Canada's own Barenaked Ladies have been playing a series of free concerts recently to help the band warm-up for its outing as part of this year's H.O.R.D.E. festival.
The Ladies have given free shows in Chicago, Detroit and Boston, with the latter show drawing an estimated crowd of 40,000. The band has been using the gigs to help promote its new album, "Stunt," and the new single, "One Week," [700k QuickTime] which nearly featured a guest appearance by rappers Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
The Bone Thugs crew was staying in the same Nashville hotel as the Barenaked Ladies while the band was recording "Stunt," but the potential team-up was abandoned following an awkward bathroom confrontation between the groups.
"I was coming back to [the apartment]," said Ladies drummer Tyler Stewart, "because I really had to go, and I start bounding up the stairs to my room -- Then I slapped him right in the stomach, and he said, 'Oh I'm sorry man. I thought you were my brother.'"
"After that," added guitarist Steven Page, "it was like, well, we can't ask them now."
"I figured they'd say, 'That's the guy who screamed at me and slapped me in the stomach. I'm not singing on his record.'" Stewart said.
"For the first few days," Page explained, "we [said to Bone Thugs], 'Hi, how's it going? You guys making a record? We're making a record too.' Then after [the incident], we always just tried to avoid each other."
"I was embarrassed," Page said.
Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Ben Harper and Alana Davis will launch the H.O.R.D.E. '98 tour this Friday in East Troy, Wisconsin.
