So, being the Barenaked Ladies überfan I am, I had to blog something. Steven Page, lead singer and secondary guitarist with Barenaked Ladies, has parted company to go do some solo projects of his own.
Honestly, I can’t say I’m overly surprised. I always expected something like this to happen eventually. I could analyse the hell out of this, or go all Chris Crocker over it, but I’m not going to be doing that in a rush.
Instead, I’d like to say I think it marks a new beginning. The band’s sound has always been a mish-mash of all the band-members’ own musical likes and dislikes, and that produced the unique sound they had. It meant they often drifted around between genres, and that made it great.
Steve reckoned he had a more folky background, so I’ll be intrigued to see what sort of direction they take in future. I’d noticed Kevin Hearn moving more to the front with songs, and Jim was submitting more which made for some great songs. Plus all the guys can sing, so they’ll definitely cope on that front. Be intrigueing to hear how (or even if) they handle ‘Steve’ songs.
As for Steve, he reckons he has a load of new projects up and coming. The Art & Time Ensemble work he did a while ago was pretty good, and I imagine a studio recording of something similar would be absolutely wonderful. The Vanity Project looks likely (to me) to turn into a ‘real’ band, and Steve says he has a second album on the way, so I look forward to that – the eponymous debut was a great album.
So it all looks promising to me. To quote a Kevin Hearn song – This is a beginning, not the end!