‘Detour de Force,’ Barenaked Ladies’ 16th studio album, is only a few minutes old when Ed Robertson declares that “it’s a good life.”Few would argue. And the group’s 14 new tracks show it’s only getting better.

Over the course of 33 years, the Toronto quartet has sold 15 million records worldwide and built up an arsenal of hits such as “If I Had $1,000,000,” “One Week,” “Pinch Me” and “The Big Bang Theory Theme.” Widely acknowledged as one of the best live acts on the planet, BNL has hosted a cruise (“Ships and Dips”), had its own ice cream flavor, won eight Juno Awards in Canada, and was inducted into the

Canadian Music Hall of Fame during 2018. As Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Tyler Stewart and Kevin Hearn put it on ‘Detour de Force,’ “Wasn’t easy but it turned out alright/Wouldn’t trade it for another…You don’t wanna miss this mutha.”

“Flip” leads the album as the buoyant and sonically adventurous first single, which reflects the many flips and changes of the last year. Ed says the song “is about being open to other perspectives. We try to write songs that move us, that are big. I think this is a song that’s going to be a real energy moment in the live show.”

Following with standout tracks “New Disaster” and “Good Life,” ‘Detour de Force’ is BNL at its most ambitious, accomplished, intricate, intentional — and, in some ways, circumstantial. Its gestation was long and exacerbated (as so many things have been) by the global pandemic, and the scope of the resulting album is significantly different than what the group had in mind when it started.

The good news is that it’s BNL’s most broad-reaching and diverse work to date — perhaps, if you will, it’s kind of ‘The BEATLES’ (aka ‘The White Album’), fusing the distinct writing voices of Robertson, Hearn and Creeggan into a cohesive work from the uptempo fun of “Flat Earth,” the playful and countryflavored “Roll Out” to the gentle melodics of “Live Well,” “The National Park,” “God Forbid” and “Man Made Lake” to the sonic roller coaster of the album-closing “Internal Dynamo.”

“We’ve always liked that our band is very diverse in what we do,” Robertson says, “and on this record I really enjoyed the exploration. This record is a journey. Taking off one song would tip it in a way we didn’t feel was representative of the record we made. We wanted everything that’s here to be part of the record.”

Stewart adds that, “This is some of our strongest material in 30 years, easily. I think it stands up there with our best albums. It hangs with ‘Gordon,’ or it hangs with ‘Maroon.’ There’s a deep well of music we want to draw from, and this probably is the best example of all of that coming together, feeling like an entire album — different voices, same band.”

The long road to ‘Detour de Force’ began during early 2020, when BNL convened at Robertson’s lakeside cottage north of Toronto, with producer Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, the Tragically Hip, Daniel Lanois, U2). Inspired by the ‘Fake Nudes Naked’ acoustic remake of BNL’s last studio album, the idea was

“to close ourselves off from the rest of the world,” according to Robertson, “and have no distractions and really capture the sound of a band making music together.” Songs were prepared in the basement rec room and recorded in a make-shift studio in the living room during a productive five weeks.

“There was a lot that was amazing about that,” recalls Robertson, who wrote songs on his own and with friends Kevin Griffin, Craig Wiseman, Donovan Woods and Danny Michel. “The focus was great. The vibe was great. The hang was great. It was super positive for the band dynamic.” Hearn, who contributed four tracks to ‘Detour de Force,’ adds that, “We set out to make a record that sounded like a band playing together. We were working really well together, and it was very harmonious. We worked on each song all together, and once we felt we had the arrangements in the right place, we’d go upstairs and record.”

Nevertheless, BNL reckoned even before the cottage sessions were over that there was more to do with the tracks they were creating. “We thought a lot of this stuff could really benefit from a little more indepth production,” Robertson says. The plan was to go into Noble Street Studios in Toronto and work with Eric Ratz (Arkells, Big Wreck, Billy Talent) to add sonic bells, whistles and polish.

Then the pandemic hit.

BNL wasn’t dormant as the world shut down — evidence the group’s spirited “Selfie Cam Jam” series and Robertson’s weekly Friday livestreams online, both for charity, as well as a pair of virtual concerts. But the pause brought a fresh perspective to where the band wanted ‘Detour de Force’ to go. “The ensuing months of home quarantine,” Stewart says, “really created an appetite for us to go into a much more produced, slick you might want to call it, modern recording situation — one which we were quite used to after working with Gavin Brown for most of the last eight years or so.” Working together in the studio, socially distanced of course, and in their respective homes, the quartet layered and sculpted and in some cases completely overhauled songs. Guests were also invited, including original BNL keyboardist Andy Creeggan (Jim’s brother), all-star singer and bassist Fernando Saunders and MOOG bass pedals borrowed from Rush’s Geddy Lee even make an appearance.

