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Interveiw
Edge 102 Interview with Our Lady Peace
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Transcribed by Rob
Bookie- It's our pleasure to welcome to the Edge of 220 Yonge- a band who's record today just entered the U.S. top 10. Please welcome- Our Lady Peace! (screams from audience) Wow! Before we go any further guys, we have a great audience here, on behalf of everyone here, please give a warm Edge Toronto welcome to the newest member- Steve Mazur!
(screams from audience)
Steve- Thank you very much.
Bookie- Hey, this is the loudest it's ever been here! Congratulations-
"Gravity" kills! It's like...
Jeremy- Thanks Dave.
Bookie- It's got the most best songs. I think it's got a tight package. Congratulations on it. You know, I think going back- remember when you came in right when "Spiritual Machines" came out right in December; I think that record in a lot of ways humanized the band to a lot of people who might have known your music but like with those type records when you just put something out for the "sake of" because you wanted that outright at that moment- I think that did a lot and I think that progression has now come in the hard work you've done so to set this up for the right song and the right place.
Jeremy- I think so.
Raine- You know what's funny? I was listening to the radio when we first got into Toronto the other day to do some press and I heard you say that we needed to make "Spiritual Machines" to make "Gravity" and that's like, man, that's it. We totally needed to do that and that's why we ended up here and it's an amazing place to be.
Bookie- Well, you've got a new member in the band and we salute the Mike Turner era and we salute everything Mike gave back to the band(screams from audience) but go through the process of how- I remember we got the press release one day. You guys were kind of doing the casting call, but go through the process of how you ended up with Steve.
Raine- We had Steve before we went to that search. We took 10 days off at Christmas time to come back home from recording Gravity and that was just before the split with Mike happened and so through a mutual friend in L.A. we hooked up with Steve and he's actually from Michigan so he came down to Toronto, Duncan and Jeremy jammed with him and they're like- wow, this kid is spectacular! So instead of just doing another audition like that, we just decided to bring him to Maui when we went back so we brought him out there, put him in front of Bob (laughs), Bob
Rock...
Jeremy- True test
Raine- ...put a guitar and press record and it's like- go man, and he did, and he was amazing, and the only reason we had this search was like we kind of stood there and it was like this was the guy and then we said- oh my god, we can't just choose the first guy we see you know.
Bookie- Well the first thing I heard when I was reading about it that sort of said- okay, this is gonna work- was that Steve, that you actually when "Spiritual Machines" came out you actually drove across the border to Windsor to get it...
Steve- I did.
Bookie- ...because you weren't gonna wait for the U.S. release.
Steve- I did actually, Sarnia actually.
Bookie- So you're making a record in Hawaii. What's it like, I mean, the last thing I knew that happened in Hawaii was when the Brady Bunch went there and Greg wiped out surfing because his choker broke.
Raine- Yeah, we were looking for the choker.
Jeremy- It was beautiful. It's like you'd wake up at 8 in the morning,you'd go surf, you'd go hang out and then you'd go eat together and then you'd go to the studio at 1 o'clock and you'd work till 8 or 9 at night and you'd work really hard because you realize it's like, you're so relaxed and that's all you can concentrate on is making music and being creative- it's amazing.
Raine- Maui's a great place but the best thing about Maui is Bob. His skills are insane. He's just a great producer and a great guy and he really, you know, I think people have watched that, the Metallica, the making of the Black record and what he did with that because those guys have strong personalities, you know Lars and James, and he just kicked their asses and he really challenged them I think and he did the same thing with us- he just taught us in simplifying you'll make your sound bigger and it'll be more powerful, more passion, and more aggressive as well and it was a lesson. I don't think we fully had a grasp of that until we met Bob.
Bookie- And I get the impression that when you hear bands talking after working with him that they made their best record, that they feel proud of their work as opposed to some of the big producers you go in and they just come in and go I'm going to make you a hit...
Jeremy- Totally.
Bookie- ...and the band walks out with a hit but lacking in their self respect maybe.
Jeremy- He's amazing for just that. I mean, he's just like a coach, you know, he takes the best thing about the band and what he thinks each individual can give and he gets it right out of you very quickly and he just keeps this energy and this confidence. From early right- we were sitting in a room together playing all these songs and that's the first time we've ever been recording while we're all in the room every single take and "Bring Back the Sun" is a good example of that, that it's completely live off the floor, the vocals live, and it's like we've never even dreamed of doing that- we didn't think we could do that but being in that environment and having him just push us and make us feel so comfortable- it was that easy.
Raine- He's just so confident. I mean, with the 27 years he has, he's worked with every ego and every great musician there probably is that it's infectious, you know. You walk away and you might feel uneasy about trying something but he's like there's this hand on your shoulder saying It's okay my son.
Jeremy- Yeah.
Bookie- That's what you need. We're talking with Our Lady Peace.
