Our Lady Peace
Encyclopedia
Our Lady Peace is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band that formed in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 in 1992. Headed by lead vocalist Raine Maida
Raine Maida
Raine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...

 since its formation, the band additionally consists of Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Ronald John Taggart is a Canadian drummer, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace since 1993.-Early life:Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario and has two brothers and one sister. Music was a central part of his youth, as his parents were also musicians, and Taggart learned to play drums...

 on percussion, Duncan Coutts
Duncan Coutts
Robert Duncan Coutts is a Canadian musician, best known for being the bassist for Our Lady Peace since 1995.-Our Lady Peace:...

 on bass, and Steve Mazur
Steve Mazur
Notable InstrumentsGibson Trini LopezSteven Theodore Mazur is an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for alternative rock band Our Lady Peace...

 as lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

ist. The band has sold millions of albums worldwide, won four Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...

s, and won ten MuchMusic Video Awards
MuchMusic Video Awards
The MuchMusic Video Awards are annual awards presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic to honour the year's best music videos....

 — the most MMVAs ever awarded to any artist or group.

OLP has released
Our Lady Peace discography
Between 1994 and present, Our Lady Peace discography has amounted to ten total albums. These include seven studio albums, one live album and two compilation albums...

 seven studio albums, one live album
Live (Our Lady Peace album)
Live is Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's first live album. It was recorded during their cross-Canadian "Fear of the Trailer Park" tour in support of their 5th studio album, Gravity. The dates recorded for this album included January 27, 2003 and January 28, 2003 in Calgary and...

, and two compilation albums to date, with their 1997 album Clumsy often being considered their signature and most widely recognized work. They have enjoyed many hit singles, ranging from "Starseed
Starseed (song)
"Starseed" is the second single off Our Lady Peace's first album Naveed, released in 1994. It was remixed and released on the soundtrack to Armageddon. Also, a live version from the 2003 Live album was released as a single. The song was also planned to be included on the soundtrack for Drew...

" in 1994, to "Somewhere Out There
Somewhere Out There (Our Lady Peace song)
"Somewhere Out There" is the title of a song recorded by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. It was released in March 2002 as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Gravity...

" in 2002.

The band's earlier albums are often praised for their distinctly unique sound and style, with lead singer Maida being called "erratic" and "truly unrivaled" as a vocalist
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

. Their fifth album, Gravity
Gravity (Our Lady Peace album)
Gravity is the title of Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's fifth studio album. It was released on June 18, 2002 by Columbia Records in North America. The album became a worldwide success, charting highly both in Canada and the U.S...

(2002), is sometimes noted to have been a "radical departure" from this distinctive style. Lead singer Maida has confirmed the difference, calling Gravity "vastly different" from their previous records. The coincidental 2001 departures of both co-founding member Mike Turner
Mike Turner (musician)
Mike A. Turner is a musician and producer. He is the former lead guitarist of the band Our Lady Peace. After his departure from OLP he began producing music and played guitar in the Canadian band Fair Ground, with Harem Scarem guitarist Pete Lesperance...

 and longtime-producer Arnold Lanni
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni is a Canadian record producer, and former member of both Frozen Ghost and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, "When I'm With You."-History:...

, in combination with influence from then-new producer Bob Rock
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock, , is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing bands such as Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, The Offspring and most recently Bush.-Payola$ and Rock and Hyde:Rock began his music career in Langford,...

, are sometimes credited as main factors in the style evolution.

After nearly breaking up during the recording of their sixth studio album Healthy in Paranoid Times
Healthy in Paranoid Times
Healthy in Paranoid Times is the sixth studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released on August 30, 2005 by Columbia Records. The disc was released on a standard CD as well as a DualDisc, with the reverse side containing a documentary on the making of the album...

in 2005, the band took a prolonged hiatus before releasing their seventh and most recent album, Burn Burn
Burn Burn (album)
Burn Burn is the seventh and most recent studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released in North America on July 21, 2009...

, in July 2009. Recently, the band completed a North American tour featuring both their 1997 album Clumsy and their 2000 album Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines is the fourth studio album by the Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released by Columbia Records in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book The Age of...

in entirety, and have also begun work on their eighth album which they hope to finish and release in 2011. Most recently, the band has released a video for "Fight The Good Fight," in response to the Occupy rallies. It is available for free download on their website, www.ourladypeace.com.

