Barenaked Ladies Transcript

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Tyler: Hi Melissa!

CONFRONT: How are you?!

Tyler: Can you hear me okay?

CONFRONT: Yes I can! Can you hear me?

Tyler: Yes I can, indeed. I just have you on speakerphone for a minute while I put on my socks!

CONFRONT: *laughs* that’s alright, I have you on speakerphone too!

Tyler: Alright! Speakerphone JAM!

CONFRONT: Yes it is! So how are you today?

Tyler: Pretty good, thank you!

CONFRONT: Great! Well it’s really nice to meet you, thanks for taking the time to talk with me for a few minutes. So you guys are just starting up a tour for your newest album ‘All In Good Time’, right?

Tyler: Yes!

CONFRONT: Are you guys excited, any expectations?

Tyler: Well we’re very excited! The album has been done since August. The title of the album is kind of a reflection of that. It should probably be called ‘It’s About Freaking Time’! *laughs* we’ve been sitting on this thing since August so we’re very excited to have it out there and get some feedback… Show the world the new 4-piece Barenaked Ladies.

CONFRONT: Yeah for sure. What do you guys do prepare for a big tour like the one you’re about to go on for this album?

Tyler: Well, steady regiment of protein shakes, push-ups, and colonic cleansing.

CONFRONT: Gotta stay in shape….?

Tyler: I was just kidding! Although I wish I wasn’t, we’d probably put on a lot better shows… I think that it’s probably just really gearing up for being away from our families which is, after 20 years of doing this, doesn’t get easier oddly enough. Aside from the psychological elements of men in our 40’s getting ready to sleep on a tour bus for the next 4 month… and trying to anticipate the aching back and all the other diva-like complaints that come with being a man in his 40’s not in his own bed, we’ve been rehearsing the songs and preparing riffs and ideas for exciting moments on the stage. Essentially putting our heads together and coming up with one heck of a show!

CONFRONT: Yeah, for sure. Well I’m sure a lot of people are excited to see what you guys have in store! Do you guys have any pre-show rituals that have stuck over time?

Tyler: No we don’t have a prayer circle or anything like that, not like Madonna has!  For a while we would have some delicious single malt scotch whisky. We would each pour a mouthful into a glass and have a little cheers before we all go on. It kind of braces the vocal cords for the evening as well. You know, we kind of just look at each other and say the word ‘show’. It’s short hand for ‘have a good show’ but it’s the classic male thing, right? You could just grunt or pat each other on the butt or that kind of thing…Something that doesn’t require a whole lot of communicative thought. We like to eliminate all of the superfluous stuff and focus on what matters- so we just look each other in the eyes and we just say ‘show’.

CONFRONT: Well, that’s a good ritual! You all know what to expect and I’m sure you all have a good show after!

Tyler: Well, it all depends! Some nights it’s great, other nights it’s not that great. I can’t honestly remember a terrible show we’ve done, there’s some shows that are better than others but I think it’s a Hallmark of Barenaked Ladies… Something that we really are committed to: great live shows. It’s the most fun part of the job. That and of course interviews, on a Tuesday morning.

CONFRONT: *laughs* of course! At 11:30AM

Tyler: Yes! Absolutely

*we both laugh*

CONFRONT: Just talking about the new album a little bit, what was your inspiration, or the inspiration of the band behind the single ‘You Run Away’ and the music video?

Tyler: Well the video, it’s a big story because our pal Bill Harter who is a film direction formerly based in Los Angeles now based in Minneapolis, he’s a guy who we’ve worked with over the years; he did the ‘too little too late’ video… he’s a very whimsical guy and also very creative, so this video was shot on a 35MM digital camera… you know a camera you normally use for taking photographs. That just goes to show you how far technology has come; the fact that a digital camera can look as good as a really expensive film camera.

CONFRONT: That’s crazy!

Tyler: Yeah, its nuts! That’s technology! So we’re very happy with that video. The song, it’s about the end of a relationship essentially. Obviously that was something that was on our minds when we decided to move on without Steven… and it certainly formed the song, but it’s not entirely about that. It’s more a universal theme about the disappointment that comes after you’ve tried to save a relationship or you tried to work things out, but ultimately people end up going their different ways. It’s one side of the situation and I think most people can relate to that if they’ve ever ended a relationship.

CONFRONT: Yeah, definitely. Well it’s a really fantastic song. Congrats on that! Do you have any personal favorites of the new album?

Tyler: Yeah, well it’s one of those things where they’re all newborn babies for us! We’re really, very excited. Also, because the record was made at such an interesting and pivotal time for the band, it was a really uniting time, a time of coming together and also of intense creativity. I think that’s really reflected in the recording… it jumps off the digital medium of your choice *laughs* but I think it really jumps out of the speakers, and that sense of creativity and new found energy… I mean, we’re known for our energetic and upbeat songs and there’s obviously a few of those on the record but there’s also some more emotional and textural songs on this record. I think they go quite nicely along with some of the more pop-ish songs. So I’m really happy with a number of our achievements on this record. If I had to pick; I really love the song 4 seconds because it’s so weird! It’s like Eastern Europe meets hip-hop. It’s like that Serbian beer-hall feel, right along Jamaican dance hall! So I really like that song.

CONFRONT: Well, I’m really excited to hear it!

Tyler: You haven’t heard it?!

