From the Fall 2002 Issue
FAZE: INTERVIEW
COVER STORY
Our Lady
Peace
Renewal
By
Liane Beam
While
wave riders catch the surf along the north shore of Maui, a
ghostly whisper clings to a hill behind the beach that used
to be the site of an ancient burial ground. Energized by this
atmosphere of surf and the supernatural, rock band Our Lady
Peace experienced a renewal that was both creative and personal.
In November 2001, OLP began recording their fifth album Gravity
at producer Bob Rock’s Plantation Studios in Maui. The
studio is located on the ‘haunted’ hill—where
the band’s resident ‘spiritual’ advisor, drummer
Jeremy Taggart, who has had many experiences with that other
world, reports hearing strange bumps and knocks.
The
band members surfed in the mornings and recorded in the studio
(which has an unobstructed view of the sea from the control
room) in the afternoons and evenings. “There was definitely
a neat, strange and wonderful energy around the place,”
says bass player Duncan Coutts, “It was something we had
never experienced before. You just don’t get that in every
recording studio.”
With
Rock, who has also worked with Metallica, Aerosmith and The
Cult, as their new producer, the group began to work on getting
down to the rock band in OLP and generating a more aggressive
sound to their music.
The
band members also credit new guitarist Steve Mazur with reviving
their energy. Partway through the recording of Gravity, founding
guitarist Mike Turner and OLP parted ways. Shortly after Turner
departed, the band began the search to replace him. After viewing
thousands of videotaped submissions sent in by hopefuls around
the world, the band members decided on Detroit-born friend and
guitarist Mazur. And OLP felt like a brand new band.
For lead singer, Raine Maida, the creative renewal that came
from working with a new producer and a new band lineup echoed
what was happening to him personally. In January 2001, Maida
and his wife, singer Chantal Kreviasuk, travelled to Iraq to
help film the human rights documentary series “Musicians
in the War Zone.” Produced by MuchMusic and War Child
(a network of independent organizations), the documentary discusses
the impact of war on children and youth. The program reveals
the living conditions of children in Iraq under the economic
sanctions imposed by the United Nations.
“I think people kind of watched us learn and grow up while
we were there and learning what was really happening to the
children because of the economic sanctions and how they’ve
affected that country,” Maida says.
Maida and Kreviasuk were in Iraq for 11 days and in the Middle
East for another week after that. “It sounds cliché,
but the trip that Chantal and I took to Iraq with War Child
last year changed my life. It gave me a whole new perspective
on how I view the world and what I want out of life and what
I want to give back. It’s been liberating to feel this
way and live this last year on a different wavelength.”
“It’s one of those kinds of things where I look
back on it and realize that the change I felt was not something
I could control. It just happened. I feel very fortunate because
it’s not an opportunity that’s available to a lot
of people and I got a perspective that’s hard to get anywhere
else,” he says.
Maida saw children dying from inadequate medical care. Some
babies were barely being kept alive in old incubators dating
from the 1960s. The desperate living conditions of the children
in Iraq made him aware of how certain standards of life should
be preserved. “No matter what happens through war or poverty.
There’s enough wealth in the world that it shouldn’t
be that way,” he says.
Being
aware of what’s going on in the world has become much
easier, Maida says. It used to be difficult to know what was
really going on in countries such as Somalia and The Congo.
But now through the Internet information is more accessible.
“Not everyone is able or has the desire to jump in and
help change but just the fact that there is awareness I think
is a huge step forward. It’s really easy to get complacent
in life, especially living in one of the richest parts of the
world. It’s so easy to think about nothing really.”
But
Maida urges people to put their knowledge into action. “It’s
just a matter of taking it to heart and trying to make some
sort of difference and be involved. Everyone has the opportunity.
It’s just much easier to kind of live in a box.”
“I
mean we live in North America and the stuff surrounding us is
what affects us day-by-day and minute-by-minute and that stuff
obviously impacts your life. But as soon as you reach out, it’s
hard not to feel like most of your problems that you bitch about
at home are really not that relevant and not as big and important
as you think they are. It really humbles you.”
Although
Maida says the opportunity to work on the documentary with War
Child came to him because of his work as a musician in Canada,
he and Kreviasuk would have wanted to be involved in the project
even if they “worked at 7-11.”
“It
was just an incredible opportunity that was given to us because
we make music. But I don’t think that should stop anybody.
The War Child office is open to everybody. You can just go into
their office and spend a day and learn.”
Maida
says the War Child office in Toronto is a “communal”
space where anyone can go and hang out. “You don’t
even have to ask questions, you can just go in and watch what’s
going on.”
“You
have to take advantage of the fact that things are good for
us here and exploit your opportunities. It’s a cliché
to say that we should enjoy the moment and live every day like
it’s our last. And it’s hard to do that all the
time, but it helps to keep that in the back of your mind. Whether
it’s just talking to someone on the job or on the street,
I feel more alive when I sense that there is humanity out there
and that we can be friendly even though we don’t live
on the same street.”
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