Canadian band Our Lady
Peace winning over U.S.
November 19, 1997
Web posted at: 4:54 p.m. EST (2154 GMT)
By Paul Freeman
Across Canada, the Toronto band Our
Lady Peace headlines jam-packed
stadium shows. Legions of worshipping
fans sing along to every song from the
current "Clumsy" album.
In the United States, the group may play for 600 or 800 people a
night, instead of 30,000 or 40,000. But the crowds and the
enthusiasm levels are rapidly growing on this side of the border.
Our Lady Peace relishes the opportunity to win new converts in
more intimate settings. "We find it amazing to be selling out clubs in
the States," says charismatic lead singer Raine Maida. "They're hot
and sweaty. It's very fresh. The audiences are very passionate
about the new record."
When the band returns north of the border and leaps back into an
arena or stadium, it's quite an adjustment. "It's overwhelming at
first," Maida says. "There are so many technical differences to
consider.
"Also, I'm suddenly 50 feet away from the nearest person. It seems
too big, too much of a rock star kind of thing. It's just a matter of us
not letting it turn into that."
In decades past, Canadian acts had difficulty getting attention in the
States. Now the sound seems to be more important than the
geographical origin.
"As far as the radio people and the public are concerned, we could
just as easily be from Tallahassee or Tulsa, rather than Toronto,"
Maida says. "Even now we go to stations, and they say, 'Wow! We
didn't know you were Canadian. We thought you were from
Boston.'"
Formed in 1993, Our Lady Peace also features guitarist Mike
Turner, bassist Duncan Coutts and drummer Jeremy Taggart. The
engaging, energetic foursome began as the opening act at clubs.
Then the group was thrown into the fire as openers for such
heavyweights as Alanis Morissette and Bush.
Robert Plant, after hearing an Our Lady Peace song on the radio,
asked the group to kick off several big shows he did with Jimmy
Page.
"It was pretty incredible that he called us," Maida says. "We weren't
huge Zeppelin fans. But we are now. It's unbelievable to see the
impact they've had on rock music.
"The impressive thing was that Robert Plant still has his ear to the
ground, listening to the new music. That guy doesn't have to do that.
He doesn't have to do anything."
Far more trying were arena dates opening for Van Halen, for
crowds not exactly eager to hear a distinctive but unfamiliar modern
rock band.
"It was tough. I was having a very hard time with it," Maida says.
Before a show in Nashville, Our Lady Peace's veteran agent
offered some sage advice. As Maida remembers, "He just said, 'It's
hard to see right now, but if you can somehow project yourself into
the future, this is what will make you a career band: being able to
get up there every night, no matter what the circumstances and just
pull from your soul. Just play for yourself, and eventually, people will
get it.' He'd seen it all. It was very inspiring to me."
It took a while for the band's debut album, 1994's "Naveed," to build
itself into a smash in Canada. It since has gone triple platinum.
Attempting to top that would seem a daunting task, but "Clumsy,"
which hit the No. 1 spot in its first week of release, has doubled
those figures in Our Lady Peace's homeland.
Why has the band become a phenomenon in Canada? "There might
have been a lull in music," Maida says. "But I really want to believe
it's because we made good records, instead of just a couple of hit
songs.
"These days, with CD players, it's so easy to skip through songs.
Most kids don't even know songs by name. They know them by
numbers now. We hope to make records that (people) can throw on
in their bedrooms and leave on for 45 minutes. Word about records
like that spreads organically."
In the States, word has spread about the single "Superman's Dead."
Maida explains the song's theme. "The media inundates kids with
way too many images these days. They're forced to grow up a little
too quickly. It's not natural. The kids have to fit into some clique, or
they're not cool.
"I tried to juxtapose the old black-and-white 'Superman,' which had
some integrity, virtue and heroism, against 'Beavis and Butt-head.'
Today, 'Beavis and Butt-head' wins."
When it comes to vocal heroes, Maida has always been partial to
women. "There's just something more naked about them onstage in
the way they express their emotions in song.
"Every time I saw Sinead O'Connor live, she completely blew me
away. She tends to be very acrobatic and very sincere."
He also admires her songwriting and that of U2's Bono. "They have
the ability to make great music, as well as form an opinion and have
conviction about it.
"That taught me that, even if I don't want to get into the political
aspect, whatever I have to say had better be pretty important,
because, hopefully, I'll get to sing this stuff for the next 10 or 15
years."
The band, which took its name from a book of poetry, plans to have
a long life. "I don't want to make records that people get sick of in
five weeks and move on to something else," Maida says.
"When I have kids, I'm not sure which bands of our generation will
still be around and viable. Are we going to have any Rolling Stones
or Led Zeppelins or even R.E.M.s or U2s? Too much of the stuff
you hear today is really disposable."
© 1997, Paul Freeman. Distributed by Los Angeles Times
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