Raine radio interview and full Paper Moon audio

laurel · Post by **laurel** » 6/13/2009, 11:22 am

Illusion wrote:In my opinion, generic music only sells when your fans are so in love with you that they can't see straight.

i now finally understand why Nickelback is so popular. thank you.

Codes · Post by **Codes** » 6/13/2009, 11:48 am

Illusion wrote:I agree. I think OLP writes these "poppy" singles just because Innocent and SOT were successful and, therefore, they believe any "poppy" song that they come up with will be successful. The truth is that Gravity was riding off of the success of four "amazing" records and had a huge promotional back bone (I mean, even a crap pop song like "A Beautiful Day" will do well when it's by a popular band like U2). Anyways, both of those factors are gone now and OLP needs to go back to what made them popular in the first place, and that's singles like Naveed and Superman's Dead.

In my opinion, generic music only sells when your fans are so in love with you that they can't see straight.

BINGOOOOOOO, release Monkey Brains and I bet you see a rise in popularityyyyyyyyyyyy

ajk · Post by **ajk** » 6/13/2009, 12:47 pm

Illusion wrote:I agree. I think OLP writes these "poppy" singles just because Innocent and SOT were successful and, therefore, they believe any "poppy" song that they come up with will be successful. The truth is that Gravity was riding off of the success of four "amazing" records and had a huge promotional back bone (I mean, even a crap pop song like "A Beautiful Day" will do well when it's by a popular band like U2). Anyways, both of those factors are gone now and OLP needs to go back to what made them popular in the first place, and that's singles like Naveed and Superman's Dead.

You know, I do agree with you that OLP's initial fanbase (say from the first two records) has changed over time. That said, I think a lot of people here are forgetting that we aren't in 1997 anymore. Radio in 2009 is a completely different beast than it was in 97.

Back then 'pop' music was post-grunge. For all the radio and promotion that Lady Gaga, Jonas Brothers and all that crap gets now... back then it was post-grunge bands. You had bands like IME, Moist, Big Wreck Sloan, The Tea Party etc... going 3 or 4 times platinum without blinking an eye.

How many 'rock' bands have that kind of popularity now? Green Day. Nickelback? There aren't many bands that are going multi platinum in this day and age. The creativity/quality of music is still there with bands like Muse, The Arcade Fire... but those bands don't have the mainstream popularity that those 90's bands had.

The industry has changed way too much. Maybe i'm just cynical (Honestly, it pains me to say this..) but I honestly don't think a track like Superman's Dead or Clumsy would blwo up like it did in 1997. OLP had a perfect storm going for them then... that was the right album at the right time.

FWIW, All You Did is already top 10 in both rock formats in Canada after two weeks. I'm not a fan of the song by any means... but obviously it's connecting with somebody out there.

That rant aside.... I REALLY hope we see Monkey Brains as a signle with full promo and backing behind it.

RileyLewis · Post by **RileyLewis** » 6/13/2009, 12:52 pm

ajk wrote:I'm not a fan of the song by any means... but obviously it's connecting with somebody out there.

I know they're out there...somewhere out there...

Shanae · Post by **Shanae** » 6/13/2009, 1:44 pm

I've said this before, but I think it's a glorious time to repeat it. I heard AYD on the radio for the first time a week or two ago, and if I wasn't a big fan of the band, I wouldn't have payed attention to the song. Every once in a while, I'll keep a song on the radio and listen to it, even though I have no idea which band performs it; if I didn't know it was OLP, I would've shut it off. It seemed generic, and it definitely doesn't come off as anything memorable.

Monkey Brains would be a great single, I agree. You wouldn't be hearing it on pop stations, but that doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me -- I'd really rather not have OLP playing between Nickelback, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, etc. People that are fans of the stuff that gets played heavily on pop stations are probably not going to be that interested in hearing an OLP record, anyways.

RileyLewis · Post by **RileyLewis** » 6/13/2009, 2:46 pm

I'd feel more comfortable hearing OLP between Green Day, Rise Against, AC/DC, etc.

Illusion · Post by **Illusion** » 6/13/2009, 3:23 pm

Just from looking at the charts right now, AYD is actually falling pretty sharply ("Where Are You" had this problem as well, if I recall correctly).

I agree completely that post-grunge is gone, and I also agree that if Clumsy were released today it wouldn't do very well. Nevertheless, I still feel that OLP needs to go back to the creativity and uniqueness of their earlier albums, while still bringing the music into the modern era. SM actually did this task very well... the fact that SM didn't sell very well has to be my biggest regret on behalf of OLP (cause that's probably what drove them to change their style so dramatically). SM balanced OLP's creativity perfectly with a more pop/mainstream sound without loosing anything in between...that album was a true masterpiece.

SM is definitely one of the most underrated albums of the decade. I'm convinced that if a few things were done differently SM could have launched OLP into the stratosphere like what OK Computer did for Radiohead.

Matt. · Post by **Matt.** » 6/13/2009, 3:57 pm

Illusion wrote:SM is definitely one of the most underrated albums of the decade. I'm convinced that if a few things were done differently SM could have launched OLP into the stratosphere like what OK Computer did for Radiohead.

Mhmm. They were one record shy of becoming Canada's answer to Radiohead. I honestly believe that.

Long Jonny · Post by **Long Jonny** » 6/13/2009, 4:11 pm

I'll never understand why SM wasn't massive. The only thing I can think of is that just prior to SM being released, there was a surge of pop acts (i.e. Britney, Christina, etc.) and hip-hop acts (i.e. Eminem, Outkast, etc.) that put rock music in general on the backburner. SM was one of the most creative and innovative albums of this decade, no doubt about it.