“The pandemic really affected the album in an interesting way,” recalls Jim Creeggan, who penned a pair of the ‘Detour de Force’ songs. “I was getting calls from friends to do remote-based stuff, people asking each other to add something to those projects. So we started reaching out and bringing other things into what we were doing.”

For Hearn, the changes, intentional and otherwise, were silver linings in the process.

“We took several detours de force,” he acknowledges, “but I think what you get is a beautiful hybrid of a live off-the-floor band on songs like ‘Live Well’ and ‘Man Made Lake’ all the way to full-on production numbers like ‘Flip’ and ‘Good Life.’ It’s kind of reminiscent of (1998’s quadruple-platinum) ‘Stunt’; We made a record in Austin with Susan Rogers and we turned it into a completely different record back in Toronto with David Leonard. That’s kind of what we did here.”

The depth goes beyond sonics throughout the album. Though there’s certainly the verbal playfulness and whimsy that’s part of BNL’s stock in trade, many of the songs have a reflective and philosophical, sometimes topical, underpinning that’s also long been part of the BNL makeup. Even on something as light-hearted as Hearn’s “Big Back Yard,” his proclamation that “I became a drifter and began to roam/Now all I want is a home” reveals a gentle kind of yearning. Similarly, Creeggan reveals that both of his contributions — “Here Together” and “Paul Chambers,” the latter titled for the great jazz bassist — “really have to do with connecting to the people who are close to you, a positive experience of being at home,” which took on even greater meaning as the pandemic set in.

“I think we’re at a point in our career and our lives where we’re reckoning and trying to really appreciate what we have,” Creeggan notes.

That can certainly be found throughout Robertson’s songs on ‘Detour de Force.’ While “Flip” comments on his ambivalent feelings about “our new, connected life” of social media and streaming media, in “Good Life” he speaks about what’s been achieved, particularly (and specifically) by the band. “God

Forbid” and “Man Made Lake,” both co-written with fellow Juno Award-winner Donovan Woods, are “really specific and raw,” Robertson says, “songs that I had a lot of trouble singing because they’re hitting some pretty raw nerves, kind of admitting some things to myself in writing them. It was really therapeutic to explore that stuff and have the guys get it right away.”

“I think Barenaked Ladies have always had introspective, heavier kinds of songs,” Stewart says. “I’ve always been proud of that element of the group, to be able to take it down to a more plaintive song and style alongside the humor.”

All concerned, meanwhile, point to Hearn’s “Internal Dynamo” as an outlier on ‘Detour de Force.’ An airy, psychedelic mantra builds before exploding into a frenetic, metallic blow-out led by Stewart’s vocals before returning to the original theme. “I wanted to sort of emulate what we do at the end of our live set,” Hearn explains, “when we break into Led Zeppelin and Tyler sings ‘Whole Lotta Love’ or something. I thought it would be fun to capture that energy in a song.”

‘Detour de Force’ is, in the end, a potent musical statement, a testament to time well-spent and an open spirit of following where the music leads. It also speaks to the comfort of a band that at this point works on and trusts in its collective instinct, confident that the drive that led to this point sill continue to steer it in the right directly.

“At this point we want to have fun, make a record, go to the limits, push ourselves, indulge ourselves,” Robertson explains. “Ultimately who we’ve got to please are the four guys in this band. If we like the record then we’re going to like touring the record, and everyone’s going to be happy. We have done it all at this point, and here we are. We’re still making music, and we’re f***ing lucky that this is our job.”

Guster Easy Wonderful

Pop quiz, no cheating: Name a band that, 15 years on, is operating at the absolute peak of its creative powers, making the most inspired, timeless music and playing to the largest audiences of its career? The answers don't come easily, but we have one: Guster.

Few would have predicted the evolution that Guster has undergone, but then, Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, Brian Rosenworcel and Joe Pisapia have been quietly confounding expectations since Guster began recording 15 years ago. With their new album Easy Wonderful, the quartet has made a piece of art that rewards each listen. With the reflective opener "Architects and Engineers," the pop gem "Do You Love Me," the optimistic anthem "Bad Bad World," the wall of sound production of "What You Call Love" and the haunting ballad "Stay With Me Jesus," Guster have created the best album of their lives.

