Our Lady Peace are back

Our Lady Peace, for my money the best Canadian band of the last 20 years, are back with a new album Burn, Burn, out July 21. And in a development that is making 17-year-old Mr. Peepers' head explode, the first single, "All you did was save my life," was co-written by Raine Maida of OLP and Zac Maloy of the Nixons. Watch the video here (sorry kids, no embedding).

The band's doing a big Canadian festival tour this month, and a small US club tour in August (already got my tickets for the Atlanta date). For an interview with Maida, go here; he says the band is consciously trying to get back to its '90s sound, which probably isn't a terrible thing. I liked parts of their last album in '05 (particularly "Angels/Losing/Sleep"), but it wasn't stellar, and their last big hit, "Somewhere Out There," was a little too slick for some folks.

Here's something to discuss in the comments: when all's said and done, who will be remembered as the biggest Canadian band of the '90s, Barenaked Ladies or Our Lady Peace? And no, the Tragically Hip don't count because a) their first album was in '87 and b) nobody south of Ontario knows any of their songs.

** Thanks to reader The Josh Strayhorn Experience for the tip!

More Nixons

Ex-Nixons singer Zac Maloy has three songs on the new David Cook album (more on that later this week), which gives me an excuse to post some more Nixons videos. Here's "Wire," live from South by Southwest.

Not sure why it's cut off like that.

And it's a good time to tell you that the Nixons finally have a Myspace page. Find it here. Does this mean that the guys are talking again (their breakup was rumored to be pretty ugly back in the day) and there might be a reunion? Well, given that the drummer is now with Seether and Maloy has been writing songs with the Jonas Brothers, probably not. But man, were the Nixons awesome. I was in a band in high school in Oklahoma, and all we ever wanted to be was the Nixons.

And for the record, the original "rockin" version of "Sister" was better than the radio hit version.

Expect a very post-grunge album from David Cook

American Idol winner David Cook tells LiveDaily he's been working with Ed Roland from Collective Soul, Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace and Zac Maloy of Nixons fame.
The album (due this fall) will be produced by Rob Cavallo, who has done a lot of work with Green Day, the Goo Goo Dolls, and L7, among others.
If the American Idol winner were to put out an album that sounded like the KROQ playlist in 1995, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, for me it would be a good thing, but what about the music industry as a whole?

The Nixons

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile; lots going on at the moment. Stay tuned for album reviews of the new Collective Soul, Foo Fighters, and Matchbox 20.

Keep entertained, though, with some videos from the Nixons, one of my favorite '90s bands of all time and recently named 59th-most influential Oklahoma musical artist of all time by the great Oklahoma Rock.com in celebration of the centennial of Oklahoma statehood.
First, "Sister," from the late, lamented NBC show Friday Night (bonus points for a cameo at the beginning of the clip by Edd Helms, Jay Leno's first announcer).


And here's the video for "Happy Song," which is still their best track.


If you're so inclined, John Humphrey, the Nixons' drummer, now drums for Seether, whose new album is out this week.