Shanae · Post by **Shanae** » 6/13/2009, 4:49 pm

Yeah, I was surprised when I read that SM was the least successful OLP album. I love it, nevertheless.

MindsOnLoan · Post by **MindsOnLoan** » 6/13/2009, 5:02 pm

The chance OLP has at making a long-standing hit is by trying not to have one. I doubt with the first four albums that they wrote songs purely with the intention of having a hit (Life might be an exception, though I still enjoy it). If they keep trying to make something massive, I doubt it will happen.

A hit will come when they release the right song that was written with the intention of being a good song and nothing besides that, along with having the right hooks without being forced.

ajk · Post by **ajk** » 6/13/2009, 5:50 pm

Long Jonny wrote:I'll never understand why SM wasn't massive. The only thing I can think of is that just prior to SM being released, there was a surge of pop acts (i.e. Britney, Christina, etc.) and hip-hop acts (i.e. Eminem, Outkast, etc.) that put rock music in general on the backburner. SM was one of the most creative and innovative albums of this decade, no doubt about it.

I think that's it. If that album comes out two years before... it's a huge selling album. Just bad timing. I also think that they should have probably released Right Behind You as the first single for that album.. but hey hindsight's 20/20. Here's hoping that they do get the recognition they deserve for Burn Burn!

Anyways, for anybody that's interested.. here's some chart info:

Canada Active Rock (@ #5): http://www.mediabasemusic.com/charts.asp?cid=Z3K

Canada Alternative Rock (@ #8): http://www.mediabasemusic.com/charts.asp?cid=Z3K

I still do hope that we see Monkeybrains next. I really do see a lot of similarities between that record and Superman's Dead... maybe it's just me though!

RileyLewis · Post by **RileyLewis** » 6/13/2009, 6:37 pm

While SM is not my favourite OLP album (that honour goes to Happiness), I agree that it is their best, on a pure musical level.

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 6/13/2009, 9:19 pm

Spiritual Machines is bittersweet in so many ways. Think about it, the album was released in the US months before the September 11 attacks. That's when everything changed, including music IMO.

But I think one of the major factors for SM's commercial failure was the Ray Kurzweil narration excerpts that were placed between songs. W/O that I think the record may have sold better. But the pop acts surge that was mentioned also certainly had a grand effect on SM and all other rock. And like others have said, unfortunately I think it was SM's commercial failure that lead them to Gravity and Bob Rock. And I still can't understand why Raine has said so many negative things about Emtee since he left the band.

For me, SM was basically a move toward "art rock" for OLP. Damn I would have killed for more albums in that vain. It is certainly my favorite OLP album, followed closely by Happiness.

Post by **xjsb125** » 6/13/2009, 9:32 pm

OLP won't get the major promotion behind them because they don't have a multi-million dollar corporation paying Clear Channel and other media conglomerates to play their songs. The people behind the promotion for Gravity were fired just before HIPT hit the shelves, and all of OLP's support at Columbia was gone.

OLP has to generate a popular song that will sell records because now they have to worry about losing their own money. Even though Sony Canada, and Warner ILG are handling the distribution of the album, I'm sure they still dealt OLP a good ass fucking on who gets the most money, especially since the guys get to retain ownership of the master recordings. Not to mention they will have to recover the cost of 2 music videos.

Above everything else, they need to create music that they enjoy playing. The more enjoyment someone receives from their work, the greater personal investment they will make in it. It's our choice to decide whether we connect with it or not. I still say it's foolish to think that an artist should go out and just hand craft a piece of work for us because of some false sense of entitlement, or because we refuse to acknowledge that people and things change.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, but I'm tired and should probably stop posting for the night.

Paper Moon was a neat track, and that was a long interview. I hope Raine was able to get that girls lip prints off his ass before Chantal got home!

Shanae · Post by **Shanae** » 6/13/2009, 11:48 pm

I never listened to the interview. Why, was the lady passionately in love with Raine or just a brown-noser?

MindsOnLoan wrote:The chance OLP has at making a long-standing hit is by trying not to have one. I doubt with the first four albums that they wrote songs purely with the intention of having a hit (Life might be an exception, though I still enjoy it). If they keep trying to make something massive, I doubt it will happen.

A hit will come when they release the right song that was written with the intention of being a good song and nothing besides that, along with having the right hooks without being forced.

You deserve a medal. I totally agree with that.

Codes · Post by **Codes** » 6/14/2009, 8:12 am

Like Monkey Brains seems like a song which they could possibly get onto Guitar Hero or Rockband series, which would be fucking huge for them, right now I would definately be trying to do this.

A) You get royalties
B) Your serving to a large fucking market, most of which are probably oblivious to the fact that this band exists. This will lead to a greater push of cds past and present

crustine · Post by **crustine** » 6/14/2009, 5:08 pm

maybe David Cooke could promote them

MindsOnLoan · Post by **MindsOnLoan** » 6/14/2009, 5:38 pm

crustine wrote:maybe David Cooke could promote them

That would only get them so far. It would get a few dedicated Cooke fans to check them out if they haven't already, but most people wouldn't pay any mind to it.

NCdudeN2K4 · Post by **NCdudeN2K4** » 6/14/2009, 9:17 pm

This is good music.

Finally it sounds like they're not holding back/neutered....Very good track.