Canadian alt-rockers Our Lady Peace have sold two million copies of their 'Clumsy' album in the US. Apprently, the only drawback with this is that young women are now throwing their underwear at them...

A more mature as a musician and as a person, you realise that there are incredable depths you can explore on a record. It might take a little more investment on the listener's part to get them to that point, but hopetully they'll gain something long-lasting from it."

Our Lady Peace frontman and former criminology student Raine Maida is deadly earnest, his bright blue eyes pinning you into your chair For a man whose band's US sales are rapidly approaching two million, Raine looks as if he's carrying the weight of several worlds on his shoulders. Across the Atlantic, the Toronto quartet are a genuine phenomenon. Combining all the finest rock elements of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and U2, Our Lady Peace's second album, 'Clumsy', has elevated them to superstar status in Canada and America is rapidly catching on. The band's UK label have suddenly cotoned onto this, and are now planning to make Our Lady Peace a priority act this year.

UP TO this point, Our Lady Peace have led something of a charmed life. Signed by Sony when they had been together just a few months, the band were just left to carry on working on demos in their local studio. These turned out so well that in 1994, they appeared as the band's debut album,'Naveed'.

"Raine and I basically started playing together;" says guitarist and ex-industrial engineer Mike Turner; "and soon we began taking it a little more seriously than the guys we were playing with. So we took out a classified ad, and from that we asked Duncan to join us." Problem was, bassist Duncan Coutts had just registered back at university and was planning to spend a year "up in the mountains". So the man who used to operate hand puppets on Canadian TV's equivalent of 'Rainbow' turned down The vacant bass slot Instead, Chris Eacrett played on 'Naveed', until Duncan came down from The mountain and saw the error of his ways.

Jazz-trained drummer Jeremy Taggart was - Bradford-born Mike adds - "like the last piece In the puzzle". The 23-year-old Jeremy was plucked straight from high school to record 'Naveed'. He looks about 12.

Taking the whole band by surprise, 'Naveed' was an instant success. Having played a mere 10 gigs before its recording, Our Lady Peace spent all but one week of the next three years on the road. How did you avoid going mad?

"We teeter on the edge of it, literally," Raine laughs. "You must have to work at the relationships within the band for it to survive. It's like a marriage."

Do the trappings of success help? After all, eight-times platinum at home in Canada means money in the bank.

Jeremy nods: "Yeah, that helps, and we also had a lot of people around us who warned us exactly what it would be like - people like Arnold Lanni (the band's producer and ex-member of AOR veterans Sheriff). It's almost like having a marriage counsellor!"

AFTER THOSE gruelling three years on the road, 'Clumsy' is a much darker, deeper and more diverse record than its in-your-face predecessor.

"I haven't actually listened to the new album since the recording," Raine confesses. "Its like having a child and then letting them go to school for the first time - you just can't watch. And when we hear our stuff on the radio, we're very critical. But it's the live aspect of what we do that is the most real. It's where we get the feedback from the fans and it's immediate.

"In the States our tours have been doubling in size every time we play, and we'd love that to happen here. The UK is such an incredible market, it's so dynamic. We're gonna have to put in a lot of work here, but if our music is honest people will stick around." Rumour has it that in the States you've now reached the 'women throwing underwear onstage' level?

Raine suddenly looks uncomfortable. He grimaces. "I'm not interested in that. It's just distracting."

Our Lady Peace's new single 'Supermans Dead' is out now on Epic. They plan to tour the UK in October.

Words: Clare Dowes