The Barenaked Ladies are touring the most artistically sound record of their career, but the music isn’t the only thing that has changed in the BNL camp.
Canada’s favorite pop act now has more control over its career than ever before. And to celebrate the artistic freedom of owning their own life, liberty and label, they’re giving a lot of control to their fans, who are lending a hand with music videos, T-shirt design and more via the band’s incredibly interactive website.
A tagline at the end of the band’s latest video for “Wind It Up” reads: “Thanks for always playing along. We truly have the best fans in the world.”
The group’s Stephen Page, talking from Omaha earlier this week, explains that postscript and his band’s penchant for Jose Feliciano – in any season.
Q: This current tour, is it all holiday shows or in support of the new record?
A: It’s all about the new record. We have some holiday shows as we get into December, but because we have this wealth of new material, even those will be a little less holiday-oriented.
Q: I know your holiday shows have gained momentum since 2004’s “Barenaked For the Holidays,” so will you be playing any of that material in Denver?
A: Not likely. We played “Feliz Halloween” right before Halloween. And we might play “Feliz Thanksgiving” next year. Tyler, our drummer, used to do “Feliz Navidad,” and we’d switch instruments. I’m sure the audience felt that the joke was over by the second note of the song, but it was fun. We chose not to do “Feliz Veteran’s Day,” because we weren’t quite sure. And we missed out on “Feliz Yom Kippur.”
Q: Your music has always had that fun-loving, jokey element. But what’s your reaction to the positive criticism of your latest record, “Barenaked Ladies Are Me,” that says it’s a more mature record?
A: People have been using the whole “more mature record” thing since our second album. I remember with the first record and its jokey cover and jokey songs, there was lots of energy in there – but it also had folk ballads and darker songs. A lot of it depends on how you image yourselves, and we’ve always imaged ourselves as a bunch of goofy guys.
Q: It seems like you guys, more than any other band, are allowing listeners access into the creative process. Looking at your website, there’s tons of listener participation.
A: Because we are our own label now, we don’t have to worry about all those levels of promotions we used to have to go through. We’re kind of exploiting that, but music fans in general are now coming to expect a level of participation.
Q: One of those participatory posts on your site was the new video for “Wind It Up.” Tell me about that process.
A: We did a video for the new single, and it’s actually online now. We had fans go and upload to YouTube their videos of them lip-syncing the song and air guitaring the song. We picked our favorite ones and had them send the master copies to us, and we put them together in the video.
Q: I watched the video, and it’s great. The concept – everyday people lip-syncing to an artist’s songs – is nothing new, but the way you collected all the material is unique. What were your initial impressions of the submissions?
A: They were all over the map. Some of them were really going for high-concept things with story arcs and everything. … They’re by themselves, in their bedroom, looking into their camera. The great thing about air-guitaring is it’s an intensely personal thing. You do it by yourself, or you do it at a concert when you think nobody is looking at you.
Q: But people are looking at you.
A: Everybody’s looking at you. I’m looking at them from the stage.
Barenaked Ladies play the Magness Arena on Tuesday with Mike Doughty opening. Tickets, $50-$60, are available via ticketmaster.com or 303-830-8497.
