Our Lady Peace
| Our Lady Peace | |
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 Our Lady Peace performing in Kitchener, Ontario, 2006
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock, post-grunge |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Label(s) | Columbia, Sony BMG |
| Associated acts | Fair Ground Pedestrian |
| Website | www.ourladypeace.com |
| Members | |
| Raine Maida Jeremy Taggart Duncan Coutts Steve Mazur |
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| Former members | |
| Mike Turner Chris Eacrett Jim Newell |
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Our Lady Peace, often abbreviated OLP, is a Canadian alternative rock band consisting of Raine Maida, Duncan Coutts, Jeremy Taggart and Steve Mazur. Throughout their career, the band has sold over five million albums worldwide,[1] won four Juno Awards, and won ten MuchMusic Video Awards—the most MMVAs ever awarded to any artist or group.[2]
OLP has released six studio albums, one live album, and one compilation album, with their 1997 album Clumsy often being considered their best and most recognized work to date.[3] They have enjoyed many hit singles, ranging from "Starseed" in 1994, to "Somewhere Out There" in 2002.
The band's fifth and sixth studio albums, Gravity and Healthy in Paranoid Times, are widely believed to have been a "radical departure"[4] from the generally consistent style of music insinuated by the band's first four studio albums. Various events are credited as a reason for the style change, particularly the 2001 departure of founding band member Mike Turner and the subsequent collaboration with producer Bob Rock.[5]
Our Lady Peace's seventh studio release, titled Escape Artist, is currently in production,[6] and is nearing completion. No official release date has yet been confirmed, but band members have suggested early 2009 as a likely timeframe for release. The album will be OLP's first new release since 2005, the longest gap between any two OLP studio albums.
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History
Formation and debut
In 1992, guitarist Mike Turner placed a "musicians wanted" ad in Toronto-based Now Magazine looking to form a new band. Michael Maida, a criminology student at the University of Toronto, was the first to reply. The two formed a band called As If with Jim Newell playing drums and a friend of Mike Turner's, Paul Martin, playing bass. Having played a number of gigs in Oshawa with sets containing a mix of original and cover material, Turner's friend departed and the band placed a "musicians wanted" ad for a replacement bass player. Chris Eacrett, a business student at Ryerson University, replied and was accepted after the audition. During that time, Turner and Maida attended a music seminar where they met songwriter and producer Arnold Lanni, the owner of Arnyard Studios. The band, with Lanni, commenced writing new material and recorded some material under the As If name.
To better reflect the new musical direction, the name of the band was changed to Our Lady Peace, and with encouragement from Lanni and his management team, they performed some gigs in Eastern Ontario and Montreal with the assistance of D.J. Williams (a Ridley College alumnus and classmate of Maida, also a Ridley College alumnus), in conjunction with The Tea Party. During this time, Maida began using the name Raine to reduce the confusion of having two Mikes in the band. An independent video of the song "Out of Here" was also created during this time period by Sam Siciliano, a Ryerson University film student and friend of Mike Turner, who produced, edited, and directed the video. The video was aired on MuchMusic on their Indie show.
After returning to Arnyard Studios to continue writing and recording material, Jim Newell departed the band. Writing and recording continued with session drummer John Bouvette. With Coalition Management (Rob Lanni and Eric Lawrence) representing the band, and temporary drummer Jody Wilson, short showcases were arranged with Warner Canada, EMI Canada, and Sony Music Canada. Sony Music Canada head of A&R, Richard Zuckerman, liked what he heard and along with Sony president, Rick Camilleri, Mike Roth and Gary Furniss (both with Sony Music Publishing), saw the potential of the producer, the band, and band management, and made an offer. The band commenced writing additional material for a first album, as well placed a "musicians wanted" ad for a drummer. Seventeen-year-old Jeremy Taggart answered the ad, and on the strength of his potential, the producer and band asked that he join the band.
