Barenaked Ladies
Greening the music scene
Since singing about the cruelty of real fur coats back in 1992, on debut album Gordon, the Barenaked Ladies have always done things a little more consciously than most people. And they’ve only gotten better at it in the years since, by greening their tours and supporting causes like Amnesty International.
The guys
- Ed Robertson - vocals, guitar
- Steven Page - vocals, guitar
- Tyler Stewart - drums, backing vocals
- Jim Creeggan - bass, stringed instrumentals, vocals
- Kevin Hearn - keyboards, guitar, vocals
Touring with Reverb
The Barenaked Ladies teamed up with nonprofit tour greening company Reverb in 2004 for their Au Naturale tour. It began with a concourse eco-village where local green businesses could spread the word to fans, through ways such as offering up scientific information or selling green energy. It was a success, but got the group to thinking. It didn’t make sense to present a green message to fans and then go back to their generator-powered tour buses and create waste. Once they realized how much work the music industry needed, they furthered their commitment with Reverb.
The Barenaked Planet Tour incorporates several green initiatives, such as running tour buses and trucks on B20 biodiesel, using recycled and reusable materials and becoming carbon neutral by offsetting everything else with wind power and tree planting projects through NativeEnergy in the U.S. and Zerofootprint in Canada. The fans can get in on the offsetting action by purchasing Barenaked Planet stickers to offset their travel to and from shows. Organic merchandise options, biodegradable food service items, BNL recycled guitar string bracelets, backstage recycling and composting round out the Ladies’ efforts. But they have mentioned plans to create a handbook on touring green for other artists and are hoping the audience will get in on the greening by demanding sustainable options in food and drink at the concerts and reducing their own waste.
The Barenaked Ladies call other green artists such as Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young and Jack Johnson inspirational for their own low-impact touring ways.
Ships and Dip
On Carnival Cruise ship gigs, the band not only lessens their own impact, but encourages the company and promoters to do so as well, by way of recycling and improved waste disposal. Other changes - reusable items in rooms and biodegradable soaps.
Steven Page’s green connections
This Prius-driving band member participates in WindShare, a for-profit wind energy co-operative based in Toronto. He is on the board of directors for World Wildlife Fund Canada (the band supports WWF by donating 50 cents from every concert ticket). He eats local organic at home, and the group has been striving to include healthy, quality meals while on the road.
Green albums and no albums at all
CDs the Barenaked Ladies sell on their website (they left their label and returned to their indie roots a few years ago) are even making a difference. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper is used for album covers. Music can also be downloaded from their website or purchased on reusable USB drives to get rid of CDs altogether.
