ENTERTAINMENT
From Issue #22
Our Lady Peace
By Sydnia Yu
In the 1,165 days Our Lady Peace took to record their sixth studio album, Healthy in Paranoid Times, 30 active wars were fought worldwide, 9.8 million people died from AIDS, and three billion people lived on two dollars a day.
While the band used their music to vocalize some of these tragedies, they had their own dark days. In one month, producer Bob Rock — was fired, rehired, later quit and then returned.
“I don’t think much else was achieved in that month, but “Angels/Losing/Sleep” was born,” says frontman, Raine Maida. “It’s probably one of my favourite songs we’ve ever recorded, so it’s just strange that out of all that frustration and negativity comes this incredible thing.” The fact the band recorded 45 tracks before everyone agreed on the final cut was often the source of disputes. “The fighting was about the music; it was never personal,” says bassist Duncan Coutts. Though he agrees with Raine that the process took up a lot of their energy. “Then you start to question yourself as to whether you should be doing this anymore when you’re 30 songs in and you don’t have a record.”
Yet despite the obstacles, they set a new bar for themselves musically, which is a feat everyone can learn from. “You’ve just got to keep pushing ahead, and you can’t give up on stuff,” says Raine. “It’s easy to do something half-ass, but to really pull through with something and give it your best shot, it really takes guts.”
