web analytics

Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Steven Page

  • First Listen: “You Run Away” by Barenaked Ladies

    If you’re a Barenaked Ladies fan, you were probably a little taken aback when co-lead singer/songwriter Steven Page took off last year, leaving the band after two decades. Minus possibly the band’s most distinctive member, what would the band possibly sound like?

    Well, guess what folks: here’s your answer. BNL has released “You Run Away”, the first single from their new album “All in Good Time”. “Run”‘s a midtempo pop-rock track that takes a more straightforward, serious tack than the band’s more popular fare. Ed Robertson, while not the powerhouse vocalist Page is, carries the song reasonably well. I’m not TOTALLY sold on it yet, but I will admit that it has a certain hooky charm. I’ll be looking forward to the album’s release to see if the band can get over the inconsistency that’s plagued their music for the past decade or so.

  • The Circle of Life: Rock ‘n Roll Edition

    bnlOne band reforms, one band loses a member, and another band forms out of four individually successful parts. Lots going on, huh? Let’s recap.

    *Faith No More fans rejoice! Mike Patton, Roddy Bottum and the rest are reuniting for the first time in ten years. The pioneering rap/funk/metal band will be touring Europe. Although there are currently no plans to tour the U.S., I’d say it’s a safe bet that an American tour will happen if the European one is a success. No word on whether the flopping fish from the “Epic” video will be joining them on tour.

    *Steven Page, the big-bellied, big-voiced Barenaked Ladies singer, has announced that he is leaving the band after twenty years to pursue solo projects, including theater (which I’ve always thought he’d be marvelous at). BNL has promised to go on without Page, although as a BNL fan, I can’t really see how the band could continue successfully without him. As many of you know, Page was arrested and received probation for drug possession about a year ago, although there’s no telling whether that had any effect on his decision to leave the band.

    *Finally, have you heard of Tinted Windows? No?? Well, I bet you know the band members: Cheap Trick’s Bun E. Carlos, James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and…Taylor Hanson. Nope, that’s not a typo. This band will be fronted by the kid who sang “MMMBop”. Power-pop will unquestionably be the name of the game here, and this grouping is so wacky it just might work. They play live for the first time at the upcoming South by Southwest music festival, and their debut album arrives in late April.

    And in an mmmbop, we’re gone…

  • Steven Page: Just About The Last Person You’d Expect To Be Busted For Drugs

    Never thought you’d hear the words “Barenaked Ladies” and “drug bust” in the same sentence? Well…

    Barenaked Ladies singer/guitarist Steven Page. Photo courtesy of TheHypo
    BNL lead singer Steven Page

    Steven Page, lead singer of Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies was busted last Friday for possession of a controlled substance in Syracuse, NY (Syracuse? Really?). Cops, suspicions aroused by a car with one door open (?), found married dad Page (whose band just released a children’s album, for crying out loud!) along with two women (??) in a nearby apartment with cocaine and pot. I wonder if the ladies were barenaked??? BWAHAHHAHHAHHA…

    (For those who aren’t really up on their BNL, they are the guys who sing “One Week”, and “If I Had $1,000,000”. Of the group’s two main singers, Steven Page is the fairer, sort of chunky one with the big voice, while Ed Robertson is the darker, more nerdy-sounding one)

    But anyway, I won’t say anything bad about Steven Page. I’m actually extremely fond of BNL..well at least I was until that “Barenaked Ladies are Men” crap. They’re one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen (and the only rock band I know who could get away with a cover of Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious”, as they performed the night I saw them). But seriously…who’d have thought that the singer of songs like “Be My Yoko Ono” and “Brian Wilson” was capable of Winehousity??