History

Formative years (1991–1993)

In late 1991, guitarist Mike Turner
Mike Turner (musician)
Mike A. Turner is a musician and producer. He is the former lead guitarist of the band Our Lady Peace. After his departure from OLP he began producing music and played guitar in the Canadian band Fair Ground, with Harem Scarem guitarist Pete Lesperance...

 placed an ad in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

-based Now Magazine in search of musicians. Michael Maida
Raine Maida
Raine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...

, a criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...

 student at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, was the first to reply. The two formed a band called As If, inviting Jim Newell as drummer and a friend of Turner's, Paul Martin, to play bass. After they played a number of gigs in Oshawa
Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...

 with sets containing a mix of original and cover material, Martin departed soon after, and the band placed an ad for a replacement bassist. Chris Eacrett, a business student at Ryerson University, replied and was accepted after an audition. During that time, Turner and Maida attended a music seminar where they met songwriter and producer Arnold Lanni
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni is a Canadian record producer, and former member of both Frozen Ghost and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, "When I'm With You."-History:...

, the owner of Arnyard Studios. The band, with Lanni, commenced writing new material and recorded some material under the As If name.

Soon thereafter, the band's name was changed to Our Lady Peace, after a Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation...

 poem of the same name. With encouragement from their producer Lanni and his management team, the band performed some gigs in Eastern Ontario and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 in conjunction with The Tea Party
The Tea Party
The Tea Party is a Canadian rock band with blues, progressive rock, Indian and Middle Eastern influences, dubbed "Moroccan roll" by the media. Active throughout the 1990s up until 2005 when the band broke up, The Tea Party released eight albums on EMI Music Canada, selling 1.6 million records...

. It was during this time that Maida began using the stage name "Raine" instead of "Mike" to reduce confusion about having two Mikes in the band. He has used this name professionally ever since, legally adding it, even with Mike Turner having left the band.
An independent music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 of the band's debut song "Out of Here
Out of Here (song)
"Out Of Here" is Our Lady Peace's first single and their first music video. To date it has not been officially released on any albums, and is the only song the band released when they were going by the name As If....

" was created in February 1992 by Sam Siciliano, a film student and friend of Turner's, who produced, edited, and directed the video. The video was aired on MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...

 on their Indie show. After returning to Arnyard Studios to continue writing and recording material, drummer Jim Newell departed the band. Writing and recording continued with session drummer John Bouvette.

With managers Rob Lanni and Eric Lawrence of Coalition Entertainment representing the band, short showcases were arranged with Warner Music Canada
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

, EMI Canada
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

, and Sony Music Canada
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....

. Sony Music Canada head of A&R Richard Zuckerman liked what he heard, and saw the potential of the band, its producer, and management. The band signed a record and publishing deal with Sony Music Canada in April 1993, and commenced writing for their debut album. Around the same time, then-17-year-old Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Ronald John Taggart is a Canadian drummer, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace since 1993.-Early life:Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario and has two brothers and one sister. Music was a central part of his youth, as his parents were also musicians, and Taggart learned to play drums...

 joined the band as permanent drummer.

Early success (1994–2000)

After writing and recording over the next year or so, OLP released its debut album, Naveed
Naveed (album)
Naveed is the debut album by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. It was produced by Arnold Lanni, and was released on March 22, 1994 by Sony Music Canada. Naveed became a success in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies by the end of the year. There were five singles released for the album,...

, in March 1994 through Sony Music Canada. Following the release of the album, the band toured Canada, supporting acts I Mother Earth
I Mother Earth
I Mother Earth, or IME, was a Canadian alternative rock band. The band was at the peak of its popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s; its members have moved on to other projects.-Early years:...

 and 54-40
54-40
54•40 is a Canadian alternative rock group from Tsawwassen, British Columbia.The band takes their name from the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!", coined to express the expansionist agenda of James K...

. Naveed was later picked up and released in the United States in March 1995 by a Sony Music indie label, Relativity Records
Relativity Records
Relativity Records, often branded just Relativity, is an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distribution in metro New York. Early on, as an indie label, Relativity released music in a variety of styles, including dance, jazz, punk, and...

, after which the band toured as the opening act for Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...

's Balance summer tour and opened shows for Page & Plant. Touring of the album resumed in 1996 with time spent touring with Canadian artist Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...

. The title track of the album, "Naveed
Naveed (song)
Naveed is a single from Our Lady Peace's debut album of the same name, Naveed. It was released April 17, 1995 in the United States and in January 1996 in the United Kingdom as the fifth and final single from the album. The song performed well on the charts, and became a smash hit in Canada,...

