The Vanity Project is an album released as a side-project by Steven Page, then of the bandBarenaked Ladies. It is also the artist name under which the album was released. Its first two singles, "That's All, That's All" and "Wilted Rose", were released in early May 2005; only the latter song had a music video, which was animated. The album features songs written mostly with longtime collaborator, Stephen Duffy. Some of the songs are older holdovers. Other songs were written later specifically for the project. The album was released on June 21, 2005. The lead vocals on the album were all provided by Page. Page also provided much of the album's instrumentation both through playing of instruments, and through programming computer-generated instruments. Duffy also played instruments on the record, as did several other guest performers.
History
Steven Page began collaborating with songwriter Stephen Duffy in the early 1990s, and their first co-written tracks appeared on the Barenaked Ladies' second release, Maybe You Should Drive. The two co-wrote a number of songs over the years, including several on each of the band's next two albums. On their fifth album Maroon, only one Duffy co-write was included. Starting with the following album, the band decided that it would be best to keep the writing duties amongst the band members. Page started The Vanity Project to allow himself to write with other writers outside of Barenaked Ladies, as well as to express some writing ideas that did not work within the band. Page continued writing with Duffy and directed those songs, as well as song unused prior songs to his solo effort. The project's name resulted from a tape made for the project which was jokingly labeled "Vanity Project". The title was subsequently adopted seriously for the project. Page indicated, at the time of its release, a potential for subsequent albums in collaboration with other writers and artists, but as of his 2009 departure from Barenaked Ladies, there had been no indication of any work on a follow-up.
Live performance
Following its release, Page toured on his own in support of the album, performing the songs acoustically on guitar, mainly in music and book stores around the United States. He played both songs from The Vanity Project, and Barenaked Ladies songs. Since these promotional shows, there has been no subsequent reference by Page to his solo act as The Vanity Project, though he has played songs from the album at these shows. In January 2007, Page put together a band for the Barenaked Ladies Ships and Dip Cruise to perform a concert of The Vanity Project music with him. The Vanity Projects, as he dubbed them, performed two shows in the Firebird Lounge of the Carnival Legend. The band included Steven Page, Jay Coyle, Chandler Coyle and Allan Fogul. The band performed with Page on each of the Ladies' subsequent cruises: in January 2008, two shows in the Carnival Victory's Adriatic Lounge on Ships and Dip III and Murray Atkinson ; and in January 2009, one show on Ships and Dip V in the Spinnaker Lounge on the Norwegian Jewel.
