Rockers Our Lady Peace emerge from turmoil with an edgy new sound

Sandra Sperounes
The Edmonton Journal

Preview
Our Lady Peace
When: Tonight
With: Trailer Park Boys, Finger Eleven, Seether
Where: Skyreach Centre, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $39.50 (plus service charges) at TicketMaster (451-8000)
- - -

EDMONTON - This is how it looks: Our Lady Peace records an experimental album, Spiritual Machines. It doesn't sell. So OLP decides to make a straight-forward rock disc. Guitarist Mike Turner doesn't like the new direction and quits. The band finds a replacement in Steve Mazur, finishes the album, then enjoys the biggest single, Somewhere Out There, of its 11-year career.

That's one of the many theories lobbed about since news broke of Turner's departure in 2001 and Gravity's release last June. But frontman Raine Maida says Gravity wasn't just an adverse reaction to the intellectually minded Spiritual Machines. Since 1997's Clumsy, OLP has always wanted to make a record like Gravity, full of confident guitar solos, Maida says, but Turner couldn't deliver.

"After Spiritual Machines, we weren't sure about our future," Maida says of the Toronto band which brings its current cross-Canada arena tour to Edmonton tonight.

"Everyone was burned out and in our hearts, the guitar player issue was serious.

"We needed a guitar player who was better than everybody or could take charge with his own playing. We never really had that (with Turner). In all the songs I used to write, I always wanted them to have more guitar. But it never worked out when I brought them to the band."

To be fair, a switch in guitarists wasn't the only key to Gravity's success. OLP also went with a new producer. After four albums with Arnold Lanni, Maida says it was time to work with someone new. OLP picked Bob Rock, the man behind Metallica's self-titled smash, also known as The Black Album. "Even Arnold said we needed to try someone else," says Maida. "He's still a dear friend and an incredibly talented producer. His time will come."

Maida also had to make some changes of his own. After a lot of prodding from Rock, the moody songwriter abandoned his use of obtuse imagery and wrote his most direct lyrics ever. He went from lyrics like: "I'm teething on the answers you're saving /How are you going to make me understand," to: "We laid underneath the stars /Strung out and feeling brave."

It was far from a simple adjustment.

"It was a pain. I wrote all the lyrics on this record and when I went to sing the songs, Bob would say, 'What are you talking about?' I tried to explain the song and he'd say, 'That sounds cool but from what you're singing, I have no clue that's what you're talking about.' I was like, 'So?' I told him I'd change a word here or there, but conceptually I wouldn't change the song. It started a rift between the two of us," says Maida.

"Finally, we had to sit down and he told me about the Metallica record he made and how he challenged James Hetfield to simplify his lyrics and thoughts. It caused me a lot of a stress. I couldn't sleep for three weeks. I ended up having to fly back to California because I got shingles (a nerve infection). I thought I was dying. My whole side was numb. I couldn't eat."

Maida recovered, obviously, and after conquering his resistance to Rock's advice, managed to overhaul some of his lyrics, including the words to Innocent.

"It used to be Arrogant and the lyrics were much more snide and sarcastic. Bob liked the melody but he thought if I said arrogant, I'd be limiting the people who might connect to it. So he wanted me to rewrite it," says Maida. "I've had that song for two years and lived with it. It's really hard to go back -- it's like trying to repaint a picture. It was really stressful. I'm actually surprised I was able to do it. That's the first time I was proud of myself musically. For me, it was like changing the lick to Satisfaction but still liking the song."

Despite the emotional and physical turmoil of Gravity, Maida says he enjoyed working with Rock -- and wants to do it again.

"He's very passionate -- sometimes even more than us -- and it kind of fuels you," says Maida. "It's just knowing what he's done and his background, obviously you trust him. So it was pretty easy to make this record. We felt we became a rock band right away."

OLP plan to work with Rock later this year. For now, Maida is excited to sing for his Canadian fans. He's proud of Gravity and wants to document OLP's northern tour. Lucky for him, the band's Edmonton and Calgary shows will be immortalized in a live DVD recording.

First Nickelback goes for the local video treatment, now OLP. What's going on?

"Our fans out there seem to have just a little more energy," says Maida. "You don't have the attitude of Toronto or Vancouver. It's just always been amazing. Hopefully, that energy will transfer onto tape."

ssperounes@thejournal.southam.ca

- - -

RAINE DROPS

- Is Raine Maida turning into Nickelback's Chad Kroeger?

Sort of. The Our Lady Peace vocalist now has his own production company -- he doesn't have a name for it yet -- and is working with Evelyn, a Texas-based group. "Bands always gave us demos and I started collecting them a few years ago," says Maida. "We were in Austin and I got this demo (from Evelyn). Not a great demo but there was something really special about it."

Kroeger co-owns 604 Records and is currently producing such bands as Sonic Bloom and Rake.

- Maida is also working on an album with his wife, Chantal Kreviazuk.

"It's pretty casual ... it just happens naturally," he says. "It's been flawless so far."

- Maida and his bandmates are huge fans of Showcase's program, Trailer Park Boys, so it only seemed natural to bring the actors on tour. The Boys will be performing sketches between bands tonight.

"Obviously, OLP can be a little dark, so this is going to be a good balance for me," says Maida. "I'll find myself laughing a lot more this time."

Ran with fact box "Raine Drops", which has been appended to this story.

© Copyright 2003 Edmonton Journal


Back