", became a hit in Canada, while "Starseed
Starseed (song)
"Starseed" is the second single off Our Lady Peace's first album Naveed, released in 1994. It was remixed and released on the soundtrack to Armageddon. Also, a live version from the 2003 Live album was released as a single. The song was also planned to be included on the soundtrack for Drew...

" became a hit in Canada and also charted in the United States. "Starseed" would later be added on the Armageddon film soundtrack.

In early 1997, Our Lady Peace was offered and accepted an American signing with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, expanding their horizons within Sony Music. After touring the album Naveed, the band began work on their second studio album. As the writing process ensued, bassist Chris Eacrett left the band due to musical differences. Duncan Coutts
Duncan Coutts
Robert Duncan Coutts is a Canadian musician, best known for being the bassist for Our Lady Peace since 1995.-Our Lady Peace:...

, a Ridley College
Ridley College
Ridley College is a co-educational boarding and day university-preparatory school located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 20 miles from Niagara Falls...

 alumnus and former classmate of Raine Maida, joined the band as bassist during the recording of OLP's second album.
Our Lady Peace's second album, Clumsy, was released in January 1997. Album singles "Superman's Dead
Superman's Dead
"Superman's Dead" is a song by Our Lady Peace, released as the first single from their second album Clumsy. This has become one of Our Lady Peace's most popular songs in both Canada and the U.S., as well as many other parts of the world....

" and "Clumsy" found immense success especially in Canada. Clumsy established Our Lady Peace as a leading band in the Canadian rock scene. The album cover is based on an abandoned song called "Trapeze", which was initially intended to be the title of the album. In February 2001, Clumsy became a diamond-certified album in Canada. After Clumsys release, the band founded the Summersault
Summersault
Summersault was a Canadian music festival organized by the band Our Lady Peace in 1998 and again in 2000. Summersault 1998 was held in Barrie, Ontario, at Molson Park, St...

 festival that toured across Canada in 1998 and again in 2000, with lineups that included the Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...

, A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle is an American rock supergroup formed in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. The original incarnation of the band also included Paz Lenchantin on bass, Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar, and Tim Alexander on drums...

 and The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...

.

In 1999 the band released their third album titled
Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch
Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch
Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch is the third studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. It was released on September 21, 1999 by Columbia Records. The album was very successful in Canada, debuting at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart. The album was certified 3x...

. The album included such hits as "Thief
Thief (Our Lady Peace song)
"Thief" is a song written and performed by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace and released in 1999 on the album Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch.-Song meaning:...

", a song about a young girl named Mina Kim that the band met who had cancer, as well as "One Man Army
One Man Army (song)
"One Man Army" is a 1999 song by Our Lady Peace, released as the first single from their third album, Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch.-Meaning:...

" and "Is Anybody Home?
Is Anybody Home?
"Is Anybody Home?" is a song by Canadian Alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, and was the second single released from their third album, Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch...

". Legendary jazz drummer Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....

 was featured on the song "Stealing Babies". Multi-instrumentalist Jamie Edwards was brought in 1996 for the sessions for the album and remained an unofficial member of the band until 2001 when he was asked to officially join the band to finish the album Gravity
Gravity (Our Lady Peace album)
Gravity is the title of Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's fifth studio album. It was released on June 18, 2002 by Columbia Records in North America. The album became a worldwide success, charting highly both in Canada and the U.S...

. 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
Woodstock 1999
Woodstock 1999, also called Woodstock 99, performed July 22–25, 1999, was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original Woodstock Festival of 1969. Like the previous Woodstock festivals it was performed in upstate New York, this time in Rome, New York, around 200...

.
In 2000, the band released
Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines is the fourth studio album by the Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released by Columbia Records in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book The Age of...

, a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 inspired by Ray Kurzweil's book
The Age of Spiritual Machines
The Age of Spiritual Machines
The Age of Spiritual Machines is a book by futurist Ray Kurzweil about the future course of humanity, particularly relating to the development of artificial intelligence and its impact on human consciousness...

. During the recording of the album, drummer Jeremy Taggart was sidelined with an ankle injury; Matt Cameron
Matt Cameron
Matthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...

, Pearl Jam's
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...

 drummer and then-former member of Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...