After additional material was written and recorded, with the continued assistance of John Bouvette on several tracks and guitarist Phil X contributing a solo on "Denied", Our Lady Peace released its debut album Naveed in 1994 on Sony Records. The record was later picked up and released in the United States in 1995. Following the release of the album, the band toured with fellow Canadian acts I Mother Earth and 54-40. Touring continued on into 1996 with time spent touring with Canadian Alanis Morissette. The title track, "Naveed", became a hit in Canada, while "Starseed" became a hit in both Canada and the United States. "Starseed" would later be featured on the Armageddon film soundtrack.
Mainstream and international success (1997–2001)
After Naveed had launched Our Lady Peace into international stardom, the band began work on their second studio album. As the writing process ensued, bassist Chris Eacrett and the band parted ways due to musical differences. Rob Coutts, a Ridley College alumni and classmate of Raine Maida, joined the band as Duncan Coutts on bass during the recording of their second album.
Clumsy
Entitled Clumsy, the band's second album was released in 1997. It features the hit songs "Superman's Dead", "4 A.M.", "Automatic Flowers", and the title track "Clumsy". It is widely considered the group's best effort.[3] It established Our Lady Peace as a leading band in the Canadian rock scene, and provided them with an international presence.
In 1998, Our Lady Peace founded the Summersault festival, that toured across Canada in 1998 and 2000 with lineups that included Foo Fighters, A Perfect Circle and The Smashing Pumpkins.
The album cover was based on a song called "Trapeze", which was initially going to be the name of the album. They decided to leave the song off the album but still performed it live.
Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch
In 1999, the band released their third album, entitled Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch. The album included such hits as "Thief", a song about a young girl, named Mina Kim, the band met who had cancer, as well as "One Man Army" and "Is Anybody Home?" Legendary jazz drummer Elvin Jones was featured on the song "Stealing Babies". Jamie Edwards, a multi-instrumentalist, was brought in on the sessions for Happiness... in 1996 and remained an unofficial member until 2001 when he was asked to officially join the band to finish the album Gravity. Shortly after the completion of the record Jamie chose to leave the band, returning briefly to stand in for Mike Eisenstein during the Canadian tour of Gravity. The band also played an eleven song set at Woodstock 1999.
Spiritual Machines
In 2000, the band released Spiritual Machines, a concept album inspired by Ray Kurzweil's book The Age of Spiritual Machines. During the recording of this album, drummer Jeremy Taggart was sidelined with an ankle injury; Matt Cameron, Pearl Jam's drummer and former member of Soundgarden, played drums on "Right Behind You (Mafia)" and "Are You Sad?" in his place. Spiritual Machines was less commercially successful than its predecessors. The album featured the singles "In Repair", "Life" (which found a soundtrack listing for the Canadian sports comedy film Men with Brooms) and "Right Behind You (Mafia)".
Changes in direction (2001–2005)
In December 2001, after commencing work with producer Bob Rock on a new album, founding guitarist Mike Turner left the band, citing "creative differences".[7] According to the band members the separation was amicable. Turner later formed the band Fair Ground. In April 2002, Steve Mazur was announced as the new guitarist for the band.
Gravity
OLP's fifth studio album, Gravity, was released later that year to mixed reviews. Some critics and fans contended that the album was a radical departure from Our Lady Peace's musical style, adopting an increasingly mainstream sound. Percussionist Jeremy Taggart disclosed in a 2002 interview that the new direction was intentional, and that Gravity was "by far their best album".[4]
The album's chart-topping first single, "Somewhere Out There", became the band's biggest international hit to date. The second single released off the album was "Innocent", which was also popular, and also regained popularity recently through American Idol. "Made of Steel" was also a hit across North America.
Live from Calgary and Edmonton
On June 24, 2003 Live was released on Sony BMG. Live from Calgary and Edmonton contains some of the band's most epic songs as played throughout tours in Canada. Notable differences to the studio versions are Naveed / Life, which was played as one single song throughout the supporting tour.
Healthy in Paranoid Times
In August 2005, the band released their sixth album Healthy in Paranoid Times, which included the tracks "Angels/Losing/Sleep", "Will the Future Blame Us", and "Where Are You?" Shortly after recording the album, the band disclosed that during the making of the album, they nearly broke up.[1] According to Rolling Stone, it took 1165 days to create it, and its twelve tracks were chosen from forty-five that the band had written and produced.
