Mike Turner

[Monochrome Rainbow]

What the fuck ever happened to him after OLP? I searched around on the net but didn't really find much. Albeit I didn't really search that hard...

 

 

He made that band; they were in their prime then.

[Jarrod]

I don't know what happened but they need him, and Arnold Lani and to get Bob Rock shot in the head cuz he's a horribly producer who ruins bands and he's going to ruin the hip too...god I hate Bob Rock.

[soundless_space]

Bob Rock ruined Our Lady Peace. And so did the fact that Mike Turner left. Did he ever have some sort of other project going on?

[daniel_v]

He made that band; they were in their prime then.

Given his current project I'd really beg to differ on that.

[mrjones]

Wow that kind of sounds like Gavin Degraw, Goo Goo Dolls, or any other really mainstream radio band. I'm actually, really surprised. I can't even hear anything redeeming about the guitar work. Damn.

[soundless_space]

Interesting. Really poppy. Thanks for posting the link, daniel_v.

[Jarrod]

Okay, I could barely listen to the first song. I had to stop it. It wasn't very good...

[cringleman]

I find this funny, in the sort of 'this tastes funny' way, because I recall making several arguments to my friends, over the years, that it was Mike Turner's kind-of-odd style of fills and strumming guitar (never really a soloing lead, or a really background rhythm style) that kept OLP sounding unique and interesting. Now they sound strikingly like a clone rocker with a former Metallica cover band guiarist and Raine Maida's lyrics (which were better when they were really ambiguous -- 'these automatic flowers won't do'? nice turn of phrase).

 

Poor Mike. It's like David Lee Roth: made Van Halen better (better than Hagar, who was better than ... whoever the hell else they got), but his solo career just wasn't cutting it.

 

Of course, Roth managed to get Steve Vai on guitar and Billy Sheehan on bass for his band, so go figure.

[MarketTomato]

What do you mean by that? As in, you don't think Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan are good choices? Or vice versa?

[timotheory]

When it comes to Our Lady Peace, they were better when they had Mike Turner, however, I think Gravity would have happened regardless of whether Mike was with them or not. You can listen to Spiritual Machines and hear the pop-rock really start to develop, granted even the poppier songs on that album were very good because of complexity of them and the production. It wasn't Mike Turner that made them good, in my mind. Lanni allowed them to be a bit more adventurous, Rock made them dumb their stuff down (which is completely true, as Raine has said so in interviews).

 

I also still really like OLP, though. Gravity was pretty weak, but I'm liking their new cd a lot. If Raine produces the next album, I think it'll end up being a great cd.

[soundless_space]

I have to admit I like all of their albums. Even Gravity. But the best stuff was still everything before Gravity. Who produced Paranoid in Healthy Times? I thought that one was produced by Bob Rock as well. Anyway.

 

Arnold Lanni was obviously more adventurous when it came to producing. For some reason, I always thought if Mike Turner had stayed in the band, he wouldn't have let Gravity happen. But then I realized that was stupid. I just needed to blame someone for Gravity. Because it was ridiculous.

[timotheory]

If you need someone to blame, it's definitely Bob Rock. And that's that.

[cringleman]

What I meant, MarketTomato, was that Vai and Sheehan are, at the very least, undisputably phenomenally virtuosic players. They're technically very talented.

 

I guess I never really directly considered that it was the producer-switch that resulted in the downslide of my beloved OLP, but (funnily), I think I was always sure that the switch to Bob Rock and dumbing down the sound was what made Turner leave.

 

Spiritual Machines did have a poppier, more accessible sound than some of the previous records, but I agree with you, timtheory: there was still a greater complexity in their construction and production, which let it remain a good album.

 

Let's just have a nice Bob Rock hate-fest.

[soundless_space]

Alright then. I'm blaming Bob Rock. Bob Rock fucking sucks. I don't understand why bands want to work with him. Or why he gets paid to do what he does.

 

The thing with Spiritual Machines for me was that it was more accessible than the other albums, but it was sill OLP. With Gravity, it was like where the hell did all the creativity go?

 

I still wonder what the music would be like if Mike had stayed in the band.

[timotheory]

I think HIPT shows some promise though. There is some creativity on that album, it's just not quite what I was expecting to be coming from OLP. But I think Will The Future Blame Us and Angels Losing Sleep are both great songs that showcase the band's talent. I expect their next cd to be right up there with some of their older stuff if they stick with the style that some of their newer songs have. But who knows. I wouldn't really be surprised if they called it quits either.

[cringleman]

The interesting thing I've always found about Spiritual Machines is that, while it's certainly somewhat more accessible than some of their older material, it's actually also sort of a light concept album. I mean, it's not as complex as Animals or anything, but it's successful in being a concept album, with the notion of examining what being human is.

 

That's why Gravity made me really sad. SM showed some real creative balls, for a reasonably mainstream band (having the Kurzweil readings from that book in between songs, for example), Gravity, as we've looked at ... well, it didn't.

 

To be honest, though, maybe they just thoght that Bob Rock had the ultimate name for a rock producer. I mean, he has 'rock' in his name, right?

[heyrabbit]

the band lost its life when mike left. Everything about the band changed. Even look at the cover art... they had 4 pretty rad album covers then this. one of the worst covers ive seen in recent memory. its totally indicative of the change.

 

like look at it, it breaks every artistic rule for juxtaposition and color etc. just a horrible shot

 

 

 

no matter what criticisms people had about OLP before, they always had a unique style - especially raines singing - that set them apart and gave them integrity. After mike left they turned into a parody of themselves almost. They turned into the bland, simple alternative rock band that many people accused them of being before. From then on they've written safe pop songs with a guitarist who stands out about as much in the album as he does in the album cover.

Edited August 15, 2006 by heyrabbit

[cringleman]

Basically: what you get for replacing an interesting musician with a guy straight out of (no joking at all) a Metallica cover band.