, played drums on "Right Behind You (Mafia)" and "Are You Sad?" in his place. The album featured the singles "In Repair
In Repair (Our Lady Peace song)
"In Repair" is a music single released by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace in 2000, under the album Spiritual Machines. It was the first single from the album, and was followed by "Life" and "Right Behind You ".-Meaning:...

", "Life" and "Right Behind You (Mafia)". "Life" was also featured in the soundtrack for the Canadian sports comedy film Men with Brooms
Men with Brooms
Men with Brooms is a 2002 Canadian romantic comedy film, starring and directed by Paul Gross. Centred on the sport of curling, the offbeat comedy tells the story of a reunited curling team from a small Canadian town as they work through their respective life issues and struggle to win the...

. Spiritual Machines was less commercially successful than its predecessors.

Line-up and stylistic changes (2001–2005)

By the early 2000s, the band was becoming restless, feeling a "numbness" with their popularity as well as the "over-saturation" of their songs on Canadian radio, which resulted in them almost breaking up after completing their
Spiritual Machines tour.

In December 2001, having dropped original producer Arnold Lanni
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni is a Canadian record producer, and former member of both Frozen Ghost and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, "When I'm With You."-History:...

, the band met with new producer Bob Rock
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock, , is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing bands such as Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, The Offspring and most recently Bush.-Payola$ and Rock and Hyde:Rock began his music career in Langford,...

 to start work on their fifth album. Later that month, founding guitarist Mike Turner either quit
Resignation
A resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one's office or position. It can also refer to the act of admitting defeat in a game like chess, indicated by the resigning player declaring "I resign", turning his king on its side, extending his hand, or stopping the chess clock...

 the band or was forced out due to the other members' concerns about his guitar-playing abilities. Said Maida of Turner's departure, "The last two records we've been yearning for a guitar player that can really stand up and have a strong voice and Mike (Turner) just wasn't that kind of guitar player." Turner later formed the band Fair Ground
Fair Ground
Fair Ground is a Canadian Rock band.Fair Ground was formed by Canadian guitarists Pete Lesperance and Mike Turner, of the bands Harem Scarem and Our Lady Peace, respectively...

 with Harem Scarem
Harem Scarem
Harem Scarem were a Canadian melodic rock band from Toronto, ON. Harem Scarem achieved popularity in Japan and their native Canada in the early 1990s. Harem Scarem were active from 1987 to 2008...

 guitarist Pete Lesperance
Pete Lesperance
Pete Lesperance is a Canadian guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as the former lead guitarist for the Canadian melodic rock band Harem Scarem. Lesperance was born October 13, 1968 in Scarborough, Ontario...

 and later joined the band Crash Karma
Crash Karma
Crash Karma is a Canadian rock supergroup formed in 2008 consisting of Edwin , Mike Turner , Jeff Burrows , and Amir Epstein of Zygote. The band's first full live concert was held in Burlington, Ontario on June 20, 2009. Their first single "Awake" premiered on July 10, 2009...

. Turner's last performance with the band was for Music Without Borders at Toronto's Air Canada Centre
Air Canada Centre
The Air Canada Centre is a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena located on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.The arena is popularly known as the ACC or the Hangar ....

 on October 21, 2001. In the months following Turner's departure, the band held auditions for a replacement lead guitarist. Steve Mazur
Steve Mazur
Notable InstrumentsGibson Trini LopezSteven Theodore Mazur is an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for alternative rock band Our Lady Peace...

, a friend of a friend of drummer Jeremy Taggart, was announced as the new guitarist in April 2002. Long-time touring musician Jamie Edwards also became an official band member around this time, but later left that year for personal reasons.

In the following few months their fifth album, Gravity
Gravity (Our Lady Peace album)
Gravity is the title of Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's fifth studio album. It was released on June 18, 2002 by Columbia Records in North America. The album became a worldwide success, charting highly both in Canada and the U.S...

, was completed and released. The album received mixed reviews, with some critics and fans contending that the album was a significant departure from the band's original musical style, adopting a more mainstream sound and lacking any creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...

. Maida's signature nasal falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

 vocal technique was also absent from the album. Maida said that the album was "pretty much the opposite of
Spiritual Machines," calling it their "most basic album" since Naveed. Gravitys chart-topping first single, "Somewhere Out There
Somewhere Out There (Our Lady Peace song)
"Somewhere Out There" is the title of a song recorded by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. It was released in March 2002 as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Gravity...

