Bare*** Ladies

Bare*** Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson and Tyler Stewart. Bare*** Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough ^{Scarborough, Ontario} , Ontario, then a suburban city outside Toronto. They are best known for their hit singles, "One Week ^{One Week (song)} ", "The Old Apartment", "Pinch Me", "If I Had $1000000, and "Brian Wilson ^{Brian Wilson (song)} "; Original keyboardist Andy Creeggan left the band in 1995, and founding member Steven Page departed in 2009.

 
Indie origins

Bare*** Ladies began as the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page. at Churchill Heights Public School, but were not friends until they ran into each other at a Harvey's ^{Harvey's (restaurant chain)} restaurant following a Peter Gabriel concert. When Page had an extra ticket to a Bob Dylan concert that no one wanted, he ran into Robertson at a party. The two attended the concert at Exhibition Stadium (most likely on August 29, 1988). Bored by the show, the two turned to amusing each other, pretending they were rock critics, inventing histories and comments about the Dylan band. They also made up various band names; one of which was "Bare*** Ladies".


On another front, Robertson had agreed to perform with his cover band in a battle of the bands at Nathan Phillips Square for the Second Harvest food bank. The band broke up and he forgot about the gig. When he received a phone call a week before the show, asking him to confirm the gig, he improvised that the name of the band had changed to "Bare*** Ladies", recalling the name from the Dylan concert. He then called Page and asked if he wanted to do the gig; Page reportedly could not believe Robertson had given that name. They arranged three rehearsals and missed them all.


The first albums


The band's first full album, Gordon ^{Gordon (album)} , was released in 1992 and was a big success in Canada. Tyler Stewart has also suggested that Creeggan had never fully accepted his replacement by Stewart as percussionist.

Maroon ^{Maroon (album)} , released in 2000, In 2001, they released a compilation album, entitled Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits ^{Disc One} ,


Return to independence and current


The band's next album was Bare*** for the Holidays, which was released on October 5, 2004. It was their first independent record since the Yellow Tape, as well the first album recorded at Steven Page's then-recently completed studio at his farmhouse called Fresh Baked Woods. The band created the record label Desperation Records for this album. The label has been used for all releases since. Currently, the label is just a title used to release the band's own material, and the band is not looking to sign outside artists.

In January 2005, the band taped a television pilot for a variety show, tentatively titled Bare*** Ladies Variety Show, which was ultimately rejected by the Fox ^{Fox Broadcasting Company} network. Later that year, the band was asked to write music for the Stratford Festival of Canada's musical production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Steven Page wrote most of the music (Shakespeare had provided lyrics in the play), and the band recorded it for the actors to sing over. The recording (with Page's vocals) was available on CD from the festival and on the band's website. On July 2, 2005 BNL took part in the Live 8 concert ^{Live 8 concert, Barrie} in Barrie, Ontario. Following several writing sessions throughout 2005, the band went into the studio at Fresh Baked Woods that fall to begin recording 29 songs. They broke from the studio in November and December of that year to play a 22-show holiday tour, each night of which they played one of their new songs. An iTunes Originals – a collection of interviews and live songs (coupled with some old album tracks) was recorded while the band was in the studio and was released in February 2006.

Also in February, the band went back into the studio to finish up the recordings they started the previous fall. Initially unsure of how to release so many songs, the band announced in May 2006 that they would release a one-disc album in early September entitled Bare*** Ladies Are Me. Several alternate versions are available, including downloadable versions and a USB flash drive version. The B.L.A.M. tour in support of the album, and its follow-up Bare*** Ladies Are Men (both of which hail from the same sessions), ran in Fall 2006 for the U.S., February 2007 for Canada, and later in 2007 for the UK. That same year, the band wrote and sang the theme song to the Warner Bros. Television series The Big Bang Theory for CBS.

On May 6, 2008, the band released an album of original material aimed at children entitled Snacktime!. The album features the artwork by Kevin Hearn in its liner notes, which is also available in the form of a hardcover book with the CD included. The album was promoted with a series of television appearances and in-store appearances at bookstores in the north-eastern and west coasts of the United States, as well as Toronto.

In July 2008, the band chose to cancel scheduled appearances at several Disney Music Block Party concerts following Page's arrest ^{Steven Page#Drug arrest} on allegations of cocaine possession. In August, Robertson crashed his single-engine plane ^{Ed Robertson#Plane crash} (with no casualties), and in December, his mother passed away. Band members made several comments about how the events of the year marred their celebration of the band's 20th anniversary (October 1, 2008).

