Is it possible to make your best record 33 years into a career? That’s what may just have happened with Canadian legends Barenaked Ladies and their 2021 release Detour De Force. When I spoke with Ed Robertson for episode 2 of season 2, he himself seemed pleased with the results. The usual whistle-stop career chat is imbibed with Ed’s good humour and casual reflection. A Detour De Force indeed!
The Barenaked Ladies 2021 release Detour De Force traverses most of the band’s styles (i.e. a long list of genres) and is a masterclass in songwriting. It starts out with three BNL bangers before settling into something more reflective but typically varied, and never boring. While Ed Robertson remains the band’s principal songwriter and singer (co-founder and joint-lead Stephen Page left in 2009) the individual contributions from other long time members Jim Creegan, Tyler Stewart and Kevin Hearn are strong and lend the record some decent interludes - adding to a sense of a album as epic road trip. If it was the band’s last album (and we are not saying it is) it would be a grand finale, just because it has that sense to it.
When I spoke to Ed Robertson for episode 2 of season 2, he himself seemed pleased with the results on Detour De Force and explained how carefully the band had scheduled the record despite the irony of doing that at a time when few listeners have the attention span to listen to entire albums. But with these songs and the order they are in, the band has made another classic alongside their phenomenal debut Gordon (1992) and international claim to fame, Stunt (1998).
The in-between has been the usual roller-coaster ride (all in all BNL has made 17 albums in not including the early demos, live albums and compilations and occasional side projects). There is just so much, we barely touch on matters such as the departure of Page and the band’s steady successful transition to a four piece. But we do talk about their surprise success in the early 90s (yes, they worked at it in those early years despite what looked like a surprise success in their home country), the early days of signing to Sire Records, and how tough it was to make their sophomore album. The tough times continued through the 90s when things became something of a grind - to the extent that Ed Robertson was telling his manager of doubts about carrying on: “I could have made more money managing a McDonalds”.
Then came the big breakthrough with their song ‘One Week’ (a US Billboard number 1). Although he had written the song and taken the lead vocal (including that famous dexterous rap) Ed thought the idea of the record label to make One Week the lead single for Stunt, to be a joke. But then suddenly it all got very serious. The band’s peak came at a time of change for the record industry though, with Napster emerging as the century changed over and we discuss being experimented on by visionary manager Terry McBride in the post-Napster, digital music industry in which band’s cannot expect to ‘sell’ anything as far as records are concerned.
BNL are, among other things, brave. Not only did they encounter early controversy over that name, but they set out intentionally to put some humour into their music. When I suggest to Ed that music and comedy don’t always mix well, he retorts that it worked for another band he could barely remember “oh yeah, The Beatles!” Indeed, not unlike those cheeky lads from Liverpool, BNL became legendary for their witty band banter at live shows (what other bands did that through the 90s?) but went even further with improvised rapping and interchanging instruments just for the fun of it. They might make it look easy but the confidence that it takes is unquantifiable, and puts BNL in the big league for their ability to put on a live show, hence their latest tour pre-sold 120,000 tickets.
The band’s chemistry has survived line-up changes (even the departure of co-founder and principal vocalist Stephen Page) and more recently of course, the pandemic live music shutdown. See for yourself the band’s Selfie Cam Jams - definitely one of the better live streaming formats to come out of the COVID era ‘virtual’ performances. Once BNL returns to real live shows though, expect their dedicated audiences to be chanting along to new numbers like they’ve known them for as long as the classics. One senses that Ed and co will enjoy every minute without ever taking it for granted.
The Art of Longevity is produced by Audio Culture in partnership with Project Melody. Original music is by Andrew James Johnson.