Barenaked but thriving
Toronto gig a career high for rockers
Barenaked Ladies have had a roller-coaster of a career in the last 27 years, but for drummer Tyler Stewart, it’s going to be hard to top what happened during a concert in Toronto earlier this week.
The fun-loving Canadians were joined by an unlikely guest, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, who led them in a fiery version of his smash ’80s hit, We’re Not Gonna Take It, electrifying the sold-out Massey Hall audience. Egged on by Snider’s intensity, the band rose to the occasion by rocking out like never before, especially Stewart, who can be seen in the video bashing the drum kit with gleeful abandon.
“That was certainly a career highlight,” enthused Stewart, still giddy over the incident during a phone interview a couple of days later. “Dee is a force of nature. When he came out, it was like the roof blew off of Massey Hall. Our sound man said he had to bring the level of the band up because Dee was singing so loud.”
At the end of the song, Snider leaped on the drum riser, eyeballed Stewart as if to express his respect and jumped back down.
“That was absolutely the best rock ’n’ roll moment of my life,” declared Stewart. “Dee is 60 years old, he’s in incredible shape, doesn’t smoke or drink and he absolutely lives to rock. To be on stage with somebody like that was so incredibly powerful.”
Snider, it turned out, was in Toronto to mount a production of his Rock & Roll Christmas Tale in the Winter Garden Theatre. The Twisted Sister singer and Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson know each other from past musical projects, and were texting each other when the idea came up for Snider to make a surprise appearance.
“It was inspiring to do that with him,” Stewart said. “I felt like it was some sort of completion of a teenage dream circle. We grew up watching music videos in the ’80s and dreaming of being rock stars. Dee obviously was a huge part of that with the Twisted Sister videos. He’s a great, incredible performer.”
The encounter was the icing on the cake of the band’s most satisfying Canadian tour in years. It appears that Canadian fans are finally ready to not only accept the band as a four-piece, almost seven years after the departure of co-founder Steven Page, but also to let them grow up.
That was absolutely the best rock ’n’ roll moment of my life ... To be on stage with somebody like that was so incredibly powerful.
For a long time, the Ladies were pigeonholed as a youthful act with gimmicky songs. “(People) still saw young men in shorts and brightly coloured clothes jumping around singing Be My Yoko Ono,” says Stewart, reflecting on the band’s early years. “We were everywhere then. It was the pre-Internet age and we dominated the mainstream media for a few years and sold millions of records. First impressions often stay the longest.”
When they achieved popularity in the U.S., thanks in part to the success of Ladies-penned theme song to the hit TV series, Big Bang Theory, Stewart says the lack of baggage south of the border was refreshing.
“We could just play the hit songs that people know us for and have a steady career,” he said. “We always felt like we had to be proving ourselves the last few times in Canada. Then we go to the U.S. and no one cares about who’s in the band. They want to have a great show and they’re up on their seats from the first downbeat.”
On this tour, however, the reception has been welcoming across Canada, a sign that fans are prepared to embrace the band in its current form. “I think this tour has demonstrated to us, from the warm, honest response of people on their feet applauding, that maybe they finally are (accepting us),” Stewart said.
And let’s not forget the terrific new Gavin Brown-produced album, Silverball, full of well-crafted pop songs brimming with the flourish of electronic sounds. Songs like Duct Tape Heart, Get Back Up and Say What You Want make it clear that this is a band reinvigorated, ready to triumph over any adversity.
The big challenge they faced in making the album was the recurrence of band member Kevin Hearn’s cancer. A survivor of a 1998 bout with leukemia, this time Hearn underwent treatment for an oral cancer. One of his songs on the album, Tired of Fighting with You, expresses his weariness at battling the disease. His health is good now, but the treatment schedule put some pressure on the album. “We kind of fast-tracked the process so that we would have Kevin available,” says Stewart.
“It was a really intensive, quick creative process, and that’s a great way to make a record. We all really came together and made this great album at the same time that Kevin was going through a pretty heavy experience.
“He’s a bit of a graceful warrior when it comes to dealing with life’s challenges because he’s been through so much with the cancer treatments in the past. It’s also been eye opening for us as a group. Obviously it’s brought us closer together. Right now, I have to say we’re at our strongest we’ve ever been. We’re four guys who really want to do this and who are there for each other and respect each other. It really shows on our records, and in our live show.”
The NAC Presents concert featuring the Barenaked Ladies with Alan Doyle on Saturday night is sold-out.
We fast-trackedkind of the process so that we would have Kevin available. It was a really intensive, quick creative process, and that’s a great way to make a record.