Raine Maida

Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida is working on a unique personal project, a spoken-word solo album particularly inspired by slam poetry and the artists who emerged from those powerful open-mic competitions.

It will be completed by the end of the year and released on Maida's own label, Kingnoise Records, in a distribution deal he is currently finalizing with Sony BMG Music Canada, the label which signed OLP directly.

"The only stuff that's got me excited over the last few years -- not that I've turned my back on music, but the slam stuff to me is so alive," says Maida. "People like Saul Williams and Patricia Smith, and all that stuff, are all f***n' blowing my mind these days.

"I think people will look back on a guy like Saul or Beau Sia, those kind of cats, and feel like, 'Wow, that's as close as we got to having a like Ginsberg, Kerouac and Burrows.' It doesn't feel like we have them, but we kind of do. The culture that we live in is more pop culture; it's not about the art."

Maida, who also name-checks Leonard Cohen as an inspiration, is in no way comparing himself to those esteemed poets, but making this solo album is something he feels he has to do. He has been writing for the past few years, mainly poems, and some of the demos he's been recording may turn into songs. Maida also plays guitar.

"It's really me taking a liberty to write poems and words without trying to fit them within a box," explains Maida. "Not that Our Lady Peace is in a box, but we write songs and I think most artists on labels that write songs have parameters. I love The Beatles and I love whoever, but there's limitations, and when you see someone at Slam expressing themselves, there really are no limitations and that's very interesting to me, so it's trying to meld the two."

There's a song on the new War Child compilation, "Help: A Day In The Life," called "Lebo's River - A Tribute," on which Maida talk-sings his part with wife Chantal Kreviazuk and guest vocalist Archie Khambula. It may give a glimpse into the sound he's going for, although he stresses one is simply going to have to hear it.

"It's hard to describe," says the Toronto-born musician who has a studio in his Los Angeles home. "It's very -- I won't say simple but it's quite stripped down. It's something very different from Our Lady Peace. It's definitely wordy."

Maida, who is intent on making a difference in the world through his involvement and travels with War Child Canada (he produced the Help CD) is reluctant to say his poems are political, but does says they're heavy.

"It's heavy in the sense of the mood, but, hopefully, it's not pretentious. I f****n' try to walk that line so carefully, hopefully I'm falling on the non-pretentious side. We'll see," he laughs.

That's why he plans to test out some of the songs when he opens for his wife in November and will also begin posting some tracks online. One is already up at www.myspace.com/rainemaida titled "One Second Chance," a kind of bluesy poetry rant set to music that busts out into a melodic chorus.

"I am still dealing with (president) Lisa Zbitnew at Sony BMG on this, but it's one of these things where I own the copyright and the masters, and it will come out under my own label. I have a creative freedom that I've not had until now " says Maida.

"I've never been on an OLP site or read an (OLP) newsletter or the fan sites. I've always stayed away from that, but I want to put some of this stuff up and see what people think. It's a work in progress."

Maida will also use innovative manager Terry McBride of Nettwerk Music Group to handle this side of his career, as opposed to Coalition Entertainment which represents the multi-platinum OLP. More Lowdown stories