By BNLadyLara, with contributions from other ROSP members.
 |
Full
Name: Steven Jay Page |
The man. The myth. The legend. Are you curious about the wonder that is Steven Jay Page? Can one truly 'know' the man? Perhaps not. But worship him? Absolutely!
And here at the Royal Order of Steven Page, that's what we specialize in! (in a respectful, non-stalker way, of course!)
On Monday, June 22, 1970, Steven Jay Page was born to a very happy Joanne and Victor Page in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada -- and the world was never the same.
Steven was an exceptionally bright young man (surprised? Didn't think so.) He was able to skip a grade early on in school and participated in the gifted learning program at Churchill Heights. Musically inclined thanks to his drumming father, Steven took voice, piano, and flute lessons. When he was a saucy teenager, he was in a band called Scary Movie Breakfast with his friend Geoff Pounsett. It was this comical pairing that gave Steven his first taste of 'stardom'. Thanks to the Scarborough Music Camp in the summer, Steven met Ed -- who had gotten a hold of a Scary Movie Breakfast tape and had become a fan -- and Barenaked Ladies was born (out of sheer boredom at a Bob Dylan concert).
Steven later married his summer camp sweetie (lucky girl), Carolyn Ricketts, on December 28th, 1993. Their first son, Isaac, was born November 19th, 1996. Second son, Benjamin, was born December 1998, and their youngest, Jonah, was born April 16th, 2001.
But this talented man doesn't just write songs, sing and dance! Oh No! He puts his intelligent noggin to use in many varied ways. Recently, he was a chosen panelist on the board of Canada Reads. His book of choice, In The Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaajte, was the winner, chosen to be read by an entire nation. Steven also shared his opinions about the music business in an article he penned for the April 13th edition of the Globe and Mail (a Toronto newspaper), titled, 'The Barenaked Truth about the Music Biz'.
In addition to giving the world great songs and stunning dance moves, Steve always gives back to his community. In June 2002, Steven was a part of the White Ribbon concert in Toronto, an event that helped raise money to prevent violence against women. He also joined his band mates in the Barenaked Circus, a benefit concert for Serve Canada at the Molson Amphitheater.
In 2005, Steve released The Vanity Project, a 12-song album featuring collaborations with long time songwriting partner Stephen Duffy. You can read a full review and overview of The Vanity Project in a special section of this web site devoted to the project!
FROM THE MOUTH OF
MR. PAGE
Some of our favorite quotes...
"Everyone wants to be Ernie, but I know I'm Bert. I'm the curmudgeonly,
bitter, jaded guy."
"We used to listen to the radio a lot in an attempt at egalitarianism,
to understand what was popular. [The band's] image was not one of cool,
Top 40 personalities. To have five nerdy, suburban guys rapping and dancing
fairly authentically was novel. We did this festival once and ended with
the rap. This juggler comes up to us and said, 'Always end with the rap.'
We'd never thought of it before, but we've been ending with the rap for
10 years. Sometimes you can learn the best showmanship from jugglers and
fire-eaters."
"For a big
fellow, I'm fairly limber."
"People sometimes
think I'm being aloof or snotty when they see me off stage, which isn't
necessarily the case. I think maybe I'm just not always as comfortable
talking to a stranger as I am yelling at them."
"If you're going to stand up there and smile and have fun for two hours
and show people that there can be joy in life, you really can affect other
people by example. There's no greater thing you can do than to demonstrate
how happy you can be, to that many people night after night. That's a
fantastic service to perform."
"What I'm saying now in my writing is very explicit. I don't even really
need to talk a lot about it because when you hear the songs, you should
know exactly what I'm talking about. That's what's different for me, it's
not just me doing pop culture references. It's more explicit."
"I love Krispy Kreme donuts, but doesn't the thought of cream that's crispy
just churn your stomach?"
"You scratch my back, I'll give you a full body massage."
(Deal. - Editor)
"If you're gonna get a front row seat, man, you better learn the goddamn
words."
"I have to set an example for the young people. And that is, be a fat
guy with bad hair."
"Don't fall in love with me. I'm a tease." (Too late. - Editor)
"I'm faster than anyone, now look at how fast, I ran cross this stage
now, don't look at my ass..." (to the tune of "Chariots of Fire")
"I have made a couple of rock-star purchases. I've got my big, rapper-style
SUV. It's only because I hate the environment and I wanted to spew out
as many emissions into the air as possible. I don't do a lot of off-roading
and I don't really need the size and so on. I'm just angry at the environment,
so I'm trying to do my best to destroy it."
