Our Lady Peace - Gravity 'Gravity' album

Our Lady Peace has seen a year full of triumph and change since the release of Spiritual Machines in March 2001. The group spent much of the year touring North America, writing and recording tracks for Gravity, the fifth Our Lady Peace album, and experienced a quantum evolution in the band's sound, adopting both a new production team and guitarist. During the past year, Our Lady Peace earned numerous honors, topping the nominations at both the Juno Awards and the MuchMusic Video Awards.

Taking a new approach to recording, Our Lady Peace enlisted the services of producer Bob Rock (Metallica) and mixer Randy Staub (POD/Nickelback) to bring a simpler, more aggressive sound to Gravity. In November 2001, OLP relocated to the sunny beaches of Maui and began recording at Rock's Plantation Studios, located on a hill over an ancient native burial ground. (OLP drummer Jeremy Taggart--the group's resident "spiritual advisor--will confirm a ghostly otherworldly presence on the hill.)

"Leaving Toronto and holing up in a beach house in Maui was a very important step for us," explains Duncan. "We lived, ate, and breathed music together away from all distractions." Echoing that sentiment, Jeremy observed that "Bob has a gifted set of ears and he was able to take the best things about each of us and pull everything together." The band members would wake up in the morning to surf the incredible Maui beaches and use the afternoon, evening and night time hours to work on Gravity.

Recorded over the course of 10 weeks (the quickest of any OLP album), using the same guitars and amps Rock used to record Metallica and the Cult, Gravity captures the power, energy and spirit of OLP's live shows. The members of Our Lady Peace utilized some of the other vintage gear in Rock's studio including an amp used by Pete Townshend and the guitar Billy Duffy played in the Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" video.

OLP vocalist Raine Maida shared his bandmate's feeling of creative rejuvenation. "Bob has a great passion for music that is infectious," he says. "Between his constant pushing and the addition of Steve Mazur, our new guitarist, the band experienced a rebirth."

In the midst of the Christmas holiday 2001, longtime OLP guitarist Mike Turner and the band amicably separated. With the recording of Gravity temporarily on hold, the band met with fellow musicians and friends and screened thousands of video taped submissions in order to find a replacement guitarist. "We were overwhelmed with the response to our search," says Duncan. "We received tapes, videos, DVDs and CDs from as far away as Australia and Japan. "It was inspiring to see how many incredible musicians were out there," Raine adds.

In the end, Our Lady Peace decided upon guitarist Steve Mazur--a Detroit, Michigan, native--and invited him to Maui to help them finish the album. After a blistering first audition with Bob Rock, the member of Our Lady Peace knew Steve was the perfect choice. "Steve is the guitar player that fit like a glove," says Raine. "He has a solid understanding of our music and shares our appreciation for the new directions the OLP sound is heading." In early April 2002, Our Lady Peace formally announced the addition of the band's new member. "I am really excited and I have always been a fan of the band," Steve exclaims. "This opportunity is a dream-come-true."

Released simultaneously in the United States and Canada in June 2002, Gravity contains the powerful first single, "Somewhere Out There," which debuted in the Top 30 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks (after a mere two weeks at Modern and Active Rock Radio formats!) and has topped the charts at Rock Radio in Canada. "Bob called me in Toronto the night before Christmas and asked if I had any other song ideas that we should consider before we headed back to Hawaii to finish the album in January," Raine explains. "The phone call propelled me to write seven new songs during the ten days we had off at Christmas. When we got back to Maui, he combined a verse from one song and a chorus from another and 'Somewhere Out There" was born."

The magical atmosphere created by Our Lady Peace and Bob Rock in Hawaii can be felt in each of the songs on Gravity. "'Innocent' is one of my favorite tracks on the record,' Raine confesses. "I wrote this song over a year ago and I was originally hesitant to play it for the band, but once we got into the studio and began working with Bob we were able to make it an Our Lady Peace song.

"Bob was so amazing at turning ideas that we might never have thought would work into powerful songs," Raine continues. "He was also reluctant to give up on certain tracks. 'Made of Steel' was cut three separate times during the sessions. It wasn't until the third attempt that we all realized that we had captured something special. The song 'Do You Like It' was actually cut after we had mixed most of the record in Vancouver with Randy Staub. We had gone back to Maui to finish some small details on the last two songs to be mixed and--lo and behold!--a new song was born and recorded."

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Historically, Our Lady Peace have recorded in Toronto with longtime friend Arnold Lanni at the production controls. Helmed by Lanni, Our Lady Peace's first album, Naveed (released on Relativity in the U.S. in 1995), generated the Top 10 Modern Rock and Active Rock hit, "Starseed" and went on to sell more than half a million copies worldwide.

The band's second album, Clumsy, was released in 1997 and entered the Canadian sales charts at #1. The record has sold some 2.5 million units worldwide and achieved Diamond status in Canada with sales of more than 1,000,000 copies. Clumsy contained four Top 10 singles: "Superman's Dead," "Clumsy," "Automatic Flowers" and "4am." Following the release of Clumsy, Our Lady Peace spent 18 months touring, including a sold-out arena tour in Canada and headlining dates in the U.S. and Europe. In August 1998, Our Lady Peace launched Summersault, a multi-band touring festival. Summersault was initially conceived and organized by the band's four members in 1998 and featured Our Lady Peace, Garbage, Crystal Method, Sloan, Eve 6 and Fuel. Our Lady Peace also went on to win two 1998 Juno Awards and two MuchMusic Video Awards.

Happiness... Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch was released in 1999 and the album debuted at #1 in the Canadian sales charts. "One Man Army," the first single from Happiness?, went Top 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks; "Is Anybody Home?" went to #20 on that chart. Following this release, Our Lady Peace joined in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival and launched a new edition of the Summersault festival tour. Our Lady Peace put together Summersault 2000 with Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Perfect Circle, Sum 41, the Catherine Wheel, and the Deftones on the bill. Our Lady Peace was honored at the 2000 MuchMusic Video Awards with two People's Choice Awards: Favorite Canadian Group and Favorite Canadian Video.

Spiritual Machines was released in the US in March 2001 and December of 2000 in Canada, where it was certified platinum in a mere four weeks after its release. The singles from Spiritual Machines, "In Repair" and "Life" hit #1 and #2 respectively at Rock Radio in Canada. Our Lady Peace led this year's Juno Awards slate with nominations in five categories. The band also topped the MuchMusic Video Awards with eight nominations for Spiritual Machines and walked away with awards for "Best Video," "Best Director," and "Best Post Production." The band also appeared on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" during their U.S. tour last year.

With Gravity, the members of Our Lady Peace find their heads in the stars and their feet on the ground, moving forward with incredible energy. The group's many fans can expect to see them "Somewhere Out There" and everywhere.

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Our Lady Peace - Gravity - Gravity