By now Barenaked Ladies fans must still be reeling from the news - Steven Page is quiting the band. This seems to be the culmination of a misadventure that started to get public a little while ago, down in Syracuse New York. Steven, who was no longer with his wife, had gone to visit his American girlfriend. The story's pretty well known by now: they had a scene at a night club, Page drove back drunk to their room, girlfriend follows and then leaves in a huff, Page a girlfriend's room mate start doing lines, cops are called do to car parked in middle of road (left by girlfriend), cops ask if the can come in, Steve lets them in (major mistake in this series of errors), cops ask "is that coke I see you doing?", Steve answers "I'm not gonna lie to you officers" (another big mistake!), and then Steve & Co are escorted to the Police Dept for mug shots.
Of course fans were shocked that Steve had left his wife, was apparently seeing a crazy slut (if her mugshot is any indication), and doing drugs. Completely inconsistent with his image as a bright, grounded guy. While people were debating whether or not the business had finally gotten to him (it will I'm told), his BNL comrade Ed Robertson crashed his private plane. The press was more interested in stories about drugs and sluts - so Robertson's crash became a footnote.
Now Steve, who is a very bright guy and was a grounded fellow for years, went on to explain to everyone that he didn't know what got into him - besides the coke he'd snorted that is - and that he was very sorry. The judge said that was okay, and his sentence would be suspended if he could keep his nose clean for the next 6 months. The same went for the others involved in the case: Page's girlfriend and her room mate.
Page successfully managed to keep out of trouble, but by then the tension had set in with the band. Only a few days ago BNL co founder Ed Robertson announced for Page that Page would be leaving the act. The BNL wasn't break up mind you - the show was just going on with out one of it's most recognizable members. While page said nothing, Ed made statements in the Canadian media. At first he insisted that the break up was amicable and mutual (just like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston!). Cynics remarked that show business bust ups are seldom amicable, especially when the participants say they are. Sure enough, in an interview on CBC Radio's As It Happens only last night, indications of some pent up tension started to emerge.
In the beginning of the interview Ed Robertson still maintained that this was an mutual decision, and that Steve had other stuff to do. How ever it didn't take much pressuring from the program host for other things to start coming out. Ed quickly went from "We all just felt that this was the best way to move forward" to "Well I had a plane crash that no on wanted to talk about. Everything was 'What about Steve's drug bust?'" When asked if he remembered what Steve said when the spilt was decided on, Robertson responded "Yeah. I remember what he said, but I'm not gonna repeat it. Maybe some day". When the host mentioned that many fans were posting on message boards that they were pissed at not getting a chance to 'say good bye' to Page as a band member, Robertson basically brushed the question aside. So it's safe to infer that some tension had built up, particularly between the band's two co founding members.
As for the future, the Barenaked Ladies are assuring there fans that the show will go on, even without Page. So far there are no talks about a replacement member - so it's uncertain whether they will continue as a 5 man act, or in quartet form. There also doesn't seem to have been any official statement from Page. It's got to be tough to see a twenty year plus chapter of your life close. Page and Robertson had known each other since grade 4. They started the band on a lark, as an act for Toronto's Annual Harvest Food bank drive. Robertson chose the name based on an 'in joke' between himself and Page. They made their breakthrough on Speaker's Corner - the one dollar 'video booth' that allowed anyone to record a message which might later be played on CHUM TV stations. All 5 members of BNL squeezed into the same booth and sang "Be My Yoko Ono". Improvisation and comedic stage presence would go on to be hall marks of their performances, and what endeared them to their fans. The comedic touches also seemed to show that they were still just a bunch of high school pals just having laughs. They didn't take themselves or the business too seriously. Now that seems to have changed, and 20 years of personal history have gone by the way. We can only hope that the Ladies manage to over come their differences at some point; if not for the sake of a second act, at least for the sake of some pretty rich personal history.
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