"We have all succumbed to the cyber-revolution, although I refuse
to believe that the Internet exists."
"I went to a Brian Wilson concert in Toronto, and he opened with 'Brian
Wilson'. And I didn't know what I should do. I mean, should I jump up,
shout, 'Yes! That's mine!' Or should I crawl under my seat and hide. I
ended up crawling under my seat, and whispering, 'Yes!'"
"I have to go home and get grumpy to write songs. I kind of have to live
a real life. And the world doesn't need to hear road songs anymore."
"It's real easy to feel lost at sea when you're performing, so I try to
keep my feet on the ground. My usual routine is I wake up late morning
in our tour bus. I have no idea where I am or what time it is. But I get
up, put some clothes on, get coffee, take a look at my surroundings, and
see that I am in the parking lot of a giant sports arena. I then wish
to myself that I could go for a walk or something, but I have to visit
three radio stations with the band, play two sets of five songs each in
two different radio stations over the course of the day. I shake a lot
of hands. I have lunch with the Barenaked Ladies, we make our way back
to the venue. At 4 o'clock we have sound check, we eat, we meet and we
greet, we do our show, we have another meet and greet, we get on the bus
and the next day we do it all over again."
"We have families, and we do like to remind them of what we look like."
"If I can have an omelette with home fries and toast, I'm a happy guy
at any meal...And with grapefruit juice, now that's a delicious meal.
Sometimes I try to mislead myself into thinking I want oatmeal, but I
know I never do."
"Do you ever turn on the TV with the closed-captioning and realize it's
totally fucking with you?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, there is a debate over those those - what do you
call them - mp3s. Should you be downloading stuff and burning your own
CDs? Well, here's the answer folks: As long as you don't believe in the
internet, like Barenaked Ladies - we refuse to believe that the internet
exists - there is no problem with mp3s in the music business. You cannot
steal something if there is nothing to steal. What is the sound of one
band talking? There is nothing to steal if there is no internet. If there
is no internet, there is no need for a monitor on your computer. Just
type and touch your privates. I didn't even buy a monitor. It's all in
my imagination. It's all in my imagination."
"What an odd phenomenon of rock and roll--the flashing person. But
it's a phenomenon that I'm going to enjoy for the rest of my career."
(BiA)
"You know, Ed and I, when we first started playing together, I'd drop
him off at his parent's house. We'd been making out in the car for, like,
20 minutes, half an hour. (Laughs) That's what the song is about." (joking
about the song, "In the Car")
"Some guy just dropped his pants and I saw balls! I've never felt more
like a rock star than this moment." (August 22nd, 2001, Marcus Amphitheater,
Milwaukee, WI)
"Rhyming is unimportant when offending Jehovah's witnesses."
"Red, for instance, is not only the color of blood, but also of clowns'
noses."
"I'd like to thank everyone who chose Pepsi over Coke. And I'l like to
thank everyone who chose Coke over Pepsi. And to everyone who doesn't
drink cola. And thanks to cola for starting this whole debate."
"I called home and my son said to me, 'Daddy, you're an asshole! You're
never home! You're always on the road! You think you're SO HOT!' So I
hung up and pretended it was a crank call."
"The fact that 'Barenaked Ladies' made us laugh and reminded us of
when we used to look through the women's underwear section of the Sears
catalog when we were 8. Once Ed got our first gig, he told them we were
the Barenaked Ladies, and there was no turning back or else how would
the 7 people there find us again?"
"Like they say in Canada, 'We're number 3! We're number 3!'"
"I like to enjoy an alcoholic beverage or seventeen on occassion.
I know when to say no, I just choose not to."
"I hate sports. My reaction to the ball is this *kicks soccer ball* Don't
kick it back to me. I don't wanna see it again."
"We are Barenaked Ladies and we are our own sorority."
"You guys just do this shit for publicity don't you? It's all bout spin
for you Yankees." (making fun of the US political insanity)
"I'm the thinnest damn member in this band, but I felt so bad I had to
fill up my shirt with a big foam pad."
"I have my special rhyming scheme and damn, I think it's great."
Chart Magazine: "Why
hasn't Kraft approached you for an endorsement?"
Steve: "They're cheap bastards."
Bibliography
Many thanks to the site formerly known as SPAZ, Nakedhead
and Rubber Balls & Liquor,
as well as Public Stunts, Private Stories by Paul Myers for some
background information.