Ed Robertson - Other Activities and Interests

Other Activities and Interests

Robertson received his pilot's license in 2005, and the 2007 season of Ed's Up was purportedly designed around his attempting to earn his floatplane license. He also rides a motorcycle, which he has taken on some of the band's tours in the past to ride during off-time.

In April 2009, Robertson was recognized for his interest in aviation and the Canadian military by being named Honorary Colonel of 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron of the Canadian Forces. Following the signing, HCol Robertson said that the investiture was “the most incredible honour” he has received. “I have always been thoroughly blown away by the incredible work of our military,” he said. “It’s a day I thought I would never see come. When I got the letter from the Defence Minister, I was, like, ‘This is real; I am actually going to be an honorary colonel!’” Robertson held the position until March 2012, noting that, although he had not been able to be around as much as he would have liked, the Squadron felt like family to him.

Robertson is fan of video games, and claims to have had almost every console system released since he was a child. He usually brings several consoles and many games on tour with him. Robertson is a fan of the popular Rooster Teeth series Red vs. Blue, lending his voice to the series to voice Captain Butch Flowers, during a time travel episode in the third season. Originally for a one-off episode, Flowers was re-introduced late in the fifth season, four episodes before the season finale. Flowers later made an appearance in the season finale of the tenth season. Rooster Teeth Productions has also made special videos, using Red vs. Blue characters, to be shown at Barenaked Ladies shows. In February 2009, he began starring as Captain Dynamic, in Rooster Teeth Productions live action mini-series, Captain Dynamic, which promotes the video game City of Heroes.

Robertson has several tattoos. The first one he got was on his right deltoid—a stylized Canadian flag with a green maple leaf and diagonal red bars. The next one he got was a Mercator projection of the continents of Earth circling his left deltoid. For his next tattoo, he visited a shop in Portland, Oregon run by Matt Reed. Reed enhanced the Canadian flag, and recoloured the map. He also added a third tattoo; a jumping fish, on Robertson's left arm, above the map. At his next session, Robertson got a band of acorns and Oak leaves on his right arm, below the flag (possibly also from Reed). Robertson decided to exclusively use Reed for his tattoos, and has said that he gets a new one every time he is in Portland. Reed has also designed t-shirts for the band. He e-mailed Reed photos of both arms (each having a band and a single image, in about the same place) and asked him to design a way to tie everything together. Reed enhanced the existing tattoos by framing the fish with a nautical themed frame, and the flag with a natural wooden themed frame, and adding backgrounds. In 2004, on the Au Naturale tour, Robertson added a dragonfly across part of his chest while in Portland.

Robertson won Humber College's inaugural Euterpe Award at the close of the 2005 Humber Songwriting Workshop. In his honour, the school named a scholarship after him for their summer songwriting workshop.

Having an interest in acting, Robertson had a brief appearance in Charlie's Angels 2, which was offered to him by director Joseph McGinty Nichol, who had directed Barenaked Ladies' video for "One Week". Robertson had a larger role in the independent Canadian film Love, Sex and Eating the Bones, which was directed by childhood friend Sudz Sutherland.

Robertson will be collaborating with astronaut and musician Chris Hadfield to write and premier a brand new song for Music Monday 2013. Music Monday is a Canadian event to spread the importance of music education. The song will be written and premiered by Ed and Chris while Chris is in space.