New Album Info Pt.2

[Mark Loj]

Jeremy Taggert
Under The Influence Of Elvin

“I grew up listening to Keith Moon and John Bonham as well as old-school guys like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa,” says Jeremy Taggert, drummer for Canadian rockers Our Lady Peace. “But once I started getting into Elvin Jones—and had the chance to hang out and talk with Elvin about music—I started to understand that there’s not a big difference between jazz, rock, or whatever, as long as you listen to the pulse, because that exists in all forms of music.”

In 2003, Our Lady Peace teamed up for the second time with producer Bob Rock to record their sixth album, Vampires. The recording process became an intense and arduous journey that consumed the group for the better part of a full year. “We went from making what we felt was a great record—and the band being the happiest in our career—to being close to breaking up,” Taggert admits. “We’d complete ten songs, tour for a month, then come back and say, ‘Those songs are good, but they’re not where they need to be yet.’ We kept writing and probably recorded close to forty-five songs with Bob. We eventually became completely excited about the music.”

In early sessions for Vampires, Taggert changed his approach from hitting hard to playing quieter “to get a bigger sound,” something he learned when Elvin Jones played on OLP’s third album, Happiness Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch. “When I sat behind Elvin’s kit and hit the drums, I couldn’t get anything out of them,” Jeremy says. “But when he played, they sounded huge. From watching Elvin, I learned how to effectively play much quieter. In turn, that affected the way I hear music and how I play with other musicians. I don’t play anything like I did two years ago, and that’s a good thing.”