
To celebrate their induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, they'll sing
two songs.
Neither side have said which ones but
they aren't worried about that part.
There is a certain chemistry within the band
musically that that was always there and I believe will always be there.
Playing music together on a stage easy.
Is it a one-off?
Right now. I suspect so.
That sounded a diplomatic but...
One day at a time
I don't think they have any desire to have me back in the band I know I don't
have any desire to be back in the band but if there are opportunities to
collaborate and we like this and we enjoy it like there's no rules saying we
can't it's all just a matter of whether we want to do it or not.
Get over the first hurdle.
Yeah, let's try it.
So they'll start with one night of fun,
one night to remember their past together,
where it goes from there is unknown.