CONFRONT: No, I haven’t! But I’m really excited

Tyler: Good God! What good is that!

CONFRONT: I know! *laughs*

Tyler: You must hear it immediately! DEMAND A COPY!

CONFRONT: I will demand it! Right away! No, but I really am excited to hear the album very soon. So where would you say the bands’ biggest inspirations come from when you guys go into writing music?

Tyler: I think from within is the first answer. I think we’re inspired by the things that happen to us and the things that we observe. I think that in terms of musical inspirations, it’s very vast. This group has a ton of influences. From people like Lou Reed who we’ve been playing with recently, and some more experimental music for Ed; you can hear the country influence in his writing. Jim Creeggan: classical and jazz, and myself a whole lot of Led Zeppelin and Stones and stuff. So I think between all of us we probably listen to all music. It makes things really interesting directing room because it can put a selection of all of our tunes on and have an incredible listening experience- it’s pretty amazing. I think that in terms of the vast musical power of the group, inspiration can come from anywhere, any given day. For instance, there’s a song on the record THAT YOU HAVEN’T HEARD called ‘Every Subway Car’, and it’s about a graffiti artist who declares his love for his girl all over the city in bright vibrant color. But initially Ed wrote the song in an opening line that said ‘all night long I love that song. I know you do too’. And he’s talking of course about the Lionel Richie classic, ‘All Night Long’. So it was a song about two Lionel Richie fans falling in love. Then he kind of woke up, shook his head and said ‘I can’t write a song like that!’ The inspiration for that comes from none other than Lionel Richie!

CONFRONT: That’s fantastic! That’s so cool that you can get inspiration from everyone and from everyday life and everything around you guys.

Tyler: Absolutely!

CONFRONT: So there Barenaked Ladies have been together for two decades now, which is an amazing accomplishment. What would you say is the most important lesson that you’ve learned over your time with the band?

Tyler: My most important lesson over twenty years of being in Barenaked Ladies…

CONFRONT: Yes

Tyler: Respect. I’d say respect. Respect for different points of view, and respect for different ways of doing things, because when you live in a small confined space; whether it be a tour bus or a dressing room or an airplane, or a rehearsal space with three of four other guys, you have to learn how to give them space. Give yourself space and give them space- and that’s based on respect and respecting people’s personalities, their needs and their wants and giving them the respect they deserve. I think that’s the most important thing I’ve learned in over 20 years.

CONFRONT: That’s definitely a really good lesson to learn.

Tyler: That and… cradle the balls and work the shaft.

CONFRONT: Okay! Why not!

*laughter*

Tyler: You don’t have to put that in there if you don’t want to. But you can if you want to! It’s good advice.

CONFRONT: Why not, why not?! Moving on… What’s the most rewarding part about being a musician?

Tyler: I think collaboration: getting to work with all kinds of incredibly talented and creative people. And to me that starts within my own band. The three guys in my band, well, even Steven, over the first 20 years of the band; they’ve all been incredibly creative and interesting people. And getting the chance to collaborate with such talented individuals is absolutely the best part of the job. If you take outside of the band, some of the producers we’ve worked with, or video directors or actors  or painters- people who’ve done  artwork and stuff for us; it’s absolutely the best part of the job, getting to meet and work together and collaborate with these people because it’s astounding the talent that people have. Getting to share that and be a part of that, to me, is a dream come true.

CONFRONT: Yeah, definitely. What about for upcoming artists out there, what kind of advice would you give them if they’re looking to make it in the music industry?

Tyler: To young bands I would say: cradle the balls and work the shaft-

*laughs*

Tyler: To upcoming artists out there, I would say: BE GOOD LIVE. Be. Good. Live. Uncle Tyler’s advice: BE. GOOD. LIVE. Because then you have control over your destiny. You know what you offer, you can deliver every time and it’s undeniable: it’s not some smoke and mirrors trick with production or with image… whatever. If you play incredibly well live you have a distinct advantage.

CONFRONT: Very good advice. And my last question for you: what has been your most memorable moment or experience throughout your time in the band?

Tyler: There’s been many. I’ll tell you, there’s been many. Let me tell you- what’s your name again, sorry?

CONFRONT: Melissa!

Tyler: Melissa, there’s been tons. There’s been: playing Madison Square Garden, you know, selling it out, In New York. And looking up and seeing one of the most famous arenas in the world filled with Barenaked Ladies fans screaming and singing along. That’s a definite career highlight. Playing Neil Young’s preschool concert on-stage with the students from the school was an incredibly experience: life-changing experience. Meeting Neil Young too, of course, was absolutely amazing. Playing the Glastonbury festival in England in the summer of 1998 and having… I don’t know, probably 80,000 people; muddy, delightfully stoned people, in a field, in England, rocking out to BNL.

CONFRONT: That’s insane!

Tyler: Career highlight for sure. It’s crazy, those European festivals are nuts. If you ever get the chance to go to one of those- I don’t know if maybe you’ve been to one already, but it’s a mind-blowing experience, you won’t believe it! The mass of humanity is quite incredible.

CONFRONT: Yeah, it sounds like it! Well, thank you very much for answering some questions for me. I really appreciate it!

Tyler: No problem Melissa! Keep on rockin’ free world, as Neil would say!

CONFRONT: *laughs* Thanks, take care!

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