“ Paul Chambers ,” which is just delightfully smooth . Both Creeggans ’ s songs also include his brother and former Barenaked Lady Andy Creeggan , who recorded the wood drum on “ Here Together ” and played a host of backing instruments on “ Paul Chambers ,” including the piano as well as putting together the string and horn arrangements .
To add to the album ’ s pedigree on top of the already star-studded crew , cast , and history-laden gear , there were also some really great co-writers involved on the record , including Kevin Griffin ( who also had a hand in co-production on a handful of songs ), as well as Donovan Woods , Danny Michel , James Bryan McCollum , Craig Wiseman , and Mike Evin .
MARK HOWARD
What ’ s abundantly apparent across the record is that this is a group of musicians free of ego and who are all dedicated to making the best record they can , regardless of who contributes what .
“ You know , I like that our records have more than one voice ,” Hearn mentions . “ One of my favourite records of all time is the White Album by The Beatles ; I like the element of our record that has Jim ’ s songs and my songs and Ed ’ s songs , and we have Tyler singing on this one and it ’ s really cool .”
I mentioned to Robertson , as well , that I felt as though this is a very timely record and , being so varied in its ethos , that it captures a lot of the common emotions felt across the population lately ; both positive and negative . There ’ s no denying that we ’ re all having a hell of a time . “ Yeah , and I think that ’ s why the title worked so well for me . Detour de Force . I felt so great about the record , but it wasn ’ t the record that we started to make . Like , the whole world had to detour last year , and our record was no exception , so it really encapsulated the process .”
Hearn ’ s songs include “ Bylaw ,” the aforementioned “ The National Park ,” and “ Big Back Yard , and then there ’ s album closer “ Internal Dynamo ,” which is hard to qualify as anything other than a wild prog-rock trip . In fact , that particular tune goes so far as to give Robertson a go on drums , and drummer Tyler Stewart taking up the mic for a monstrous vocal performance , echoing a tradition the band has picked up for closing their live shows .
“ I ’ m laughing because it ’ s so Zeppelin ,” Stewart says of Robertson ’ s drum performance . “ And Ed , for a guitar player / singer , is one of the hardest-hitting drummers I ’ ve ever seen . He loves playing , but he always says , ‘ Man , I can only do one song because I blow my arms off .’ I was so excited having him play drums on that track . When we did the initial take , I was jumping around dancing in the room screaming and yelling because it was so exciting . I love that he got to do that on the record , and at the same time I got to sing on that song ; I got to bust out my heavy metal !” Robertson describes the vibe as “ Rage Against the Zeppelin Machine .” He ’ s not off the mark either ; it ’ s a massive closing tune and when it comes in , it comes in heavy . It ’ s awesome .
Naturally , Stewart ’ s reaction to Robertson ’ s drumming would come back around as Stewart recorded his vocals . “ That was great too , because again , it was right in the middle of Ed ’ s living room . I just left it all out on the floor , you know , and it was great ‘ cause the guys are laughing and bopping . Like , they ’ re just having a great time watching me do it as my head was getting redder and redder , and I ’ m trying to record and keep a straight face while they ’ re pointing and laughing .”
These little moments really speak to the camaraderie between the band members , and the almost by-committee method by which their records are made . I
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asked about who tends to do what in the recording process , and Robertson gave a great answer . “ In some ways , I ’ ll take the most ham-fisted guitar part . If it ’ s a strumming , riffy part , I ’ ll play it . If there ’ s more nimble finesse required , Kev ’ s probably gonna do it . He ’ s a virtuoso on guitar and on keyboards , and I feel zero threat from that . Then with Jim ’ s songs , sometimes he has a very particular feel to his guitar playing . So , in the past , he ’ s asked me to play bass on a song so he can play the rhythm guitar part … And sometimes it ’ s better for him to just do it , then I ’ ll learn the bass and play it live , or sometimes in the studio I ’ ve played the bass parts . When you ’ re trying to serve the song , I don ’ t care who plays the guitar solo , or who plays the leads , and we ’ ve got a bunch of different singers !”
And that overall mindset of serving the songs really does pervade through the entirety of Detour de Force in such a tasteful and interesting way , and it really does speak to the journey that not only the quartet has been on in making the record , but the journey of the album ’ s evolution itself . It ’ s real , but it ’ s big . It ’ s thoughtful , but it ’ s fun . It ’ s a triumphant effort , and it also highlights the best of what BNL is as a fully collaborative and exceptionally-talented group of musicians , not to mention the novelty of the process . Ultimately , it ’ s really the perfect record to tie the knot on this pandemic as we flip into a brighter future .
Andrew Leyenhorst is a Niagara-based freelance producer , mixer , recording engineer , and the Assistant Editor of Professional Sound .
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