Everything to Everyone

Creative process

After recording and touring incessantly from 1992 until 2001, Barenaked Ladies opted to take some time off for 2002 and most of 2003. It was the first serious hiatus for the band since their inception. Upon returning to the recording studio to being recording what would become Everything to Everyone, BNL adopted a new policy of keeping the writing exclusively within the band members. This resulted in increased contribution from Jim Creeggan and Kevin Hearn, and the band ended up recording more songs than usual (which in turn resulted in a 14 song album plus a bonus track). The album was recorded in Los Angeles, and was the first album the band recorded following the inception of their online blog. This allowed the band to communicate with their fans on a continual basis during the recording, and gave additional insight into the creative process.

The band took to the facility's B-studio near the end of the recording to record versions of the album's songs on acoustic instruments. This was quickly set up, and drummer Tyler Stewart ended up using a drum kit assembled from various unusual objects. The band performed eleven songs which comprised the entire released album except for "Shopping", "Unfinished", "War on Drugs" and the bonus track "Yes!, Yes!!, Yes!!!". This acoustic session proved successful, and a similar performance would be undertaken for their next album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me (abbreviated as BLAM).

The album's cover was painted by Canadian Chris Woods, and depicts the band in profile displaying a white flag of surrender. The title text was displayed over the flag, though to preserve the meaning of the white flag, the album title was not printed on the cover itself. It was instead placed as a sticker on the transparent wrapping, and was "flat", not wavy to match the flag's contours. For the special edition, the title was on the clear plastic sleeve, and matched the flag's waves. The original painting, a 60" x 60" oil on canvas, reportedly hangs at Page's farmhouse studio, Fresh Baked Woods.

Tracks recorded but not included on the album:

As with each of their early albums, the band recorded one song, "Sign Me Up", completely naked.

Release

The album was released in three versions:

The album's first single was "Another Postcard", which many fans perceived as an attempt by the record company to repeat the success of hit singles "One Week" from Stunt and "Pinch Me" from Maroon, which have similar styles and rap-based vocals. Though the band appeared on a number of major U.S. talk shows to promote it, the single was not significantly successful. The band supported the album release with a U.S. tour called the Peepshow tour, which was not a typical promotional tour for the band and was seen as being somewhat geared towards the band's biggest fans, rather than promoting the album to casual fans. Everything to Everyone debuted in the Canadian and US Top 10, but dropped fairly quickly down the charts. At the time it was only the band's second album to have not at least been certified Gold in the US, along with 1994's Maybe You Should Drive.

The album's second single, "Testing 1,2,3", was released early in 2004 with its own music video, coinciding with a more traditional arena tour. A different single, "Maybe Katie", was released to radio in Canada. The album, however, did not see a significant resurgence in sales.

A third single, "For You", was released on a single with the album version and a live version from Glasgow, Scotland, but did not receive a video. The song received little airplay. In the UK, "Celebrity" was released as a radio and commercial single.

DualDisc version

This album was included among a group of 15 DualDisc releases that were test marketed in two cities: Boston and Seattle. It has the standard CD album on one side, and bonus DVD material on the second side.

The DualDisc version was never reissued after the very limited test market run.

Track listing

All tracks written by Steven Page/Ed Robertson, except where noted.

† bonus track on Limited Edition release