On February 24, 2009, it was announced by both the band and Steven Page that Page had left the band "[by] mutual agreement". The remaining four members of the band will continue to record and tour while Page intends to pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities. in July, it was announced the band had left Nettwerk management and had hired the newly merged management firm CAM 8.
The band went into the studio from May to August 2009 as a four-piece working on their next album with producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda. "You Run Away", the lead single from the new album, was released to Canadian radio on January 8. The release dates for the album, entitled All in Good Time ^{All in Good Time (Bare*** Ladies album)} , are March 23, 2010 in Canada and March 30 in the U.S. On January 6, 2010, the band announced that it had signed an exclusive worldwide distribution deal with EMI Label Services. The same announcement implied that the band has created a new label for itself following the departure of Page called Raisin' Records.Bare*** Ladies has often attempted to utilize new technologies to promote themselves and their music. They were among the early adopters of computers for promotion when they released an "Interactive Press Kit" on floppy disk for Maybe You Should Drive in 1994, which earned them a MuchMusic Video Award. They used their website to allow fans to choose between two songs ("Be My Yoko Ono" and "Alternative Girlfriend") for inclusion on their greatest hits CD, Disc One (though polling was nearly tied and both songs were included).

Beginning in April 2003, the band began a blog on its website to keep fans updated personally, coinciding with the band's return to the studio for Everything to Everyone. During a subsequent studio session, for Bare*** Ladies Are Me, Ed Robertson began a podcast in addition to the blog which ran from February to August 2006 (with a series of four videos added in early 2007 with highlights from the band's first cruise ^{#Ships and Dip} .

The band has adopted many of the current online social networking sites, including accounts on MySpace, Facebook, and most recently, Twitter. The Twitter feed has been integrated into the band's site, and it also typically announces new blog posts with a link. These accounts have been used for contests and to debut new tracks. Different band members have also had individual accounts on these sites at times.

Bare*** Ladies has sold recordings of almost all of its live concerts since early 2004. Initially, concerts were sold on CD-R or as MP3 downloads. By the end of 2004, lossless FLAC files were also offered. Professionally printed copies of some concerts were later offered through some isolated record stores, and some concerts have been added to the iTunes Music Stores and other digital retailers.

The band was praised for a unique use of USB flash drive technology. The band offered its 2004 Bare*** For the Holidays album on a customized flash drive in MP3 format, with extras including bonus tracks, and photos and videos from the studio sessions for the album. The band used a 128 MB USB stick, limiting the bitrate of the music included. The band described the product as a test of the technology and the market for that technology. It subsequently released Are Me in the USB format as well (on a 256 MB stick). The band also incorporated the technology into its live music sales, offering fans a copy of concerts in MP3 format on a USB stick at the merchandise booth directly after the show.

In 2009 the Bare*** Ladies took part in an interactive documentary series called City Sonic. The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had Tyler Stewart reflecting on his memories of the now closed Ultrasound Showbar. The films were accompanied by an iPhone application, which uses GPS ^{Global Positioning System} technology to unlock more videos when the user is close to the specific location.Following a lead from other artists, the band held a fan cruise called "Ships and Dip", January 15 – January 19, 2007. Other artists who joined the Ladies included side projects The Brothers Creeggan (Andy, Jim and guests), Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle and The Vanity Project (Steve and a full band assembled for the cruise), as well as friends of the band, Guster, Jason Plumb, The New Odds, and others. The ship also featured stand-up comedy from band friends Seán Cullen, and Harland Williams.

The success of the cruise led to sequel, "Ships and Dip III", which held January 27 – February 1, 2008, with many of the same artists returning, as well as adding Great Big Sea as a headlining performer. The third annual cruise, "Ships and Dip V" sailed February 1–6, 2009, adding Sarah McLachlan as an opening act for each of the band's three main theatre shows. The 2009 cruise also included Sloan, Luke Doucet, The Mountain Goats and The Weakerthans.

