Ourladypeace.net checked in with Steve a little while ago to see what was on his mind, and how the Our Lady Peace world was going.

What did you think of the Canadian tour?

The Canadian tour was really great. Being the band's home land, it was obviously the biggest audiences I've seen yet and all the audiences were great every night. We had the trailer park boys with us which was totally fun and all the shows were really solid and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

Were you expecting the reaction that you got from the Canadian crowd?

I wasn't sure what to expect, but what was a bit different with the Canadian crowd was their knowledge of all the old and new songs of the band. Some of the American fans aren't aware of all the past material of the band, since OLP hasn't been as present on American radio in the past years as on Canadian radio.

What's one of the coolest things that's happened to you since you joined the band?

Definitely writing. Which we're doing a lot of right now. That's just been amazing. A lot of the people we've got to meet, the places we've got to go to. Cities, even in America, that I've often wondered what they were like. Going to Places in Canada I've never heard of, going to Europe three times now.

What's been the hardest thing to adjust to?

Hmm the hardest? I guess people being around all the time on tour, you just have to get used to the fact that every corner turn there's someone standing there. I love it, but it's something I wasn't used to.

Do you get recognized on the street at all?

If it happens, it'll� it happens out of the blue here in Toronto, but not often. If Jeremy and I go out to some of the bars in town it'll happen. It doesn't really happen normally, but if we're playing a show and we're walking around that city that day or if we're near the club or a record store someone might recognize us cause they realize we're playing that night.

Does it weird you out?

Nah, because it makes sense if someone knows the band. Here in Toronto it's a little bit different because it's hometown and everything, but I don't mind, things could be worse.

Did you tour before joining OLP?

Nope, no touring.

What do you think of touring, are you used to it?

I'm getting more used to it. But touring to me is fantastic. You get to put yourself out there each night, express things and create music with your friends every night, in front of different people each night. And I think that it's a real honest and real way to spread your music to people. It's just you and them and the music.

How do you feel about heading into the studio with the band for the first time?

I feel Great! I mean I've looked forward to that since the day I started playing with the guys. It's gonna be amazing.. it's gonna be quick we're only going for five weeks this first time, but we got together with Bob [Rock], our producer, in Los Angeles for a few days in February and recorded some ideas and it was just great. So ya I'm really excited.

You've been doing some writing, how is that going?

It's been going great. We're writing as a band so it's just spontaneous. Sometimes, someone will say "I have this riff" and so we'll start doing that and it'll go somewhere else, and a lot of other times it just starts up from somebody on the spot messing around and then everyone will start playing with them and all of a sudden something is born at that moment. So we go through a lot of ideas, but it's really cool like that. Like at this point we have tons and tons of ideas, of just little things. It's funny, like, out of some of the bigger ideas we've had they've started most of the time from really small little things, little seeds that go just everywhere. I think that's great because it's a total band thing, total collaboration.

Do you ever write on your own or just with the band?

I write some things on my own but as far as this goes, if I have something, if I'm sitting down playing and come up with some riff or idea, the next time we're together I might say "oh, I've been messing with this idea." If they think there's something there, we'll start messing with it.

There's a very different feel to Gravity than any of the other albums, can we expect as much of a change on the new album?

Ya, because Gravity was definitely different from the other OLP records and this one is gonna be a lot different from gravity. It's going to be more live feeling because it's basically going to be recorded live. Instead of each person doing their part separately at different times we're gonna go in and all play together and when we get a take that feels right, that's gonna be the one. Bring back the sun from Gravity was like that. The guys played it live and it was just left like that because it felt so great, that's how we want to do the whole record.

Imperfections and all?

Ya, so it's gonna be� we just want it to be very raw. There's a lot of music out right now and because of computers and the technology you can go in there and fix anything to make it sound perfect. But when you listen to older records by like Led Zeppelin or The Who or The Beatles there's mistakes and things that aren't perfect and things that are a little bit out of tune but that's like life in music and art wasn't meant to be perfect. And those little things are the things that when you hear you're like "oh it's got so much vibe" and you don't notice Paul McCartney is singing a little bit out of tune or something, you're just like "oh this is so great." Or Jimmy Page is bending this out of tune or he's not totally in time, you know that it feels great. We're going for that kind of thing.

Do you think your playing has changed at all since joining the band?

Ya because I've never done anything really for this long and having this much focus. I've been doing this for about a year now and so when you're focusing in on something that much you're sort of tailoring your sound and your playing towards one thing to be as effective as possible at what you're doing. So I think my playing has definitely changed to fit, especially with writing for the new record, what we're trying to go for.

Is there anything you find difficult or have to prepare for when getting ready for a show?

Um, sometimes just to make sure to calm myself down if I get uptight about something through the day or if things are racing through my head if I'm thinking about stuff. I just want to make sure that my head is clear when I go on stage and that I'm not thinking about anything but what we're doing. So sometimes I have to sit down and make sure my head is clear of whatever junk may be swimming through it from the day.

What did you think about recording the live album and DVD, was it a lot of pressure?

It was a lot of pressure. Cause the funny thing is that we recorded two nights for the DVD, and what I didn't think about till we got onstage was that we're making a video and a record at the same time. That all of a sudden seemed to be a lot to have going on, but once we got into the show I just had a good time playing.

Are there any surprises for us to look forward to on the DVD?

Well if you haven't seen us play live, obviously then there's some things we do live that aren't like the record, taking some of the songs to some different places. On that Canadian tour we were playing a cover song by the Cars. There's one new song we were doing called Our Time Is Fading. And a great light show and all that stuff. There'll be some extra things on there for your viewing pleasure as well.

What did you think of the Juno Awards, was it what you were expecting?

No it was cooler than what I thought it was going to be. Awards shows in general, when I see them on TV they can't keep my attention very long and I imagine being at them most of them must be kinda like 'ugh' just total glamour and glitz. But the Juno's was kinda cool everybody was just kinda hanging out. I mean there was a lot of press there but the overall vibe was pretty mellow which I really liked. Everyone seemed really supportive of each other and everything too so it was good.

You've been over to Europe a couple of times now, what's different about touring there instead of North America?

It's funny, everything over there is just a little bit different for the most part which is great. And I've tried to explain to my family and friends who haven't been over there some of the differences. One thing in Europe, food is very different, you never know what you're gonna get. It's hard to explain but it's a different country so if you order a chicken sandwich sometimes, and you get something and you're like this is a chicken sandwich huh? It's kind of an adventure finding food which keeps it interesting. One thing is obviously things are very old over there. You're walking down the street, you're walking next to a building that's been there for like 400 years a lot of times.. or longer. And when you're in America and Canada it's just a much newer place so you don't get that.

Is there somewhere you'd like to play that you haven't yet?

Japan. Definitely Japan.

When you have days off on tour what do you do? Where do you like to go?

I like to go out and walk around and see what's around. See what's going on in whatever city we're in. I'm kind of a music nerd I guess I kinda like to sit down and play guitar sometimes on days off or listen to stuff cause I don't really do that a whole lot on show days just because of the bands schedule, it gets busy.

What are some of the best places you've been to as a tourist?

Let's see� well in Europe we went to Milan and that was really beautiful so I really liked it there. Dublin, Ireland was really cool, so was Glasgow Scotland. I really liked Brussels, Belgium and Stockholm, Sweden.

You're heading out with 3 Doors Down next and everyone will see you on that tour?

Yes, and I feel really good about it, I'm really looking forward to it!

Excellent, thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

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