Raine from Our Lady Peace talks summer vibe and Rock the Lake!

“Isn’t Kelowna one of the best places to be in the summertime in Canada?” is the rhetorical question from Raine Maida, frontman for rockers Our Lady Peace, when asked if he’s excited about the gig later this month.

“Outdoors by the lake? Can’t wait,” Maida tells Ara from 103.1 Beach Radio, ahead of the three-day rock festival at Prospera Place July 12-14.

Our Lady Peace, now into their 32nd year since formation, is the headliner on the Saturday and will be well and truly tuned up following recent gigs at Bluewater BorderFest in Ontario and a performance in front of Oilers fans at Fan Park outside Rogers Place during the Stanley Cup Final run.

“I’ve just got that [summer] feeling. Oh man, this is the best time of life for an artist to be playing these festivals,” Maida explains with the big smile and glow in his face that graced so many of those cool music videos from the ‘90s and 2000s.

“It was more than the Oilers ... the idea that it brought Canada together was really cool. We played the show beforehand, which was absolutely sick, and then we went in to watch the game and I’ve never heard Canadians sing the anthem like that,” he says.

The band was in Nashville recently, recording a new album. Maida says fans at Rock the Lake can expect to hear tracks from that including their latest song, “Sound The Alarm”, to go along with classics such as “Starseed”, “Superman’s Dead” and “Somewhere Out There.”

It has been 30 years since their first album, Naveed, brought them into the Canadian and global spotlight.

“Yeah, it’s crazy,” Maida says when reflecting on over three decades in the industry with millions of albums sold. “And this new album we’re making has really gone back to that ‘Naveed’ sound: intense, heavy rock and roll.”

It’s a return to basics following only moderate success of their most recent album, Spiritual Machines 2, released in 2021, that had “lots of programming and more modular synths and all this different stuff," he says.

“This [new album] is inspired by that first record [Naveed]. Less is more: [just] drums, bass guitar and vocals. So, it’s back to big rock riffs, heavy drumbeats, that really ‘Naveed’ sound. I love it. I think it’s time to go back to that.”

Our Lady Peace brings the Saturday July 13 line-up to a huge conclusion following Daughtry, Texas King, and Scenic Route To Alaska.

For passes and more info on Rock the Lake, click here.