| An Interview with Steven Page of Bare Naked Ladies |
Toronto Star Wheels - 2/3/07 |
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The Barenaked Ladies are turning green.
Despite the visual that might conjure up turning green is, in this instance, a good thing. It means that the multi-platinum Canadian band Barenaked Ladies is serious about their environmental concerns and are making deliberate choices to green their concert tours, and their lives, in an effort to lessen the impact they have on the environment. |
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Fueling the band’s trucks and buses with biofuel, setting up an information eco-village they call Barenaked Planet, recycling and composting backstage debris, and buying carbon offsets are just some of the ways the band is pitching in, and they’re asking their fans to join in as well.
“A lot of fans are not only dedicated to the band, but dedicated to the environment too.” said BNL singer and guitarist Steven Page during a recent interview in Toronto. “They’re excited by what’s happening. A lot of people are fans of the band and then realize that we share common value, common ideals. That’s what’s really gets people passionate.” And you’ve got to be a pretty passionate Barenaked Ladies fan to being willing to haul the band’s recyclables and compost materials home in your car, which is exactly what some volunteers in Washington and Texas did during the fall Barenaked Ladies Are Me (B.L.A.M.) tour when recycling pickup services weren’t available at the venues. For many of the ecologically-minded fans, and for the five guys in the band itself, something as simple as getting to the concert site becomes a concern. With passenger cars and light trucks alone accounting for about 12 percent of Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions, automotive fossil fuel emissions is an important environmental issue. So, on their fall tour Barenaked Ladies ran their vehicles (typically four trucks and four buses) on biodiesel, specifically B20, which is a blend of 20 percent biofuel, derived from waste oil products or plants such as soy or canola, and 80 percent diesel. Made from renewable, biodegradable resources, thus increasing demand for domestic agricultural products, biodiesel is cleaner than tradition fuels and reduces emissions of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, sulphates, and particulate matter. Use of B20 does not void automotive warranties and it works in diesel engines with few or no modifications to the vehicle, though with higher concentrations some biodiesel compatible components, such as hoses and seals, are recommended. By fueling their fleet with biodiesel Barenaked Ladies calculates that approximately 60,000 pounds of CO2 kept from going into the atmosphere during their recent U.S. tour. Emissions can be further reduced when a higher percentage of biofuel is blended with the diesel fuel “As much as I’d like to be running B99, we’re running B20.” explained Page, pointing out that other musicians, such as singer Bonnie Raitt, have used B99. Temperature does become an issue with higher blend biodiesels which can gel in cold climates, reaching the cloud point (the temperature at which small solid crystals are first visible) at higher temperatures than regular gasoline. With Barenaked Ladies hitting frigid Saskatoon and Winnipeg in mid-February, adjustments to the biodiesel may have to be made. Assisting the band with such logistics, as well as coordinating their other environmental programs, is Reverb a non-profit American organization founded in 2004 by Lauren Sullivan and her husband Adam Gardner, guitarist and vocalist for the band Guster. While raising awareness and support for the environment by connecting musicians and fans is Reberb’s mandate, their work with the bands’ tours includes such practical tasks as setting up recycling and sourcing biodiesel suppliers along a band’s proposed touring route. “Initially it was quite difficult but now it’s become like second nature” says Lauren Sullivan who also works with other musicians including Avril Lavigne, Jack Johnson, Alanis Morisette and the Dave Mathews Band. “What we usually do is have a biofuel vehicle come to our site. It’s called wet-hosing. They come to us and fuel up the band’s vehicles right there at the concert site.” For the current Barenaked Ladies tour Sullivan says frosty Canadian temperatures will definitely be an issue but she is confident that by working with Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based not-for-profit organization, as well as knowledgeable local suppliers the band’s vehicles and generators will be continue to be fuelled with the appropriate blend of biodiesel. Alongside the typical front-of-house booths at concert venues that sell merchandise and services to concertgoers, Reverb sets up an eco-village which showcases alternative energy technologies, local and national non-profits, and enviro-friendly products, as well as other elements that reflect a band’s philosophies and social concerns. In the case of Barenaked Ladies that means selling carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are essentially carbon dioxide credits bought from an alternate energy provider (wind or solar power) or other environmental projects (methane/biowaste, tree planting) that result in less carbon dioxide being produced than would normally occur. With carbon dioxide a major component of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming many people strive to live carbon-neutral lives, calculating their climate-damaging carbon emissions (using one of several online carbon calculators), conserving energy and reducing those emissions as much as possible, then “neutralizing” or balancing the remaining carbon emissions by buying carbon offsets. According to the Barenaked Ladies website (www.bnlmusic.com) during the B.L.A.M. fall tour, fans neutralized over one million miles of driving by participating in the band’s offset program, where the purchase of a $5 Barenaked Planet Offset Stickers neutralizes about 300 pounds of CO2 or the equivalent to driving a car 300 miles. “In