", became the band's biggest international hit to date, while the second single, "Innocent", was also very popular and regained popularity in 2008 after a cover performance on American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

. In between their fifth and sixth albums, OLP released their first live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

, titled simply Live
Live (Our Lady Peace album)
Live is Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's first live album. It was recorded during their cross-Canadian "Fear of the Trailer Park" tour in support of their 5th studio album, Gravity. The dates recorded for this album included January 27, 2003 and January 28, 2003 in Calgary and...

, which contains a selection of the band's hits from their first five albums as played throughout tours in various Canadian cities.

In August 2005, the band released their sixth album Healthy in Paranoid Times
Healthy in Paranoid Times
Healthy in Paranoid Times is the sixth studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released on August 30, 2005 by Columbia Records. The disc was released on a standard CD as well as a DualDisc, with the reverse side containing a documentary on the making of the album...

, 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. According to Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

, 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."

Compilations, hiatus, and Burn Burn (2006–2009)

In November 2006, Columbia Records released a greatest hits compilation titled A Decade
A Decade
-See also:*Our Lady Peace discography*The Very Best of Our Lady Peace...

following the band's departure from the label. There were two previously unreleased 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
Healthy in Paranoid Times
Healthy in Paranoid Times is the sixth studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released on August 30, 2005 by Columbia Records. The disc was released on a standard CD as well as a DualDisc, with the reverse side containing a documentary on the making of the album...

sessions. The collection also included a bonus DVD containing live concert footage and exclusive interviews at the Massey Hall
Massey Hall
Massey Hall is a venerable performing arts theatre in the Garden District of downtown Toronto. The theatre originally was designed to seat 3,500 patrons but, after extensive renovations in the 1940s, now seats up to 2,765....

 concert. The single "Kiss On The Mouth", the first off A Decade, has received play on radio stations across Canada.

On March 31, 2009, Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...

 released OLP's second compilation album, The Very Best of Our Lady Peace as part of the Playlist series. The album includes famed singles such as "Naveed
Naveed (song)
Naveed is a single from Our Lady Peace's debut album of the same name, Naveed. It was released April 17, 1995 in the United States and in January 1996 in the United Kingdom as the fifth and final single from the album. The song performed well on the charts, and became a smash hit in Canada,...

" and "Somewhere Out There
Somewhere Out There (Our Lady Peace song)
"Somewhere Out There" is the title of a song recorded by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. It was released in March 2002 as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Gravity...

", as well as lesser-known songs such as "Car Crash" and "Stealing Babies".

After the release of their 2006 compilation album, A Decade, the band entered a short hiatus period after having parted ways with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

. Lead vocalist Raine Maida began work on his first solo album
Solo album
A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...

, The Hunter's Lullaby
The Hunter's Lullaby
The Hunters Lullaby was the first solo album released by Canadian singer and musician Raine Maida, the vocalist of Our Lady Peace. It was released on November 13, 2007 by Kingnoise Records. The first single off the album is Yellow Brick Road...

, which was released in 2007, while the remaining members of the band also became preoccupied with other personal endeavors. The hiatus would result in the longest time gap between OLP studio albums to date.

The band began working on Burn Burn
Burn Burn (album)
Burn Burn is the seventh and most recent studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released in North America on July 21, 2009...

, their seventh studio album, in February 2007, completing it in March 2009. Raine Maida called the new album "huge", and noted it as being a "proper rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 album again"—featuring a return to the raw originality of the band's first album Naveed
Naveed (album)
Naveed is the debut album by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. It was produced by Arnold Lanni, and was released on March 22, 1994 by Sony Music Canada. Naveed became a success in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies by the end of the year. There were five singles released for the album,...

, though a "little more mature
Maturity (psychological)
Maturity is a psychological term used to indicate how a person responds to the circumstances or environment in an appropriate manner. This response is generally learned rather than instinctive, and is not determined by one's age...

". Maida solely produced the album, noting his excitement over "not (having had) anybody intrude on (recording) sessions". The album was released in North America on July 21, 2009. The band toured to promote Burn Burn and made stops in several cities across North America from July through December 2009.

Recreation tour and future (2010–present)

In December 2009, the band announced that they would be "recreating" both their 1997 album Clumsy and their 2000 album Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines is the fourth studio album by the Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released by Columbia Records in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book The Age of...

by performing them live in their entireties throughout a new tour that ran from March–May 2010. The tour spanned Canada and select U.S. cities.

