Barenaked Breakup
Categories: music, bnl, barenaked ladies, steven pageA rather surprising and saddening message suddenly appeared on the Barenaked Ladies website yesterday:
A MESSAGE FROM BARENAKED LADIES
By mutual agreement, Steven Page will be parting company with the remaining members of Barenaked Ladies. Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart will continue recording and touring together as Barenaked Ladies. Steven Page will pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities while the band enters the studio in April 2009, and hits the road in the fall.
Page says “These guys are my brothers. We’ve grown up together over the past twenty years. I love them and wish them all the best in the future.”
The band also wish Steven well in all of his endeavors. Ed Robertson says: “It’s the start of a new chapter for all of us. Here’s to the future!”
Everyone is looking forward to making new music and thanks their fans for their support.
The AP later reported:
Singer-guitarist Steven Page says he decided to leave the Barenaked Ladies because he felt that his contributions as a songwriter were being diminished.
A day after he announced on the band’s Web site that he was leaving the five-member group, Page said the Barenaked Ladies have so many songwriting voices, his was occasionally squeezed out.
“Frankly, the band itself was a five-way democracy and one of the great things about it is that it’s been about the five-way collaboration, but it’s also one of the things that’s made me decide to be a solo artist,” he said Thursday.
Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart plan to continue, and have no immediate plans to replace Page. They will return to the studio in April and tour in the fall.
Of course, we wish all the “ladies” luck and good musical fortune, but at the same time can’t help but feel that an era has passed. It may be true that the band was a five-way collection of songwriters, but there was also, it always seemed, that special musical spark that made the group the definition of the cliche “more than the sum of it’s parts”. And that’s a special magic that’s very hard to retain…
(special thanks to am for the heads-up on this one… )
By mutual agreement, Steven Page will be parting company with the remaining members of Barenaked Ladies. Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart will continue recording and touring together as Barenaked Ladies. Steven Page will pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities while the band enters the studio in April 2009, and hits the road in the fall.



