Cute Band Alert - Our Lady Peace

Teen Magazine February 1998

Though the moniker suggests a certain sonic serenity, Our Lady Peace rocks hard and loud. In fact, the chart - climbing LP Clumsy (columbia) is a lot more likely to challenge than tranquilize you. But vocalist Raine Maida, guitarist Mike Turner, drummer Jeremy Taggart, and bassist/keyboardist Duncan Coutts weren't looking for a study in contrast when they named the band. "It's the title of a poem by Mark Van Doren - and we all got something different out of reading it," explains Raine. "Not to get to philosophical, but thats the way we want people to respond to our music." And people really have been responding to the Toronto based quartet - not just their album, but thier live shows too. "There's only so much you can get from listening to a record. When you see a band live, you see the passion." The guys have been on the road non-stop for about a year now, yet never get tired of playing to a crowd. That's a far cry from when they formed: The fledging foursome made a demo of the first three tunes they wrote - and got signed to a record deal on it's strengths. "We could'nt have played live then," Raine admits. "We did'nt have enough songs!"


-Teen