Our Lady Peace

Comprising of Raine Maida (b. Michael Raine Maida; vocals), Mike Turner (guitar), Chris Eacrett (bass) and Jeremy Taggart (drums), Our Lady Peace were formed in Toronto, Canada, in 1992.

After meeting local producer Arnold Lanni they set about recording their first demos, which immediately attracted the attention of Sony Music Canada.

The band's debut album, Naveed, took its title from 'the ancient Middle Eastern name for bearer of good news', and featured the popular radio hit 'Starseed'. The songwriting, which was undertaken before their stage debut, evolved out of a communal musical approach, with Maida supplying lyrics. Duncan Coutts replaced Eacrett shortly after the release of the album.

Clumsy was a strong follow-up, showcasing a more mature songwriting approach which was rewarded with worldwide sales of over two million. A remixed version of 'Starseed' was featured on the following year's Armageddon soundtrack.

The band's third album, Happiness ... Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch, was recorded with Lanni at Toronto's Arnyard Studios. This album also features Elvin Jones, the legendary 74 year old jazz drummer. He was a huge part of John Coltrane's sound in the 50's.

OLP has performed with The Rolling Stones, Everclear, Third Eye Blind, Alanis Morissette ,and others.

I've seen them twice, once at an outdoor rock festival, and another time at the New Orleans House of Blues. They're pretty damn good, although I prefered the HOB show. The outdoor sound equipment mangled the sound, IMHO. Maida's distinctive vocals either work for you or they don't. Regardless, they're a pleasing addition to the often dismal field of modern rock music.

Info adapted from muze.inc. and the OLP official site. And by /me.

'Happiness... is Not a Fish That You Can Catch' was promoted extensively in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia and Oceania. The band - now joined by rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jamie Edwards (formerly of the Blue Man Group) - played to sold-out stadiums across their native Canada and in smaller, more intimate clubs in other countries.

At some point during the `Happiness...' tour, Mike Turner came across a copy of Ray Kurzweil's The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. The band eventually decided to base their fourth album on the book and the concepts therein. Mike contacted the book's author so as to gain his permission to use the book's ideas and possibly its title. Kurzweil's response was enthusiastic; he agreed to record himself reading passages from the book for the album.

Spiritual Machines was released on December 12, 2000. Sol Fox, the Canadian actor/model whose image had appeared on the cover of `Naveed', `Clumsy' and `Happiness... is Not a Fish That You Can Catch', was too ill to participate in a photoshoot. The band recruited Toronto artist Oli Goldsmith to design the album concept art. Goldsmith also created art for a custom made guitar for Mike Turner.

`Spiritual Machines' was, like its predecessors, promoted through tours. It also brought the work and theories of Ray Kurzweil to a larger audience. Mike and Raine appeared with Kurzweil on Canadian talk shows in order to promote both the album and the book.

Shortly after the conclusion of the `Spiritual Machines' tour in mid-2001, OLP headed back into the studio to record their fifth album.

Mike Turner left Our Lady Peace in December, 2001, citing "creative and musical differences" as the reason for his exit. His departure was officially announced on December 12, 2001, ironically one year after the release of `Spiritual Machines'. Jamie Edwards left Our Lady Peace for "personal reasons" a month later. The band and its management chose to hold auditions for the position vacated by Mike, and asked Mike Eisenstein of Letters to Cleo to fill in for Jamie. Steve Mazur was named as Our Lady Peace's new lead guitarist in early 2003. The band also parted ways with producer Arnold Lanni in favour of Bob Rock.

`Gravity', Our Lady Peace's fifth album, was released in June, 2003. The result was more polished and more refined than any of their previous albums and was lauded by critics who had not been in favour of OLP's music in the past. The cover image was a photograph of the band members as opposed to Sol Fox or art. Many veteran Our Lady Peace fans were opposed to `Gravity' because they thought the band had sold out.

Through recent interviews with band members, especially those with Raine, it has become clear that the band is attempting to break away from its `old' image. Raine has also been quoted as saying that Mike Turner was "not the kind of guitarist the band needed" and that "Mike was never meant to be a guitarist. He'll do great things, but not with six-stringed instruments".

`Gravity' was promoted through OLP's Fear of the Trailer Park tour. Several performances from the tour were recorded and released on `Live', the band's live album.

Our Lady Peace has finished recording their sixth album which is due to be released sometime in 2004.

Quotes are from http://www.chartattack.com.