Which Is Better? Hard To Find Or Mainstream Our Lady Peace?

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Which Is Better? Hard To Find Or Mainstream Our Lady Peace?
by Nick Law - December 31, 2008

When you think about it, Canada hasn’t really given us much over the past recent years. I mean besides Alex Trebek, Chris Jericho, maple syrup and Rush, what do we honestly have to thank them for? Barenaked Ladies was a good band for a while in the mid to late 90s, then all of the sudden they started appearing as talking heads on every VH1 show know to man and all was lost.

It was about the same time that BNL was on its way out that I started to listen to another Canadian group known as Our Lady Peace. The group had been around since 1992, but mostly popular among Canadian fans during their early years. The band was formed when guitarist Mike Turner placed a “musicians wanted” ad in a Toronto-based music magazine. Michael Maida was the first to reply and together they formed the band As If, with friends of theirs filling the gaps on bass and drums.

To better reflect the direction of their music, the decision was soon made to change the name of the band to Our Lady Peace. With the help of producer/songwriter Arnold Lanni, the group began writing new music and performing, trying out various musicians along the way.

Our Lady Peace released its debut album Naveed in 1994 on Sony Records and was later picked up and released in the United States in 1995. Although the album and its title track became a big hit in Canada, Our Lady Peace failed to make the immediate jump to the U.S. and Naveed is still considered to be among some of the band’s hardest to find music in America. Many used record shops and online stores specializing in rare, hard to find music will no doubt carry it, but don’t go looking in the Target down the street.

It wasn’t until the band released their next studio album Clumsy in 1997 that Our Lady Peace was established as one of the leading Canadian rock bands and an international presence. In 1998, Our Lady Peace founded the Summersault festival, which included bands such as Foo Fighters, A Perfect Circle and The Smashing Pumpkins. The festival further allowed the band to establish its name across North America with tours in 1998 and 2000.

In 2002, the band released its fifth and probably most well known studio album, Gravity. The album was instantly considered to be a worldwide success with chart topping tracks such as “Innocent” and “Somewhere Out There”. The latter even went on to be featured in the film XXX starring Vin Diesel. Terrible movie, great song.

Its been almost 20 years since Our Lady Peace arrived on the scene and still the band remains somewhat unknown in areas outside of Canada. The band itself has gone through some changes since its creation. Current members include: Raine Maida (vocals/guitar), Jeremy Taggart (drums), Duncan Coutts (bass) and Steve Mazur (guitar/keyboards).

There seems to be somewhat of a split between Americans and Canadians when it comes to opinions on the band’s best music. Many Canadians will tell you that their earlier work, particularly that of Clumsy is the best. Most Americans prefer the music that they recognize off the radio and TV. Therefore, they like Gravity. Me? I think we need to settle this once and for all with the long awaited American – Canadian war. Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen? Chances are it would be either a horrific genocide or just like the South Park movie.

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