Untitled Document

The UK Q&A Session
2nd April 2001

Questions answered by Kevin Hearn and Ed Robertson.

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who submitted questions for the band. If we didn't use yours, I apologise. We had such a limited time with BNL that lots just didn't make it to the final cut. It was a fraught time getting the interview underway - one last minute cancellation the day before the original date, and another postponement half an hour before the second. The band had a problem getting to Manchester from London on the day the interview actually happened - their tour bus broke down four times on the way and what should have been a 3-4 hour journey took them 8 hours - so we were lucky to get any time with them at all!

Eventually, after I'd gone way past the point of having any optimism left, Joe the security guy came and rescued us from the evil clutches of the Manchester Apollo door-nazi. We hung out in sound check for 10 minutes or so before Ed came off stage and met us in the crummiest little dressing room I've ever seen (thankfully, this was not the band's dressing room!). Kevin was passing by just as we were getting started and said that he'd like to join in too, which was really nice of him. At this point I just have to add that everyone we had contact with who were to do with BNL or the tour crew were the nicest, kindest, most genuine people I've had the pleasure to meet for a long time. If any of them happen to read this - THANK YOU.

OK. I've rambled on far too long. Here is the first section of the Barenaked Ladies Question and Answer session. The second part will be posted in around a week. If you'd like to see and hear Ed and Kevin for yourselves, the first two video clips are here. I'll be uploading them two at a time throughout this week and next, so keep checking back.

Q1 Who won the moustache competition?
Ed: Oh geez! (laughs) I won for the band, I had the darkest, fullest, most pronounced moustache.
Kev: You looked like the policeman from the village people.
(laughs)
Nic: Now that's an image…
Ed: I can't believe we didn't get it together to actually take photos of everybody with their moustaches. We talked about it… but then we do a lot of talking.
Nic: We had a lot of interest in that one
Kev: That's funny (laughs )
Kev: We shaved them off on stage and we had the crew come up on stage during the song and have theirs shaved too.
Nic: What was the prize?
Ed: umm, there were no real prizes… the prize was your own pride, pride in a moustache well grown.
Nic: So does Ed win everything?
Kev: Ed is competitive. He was grooming it, putting different secret herbs & spices on it (laughs).
Nic: Is there a secret recipe then?
Ed: Oh yes - I drank the most testosterone.
Kev: Yeah, those and a few Red Bulls a day.

Q2 When is Too Little Too Late going to be released as a single in the UK? The information from the record company is a little unclear…
Ed: To be honest… You know I don't know. I'm just kind of assuming around now. I think sort of right now.
Nic: I've been told today (2 April) and the 9th…
Ed: Yeah. Hopefully it's while we're here.
Shaun: Is it something you have any input in?
Ed: No, not really, it's a decision that the record company makes. A strategic decision I guess. I think they're going through a real transition period right now. So. We'll come over and we'll do our shows and cross our fingers and hope for the best.
Shaun: So far they've gone down really well.
Ed: Yeah the shows have been great.
Kev: Yeah. We've had a great little tour here. We released that single in America in, I think it was in January.
Nic: A similar question, which a lot of people asked, what happened to Pinch Me? It was never released over here.
Ed: The business side of the music business is a complete mystery to me. We make music and we're happy with what we make and…
Nic: I think you should just keep it that way. It seems to work.
Ed: It's funny, actually, my wife was commenting on just how much artists talk about the business over here and talk about… seeing all these bands on, whether it be TOTP or whatever, any kind of interview show and they talk very, like all the talk seems to be about single release and strategising and marketing and coming up with something that's different from the last single. I don't know. I just don't want to get there. I don't want to be there.

Q3 We've heard a number of rumours going around about a new album coming out in the autumn. Is that going to happen?
Ed: It's absolute rumour and speculation. We're going to try to put something out this fall but it will likely be like a Greatest Hits package. We will probably record a couple of new songs for it - we have plans to go into the studio. But at this point the songs are not written. So there won't be a new full record of material until next year, but there'll probably be some new songs coming out in addition to a Greatest Hits package.
Nic: Are you going to call it Box Set?
Ed: Don't know. Don't know. We may save that for an actual Box Set. We have grand delusions of releasing an actual Box Set like the one the song mentions, where you know there's a completely blank disk…
(laughter)

Q4 There's been a lot of interest in the fact that The Lilac Time are doing support for you this time round because of the whole Stephen Duffy/Steven Page co-writing thing. Do you know - I guess this may be a difficult question for you to answer - how the songwriting partnership between Steven Page and Stephen Duffy came about?
Ed: Yeah, I can answer that. I mean, Steve (Page) started writing Duffy fan letters and…
Kev: when he was in high school…
Ed: Yeah. Duffy actually wrote back to him, he may have been the only fan writing from overseas. Actually, Steve Page came to Cambridge for a university course and while he was here the Lilac Time were recording - I think their first record - so Duffy invited him to the studio and they sparked up a friendship then and kept in touch through the years.
Stephen Duffy is a big hero for Steven Page, Steve really listened to him a lot when he was a teenager and so when it came time to do our second record, Duffy asked him if he'd like to try writing together and it was a real, you know, it was magic for Steve. It was his songwriting idol asking to write with him. They've been writing songs for a long time.
Nic: How does the rest of the band feel about that? The fact that someone from outside the band co-writes some of the songs that end up on your albums?
Ed: It has definitely created a bit of tension in the past I think. But I think before doing this last record we kind of addressed that head on. I think part of it too came from the fact that, in the past, whatever I wrote, I sang, you know. And it left Steve thinking, "So what's my job now? If I'm not singing and I'm the lead singer and I haven't written this, then what's my function in it?" So we just talked about that and hashed it out and I said, I want to be a writer and a player and I don't care to sing all the time, so…
Nic: So is that the explanation as to why there's a few less 'Ed' songs on Maroon?
Ed: Yeah. And you'll notice that there's a lot more Steve and Ed co-writes that I'm not singing on as much.
Shaun: Can I ask one question subsequent to that.. How come your song (Kevin) is a hidden bonus track?
Kev: Similar reasons I suppose. I think.
Shaun: Because people like it a lot.
Kev: That's nice. That's nice. Wow.

Q5 Was it Steven Page's idea for The Lilac Time to tour the UK with you this time round?
Ed: I think maybe Ty suggested it… one of us, I don't know, maybe even me, suggested it in a dressing room. We didn't have a support act for this tour and we weren't sure who to take and it just seemed to make sense. Stephen hadn't toured in a long time and we're all fans of his music.
Kev: He's just finished a new CD. So I think…
Ed: That a lot of these guys played on, actually, last time we were over. Played on the recording of the CD. I went back home.
Kev: It was at the end of August. Tyler and I and Steve stayed and spent a few days in his studio, George Martin's studio working with Stephen Duffy. I think it's our way too of trying to give him a little gentle push to get a band together and get back out there.
Nic: It's been a really popular decision to have him as the support act…
Shaun: and not just because you're on stage with him, I think people like to see him.
Nic: Fans know the name from the co-writing so there's a lot of interest from that…
Ed: Plus the fact that he's really, really good! (laughter)
Nic: Yeah, well that helps a lot!
Ed: It's like the songs are great and he's a great singer.

TO BE CONTINUED...