Steven Page on feeling 'peace and terror' ahead of Barenaked Ladies reunion

It's been nine years since Steven Page's acrimonious split from the Barenaked Ladies, the group he fronted to become one of the bestselling Canadian acts of all time.

With less than one week to go before Page reunites with his former bandmates for a special performance at the Juno Awards on March 25, who will be inducting BNL into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, he's feeling a mix of "peace and terror."

"I'm terrified," he says in a interview with q's Tom Power. "This is the first time I will be in the same room as those guys in nine years."  

While he's been communicating with Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart and sharing some laughs over text, he knows full well that things will be different. BNL, for their part, have released five albums without Page.

"I know I'm not going to go there and it's not it's going to be like, 'hey let's just pick up where we left off.' But there are some elements of that and I'm excited for what I've done with those guys," he says.

In the video above, Page and Robertson, interviewed separately, look back on the band's early days and look forward to their reunion at the Juno Awards. The clip is part of our Juno's pre-show special with Tom Power, which you can watch in full March 25 at 7:00 p.m. ET on CBC-TV and at CBC.ca/q.

You can also listen to the full audio interview with Page by clicking the play button above, as he talks to us about what it has been like since leaving the group, the feeling he gets hearing the old songs and what the BNL legacy is. To listen to the full Robertson interview, tune into q Thursday, March 22. 

Here are some highlights from the Page interview. 

On breaking up with the band feeling like a second divorce

We weren't on the same page with what we wanted to do next. And you know, I don't think any of us wanted to do it together. The part that hurt the most was it was like I was totally by myself and they were unified as the four of them. And it's like, you know, they're brothers, and … you would not expect to be in that situation. But to make the break was the only option for us. I had just gone through a divorce the year before, so it was like two divorces right in a row.  

On singing with Robertson for the first time

The second we sang together the harmony was perfect, it was like, being dudes, no one wants to go 'oh my God!' but you could just see that kind of lock.

On seeing the band move on without him

To be completely honest, I have not watched any of it. I mean, I get it. And I'm not a superstitious person, I don't have any grudge, but I guess it's like, do you want to watch your ex-girlfriend's sex tapes or something with somebody else. I'm happy they're doing the songs, honestly, and I'm happy that they do the songs that I was part of.

— Produced by Shannon Higgins