The Barenaked Ladies play just across the river in Windsor tonight. We grabbed drummer Tyler Stewart and shot the shit.
What have you been up to since you were last here?
Actually, we played in Detroit in the summertime, on the “Last Summer on Earth Tour,” with Ben Folds Five and Guster. Obviously, our Grinning Streak album came out last June and we’ve been touring that. Things are going very well with that. We’re just about to release our third single from that album, and we’ve been on tour around North America and England. Things are going very well. We’re excited to be playing at home for the first time in a while. We only did one Canadian date this summer, so our Canadian tour kicks off at the beginning of this year and so far so good. Some absolutely atrocious winter conditions, but that’s what touring Canada in January is.
Ahhh. How was England?
It’s a great place to play. The audiences are very musically literate. There’s no folklore or story surrounding the band over there, we’ve very much taken at face value and for our music. I find it quite liberating to play there. We can go in and play a place like the O2 Theatre in London and probably about 2700 people there, and it was a great show. The crowds are interesting because, if you’re shite, they’ll let you know. If you’re good, they’ll let you know as well. So you have to be on your game.
The summer show in Detroit – what do you remember about that?
Detroit has always been a great market for us. It’s one of those early towns that came on board with the band about 20 years ago. We’ve always had great shows there, and this summer was no exception. The “Last Summer on Earth Tour” was such a great hang, backstage and onstage, because the Ben Folds guys are musically compatible to Barenaked Ladies, and Guster are probably our best musical friends. It was a really nice way to spend the summer, touring with people that you love and respect. Musically, the whole tour was great.
What can we expect from the Windsor show?
It’s a nice mix of stuff from Grinning Streak, and also all your favorite Barenaked Ladies songs. We try to mix it up, and right now we’re really having a great time playing the new material. It’s energizing to be able to go out and play stuff that you’re proud of and new songs. We’ve been doing a lot of new songs, but you can’t leave people going home without hearing their favorites. You’ll get “If I Had $1000000,” “Brian Wilson,” and “One Week,” all the songs that people know us for. It’s a mixed bag, all round. Some acoustic songs, and of course lots of singing and dancing. The usual Barenaked Ladies assortment of craziness.
Following that, what’s next?
We’re going to continue to tour this summer, around Canada and the US. We’ll get back into the studio late this year or early next year. We’ve been playing symphony orchestra shows the last couple of years in Canada and the US. The arrangement for the songs are done by Andrew Creeggan, brother of our bassist Jim Creeggan. He’s an original member of the band as well. We play these challenging and interesting arrangements for the symphony. Those shows have been really fun. We’ll be doing that around Christmas time this year.
The Barenaked Ladies plays at 8 p.m. on Thursday, February 6 at Caesars Windsor; 377 Riverside Dr. E., Windsor, ON; 800-991-7777; $30.
