Toronto, ON · alt-rock · post-grunge

Our Lady Peace

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Canadian alt-rock with Raine Maida's distinctive strangled falsetto sitting above the crunch — 'Superman's Dead' and national-institution status up north.

Our Lady Peace formed in Toronto in 1992, when guitarist Mike Turner placed a classified ad seeking musicians and Raine Maida, then a criminology student, answered it. The band became one of the most widely heard Canadian rock bands of the following decade. Fronted by Maida ever since, whose high, pinched vocal delivery is the group's most recognisable feature, they worked a version of alternative rock that kept the weight and distortion of the post-grunge era while leaning on melody and hooks.

The band broke through with the albums Naveed and Clumsy, and singles including "Starseed", "Superman's Dead" and "Clumsy" became radio staples at home. Naveed reached quadruple platinum in Canada, and Clumsy, still regarded as the band's signature record, topped the Canadian albums chart and was certified Diamond, with its title track hitting number one on the singles chart.

1999's Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch also reached number one in Canada and went triple platinum, led by the singles "One Man Army" and "Is Anybody Home?". 2002's Gravity marked a deliberate departure from the band's earlier sound, something Maida himself called vastly different, and became their highest-charting album in the United States.

Current members include Duncan Coutts on bass, Steve Mazur on guitar and Jason Pierce on drums, alongside Maida. Over their career Our Lady Peace has sold several million records, won four Juno Awards and collected ten MuchMusic Video Awards, more than any band bar Billy Talent.

They have continued recording and touring across several line-up changes, with Maida the constant, and remain a fixture of Canadian rock radio and live bills. After a run of albums with more modest impact, the band released Spiritual Machines 2 in 2021, its first single featuring the group Pussy Riot.

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alt-rockpost-grunge