Steven Page’s solo tour will include Barenaked Ladies songs

It’s been a bumpy ride for Steven Page these past few years (a divorce, a cocaine bust, a band breakup), but the former Barenaked Ladies frontman is ready to turn his bad luck into song. Page is embarking on his first tour in three-and-a-half years tomorrow—this time without his Barenaked brethren—to promote his solo album Page One. The singer told the Toronto Sun that some of the songs are cathartic (the first on the album is called “A New Shore”), but says it’s no buzz-kill.

I don’t want to write diary entries but at the same time you want to write songs that are emotionally honest and when I made this record I thought, ‘Do I want to go out on the road for two years and sing depressing songs about how s–ty things were?’ There’s a couple that are there but in general it’s like, ‘Where am I now?’

And despite Page apparently being on “page one,” he will play hits from the Barenaked Ladies catalogue on his tour. As for the BL’s tune about him, “You Run Away,” Page felt it was “a little finger-pointy”; he also wishes the band had picked a new name. For the most part though, Page and the boys from the band are working towards making their peace. He bumped into his three former bandmates at a recent gala and says although it was a little weird, he still wanted to remind them that “I’m the guy they were best friends with for 20 years.” So while time heals all wounds, it may be a while yet before they regain that Dijon-ketchup level of intimacy.

• Steven Page getting pre-tour jitters [Toronto Sun]