The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Steven Page playing Music Box
Ex-Barenaked Ladies singer promises new, old songs
Although he departed Barenaked Ladies, Page still plays the old songs, alongside his solo material.
As if it wasn’t emotional enough for Steven Page to be reunited with his former bandmates in Barenaked Ladies for induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, they were introduced by Rush lead singer/bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee.
During the ceremony at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in March, Lee praised the band’s musicianship and “adventurous songwriting spirit,” and for demonstrating “that sense of humor that exists in our home and native land.”
In a phone interview, Page reflected, “It’s surreal that (Lee) paid any sort of attention to us at all.”
Page added that because he and BNL co-founder Ed Robertson used to make fun of the people in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, it would take some getting used to being part of the hall of fame “establishment.” Page and Robertson started the band in 1988, when they were 18.
Although he departed BNL in 2009 to strike out on his own, Page still plays the old songs, alongside his solo material, with a trio he’s in with guitarist Craig Northey and cellist Kevin Fox.
“It’s not nostalgia — it’s just a connection to times in people’s lives. I’m happy with my life. I’m happy with the people I’m making music with,” he said.
Page and his trio are touring to support his fourth solo album, “Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II,” which includes the single “White Noise,” a response to white nationalist rhetoric.
Barenaked Ladies had built a following in Canada in 1991, but became a national news story for having a New Year’s Eve set at Toronto City Hall canceled because officials took excep- tion to the band’s name. The irony, according to Page, was that the name was benign considering that it was the age of vulgar comedians Sam Kinison and Andrew “Dice” Clay, and that the band, in fact, believed in political correctness.
“For years we tried to downplay that. Now we realize, oh, that did help us,” he said.
When asked what led to his leaving the band, Page said that he had undergone “tons of life changes,” including a divorce and a move to New York. The members of the band were not on the best of terms either.
“We spent over a year arriving at gigs separately. They were getting ready to make a record, and I just didn’t have any songs. I did some long, hard soul searching. It took me some time to figure out who I was outside the band,” he said.
Who Steven Page was outside BNL involved projects in film, theater and more. He has composed six Stratford Festival scores, collaborated and toured North America with Toronto’s Art of Time Ensemble, was the host of a TV show called “The Illegal Eater” and became a “Chopped Canada” Champion last year.