Band members have also confirmed that a new studio album follow-up to Burn Burn is in the process of being recorded, and that it is expected to be released in 2011 or early 2012. Confirmed track titles include "The Wolf" and "Window Seat". In a March 2010 interview, lead singer Raine Maida noted that after having gone back to re-learn songs from Spiritual Machines and Clumsy in preparation for their tour, he was "brought back to the great things about this band". He added that fans — especially those who are particularly fond of the pre-Gravity
Gravity (Our Lady Peace album)
Gravity is the title of Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's fifth studio album. It was released on June 18, 2002 by Columbia Records in North America. The album became a worldwide success, charting highly both in Canada and the U.S...

albums — should expect to see "a lot of stuff (from pre-Gravity albums) creeping its way back into our music". The band have released a new song titled "Fight the Good Fight" in reaction to the "Occupy Wall Street" events taking place across North America. There is no word as to whether this track will appear on their upcoming album.

The band's first single "Heavyweight" from their currently untitled eighth studio album, is planned to be released sometime in December 2011.

Style and themes

In the band's early years and especially in Naveed
Naveed (album)
Naveed is the debut album by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. It was produced by Arnold Lanni, and was released on March 22, 1994 by Sony Music Canada. Naveed became a success in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies by the end of the year. There were five singles released for the album,...

, Our Lady Peace's overall sound was often compared to alternative rock bands including Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...

, The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...

 and Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...

. The band's melodic structure
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

 was also said to echo that of bands such as The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 and Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

.

Lead singer Raine Maida
Raine Maida
Raine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...

's voice was called "erratic", and "truly unrivaled" in his field. In albums Naveed through Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines
Spiritual Machines is the fourth studio album by the Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released by Columbia Records in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book The Age of...

, Maida sang in a countertenor
Countertenor
A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...

 vocal register and was known for his frequent use of falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

. This singing method, in combination with the band's melody structure, often gave many songs a surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 sound and effect.

Discography

  • Naveed
    Naveed (album)
    Naveed is the debut album by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. It was produced by Arnold Lanni, and was released on March 22, 1994 by Sony Music Canada. Naveed became a success in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies by the end of the year. There were five singles released for the album,...

    (1994)
  • Clumsy (1997)
  • Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch (1999)
  • Spiritual Machines
    Spiritual Machines
    Spiritual Machines is the fourth studio album by the Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released by Columbia Records in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book The Age of...

    (2000)
  • Gravity
    Gravity (Our Lady Peace album)
    Gravity is the title of Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's fifth studio album. It was released on June 18, 2002 by Columbia Records in North America. The album became a worldwide success, charting highly both in Canada and the U.S...

    (2002)
  • Healthy in Paranoid Times
    Healthy in Paranoid Times
    Healthy in Paranoid Times is the sixth studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released on August 30, 2005 by Columbia Records. The disc was released on a standard CD as well as a DualDisc, with the reverse side containing a documentary on the making of the album...

    (2005)
  • Burn Burn
    Burn Burn (album)
    Burn Burn is the seventh and most recent studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released in North America on July 21, 2009...

    (2009)

Band members

Current members
  • Raine Maida
    Raine Maida
    Raine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...

     – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

     (1992–present)
  • Jeremy Taggart
    Jeremy Taggart
    Jeremy Ronald John Taggart is a Canadian drummer, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace since 1993.-Early life:Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario and has two brothers and one sister. Music was a central part of his youth, as his parents were also musicians, and Taggart learned to play drums...

      – drums, percussion (1993–present)
  • Duncan Coutts
    Duncan Coutts
    Robert Duncan Coutts is a Canadian musician, best known for being the bassist for Our Lady Peace since 1995.-Our Lady Peace:...

      – bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , backing vocals (1995–present)
  • Steve Mazur
    Steve Mazur
    Notable InstrumentsGibson Trini LopezSteven Theodore Mazur is an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for alternative rock band Our Lady Peace...

     – lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    , backing vocals (2002–present)


Former members
  • Mike Turner
    Mike Turner (musician)
    Mike A. Turner is a musician and producer. He is the former lead guitarist of the band Our Lady Peace. After his departure from OLP he began producing music and played guitar in the Canadian band Fair Ground, with Harem Scarem guitarist Pete Lesperance...

    – lead guitar, backing vocals (1992–2001)
  • Chris Eacrett – bass (1992–1995)
  • Jim Newell – drums (1992–1993)


External links

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