Barenaked Ladies on new album and "partying like it's 1999"
The Barenaked Ladies have been cranking out songs and pulling onstage antics for a whopping 25 years. And now the guys who brought us "One Week" and "Pinch Me" are celebrating their quarter of a century in music with "Grinning Streak," a new studio set, released this week on Vanguard.
Singer/guitarist Ed Robertson said the new music is energetic and spontaneous, and the writing came quickly. BNL came up with a lot of songs throughout the writing process, but not all of them found a place on "Grinning Streak," the follow-up to 2010's "All in Good Time." "A lot of the songs that didn't make it are great songs; they just didn't fit together," said Robertson, who hinted that those tracks could end up elsewhere.
One of the songs that did make the album, though, is "Boomerang." It's the lead single from "Grinning Streak," and the accompanying video is already out, thanks to a little bit of help from Barenaked Ladies fans.
They asked fans to submit original films for the track. "Normally you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a video -- back in the day anyway, and you never knew if it was good or not," said drummer Tyler Stewart. This time, they had the chance to see the finished product beforehand. They narrowed it down to 20 or 30 segments, eventually choosing a video from a U.K. submission with hand-drawn animation.
"Boomerang is one of the tracks the guys will play on the upcoming "Last Summer on Earth" 2013 tour. Barenaked Ladies will headline the gigs, with Ben Folds Five and Guster as tour support. Sounds like a '90s music lover's dream, right? Robertson says they all plan "to party like it's 1999." And with a tour lineup like that -- that can't be too hard to achieve. Fans can expect some collaboration from the bands onstage, too.
When asked how he'd like to spend his real "last summer on earth," Stewart joked, "I want to be doing this tour, but I also want Beyonce to be my wife." Robertson added, "You know who else wants that? Men."
Not surprisingly, the members of the Canadian pop/rock band, which also features bassist Jim Creeggan and keyboardist Kevin Hearn, still crack plenty of jokes on the road. Stewart said Robertson "constantly winds everyone up at all times, which is both annoying and amazing at the same time because you can get pretty inside yourself on the road because there's very little space, but with Ed there, you're always laughing."
For Barenaked Ladies, it's hard to believe that it's been 25 years since the release of "Gordon," the band's debut album.
"You never really know," said Stewart. "You're working so hard putting all of your energy into it and suddenly 5 years has gone by or 10 years. That's what 25 years feels like for me, 'Wow we've been working!' And it's good. Not to mention all that stuff in the background -- your kids growing up and still with the same partners, amazing wives."
Robertson chimed in, "I just got a call from daughter. She just got her driver's license in Toronto. And then says, 'OK, Daddy, I love you. Good luck with your interview.' It's like, 'Wow, this is my life.'"
For more on Barenaked Ladies, check out the video above where you can watch Robertson and Stewart make up a pretty darn good freestyle song on the spot.
