Tea and cake with the Barenaked
Ladies Time: 15:30 06 May 2004
Place: London, UK
THE INTERVIEW
EtoE Song Discussion
Aluminum: Shaun (to Nic): Do you want to discuss Aluminum? Nic: I would love to, but I really have a problem
saying it! Alu… A-lu-min… Alumin-I-um!
Could
you run through where the idea for that song came from, the lyrics,
the melody? Was Aluminum a joint-effort song? Steve: I remember us saying in rehearsal,
I don’t know if it was a joke or not – I remember doing
it as a fake Alanis Morrissette song once. And we said let’s
work on it. That was one of those where you (to Ed) said a bit and
then I had a bit right away after that. And it kind of went, “OK
we can actually do this!”. It was done pretty quickly. Ed: Yeah. That was one of the earliest ones to
come together. It was the first demo we did and we were all really
proud of it. And I think we thought of it as very central to the
record. And then we wrote for another 10 months and I think it almost
didn’t end up on the record. We thought of it as our old stuff! Steve: It changed a lot in the recording. We actually
recorded it a few different times. As we realised that in a lot
of ways the demo was beating the recording and we changed the vibe… Ed: It was a hard one. It was a hard song to get
right.
War on Drugs: Nic:
I find War on Drugs really hard to listen to – I do end up
skipping over it sometimes as it's just too... hard. Steve: Sometimes I skip over it –if I’m
in the car with my kids I just get really embarrassed. I just feel
like… I’ll hear it and I’m just like, “God,
I just took my clothes off and ran down the street there!”.
You have to feel fairly confident to hear it. Shaun: So how does it feel to sing it in front
of other people then? Steve: Well, you know what it starts off in the
dark so I can’t see them, and by they time I’m confident
enough to look at the audience, there’s so much amazing eye-contact
I get from people during that song Nic: Yeah, they’re all just stood there sobbing! Steve: Well yeah, some people are trying to just
look away, some people, when the lights come up they’re waving
to their friend across the way, other people are bawling their eyes
out or fixated. I really just get a charge from watching people
react to the song.
Celebrity: Do
you ever regret having a celebrity status? Steve: At home people are really good about it.
People in Toronto they like, they’re proud of us I guess,
but they just leave us alone. Unless they really want something
from you – like the neighbourhood’s having a fundraiser,
could you just come over and sing a few songs? There is none of
that kind of rock star worship. People feel anybody can come over
and ask us, just call the guys up they’ll do a few songs it’s
fine. Ed: But we’ve worked really hard to be successful
and that’s kind of part and parcel of success, and so we’re
really lucky that we’ve been as successful as we have and
yet we’re able to lead the lives that we lead. Our success
has been very gradual and it’s been largely on a fringe level,
but somehow we’ve quietly sold 10 or 12 million records!
So, we’ve done really well but still we’re only kind
of moderate celebrities really.
So that song is not based
on yourselves then? Steve:
You know whenever I … can I have another piece of cake? [hee!] Nic: Of course! Ed: Every time you sing Steve: Yeah, every time I sing it I want cake.
I’ve been staring at this cake. (cuts a slice)
Every time I sing it I think of the World Music Awards in Monaco Ed: Yeah! Me too! Steve: And, when was that? ’99? And they
just made up an award for us - “World’s best selling
Canadian band”. Nic: … called Barenaked Ladies… Steve: Just so we would lip-synch to One Week on
it. Ed: It’s the thing we did in our career that
felt like it had the least to do with writing songs and playing
music. It was only about fashion and celebrity. Steve: So we’re standing around at this party,
there’s Pamela and Tommy-Lee, and there’s the guy from
Ace of Bass and there’s Julian Lennon.. bunch of has-beens,
never-weres and no-talents… [don’t
hold back, Steve!] Ed: And a bunch of models and some sports athletes Steve: And we were like, you got here because of
something you did, but you don’t even do that anymore Shaun: Given that explanation of the song, it’s
quite cutting. Steve: …Yeah, it’s a cutting song.
Kevin wrote it, the bulk of it, and we kind of… Ed: We did the good stuff! Steve: We added the heart. It was a little harsh
and we tried to make the character a little more sympathetic and
I guess a little bit more isolated or lonely, that’s all.
Testing 1,2,3: I
think that comes across on EtoE – a lot of the songs seem
to be really honest. There’s a real edge to a lot of them.
Testing 1,2,3 has an edge of frustration… [Tyler’s arrived and he wants
cake, so the question kind of gets forgotten!] Steve: Yeah, confusion too. Nic: Do the record company push you into a certain
direction.. You’ve always got to release the kind of One Week
type song? Steve: It’s not always the label, sometimes
it’s us too thinking what do people want…
Could
you run through where the idea for that song came from, the lyrics,
the melody? Was Aluminum a joint-effort song?
Nic:
I find War on Drugs really hard to listen to – I do end up
skipping over it sometimes as it's just too... hard.
Do
you ever regret having a celebrity status? 
Steve:
You know whenever I … can I have another piece of cake? 
