With the Toronto show being so close to the end of their tour, and a hometown show at that, there was little chance we'd be able to meet up with the guys before or after the show. While that proved true, we were at least able to reach by phone one Kevin Hearn, keyboardist for Barenaked Ladies. During the twenty minute interview, we discussed songwriting, environmental awareness and of course the newest BNL releases, Barenaked Ladies Are Me/Men.

     These new albums were a new experience for the band, in many ways. Not only has the band gone indie, which Kevin describes as "...a little daunting, but also liberating in some ways, creatively," but the albums were also recorded in a 5.1 Surround Sound format along with the standard format. This change in format was very smooth, however, with no real disruption to the usual recording process. "Bob Clearmountain mixed the record and he did the 5.1 mixes at the same time as he did the regular mix. He finishes the regular mix, and then we come in and listen, and okay it or give our suggestions, and then he takes 20 minutes or so to do the 5.1 mix. So it was very much a part of the process, and not a lot of extra work or worry. I'm not sure if many people have that process down like he does, but that's the way we experienced it."

     From the sounds, the writing process is just as streamlined for the 5-piece band. This time around, they took no additional input from outside the band. Until recently, Stephen Page and Ed Robertson were the main songwriters. Along with Kevin, bassist Jim Creeggan has also taken a greater role in the writing. Whether or not we'll see more of this in future records remains to be seen: "Every record's different. I certainly hope so; the feedback's been positive about it." The whole band eventually comes together on any given piece, though, regardless of who has chief writing responsibilities. "When Steve and Ed get together, they bring in parts and sort of fill in the blanks on each other's songs. Then they bring the rough idea to the band and we mutate it accordingly. For instance, a song that comes in as a ballad could turn out to be a more up-tempo song, and vice versa. There's a song on the new record called "Everything Had Changed," that came in as sort of a rock song. We tried it about 8 different ways until finally we just stripped it right down to banjo, accordion, and bass, which is a surefire formula. Zeppelin tried that with "Stairway to Heaven," before they ended up with what they did." We're pretty sure he's kidding on that last part, but nonetheless the guys know what they're doing, and they do it well.

     After seventeen years of writing together and playing together the original members of BNL have gotten to a point where "automatically they sort of know who gravitates to the song. And recently with me and Jim bringing songs in ... the

songs sort of present themselves and make it obvious who should sing it. I just couldn't belt out "Sound of Your Voice," like Steve did, so we needed his power and expertise." Though he hasn't been with the band all along, Kevin has certainly gotten into this groove. His vocals grace a handful of songs on the BLAM collection. We can hear him on "Another Spin" and" Serendipity," along with "Vanishing" which he says was inspired by "... a fictional imagining of a lady taking a trip ... and having an affair with a magician who works and lives in Las Vegas. He falls in love with her, and she leaves and goes back to her life, and he's powerless to bring her back." As a writer, he also brought in "Adrift," which Ed sings on the record. "If the songs feel like I should sing them - if it suits my voice - then we'll probably stick to it. And if I shell out enough lunch money to the other guys, they'll let me sing." Another BNL mystery solved.

     Few BNL songs are so simple, however. Generally, they have many layers, and the guys are well-known for hiding deep lyrics, often full to the brim with emotion, beneath a happy, bouncy, poppy instrumental line. "Fun and Games," from Are Men is a prime example that this is no accident. "I think usually, lyrically the target is set when a song comes in," Kevin tells us, describing it as, "... a song that was a result of us being familiar with the political climate in America because we work down there so much. Also a reaction to experiencing 9/11 and growing to know the Bush administration better."

     Don't let this fool you, though. The guys also know how to have fun, both on-stage and off. "You won't see Jim or I being as extroverted as Ed or Steve, or Tyler [Stewart, drummer] perhaps. But we all have a good, healthy sense of humor, and we all joke around when we're not on stage." Anyone who has ever attended one of their shows knows that their jovial nature very much carries into the show. Specific to the Air Canada Centre show, "... the humor was a little tougher [there] because there's so many people we know. And Toronto's always very full of emotion and stress for us. But I think it was a strong show anyway." Strong is definitely one word for it. Incredible might be another we would use.

     A band as established and well-known as BNL may not ordinarily grace our pages, but we could not pass up the opportunity to discuss with them the waves they've made in the environmental arena. They started Barenaked Planet as an offshoot of Reverb, after touring with Guster. "We were just noticing on our tours that we'd be having a drink on the bus - whether it was water or beer or whatever - and there's no recycling available. Same with backstage, no recycling bins at many of the venues. Our buses would be idling in the parking lot. There'd often be disposable cutlery and plates and

catering, and it just dawned on us that we all live sort of green lives privately, but weren't extending it to our workplace, and really wanted to change that. And hooking up with Reverb was a really good opportunity to do that, and it's really been a good thing. Now we use plates, and we use cutlery that isn't throw-away cutlery. We use cups that are made from corn-products that are biodegradable. Our buses run on biodiesel fuel and we have recycling bins everywhere backstage."

     The Ladies' community-service and societal obligations do not end at the end of a tour, either. Stephen Page also does work with the World Wildlife Federation, and the other members each have their own pet projects too, from Kevin's work with the Canadian Cancer Society and the Leukemia Foundation to Tyler's work with Serve Canada, who helps to find work for Canada's "troubled youths," in Kevin's own words. And of course the band was introduced at the Air Canada Centre by David Suzuki, another major player in environmental education and change.

     Obviously, these guys do not sit still for very long. They wrapped up a month-long Canadian tour on February 27th and start touring in the UK on March 28th. No doubt the month off from touring was filled with any number of other activities, if the list from above is any indication of how they fill their time. We count ourselves fortunate for having been able to snag a little bit of Kevin's time.