STEVEN Page can’t wait to play Glasgow for the first time in a decade – because he knows he’ll need to work hard to win over the crowd.

The former Barenaked Ladies singer hasn’t been back to Scotland since he left his old band.

However he returns this week, for a two night stint at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut tomorrow and Thursday.

“We used to always say that Glasgow was our favourite place on Earth to play, so no pressure this time around, right,” he chuckles.

“Barenaked Ladies had so many memorable gigs there over the years, from our first time at King Tut’s in 1992, where the audience surprised us by singing along to all of our songs, to T in the Park in 1996 and, later, several nights at the Barrowlands.

“The thing about Glasgow audiences is that you have to work really hard to earn their affection. They’re not afraid to tell you if they’re unimpressed - but when you do, they’re not afraid to tell you they love you. It’s kind of a performer’s dream.”

That first show back in 1992 came as the Barenaked Ladies released Gordon, the album that put them on the map with their witty alt rock. There have been plenty of ups and downs since then, from chart success to Steven having a much publicised arrest for drugs, an incident that came shortly before he left the band.

However memories of Gordon, a record celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, still bring a smile to the face of the Toronto native.

“We were kids and so excited to be making our first record,” he recalls.

“I had always envisioned it, in my youthful hubris and ambition, as some sort of epic, like Sgt Pepper or Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Perhaps thankfully it didn’t end up quite that way, but you can still hear the sense of adventure and excitement we felt.

“We went to Le Studio, in rural Quebec, to make it and doing so allowed us to focus completely on making that record. It was a special time.”

The album spawned the song Brian Wilson, in tribute to the Beach Boys legend, and Steven admits that one of his proudest moments was getting to meet the music icon years later.

“We were first introduced to him by Don Was, who was producing BNL’s Maroon album,” he says.

“Don told us he had a surprise for us, and led us into the studio where Brian Wilson was sitting. He then played us his live recording of our song about him! What an incredibly surreal experience, and a huge honour.”

The two nights at King Tut’s this week will celebrate that past, and other BNL hits, but they will also cast a glance towards the future. Last year Steven released Instinct: Heal Thyself Part 1, his third solo record.

As the title suggests, a follow-up will soon be on the way.

“I’m going with the working title of Discipline: Heal Thyself Part 2,” he explains.

“Thematically, it’s a little more outward-looking on some songs, in which I take what I’ve learned about myself over the last several years and applied them to how I relate to the world around me. A lot has changed politically over the last few years, but much of that was bubbling under the surface long before, which makes for a good parallel between the outlook of the two records.

“Musically, it’s as all over the map as ever for me. There’s aggressive rock n’ roll, big-band jazz and musical-theatre inspired pieces. Perhaps that means it’s a weirder record than the previous one, but I’m very excited.”

He’s got quite a few other projects on the go, too. There’s his supergroup with several other Canadian musicians, the Trans-Highwaymen, and he has composed scores for six shows at the Stratford Festival in Canada, including productions of Macbeth and Hamlet.

However he won’t abandon any old BNL classics.

“I look at them as a big part of my canon and still love singing them,” he adds.

“I’m really fortunate to have been a part of songs that have meant something to audiences for so long, and remembering that makes them a pleasure to play. I’m also lucky to have an audience who seem to be interested in what I’ve been doing since BNL, so it doesn’t feel as though I’m forcing material on them that they don’t want to hear.”

Steven Page, King Tut’s, Wednesday and Thursday, £25, 8.30pm