We're on 102.1 the Edge and on EdgeTV and in the spirit of EdgeTV, I want to talk about the video for "I know you're out there, somewhere out there"- live, very stark, very live, very rock- but the scaffolding thing, I mean, I haven't seen someone climb up a scaffolding since Eddie Vedder did it at Lollapalooza in Molson Park. (Raine laughs) How do, I mean, first the girl, how do you do that? Was everyone freaking or...
Raine- It was cool. I mean, it's amazing the fans that come to our shows they kind of look out for each other. It's not over the top insane where people are getting hurt and stuff so it's always a good environment like that. We're pretty lucky.
Jeremy- It's nice and safe.
Bookie- Lets spin the song. This is "I know you're out there,
somewhere out there". This song is a hit around the world. Lets go right now. Our Lady Peace. Live on the Edge 102.
(screams from audience)
~PLAYS SONG~
Bookie- Live on the Edge, Edge 102. That is "I know you're out there"- I want that in brackets (laughs)- "Somewhere Out There".
Raine- I know, you keep pushing that.
Bookie- Well, I like that. We're talking to Our Lady Peace. You did something interesting with "Spiritual Machines" when it came out and you toured and it's led up and it's worked- is that you concentrated on places in the States where you knew you had fans and you came in and you did, I remember you did the special acoustic shows and you figured if I got 500 people in this town- lets treat them special as opposed to just getting into a bus and treating 100 people who are indifferent to us and
it seems to have paid off.
Jeremy- Totally.
Raine- Yeah. We've just always concentrated on, kind of, not
appeasing, it's just, it's like you said- people aren't dumb. They appreciate something special like that and it's just the connection that we made playing like 500 or 800 people in a small club acoustically. We call it the Scaled Tour. it was just unbelievable!
Bookie- Well, I've never been a big fan of this adage that you get in a bus and just start driving straight until the band breaks up. It doesn't make any sense.
Jeremy- No, no.
Bookie- Especially in the States where you've got these huge regions and if you've got a pocket- stay there, keep circling and build, you know.
Jeremy- Every great band that we've known, I mean, we started doing this residency thing and U2 did it back in the 80's and the Police did it back in the early 80's and it's like it works and you just build and build and build and here we are, you know. It's like we can play almost anywhere now and really support ourselves so...
Bookie- Now on the subject of touring, you're going to do some American stuff but you're also doing some new things in Canada.
I guess you're to launch your own tour in the Fall but I know the Hip are doing some of this- you're coming in and, you know what, lets mix a little pleasure with rock and tell us some of the Summer dates you've got.
Raine- Yeah. We have a, it's like a mini Woodstock in Quebec coming up on a Friday and we're so psyched to do this thing in Halifax at Citadel Hill with the Hip. We've never really played with them in a real rock concert so it's kind of an honour for us.
Jeremy- Those guys are so sweet and they're so nice and fun to hang out with so it'll be a pleasure.
Raine- And Gords' always been a huge lyrical inspiration to me so to watch him connect with those lyrics on stage, like standing side stage,is pretty cool.
Bookie- Lets go back to that ACC show when in the wake of everything that went down in September and I think what we were all instilled as fans and as artists and musicians was a tremendous amount of, like, I like the way we took our take on it- we're our own country, here's what we want to do, here's where we want to raise our funds, and here's where we want to direct it and I think it came across and there seemed to be, like, sometimes you watch these things and this time I think the people on stage were having as much fun as the crowd.
Raine- I think you're very right about that. It was very special. I think most people watched all the stuff coming from he U.S. and it just didn't feel right. It felt like a bunch of celebrities up there trying to be celebrities...
Jeremy- Trying to promo something.
Raine- ...and for the first time, Canada looked like it was leading the pack in sincerity and passion.
Bookie- Yeah, and that's something we've always had and it's something that we've lost a bit over the while in our day in trying to figure out where we fit in, in the world picture, and it seems as soon as we stop trying we're fitting in just fine.
Raine- That's it. Yeah, absolutely.
Bookie- Before we let you go here, okay, what's gonna happen in
Toronto? How long cause my e-mails are crashing. When are we gonna...
Jeremy- The Fall.
Raine- We're back here in the Fall. We'll do a proper tour.
Jeremy- We're gonna get tight in America and then do it right for
Canada.
Bookie- We got a lot of people here who wanna say hi to you and we're going to play anther song and it's going to be my choice as the second single, okay, my choice is Innocent- I think it's the way to go!
(screams from audience)
Jeremy- You got it. A lot of people are feeling that.
Bookie- More brand new music. Lets hear it. Thank you guys and thank you great audience and thanks Our Lady Peace! (screams from audience) Have a great Summer. Here's what's going to be the second #1 off "Gravity"! This is "Innocent"! Our Lady Peace! Live on the Edge, Edge 102!
Thanks Rich and Shelley pulling this up and Rob for Transcribing it.
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