He may not funk up his songs with hip-hop beats and histrionic vocals, but Kevin Hearn is a true Survivor. Beyonce and her Destiny’s Child girlfren’s can yammer on about surviving their soap-opera girl-fights, but their shtick ain’t got shit on genuine life-and-death drama. Hearn, on the other hand, is the real deal.
The talented keyboard player, best known as a member of Barenaked Ladies, was diagnosed with leukemia in March of 1998. Instead of joining BNL on their successful Stunt tour, he waited in isolation at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital for a painful bone-morrow transplant. Hearn’s experience over this period is now documented on his new album, H-Wing. The album’s name comes from the hospital wing where his battle and eventual victory over leukemia began. The disc features a bevy of Can-Rock veterans, including members of the Rheostatics, BNL, By Divine Right and some of Hearn’s former Look People bandmates.
With his cancer now in full remission, Hearn is happy to be back on the road with both BNL and his solo band, Thin Buckle.
"I feel pretty beat up," he says before breaking into a laugh. "But I love it. We started the Maroon tour last September and it went until the end of this September. We just had some time off which was much needed."
So much for rest and relaxation — BNL are about to release Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 1991-2001, which means more gigs to push the hits package. Along with supporting gigs for H-Wing, Hearn will be touring the Northeastern U.S. with BNL for the rest of the fall season.
The BNL hits disc features 15 well-known album songs and singles, plus the "Get In Line" track from the King Of Hill TV soundtrack and the band’s bluegrass-flavoured cover of Bruce Cockburn’s "Lovers In A Dangerous Time." It also features two new songs, "It's Only Me (The Wizard Of Magicland)" and "Thanks That Was Fun." Of the new tunes, Hearn says that, "‘It’s Only Me’ is high-energy electric pop, kind of like XTC or The Cars. ‘Thanks That Was Fun’ is a song that Ed [Robertson] brought in on acoustic guitar. We kind of liked it that way – we tried not to change it too much. What we were going for was a kind of a classic-rock Beatles kind of sound."
Given its "Wizard Of Magicland" subtitle, I ask if "It’s Only Me" is the band’s contribution to the ensuing Harry Potter hype.
"I don’t know — you should listen to it!" says Hearn, laughing. "I think it’s about fooling around with yourself. That’s what I read into it. You’ll have to ask Steve [Page], really — he wrote it."
Hearn notes that the band cut four new songs in total with Jim Scott, who also handled production duties on BNL’s Maroon CD. The other songs will most likely end up on an extended CD5.
"We feel good about the greatest hits," says Hearn. "It’s an end of a chapter for us. We’re excited about taking time off next year to write and work on a new record."
Kevin Hearn And Thin Buckle play the first four shows in the Rheostatics 12-night marathon at Toronto’s Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, which started last night. Also check out www.kevinhearn.com, one of the best looking "work in progress" sites to grace the web.