Maida has since criticized Healthy in Paranoid Times, saying that "(the) record was total excess, total bullshit in the sense of, we finally had succumbed to a label: making us record that many songs, trying to find the right singles for American radio and MTV."[5]
Compilation, hiatus and new album (2006–present)
A Decade
In November 2006, their greatest hits compilation entitled A Decade was released. There were two new songs on the album, "Kiss On The Mouth" and "Better Than Here". Steve Mazur wrote in a blog on the band's fan club that the new songs on the disc were two unreleased songs from the Healthy in Paranoid Times sessions.
The collection also included the Top 10 tracks: "Where Are You", "Clumsy", "In Repair", "Somewhere Out There", "Innocent", "Thief", "Naveed", "Starseed" and "4 A.M.". A Decade also includes a bonus DVD containing live concert footage and exclusive interviews at the Massey Hall concert. The single "Kiss On The Mouth", the first off A Decade, has received play on radio stations across Canada.
Short hiatus period
After the release of their 2006 compilation album, A Decade, the band entered a short hiatus period. Lead vocalist Raine Maida began work on his first solo album, The Hunter's Lullaby, which was released in 2007, while the remaining members of the band also became occupied with other personal endeavors. The hiatus would cause the gap between Healthy and Paranoid Times and Escape Artist to be the longest between OLP studio albums to-date.
Escape Artist
The band began working on their seventh studio album Escape Artist in February 2007, and are currently in the midst of completing it. Raine Maida calls the new album "huge", and said that it will be a "proper rock album again"—featuring a return to the raw originality of the band's first album Naveed, though a "little more mature".[6] Maida solely produced the album, noting how he was excited "not to have anybody intrude on sessions".[6]
The band has recorded at least 16 or 17 songs for the new album,[8] and ideas for the album's artwork are currently in discussion. In October 2008, band leader Maida revealed that the album is nearing completion, and that it will be released commercially in early 2009. The band has confirmed that the first album single will be titled "Burn, Burn."[9]
Band member information
Current members
- Raine Maida (1992–present): vocals, acoustic guitar
- Jeremy Taggart (1993–present): percussion
- Duncan Coutts (1995–present): bass guitar, backing vocals
- Steve Mazur (2002–present): guitar, backing vocals
Former members
- Mike Turner (1992–2001): guitar, backing vocals
- Chris Eacrett (1992–1995): bass
- Jim Newell (1992–1994): percussion
Record producers
- Arnold Lanni (1992–2001): Naveed, Clumsy, Happiness, Spiritual Machines
- Bob Rock (2001–2005): Gravity, Healthy in Paranoid Times
- Raine Maida (2007–present): Escape Artist[6]
Member timeline chart
Discography
- 1994: Naveed
- 1997: Clumsy
- 1999: Happiness...
- 2000: Spiritual Machines
- 2002: Gravity
- 2003: Live
- 2005: Healthy in Paranoid Times
- 2006: A Decade
- 2009: Escape Artist[6][10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Our Lady Peace Get Well", Rolling Stone (2005-08-01). Retrieved on 2008-07-17.
- ↑ ."MuchMusic.com > MMVA06 > REWIND > 97, 98, 00". MuchMusic. Retrieved on 2007-01-17.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Canada.com article top 100 Canadian albums". Retrieved on July 21, 2008.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "New OLP record a radical departure". Canoe. Retrieved on 2008-07-17.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "interview with Raine Maida". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved on 2008-07-17.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "interview with Raine Maida". Canoe. Retrieved on 2008-07-17.
- ↑ "The Torch article Our Lady Peace disappoints fans with new release". Retrieved on July 21, 2008.
- ↑ "melodic.net: Our Lady Peace recording new album". Melodic.net. Retrieved on July 20, 2008.
- ↑ Our Lady Peace and War Child interview. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
- ↑ Clumsymonkey.net. Retrieved on December 1, 2008.
External links
- Our Lady Peace official website
- Clumsy Congress official message board
- OurLadyPeace.net official fan club
- Our Lady Peace at MySpace
- Raine Maida official website
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