The Barenaked Ladies were once guest stars on an episode of legendary television show The West Wing. They were the band hired by the fictional White House staff in their Rock The Vote episode.
But there is nothing fictional about the federal election campaign that has been grinding on for more than a month, and on election night, who is more poetic to have on stage in Prince George than the Barenaked Ladies themselves, live and in person to rock the vote for real.
BNL has a habit of big moments in Prince George. They couldn't attend the 2001 Juno Awards, held in Hamilton that year, the first time it had been outside of Toronto, because they were here on their Maroon tour.
That was the night Bruce Cockburn was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and it was his song Lovers In A Dangerous Time, done in jazzy-bluegrassy-pop fashion by BNL that first brought The Ladies to national prominence. So, with the nation watching on television, The Ladies performed that song live from CN Centre via satellite, and then later had to accept the Juno trophies for Best Group and Best Pop Album.
BNL's bass player Jim Creeggan remembers that night well. In an email interview he detailed his memories of that moment - a night emblazoned in Prince George's cultural history.
"I was really proud to be able to bring the JUNOs to Prince George. There was a lot of electricity in the air that night. The fans knew that the whole country was watching and we had no idea we were going to win it. So when we got the JUNO award it was just fun to share it with Prince George and extra cool because, you know, the JUNOs are starting to go out and be hosted in other towns other than Toronto. I think at that time the JUNOs were only in Toronto which is a bit ridiculous. We have such a big colourful country so I think that was the beginning of the JUNOs stretching out and taking advantage of the diversity of the country and we were glad to be bringing it to a town that deserves the attention."
Since that night, a lot has happened for the band. There were the downs, like disconnecting from former founding frontman Steven Page, but also dizzying heights like getting the opportunity to play on West Wing, and be special musical guests at a ComiCon event usually reserved for actors and comedians and authors. They got that spotlight because they are the performers of the hit single TV theme for Big Bang Theory.
They also did the 2013 theme song (the title of the song is Odds Are) for the television show Working The Engles. The music video by Rooster Teeth Productions had a who's who cast of celebrities.
So, Creeggan was asked, when these high profile opportunities come up for the band, how much of it is an opportunity for profile-building and BNL marketing, and how much of it is just fun, fun, fun (if you'll forgive a BNL musical pun, pun, pun)?
"Well, it's a combination I think. We really have been lucky that we've been able to work with people that we admire like Bill Prady, Chuck Lorre (co-creators of The Big Bang Theory). We really admire their work and when they asked us to do it they had the pilot of Big Bang and they had just seen our show that we played in L.A. so it was kind of a mutual respect and collaboration. And so the fact that it became so huge...I mean it was an unknown, but it was great! We're so very lucky. But I think it started with a mutual sort of collaboration with those guys and us and I think that's usually when things do well, when you have that kind of genuine sharing of ideas and mutual respect between the artists. With Rooster Teeth, we're really big fans of those guys and that's really how that relationship started. They did some videos for us and they've done really well online and we've done some music for their new upcoming movie, so that just really started as us being fans of theirs and getting in touch. I think I even joined the band because I was a fan of what Ed and Steve were doing and I was also their friend. I think it's just great when it works out but ultimately I think the best artistic ventures happen when there is a genuine spark."
The band is back for their fourth appearance in Prince George since their storied career got underway. The album Silverball is their latest package of songs. Creeggan was asked how, at this stage in their career, they manage to reinvent themselves and stay relevant, since they have successfully produced hits at every stage in their careers, more so now than at the beginning.
"Well, now that we've been doing it for 27 years we kind of know that there's a cycle that happens. It starts with writing, and the next stage is preproduction, working out the songs, and then going into the record cycle, promoting the record and touring the record. So in some sense, we know what's coming and we can settle into that cycle. But we don't know when the inspiration is going to hit and sometimes the writing happens faster than the previous record. So in the case of Silverball, Ed put together some songs really fast and he had a really lightning bolt writing session, so Kevin and I had to kind of jump to it and get some songs written. And that's really a nice place to be. I think that's what's great now is that we're continuously coming up with new material and that's what keeps pushing us forward. Whereas before I think we were nervous of what was going to happen from album to album. We kind of cut to the chase more now with 27 years under our belt."