the States we use NativeEnergy and here in Canada we’re using a company called Zerofootprint to do our travel offsets, and Bullfrog Power will be offsetting our electrical stuff.” said Page pointing out that the band itself neutralized 300 tons of CO2 by offsetting the power consumed at the fall concerts. Still relatively new and unregulated, carbon offsets are somewhat controversial, with critics questioning the veracity of some data, as well as the value of some alternative energy and energy-conservation projects. Preferring conservation and prevention, offset opponents believe that since it’s often cheaper for individuals and companies to purchase carbon offsets rather than to eliminate their own emissions, offsets simply encourage guilt-free consumption. “The offsets ease the conscious a bit, but it’s more about the kind of consumption we use; what we’re trying to cut back on.” said Page who recently installed a solar panel system in his own home and has an interest in the WindShare co-op that operates the wind turbine at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. “There are other options.” said Page acknowledging that “within the ecological community there’s a huge amount of discourse or disagreement about what the right way to do it is.” Certainly going green isn’t always an inexpensive undertaking. In their efforts to be more eco-friendly the band often finds itself spending more; buying biodiesel and carbon offsets, hiring Reverb, even paying extra just to have all the band’s meals served on china instead of paper plates. “It is more expensive, but I think it’s worth it in the end. I think I would feel a lot more leery about getting on a bus if we felt there weren’t options.” said Page. “I think I wouldn’t do the touring we’re doing if we weren’t trying to take care of the good part.” Barenaked Ladies is currently making their way across Canada on an 18-city tour with three concerts scheduled in Ontario including February 16th at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT with Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies. Q. What’s parked in your driveway? A. Well I don’t really have a driveway, but in our laneway I have a Prius and we have a LX470 Lexus SUV. I’ve always wanted to put on my Prius a bumper sticker that says “My other car is a SUV.” It’s the other way around from what people expect. Q. What was your first car? A. My very first car was my grandmother’s ‘66 Pontiac Parisienne. Q. Did you pass your driver’s test on the first try? A. Yes and I got my licence within six weeks of turning sixteen. I took Young Drivers and took my in-class stuff before I was sixteen. Q. And who helped you, Mom or Dad? A. My Dad, the winter before. You know, go to the Dominion store parking lot and do donuts, that type of thing. I’m not a good driver. I’m not a terrible driver. My wife thinks I’m worse than I am. Q. Okay then, finish this sentence: I’m a pretty good driver but I do have a habit of ___? A. Getting distracted. I’m very critical of other drivers when I’m on the road but I’m that changing-the-radio-station type guy. Q You have children, who’s going to teach them to drive, you or your wife? A. I think I’ll leave that in my wife’s hands. Q. Gearhead or haven’t got a clue? A. I understand it a bit, but I get more excited about –does this have a place to plug my iPod into? If there was an iPod dock in my car I’d be very excited. Q. Are your vehicles coddled or cluttered, filthy or flawless? A.Full of crap. Q You’ve got three young kids, is it their crap or yours? A It’s both, I blame it on them but….the French fries are theirs but the cds, magazines and empty water bottles are all mine. Q. When you’re at the wheel are the tunes blaring or is there blissful silence? A. The tunes are blaring. Q. What’s in your car’s CD player? A. Usually it’s my kids, whatever they want, which could be everything from the latest Barenaked Ladies to Crazy Frog to Led Zeplin. Q. Given the opportunity to slip behind the wheel of any vehicle what would it be? A. For me a dream vehicle would be anything I could imagine Michael Caine walking out of in about 1973, so it could be something by Morris. Actually a cool late 60’s, early 70’s Citroën would be great. Q. NASCAR or no? (At the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race in Richmond, Virginia last September Barenaked Ladies had their likeness plastered on Kevin Harvick’s #29 Monte Carlo SS. The band played a pre-race concert for over 100,000 people and Harvick went on to win the race.) A. No, I’m not a racecar fan. I’ve done stuff with races but it’s never really appealed to me. I’m just not a real machine guy, but I understand it. I get that way if it’s something about wine. Everybody’s got something they get into. I like cars for comfort and I like them for transportation, I’m not into them, but I was curious [about NASCAR] because it’s such a cultural phenomenon. Q. Any tickets or haven’t been caught yet? A. Oh I’ve got lots of tickets, everything from following too closely to speeding. Q. Pet peeve of other drivers? A. Driving slowly in the left lane. Q. On a roadtrip whom would you most like to invite along to ride shotgun? A. Well I have to say my wife. Q. Aside from your wife? A. Living or dead? Okay, I say John Candy because I love Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Q. What option on a car could you not do without? A. CD player. Q. Who is absolutely the worst driver you’ve ever been with? A. The closest I‘ve ever come to thinking I was going to die in a car was in Pittsburgh getting in a taxi at about one in the morning to go back to our hotel. It was an older guy, maybe late 60’s early 70’s, and he had this cool jazz cranked ear-splittingly loud. We got in the car and we drove 90 miles an hour through the tunnels and stuff in Pittsburgh to our hotel. That was the time I thought I was going to die. Q. Best day on the road? A. Getting rescued after our van ran off the Trans-Canada highway into a snow bank during a snowstorm. Getting rescued by a guy with a winch on his truck got us back to Calgary in time to see Van Halen that night. That was pretty good. |