January 21, 1997
Our Lady Peace Building a Fan base
By Jane Stevenson -- Toronto Sun
Two-and-a-half years and 350 shows later, Toronto alt-rockers Our Lady Peace are already back on the bus to promote their new album, Clumsy, which hits record stores today. In fact, lead singer-lyricist Raine Maida is already sounding fatigued as he chats on the phone late yesterday morning from the group's recording studio in Weston, Ont. "I'm basically in my pyjamas still," he says.
And OLP, expected to do a small club show in Toronto in mid-February before coming back to headline a proposed all-Canadian festival this summer, is only just beginning a closed-campus tour that saw them do three dates on the weekend. But delivering the goods live is what the band, which has toured with the likes of Page and Plant, Van Halen, The Ramones and Alanis Morissette, has become known for.
"That's just kind of the precedent we set, I guess, on the first record," says Maida, referring to 1994's Naveed which sold 500,000 copies and spawned a Top 10 hit in Canada and the U.S. with Starseed. "No matter what happens in the media or on video or on radio, playing live for us is when, I think, we really hold on to fans or have fans that I think we can build a career with." Given the impressive list of bands they've backed up it's not surprising that OLP group members have their favorite gigs. Surprisingly for Maida, it was touring with fellow Torontonians I Mother Earth across Canada. They have since become great friends. Although having an admirer in Robert Plant ranks right up there too. "I've never been a huge Led Zeppelin fan," he says with a chuckle. "Even when we opened up for him. Looking back on it now, I think it's the highlight of my career, having him sit down with us and tell us how much he liked our record." Guitarist Mike Turner has similar memories. "On the first Page and Plant show, we were still just travelling in a converted school bus and I remember going out to get something in it and thinking how ridiculous it looked parked among eight or nine tractor trailers." Turner says OLP is also still friendly with Van Halen, and offers some insight on why Sammy Hagar was turfed. "The one thing with Van Halen is that they are professionals and they believe in hard work. That's probably the biggest lesson we took away from that experience. I mean Ed (Van Halen), every day, gets up and works at doing what he does. I mean, he's a rock icon but still works. I don't think Sammy had the same level of work ethic, so when that essential difference happens you're sort of destined to fail." OLP had first-hand experience with out-of-sync band members. Original bassist Chris Eacrett left the band in the fall of 1995, right after the tour with Van Halen, coincidentally. "I don't want to call our old bass player Chris a weak link, but there was just something in his personality and his musical direction that was beginning to become a cancer for the rest of us. It's unfortunate," says Maida. "I think he's a talented musician, just different from us." Interestingly, replacement Duncan Coutts was OLP's first choice for bassist when the band formed, but he went back to university instead. Both Maida and Turner say Coutts, who also plays 'cello and keyboards, influenced the sound on Clumsy, although he isn't given any songwriting credits. "The intention was always there to explore other sounds and we'd always had a desire to get some different textures. 'Cause let's face it, rock guitar is getting very tired, and I'm the guitarist," says Turner.