The four-year gap between their last album, 2006's Ganging Up on the Sun, and Easy Wonderful was a bit longer than the quartet had anticipated. Miller admits, "I wish that it had taken two months instead of this long, but I feel like we did everything we had to do to make a great album." Work commenced in 2008--which was a big personal year for Miller, Rosenworcel and Gardner, as they all became fathers for the first time. To accommodate their growing families, the band decided upon a different tack in songwriting. Miller says, "Rather than the way it was before where we would live together for four months, this time we would work for like a week or two, break for a couple weeks, work on stuff on our own and then come back. We worked really well that way."

When Guster started thinking about going into the studio, they decided they wanted to work with an outside producer. Gardner explains, "We did the last record ourselves. But this time we thought, 'We all now have kids, we're all going to be fragmented, we're all going to be coming in and out of this process, we need somebody who's got their eye on the prize the whole time.'" After trying out a few different people, David Kahne (The Strokes, Paul McCartney) became the clear choice. Pisapia says Kahne impressed him with his ability to get inside their new material. "His notes on the songs were so astute and so attentive. He knew every part of every song and what was special about it. He spent a fair amount of time with us in rehearsal before we even went into the studio and he'd have very specific suggestions about certain parts--even how to play them."

The recording sessions were quick and efficient, but the group didn't feel fully satisfied with the results. Gardner says they made the decision to take a break from the recording process. "We all retreated to our corners. We all had to step away from it to see what we needed to do to improve it." During this break Miller started writing a couple of new songs by himself, but found he couldn't recapture the spark that had made the band's first group of songs so compelling. Miller credits a deep and soul-searching conversation with Rosenworcel in breaking his creative logjam. Miller says, "Brian and I had a conversation and it was like, 'Right, we can do this.' And I just kind of let go of everything. I just decided I was going to write music and I didn't care what it was. And then the floodgates opened, like it never had before for me. It was really amazing." In an explosion of creativity, Miller penned six songs in a couple of weeks. The band listened to Miller's demos and were thoroughly reinvigorated by the new material.

Guster reconvened in Nashville at Pisapia's brand new Middletree Studios, which the talented multi-instrumentalist built by hand with his fiancée. He says he wanted to make a comfortable place to work where "you could take a record from A to Z." And his three bandmates agree that he succeeded in creating a work environment that brought Easy Wonderful to the next level. Gardner says, "Physically and emotionally Joe's studio was so different, we'd been in this basement studio in New York City, cramped in this space with no windows that we jokingly called 'The Dungeon.' Joe's place is totally the opposite--this stunning open-concept studio that has a great vibe. We found ourselves hanging out there even if we weren't recording. There was an immense feeling of freedom the moment we left New York and started recording in Nashville."

The quartet quickly recorded Miller's new compositions as well as tweaking a batch of songs they recorded with Kahne. The end result of the two recording sessions is what Pisapia calls "the classic Guster pop record. And that's what I always thought we should do. We had our period where we've tried on a lot of different hats and different musical costumes, which is a lot of fun. But this record feels a lot more germane to who the band really is."

Rosenworcel adds, "When I try to describe our album to people I've been saying, we really just honed in on trying to write 12 great pop songs. I think Easy Wonderful is more consistent than anything we've done."

Gardner says that the process of creating Easy Wonderful has been a turning point for Guster. "I feel like we learned a lot and came out of it as stronger players, writers and record makers. We feel more energized about our music and playing together than ever. I think we've shot past where we've been and we've made a better record than we've ever made before."

So how does an album end up being called Easy Wonderful? Miller says his family was driving through Brooklyn one day when his wife spotted a sign that said "Easy Wonderful Corporation." Miller then told his bandmates about the sign in passing one day. "We had been talking about the album title and I told the guys my wife saw that sign. And Brian immediately said, 'I like Easy Wonderful a lot.' And I was like, 'That wasn't even a suggestion!'" Gardner feels the title is appropriate for the album he's most proud of in Guster's career. "It's a really accurate description of what making the record at Joe's was like. It was our best recording process ever. I think we're in the best spot we've ever been as a band working together, and it shows on this album.

website:

http://www.guster.com/

"It was just circumstance," Tony Scalzo says of the eight-year recording gap that preceded the new Fastball album, Step Into Light. "We've always been active, and we've never really gone a year without doing a bunch of Fastball shows. But things are really picking up now, and things are rolling like crazy."

