Back in the Eighties, Our Lady Peace guitarist Mike Turner earned his stripes bashing out brittle power chords in various Canadian punk bands. Yet, despite punk's recent return to fashion, Turner has mixed feelings about his safety pin-wearing days.

"I probably pissed away eight years of my life when I could've been learning to become a better guitarist," he says. "The whole punk movement was necessary and relevant because it showed people that music wasn't all about technique. Unfortunately, that ethic mutated into the idea that you shouldn't learn to play your instrument, and that got me really twisted."

Upon OLP's formation in Toronto, in 1992, Turner rededicated himself to his axe, and began taking formal lessons. Clearly, his improved technique paid off when it came time to record the band's sonically riveting debut, Naveed (Relativity), which combines punk's passion with well-orchestrated guitar arrangements.

As Turner makes up for lost time and ambitiously tackles the music theory he once despised, he admits that working in disparate musical worlds has given him a distinctive outlook. "I've just now learned to appreciate a lot of the guitar greats," notes Turner, "but I'm still a punk at heart."