Important Information

Our Lady Peace (sometimes shortened to OLP) are a Canadian alternative rock/post-grunge band that formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1992.
Headed by lead vocalist Raine Maida since its formation, the band additionally consists of Jeremy Taggart on percussion, Duncan Coutts on bass, and Steve Mazur as lead guitarist.
The band has sold millions of albums worldwide, won four Juno Awards, and won ten MuchMusic Video Awards — the most MMVAs ever awarded to any artist or group.Our Lady Peace has released eight studio albums, one live album, and two compilation albums to date, with their 1997 album Clumsy often being considered their signature and most widely recognized work.
They have enjoyed many hit singles, ranging from "Starseed" in 1994, to "Somewhere Out There" in 2002.The band's earlier albums are often praised for their unique sound and style, with lead singer Maida being called "erratic" and "truly unrivaled" as a vocalist.
Their fifth album, Gravity (2002), is sometimes noted to have been a "radical departure" from this distinctive style.
Lead singer Maida has confirmed the difference, calling Gravity "vastly different" from their previous records.
The coincidental 2002 departures of both co-founding member Mike Turner and longtime-producer Arnold Lanni, in combination with influence from then-new producer Bob Rock are sometimes credited as main factors in the style evolution.Formative years (1991–1993)In late 1991, guitarist Mike Turner placed an ad in Toronto-based Now Magazine in search of musicians.
Michael Maida, a criminology student at the University of Toronto, was the first to reply.
The two formed a band called As If, inviting Jim Newell as drummer and a friend of Turner's, Paul Martin, to play bass.
After they played a number of gigs in Oshawa with sets containing a mix of original and cover material, Martin departed soon after, and the band placed an ad for a replacement bassist.
Chris Eacrett, a business student at Ryerson University, replied and was accepted after an audition.
During that time, Turner and Maida attended a music seminar where they met songwriter and producer Arnold Lanni, the owner of Arnyard Studios.
The band, with Lanni, commenced writing new material and recorded some material under the As If name.Soon thereafter, the band's name was changed to Our Lady Peace, after a Mark Van Doren poem of the same name.
With encouragement from their producer Lanni and his management team, the band performed some gigs in Eastern Ontario and Montreal in conjunction with The Tea Party.
It was during this time that Maida began using the stage name "Raine" instead of "Mike" to reduce confusion about having two Mikes in the band.
He has used this name professionally ever since, legally adding it, even with Mike Turner having left the band.An independent music video of the band's debut song "Out of Here" was created in February 1992 by Sam Siciliano, a film student and friend of Turner's, who produced, edited, and directed the video.
The video was aired on MuchMusic on their Indie show.
After returning to Arnyard Studios to continue writing and recording material, drummer Jim Newell departed the band.
Writing and recording continued with session drummer John Bouvette.With managers Rob Lanni and Eric Lawrence of Coalition Entertainment representing the band, short showcases were arranged with Warner Music Canada, EMI Canada, and Sony Music Canada.
Sony Music Canada head of A&R Richard Zuckerman liked what he heard, and saw the potential of the band, its producer, and management.
The band signed a record and publishing deal with Sony Music Canada in April 1993, and commenced writing for their debut album.
Around the same time, then-17-year-old Jeremy Taggart joined the band as permanent drummer.Early success (1994–2000)After writing and recording over the next year or so, OLP released its debut album, Naveed, in March 1994 through Sony Music Canada.
Following the release of the album, the band toured Canada, supporting acts I Mother Earth and 54-40.
Naveed was later picked up and released in the United States in March 1995 by a Sony Music indie label, Relativity Records, after which the band toured as the opening act for Van Halen's Balance summer tour and opened shows for Page & Plant.
Touring of the album resumed in 1996 with time spent touring with Canadian artist Alanis Morissette.
The title track of the album, "Naveed", became a hit in Canada, while "Starseed" also charted in the United States.
"Starseed" would later be added on the Armageddon film soundtrack.In early 1997, Our Lady Peace was offered and accepted an American signing with Columbia Records, expanding their horizons within Sony Music.
After touring the album Naveed, the band began work on their second studio album.
As the writing process ensued, bassist Chris Eacrett left the band due to musical differences.
Duncan Coutts, a Ridley College alumnus and former classmate of Raine Maida, joined the band as bassist during the recording of OLP's second album.Our Lady Peace's second album, Clumsy, was released in January 1997.
Album singles "Superman's Dead" and "Clumsy" found immense success especially in Canada.
Clumsy established Our Lady Peace as a leading band in the Canadian rock scene.
The album cover is based on an abandoned song called "Trapeze", which was initially intended to be the title of the album.
In February 2001, Clumsy became a diamond-certified album in Canada.
After Clumsy's release, the band founded the Summersault festival that toured across Canada in 1998 and again in 2000, with lineups that included the Foo Fighters, A Perfect Circle and The Smashing Pumpkins.In 1999 the band released their third album titled Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch.
The album included such hits as "Thief", a song about a young girl named Mina Kim that the band met who had cancer, as well as "One Man Army" and "Is Anybody Home?".
Legendary jazz drummer Elvin Jones was featured on the song "Stealing Babies".
Multi-instrumentalist Jamie Edwards was brought in 1996 for the sessions for the album and remained an unofficial member of the band until 2001 when he was asked to officially join the band to finish the album Gravity.
Shortly after the completion of the record, Jamie chose to leave the band, returning briefly to stand in for Mike Eisenstein during the Canadian tour of Gravity.
The band also played an eleven song set at Woodstock 1999.In 2000, the band released Spiritual Machines, a concept album inspired by Ray Kurzweil's book The Age of Spiritual Machines.
During the recording of the album, drummer Jeremy Taggart was sidelined with an ankle injury; Matt Cameron, Pearl Jam's drummer and then-former member of Soundgarden, played drums on "Right Behind You (Mafia)" and "Are You Sad?" in his place.
The album featured the singles "In Repair", "Life" and "Right Behind You (Mafia)".
"Life" was also featured in the soundtrack for the Canadian sports comedy film Men with Brooms.
Spiritual Machines was less commercially successful than its predecessors.