The 12-song Step Into Light, on the band's own 33 1/3 label, embodies all of the qualities that have endeared Fastball to listeners during the trio's twenty-year-plus career. Such catchy, compelling new tunes as "We're On Our Way," "Behind The Sun," "Best Friend," "Love Comes In Waves" and "I Will Never Let You Down" continue the band's longstanding legacy of infectious songcraft and pointed lyrics, as well as playfully inventive arrangements that lend additional depth and resonance to Scalzo and Miles Zuniga's distinctive songwriting.

"My favorite kind of songs," Zuniga says, "are the ones that have hope in the face of hopelessness. Songs that say 'Life sucks and everything's against me, but I'm gonna smile and survive anyway.' That's the essence of rock 'n' roll music for me, and I think there's a fair amount of that on this album."

Fastball recorded Step Into Light in its hometown of Austin, Texas, with the three bandmates co-producing with longtime friend Chris "Frenchie" Smith (Slayer, Meat Puppets, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead) at Smith's studio, The Bubble. The album was mixed by legendary engineer Bob Clearmountain, who also handled mixing duties on two prior Fastball albums.

"We consciously decided to make this record in a short period of time, so we just went in and knocked it out," Zuniga explains. "I really liked working that way, and I think the fact that we recorded it in under two weeks made it a better record. We didn't have the luxury of getting too precious about things, so we gave ourselves a hard deadline and pretended it was the 1950s-the record light's on, let's do it! It also helped that we've grown a lot as musicians, so we have the ability now to get things right pretty quickly."

"We had a great time making this record," asserts Shuffield. "Working fast was really positive for us, because we had a lot of adrenaline going and there was no wasted time. A lot of the stuff we did was one or two takes of all three of us playing together in the same room. You can't really do that as a new band, but the fact that we've been together so long creates a certain unspoken communication that saves a lot of time." The resulting album extends and expands Fastball's widely-loved body of work, which encompasses such acclaimed albums as the band's 1996 debut Make Your Mama Proud, their 1998 platinum breakthrough All the Pain Money Can Buy (which spawned the Grammy-nominated Top Five hit "The Way"), 2000's The Harsh Light of Day, 2004's Keep Your Wig On and 2009's Little White Lies.

While it's a natural musical successor to the band's prior work, the self-financed, self-released Step Into Light-the first Fastball album to get a vinyl LP release-also continues Fastball's seamless evolution into a resourceful, self-contained D.I.Y. combo. "We were one of the last bands who got to go into a big studio with a major-label budget, with runners and assistant engineers and cool rented gear," Scalzo notes. "We were fortunate to have that, because it was a great learning experience and it taught us to be producers. There's a time when you're the big new thing and everyone loves you, and then there's a time when nobody's returning your phone calls. We're lucky that we survived that and came out on the other end, and we're a stronger and better band because of that."

Step Into Light demonstrates that Fastball's collective creative rapport, forged over two decades of writing, recording and touring, remains as potent as ever. "There's nothing more satisfying than being in a room with those guys and making it sound like a Fastball song," Shuffield says. "That chemistry has always been there, from the very first time we played together. Our history, and the musical journey that we've been on together-all that stuff comes out when we play together."

"The three of us all have our own individual preferences and baggage and whatnot, but there's a certain sound that comes out when the three of us play together that we can't get anywhere else," Zuniga adds. "We never have to worry about it, it's just always there, and it's been there from the beginning." "We never really blew it," Scalzo says. "We've had plenty of chances to embarrass ourselves and do some of the stupid things that bands do, but I don't think we ever have. Considering how long we've been together, that's a real achievement." Another continuing thread in Fastball's musical life is the band's loyal fan base, which has continued to support the band through thick and thin. "I'm continually amazed," Shuffield says, "that we'll play deep cuts and lesser-known songs, and people will know every single word to every song. It's extremely gratifying to know that you had that kind of effect on someone, and that the music you created resonates with them so strongly. Now it's become a generational thing; our original fans bring their kids to the shows, and then the kids become fans."

With a beloved body of work under their collective belt and Step Into Light making it clear that their musical light still burns as brightly as ever, Fastball is entering a positive and productive period that promises all manner of musical riches. "When I was younger, there were all sorts of ulterior motives for being in a band," Zuniga reflects. "It wasn't just music, it was all the vices that go with being in a rock band. But I'm not concerned with any of the other stuff anymore; I just want to make good music. I think that we're all enjoying the band more than we ever have. We're in a really good spot right now, and we just want to make as much music as we can, while we can." "We're really excited to get out there and play this new material," concludes Shuffield. "It's a blessing to have been doing this for so long and still having new music to play, and we're thrilled to be able to keep doing this."

Website:

http://www.fastballtheband.com/