When Steven Page left Barenaked Ladies, he wanted to carve out his own identity. Fast forward to the present, just last fall he opened several dates for The WHO Hits Back Tour and he himself has become a “who’s who” among musicians in the music industry. But, he came to the conclusion long ago that he needs to have two music identities – the former member and co-founder of BNL and as a solo artist. He’s struck a nice balance between satisfying fans playing hit BNL songs live with his own solo material and is continuing his solo career with a new studio album, Excelsior. The artist sat down with WAER’s John Smith to talk more about his career and a life in Central New York.
John Smith: All right, so Steven Page welcome here to WAER. Great to have you here.
Steven Page: Nice to be here in studio.
JS: Let's take people back to the 90s when this was a very popular song on the radio. "One Week" was at the top of the US album chart coincidentally for one week. Do people always reference you as, first and foremost, former member of Barenaked Ladies?
SP: Oh, yeah. When I split from Barenaked Ladies in 2009, I really didn't know how to kind of position myself I didn't want to kind of reference the fact that I was from Barenaked Ladies, because we're making a fresh start and didn't want to kind of lean on my past. And then I realized, nobody's gonna know who the heck I am unless I say. So now it always says, and a lot of the fans joke about it, like when I announced the show, they'll say, formerly of Barenaked Ladies, and it's like, I wish in a certain way that I didn't have to have that. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm very proud of where I came from. But realize that people don't always follow everybody's every move, right? And then, you know, then you see this guy's coming to a theater near them, and they don't recognize the name. But they might remember, they actually like a bunch of the songs I sing.
JS: And are the songs, you know, part of your mix when you're out performing on solo appearances?
SP: Yeah, I try and keep it around half and half. You know, I joke about the fact that, you know, of course, everybody's here for the new stuff. But I think that's the case with most artists as they get older. People want to come for a multitude of reasons. Some of it, the way I approach it, is, people are coming to the show, to kind of catch up with an old friend. So maybe they haven't seen me in 15 years, but they're gonna come and that connection is gonna be there right away like that, you know, that happens sometimes with friends where you can pick up where you left off. Other people have been really living keeping up the whole time. So you kind of want to be able to play for all those people. So I play old Barenaked Ladies stuff like hits, radio songs, the old department or Brian Wilson or songs like that. It's all been done.
SP: And then I'll play everything up to the newest stuff. And I'll play a bunch of the old kind of, you know, the album beat cuts from Barenaked Ladies stage to refer, you know, those kinds of diehard fans.
JS: And we should mention you have a new album out. It's "Excelsior," a nod to New York States, as you have lived in central New York here for about 15 years, right?
SP: That's right. You know, I'm originally from Toronto, and moved down here, right around the time that I split from the band, and I've been living here ever since. And then of course, during the pandemic, my parents are up in Toronto, my kids are up in Toronto, my kids are all grown now. But there was a year and a half, where I really couldn't cross the border. And I had to kind of accept the fact that my time with them was going to be spent over FaceTime and zoom. And my relationship to Central New York really kind of blossomed in that time, it really gave me the opportunity to engage with, with the landscape and the culture and the people in a way that I hadn't for years, because I was always being on the road all the time. And when my kids were younger, I was back and forth to Toronto all the time. I kind of just stayed in the house when I was home, here in New York. And so I really didn't get to know the area that well until maybe the last five years or so. So the album was a bit of a nod to the fact that a I was kind of trapped, but B I didn't mind it.
SP (singing): The platform as a conduit mixing intimate, and I'm into it. You see the deals in which you feel like it's almost real, and that's how they want it. It's a proven fact all this eye contact isn't natural, but it's what we'd like to know what represents all that I resent I can see this one to the one presents. Zoom, zoom, now who was fooling whom we make the best with what we got. We make our friends on zoom, zoom, to your living room and try not to focus on when this all ends.
JS: Wow, that's really great.
SP: Thank you very much.
JS: You bet. It's never been so much fun to zoom. Thanks so much again.
SP: Thank you.
Excelsior is available on all music streaming platforms including Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music.