The artists on the Ships and Dip cruises have sailed onboard with the rest of the passengers for the duration of the cruises; this contrasts some music cruises on which the artist or artists travel separately to one of the cruise destinations and perform there, or join the cruise for only a portion of the trip. Band members have enjoyed other artists' shows and the ship's amenities freely with the other guests. Bare*** Ladies have performed several full shows on each cruise, and the band members also commonly have sat in with other artists at their shows. Following Page's departure in 2009, Sixthman announced that there would be no followup cruise for the next year with no word on if or when a subsequent cruise would take place.In 1993, Bare*** Ladies were nominated for their first four Juno Awards: Canadian Entertainer of the Year, Album of the year for Gordon, Single of the Year for Enid, and Group of the year, which was their only win. The group was again nominated for Canadian Entertainer of the Year in 1994 and Group of the Year in 1995.
Bare*** Ladies' first Grammy ^{Grammy Award} nomination came in 1999 for "One Week" in the Pop Performance by a Duo or Group category, but lost to Brian Setzer's "Jump, Jive an' Wail". The song, and its album Stunt, brought the band three more Juno Awards that year, for Best Single, Best Pop Album, and Best Group. Robertson lost to Bryan Adams in the newly revived Best Songwriter Category.

The band was nominated for their second Grammy in 2001 for "Pinch Me", again in the Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group category, but lost to "Cousin Dupree" by Steely Dan.


;Billboard Music Awards
The Billboard Music Awards is sponsored by Billboard magazine and held annually in December. Bare*** Ladies has received two awards from two nominations.



;Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Bare*** Ladies has received two nominations.



;Juno Awards
The Juno Awards is a Canadian awards ceremony presented annually by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Bare*** Ladies has received six awards from nine nominations.



;MTV Video Music Awards
The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV. Bare*** Ladies has received one nomination.



;MuchMusic Video Awards
The MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVAs) is an annual awards ceremony presented by Canadian television station MuchMusic that honours the best music videos. In the past, the awards including some vote-in People's Choice categories that were not specifically tied to videos. Bare*** Ladies has received three awards and several other nominations.




;World Music Awards
The World Music Awards honours recording artists based on worldwide sales figures provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ^IFPI . Bare*** Ladies has received one award.Bare*** Ladies have an authorized biography which was released in 2001, titled Public Stunts Private Stories, written by friend of the band and fellow Scarborough native Paul Myers ^{Paul Myers (musician)} with input from the band.

The band has also become a proponent of environmentalism, following from Page's passion for greening (he is himself a board member of WWF Canada ^{World Wide Fund for Nature} ). The band began bringing an "eco-village" organized by the Reverb ^{Reverb (non-profit)} organization on their 2004 Au Naturale tour. The band has since partnered with Reverb to form the "Bare*** Planet" project, which is the band's label for their project to progressively "green" their touring. Efforts the band have made include ensuring backstage materials are recycled, using biodiesel in their tour vehicles (B20 as of December 2006), and offsetting carbon emissions ^{carbon offset} with wind power. This includes both band-sponsored offsets for their own emissions, as well as having volunteers sell "Bare*** Planet" stickers to concertgoers with the money going to offset their drives to the venues.Tyler Stewart, Jim Creeggan, and Kevin Hearn all have past or present side projects during their time off from BNL. Stewart was part of a trio called Don't Talk Dance which released a self-titled album in 1995. The album was made for charity and all profits went to Casey House, an AIDS charity in Canada. The trio is no longer together. Jim Creeggan is part of the alternative/jazz trio The Brothers Creeggan, with brother and former BNL member Andy Creeggan and friend Ian McLauchlan. Andy Creeggan also has several solo albums with the most recent one released in 2004.

Ed Robertson has a television show titled "Ed's Up!" that premiered on November 1, 2006 on the Canadian Outdoor Life Network., and he has occasionally guest-hosted on the science news show "Daily Planet ^{Daily Planet (TV series)} " on Discovery Channel Canada. He has sporadically taken acting roles as well.In December 2008, former Beatle ^{The Beatles} Paul McCartney was asked by a session musician which bands he enjoys in the current music scene. The response was the Bare*** Ladies: "Their harmonies are right on. They could outsing us any day of the week. I don’t think John ^{John Lennon} and myself ever had the sort of range they do." McCartney added that he wouldn't mind recording with the band in the future.*Gordon ^{Gordon (album)} (1992)
*Maybe You Should Drive (1994)
*Born on a Pirate Ship (1996)
*Stunt ^{Stunt (album)} (1998)
*Maroon ^{Maroon (album)} (2000)
*Everything to Everyone (2003)
*Bare*** for the Holidays (2004)
*Bare*** Ladies Are Me (2006)
*Bare*** Ladies Are Men (2007)
*Snacktime! (2008)
*All in Good Time ^{All in Good Time (Bare*** Ladies album)} (2010)* Bare*** in America (Not released by the band)
* Too Little Too Late
* Barelaked Nadies
* The Bare*** Truth (Not released by the band)
* Talk to the Hand: Live In Michigan ^{Talk to the Hand}