June 8, 1994 Other Press Lady's First Outing Kicks Ass Kurylo tries not to ask dumb questions By Jason Kurylo ou may have heard*of Our Lady Peace. Or, more likely, you may have simply heard them.OLP is a - cere based band with a great sound and atch of air-play, a great attitude and some ec ectic tunes, a great album in Naveed and a unique chemistry. I had a chance to speak with Our Lady Peace bassist, Chris Eacrett. He was exceptionally well-spoken, and made my first phone interview a delightful expe- rience. Please note that the following Q&A session has been recreated from notes made during the phone call. And, just so you know, I was no where near as eloquent in asking these questionsas I've printed here. For more realism, just add a whole whack of “ums and “duh"’s to the JK bits. JK: First of all, you guys have had the luxury of getting a record deal after playing together for only 14 months. CE: Well, actually, by now it’s probably ~ about 18 or 19 months. Yeah, 18. It’s been a while since that press kit was printed up. Anyway, we've been pretty lucky. JK: You guys chose not to go the trendy route of late, and produce an independ- ent release. With the recent success of bands like the Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Friivous, why didn’t you think it wise to go that way? CE: Actually, we were going to do that. We were checking into studios and discussing songs and all that, when we met [pro- ducer] Arnold [Lanni]. He re- ally helped us a lot, and we ended up recording a demo that § the record company liked. It was a case a pure luck, really. JK: How has the attention, ie. inter- views, air-play, reviews, etc. affected you? CE: I've read some reviews from the larger papers inWinnipeg and Mon- treal, and other cities, and everybody's been pretty positive. For us it’s really ex- citing, because we didn’t expect any of it. As for air-play, I’m not really sure what's out there. Right now, there's nota lot of stations that will play something new. You've got your oldies stations, and your easy listening stations, but there's not Eacrett really a sounding board for new bands out there. It’s too bad, really. So, I'm not really sure how much air-play we've been getting. But we've got some air-play on MuchMusic, which is pretty exciting. JK: So you're pretty happy with the attention you ve got so far? CE: Yes, we are. It’s flattering, really, be- cause nobody's outright told us, ‘What a pile of crap. JK: I've been listening to the album, by the way, and I'm really enjoying it. CE: Thank you. JK: I usually hate making comparisons between bands, as I’ve never really thought it's fair to either the new up-&-comers or the established bands, but I suppose now that I’m press I kinda have to. I've heard quite a range of influence in the album, span- ning from U2 to theTragically Hip to Spirit of the West. to Led Zeppelin. CE: Well, first of all, that’s kind of strange, because none of us are really Led Zeppelin fans. When we were writing, we wanted each song to have a totally different sound to it. That way, you wouldn’t hear one of the songs, and think, ‘Hey, this is that band,’ but you'd identify the individual song. Myself, I like anything you can # relate to on a one-to-one level. I don’t like songs about girls and cars, and stuff like that. It’s okay once in a while, but songs about “My Dad's Old Cadillac’ get pretty boring pretty quick. I think our music is stuff you can relate to, once again, on a one-to-one level. That's what we're going for. JK: Okay. I don’t quite know how to ask this one. The press release calls Our lady Peace volcalist Raine Maida’s lyrics ‘diverse and eclectic’ A couple of people around the office listened to bits of Naveed, and said they thought they just didn’t make sense. To maybe put them in a more accessible frame of reference, where did “The Birdman; your first sin- gle, come from? us Lavy Peace Kansas City, but don’t quote me on that one. It was some city in the States. Anyway, Raine was with his family in a hotel, and there was this ... individual. A street vagrant, on the sidewalk, below their room, and he was yelling This va- grant was being very loud, and he was just yelling nonsense. They tried to tell him to shut up, be- cause it was late, and they were trying to sleep, but this guy just kept on and on and on. Finally, Raine decided that if he couldn't sleep because of this guy, he should try to listen to what he was say- ing. Eventually, Raine realized that the guy, in some bizarre way, was kind of mak- ing sense. It just depends on your view- point, and whether or not you're will- ing to pull away from your biased view of things, to understand what other peo- ple are saying. So that’s what the Birdman is about; pulling back and just opening yourself to things. People need to actually listen, and try to understand what the people around them are really saying. JK: So, that story could be an apt metaphor for all the songs on the album, then, for the people that said they couldn't understand... CE: I suppose, yes, it could. JK: All right then, I’ve run out of questions to ask. Not because I want to, but because I’m horri- bly unprepared. CE: That's all right. Don’t worry about it. JK: I know you're playing Music West, but this interview won't be appearing until after that show. Do you know if you'll be coming toVancouver again soon? CE: I think we might be coming back in. July, with I Mother Earth. But I’m not, sure. Hopefully, we'll be back soon. JK: All right, then. Thanks a lot, Chris, and good) luck with everything. CE: Thank you. ‘somewhere else? _ _ Inbetween_ sets, they ut down Sealy the mid-70’s aide for Paul Newman that featured the _ Hanson Brothers, the a i peons: CE: Well, Raine, was in, I ae it was 10 ckey Nite. with ‘Swatch — : o the music-Hansons. They double- __ checked, triple-checked, butt-ended, cutaano to the low numbers in at- it. Just don’t let MusicWest and Seach hip check ‘n spear ya. | punched, and 4 | tendance. Here, Jet's cee = ma anywhere near it. Or I'll be forced to. HEY! Last issue, we offered you scads of prizes, and all you had to do was write a measly sentence or two about a dead famous guy. Well, shock of all shocks, NOBODY entered, so we're keepin' the prize. And if you don't like it, fuck you. It's not like we asked you to chop off an arm, or something... Anyway, for this issue's contest, and it's REAL easy this time, turn to page 10. cael So ated ad bie TES CO eee COMMODORE 70 Granville Mall * 681-7838 In the Heart of Downtown Vancouver * Fully Air Conditioned EVERY TUESDAY ABBA, the Jacksons, Sister Sledge, KC & the Sunshine Band, Village People, Donna Summer, Bee Gees, Blondie, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, James Brown, Boney M AND MUCH MUCH MORE! DOORS AND MUSIC « 9:00PM MEX PRESENTS DEMOLISTEN DERBY 94! 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