Role in Barenaked Ladies
Stewart met Steven Page, Ed Robertson and Jim Creeggan at a buskers festival in the summer of 1990 and soon filled their desire for a real kit drummer. When Andy Creeggan (who played congas) returned from a trip to South America to find Stewart on drums, he felt a little displaced (and eventually moved over to playing mostly keyboards). Stewart has been with the band ever since. He also adds numerous percussion elements besides the drum kit in the studio, and occasionally adds melodic elements (including some piano on the Born On A Pirate Ship album). For live shows, he usually has an electronic sampler pad which he can activate with his drumsticks. During acoustic or smaller shows (or sets within shows), he sometimes plays other percussive elements live, including shakers, bongo drums, and even drumming on unusual objects, such as an instrument case.
He is the only member (past or present) of the band who has not actively written songs for the group's albums; nor does he write for a side-project. He has received a writing credit on only three songs in the band's catalogue: "Grade 9" from Gordon (written by all five then-members), "Why Say Anything Nice?" from Barenaked Ladies Are Men (co-written with Page and Robertson), and "Allergies" from Snacktime! (lyrics co-written with Kevin Hearn, music written by all five then-members). Up until the time Page left the band, Stewart had sung lead on only two recorded songs, while having one or two lines of lead in only a handful of others. Stewart sings lead on "Allergies" and a cover of "Holly Jolly Christmas" which was cut from Barenaked for the Holidays. Stewart also sings lead on a version of "Feliz Navidad" which the band has performed live for holiday shows since 2004. For the song, the other four band members rotate to play one of instruments they don't normally play. The song has also been played on other occasions with the word "navidad" replaced by lyrics relevant to the event (such as "Feliz Ships and Dip", and "Feliz Halloween", among others). Upon Page's departure in 2009, Stewart began taking on some of his vocals, including singing lead on at least one song ("Alcohol"). Stewart also sings the chorus on the song "Four Seconds" from All in Good Time.
Read more about this topic: Tyler Stewart
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