Barenaked Ladies’ member Kevin Hearn knew he made it into the music world once others were setting up and taking down his equipment at concerts. That, or the fact that he been able to work with one of his heroes, Lou Reed.
Hearn met Reed through the same music label. The two struck a friendship and Hearn has since toured as part of Reed’s band. When Hearn became a member of Barenaked Ladies 15 years ago, that was a “time in my life when I felt like I took a giant step forward.”
Hearn met Barenaked Ladies member Tyler Stewart at a bar. The two exchanged numbers and Hearn didn’t expect to hear from Stewart.
“He called me out of the blue. They wanted me to play with them. ‘We’re leaving in a week and a half,’ he said. ‘Are you kidding me?’ I thought. It was like cramming for exams,” Hearn said.
Hearn didn’t own any of the Barenaked Ladies’ albums and had to learn all of their songs before the tour. Hearn was able to learn the repertoire, finished out a two-month tour with the group and then was asked to stay. But before that, Hearn was struggling to make music a full-time career.
He was in several bands including Look People, which Hearn has labeled “Frank Zappa meets the Red Hot Chili Peppers meets Dr. Suess,” and Rheostatics.
During his time in Barenaked Ladies, Hearn and the group have had their share of ups and downs. Founding member Steven Page left the group in 2009, which was both a negative and positive experience, Hearn said.
“Anything that precedes a parting of the ways, inevitably, there’s stuff that goes on that’s not fun. Moving forward, I’m speaking for ourselves, there was a sense of relief and closure,” he said.
All In Good Time, the eighth release for Barenaked Ladies, is the first album recorded since the departing of Page.
“That gave birth to new excitement and new atmosphere which created a rebirth ... it felt like a new band in a way,” Hearn said.
Hearn took a personal blow in 1998 when he was diagnosed with leukemia. He’s been cancer-free for 12 years but had “quite the awful journey.”
“I had a lot of support from family, friends, fans of the band and the band itself. It would be easy for them to replace me, but they were making me feel welcome and wanted me back to work,” he said.
