Our Lady Peace Scores With Rock, Metallica Style

08/05/2002 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Jerry Armor

(8/5/02, 4 p.m. ET) -- Our Lady Peace has its first cross-format hit with "Somewhere Out There." Vocalist Raine Maida told LAUNCH the sonic superiority of the songs on its latest release, Gravity, is due to the work of producer Bob Rock. Maida said the band wanted Rock to transform it, in much the same way the producer did for Metallica, on the hard-rock act's 1991 self-titled "black album."

"I mean he's just so experienced, such an amazing producer," Maida explained. "He's a guitar player, but he's also a songwriter so he's one of those producers that just has a great sense of melody and song. Basically what he did with Metallica on the 'black record,' we talked and wanted to take that kind of approach. Let him simplify stuff. Let him take away... We always usually try add as many layers as we can to our music, and Bob said, 'Let's try to add not so many.'"

Maida added, "We never butted heads once with him. We knew we needed to make a little bit of a change just kind of spiritually and musically for ourselves. It's like, a fifth record has to evolve."

Gravity has sold close to 200,000 copies since being released seven weeks ago. Metallica's self-titled album stands at 12 times platinum, for sales of 12 million copies as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America.

"Somewhere Out There" is currently at Number Four on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. It sits at Number 21 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart.

-- Darren Davis, New York

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