Konzerte

Interview mit Our Lady Peace
Vor ihrer Show im Volkshaus hatte ich die Gelegenheit, der kanadischen Erfolgsband "Our Lady Peace" ein paar Fragen zu stellen.

Adi von students.ch: You are one of the most successful bands in Canada and also well known in the US. What was your experience so far in Europe?
Raine von Our Lady Peace: So far it has been really good. We did our own small tour in November and it's good to back on this Avril Tour because it's kind of a different audience for us. So far it has been going really well. I think we will see the benefit next time when we come back.

Adi: Is the crowd of Avril Lavigne also listening to Our Lady Peace?
Raine: No, it's not. And I think it's a good thing. It's good to get to different people. Normally they wouldn't get to hear us. Like in Italy yesterday, they played our songs on the rock station. But we played to a crowd last night that doesn't listen to the rock station. Music is universal and we believe that. Hopefully, as long as it's good music and it's played from the heart, people of all ages and nationalities will get it.

Adi: Did the people like you in the past few shows? Jeremy: Yeah, they have been great.
Raine: It has been amazing. I have been surprised. You see a few little girls with their hands over their ears.
Steve: We kinda liked that….

Adi: I found a piece in a community board about you. One guy said: "I can't believe it! Why are they going on tour with Avril? She is that what the kids and the teenies, bikers and skaters wanna see. It's embarrassing for Our Lady Peace." Do you disagree?
Raine: Yeah, our show is not like Avrils. It's very different. It's much heavier. You just look at the audience. Sometimes they really dig the show. You can't ignore the public.
Jeremy: I think most bands of we know would never do that. We kinda tap into something original. We are going with the complete opposite of what we could. In a way it's going to help us. In worst case scenario it's going to make us play better together because nobody is listening. Once you get your own crowd it's going to be that much better because you are working so hard to try and get something happening on stage where there is a lot of energy and you focus on each other. It's just making us better as a band.

Adi: And you get the chance to play in bigger venues.
Raine: Yeah, play to more people. We wouldn't have come to Switzerland if it wasn’t' for this tour.

Adi: The biggest thing you have done so far in Europe was Rock am Ring / Rock im Park in 1997 and 1998. How was it to play in front of 100'000 people who barely knew you?
Raine: Yeah, it was good.
Jeremy: It was great.
Raine: We have that attitude. We played from everyone now from Van Halen to Avril . So it doesn't matter to us. Like Jeremy is saying we are used to play in front of people. We are confident enough in our ability, our music. That is going to translate, maybe not to everybody. Half of the people might hate it. But the other half will hopefully walk away and say "well, I wanna find out more about that band." That's a lot better than playing in a club in front of nobody.

Adi: There are numbers of good music clubs in Switzerland. Would that be an idea to come back to Switzerland?
Raine: Absolutely. That's what we gonna do now. Now we have done this tour. Maybe we will be busy in America this summer. Maybe just before Christmas we will come back and do like a three week tour in all this cities again. But then our own show. Some of our old fans and some news fans probably from this tour. So it's positive.

Adi: Any plans to play the festivals this year in Europe again?
Raine: We were talking about it. We just looked at our schedule today. It's really busy because we are trying to do a new record as well this summer. So it's kinda booked up. But we might come over for a couple of weeks and do some festivals. If not this summer, definitely next summer.

Adi: This is your first gig in Switzerland. Have you ever been to Switzerland before?
Jeremy: No, we just flew in and flew out once. That's the only time.

Adi: What did you hear about Switzerland so far?
Steve: In Canada you hear all kind of wonderful things about Switzerland.
Duncan: Good chocolate.

Adi: That must be kinda hard for you, Jeremy, as you are allergic to Chocolate.
Jeremy: Yes. You found this out? (everybody's laughing)

Adi: You released "Gravity" in Russia as well. Are you curious about playing in east Europe?
Duncan: Would be interesting to play there. We would play anywhere and anytime. It's just great to play.

Adi: So far you did around 800 shows in Canada, USA and Europe. But you released your records also in Australia and Japan. Any specific plans to play there as well?
Jeremy: We get to everywhere.
Raine: We focused on Canada and the US for the last 5 years, trying to really make a solid fan base for the future for us there. And that's done. That's why we are in Europe now. We have been here three times over the last six months. First on a promo tour, then our own tour and now the Avril thing. Over the next couple years we will be coming back here a lot.

Adi: You did something that not a lot of bands reached in Canada. You got a diamond certificate (für eine Mio. verkaufte Platten in Kanada) for your record. Who else ever got one?
Raine: I guess Bryan Adams got one.
Jeremy: Pink Floyd for "the dark side of the moon". It was one of those things that you don't expect to happen again. It's ridiculous. It's crazy.

Adi: Raine, you are on the cover of the Canadian magazine Chart (march 2003 issue) for have being to Iraq. How did that come?
Raine: We did a documentary on the kids there and how their suffering from the sanctions 10 years after the golf war.

Adi: How was the experience?
Raine: It was very enlightening to go to a country like that. I think everybody watched the war on CNN. To actually go there and see a human face and feel human spirit…. all the images that you saw on TV. It was inspiring. The people are really friendly over there. The REAL people and you start to realize that war just sucks!

Weitere Informationen unter:
http://www.ourladypeace.com
http://www.ourladypeace.de
14.03.2003
Autor: Adi Leist
Quelle: Fotos: Copyright Adi Leist & students.ch


Back