An incredibly gifted musician, few have done more than Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida to leave an intuitive mark of merging altruistic spirit and music.
Forget about the millions of records sold and the thousands of radio spins - Raine’s noteworthy charitable actions with Make Poverty History, War Child, and M.A.D.D. is enough for him to be earning him the title for The Hardest Working Man in (Canadian) Show Business.
When it comes to big rock bands, they don't really come any bigger than Our Lady Peace. Over the course of their career they’ve played just about every place on the North American continent while building a massive and rabid fan base. This year, the group will recreate their “Clumsy” and “Spiritual Machines” records in their entirety on 2 separate nights per city.
I caught up with Raine just after he renewed his wedding vows with wife Chantal Kreviazuk in Costa Rica (they have 3 children together, Rowan, Lucca and Salvador,) and just before going out on road one more time.
Does Rowan and Lucca understand your job, or that Daddy does something a bit different than most?
They understand that music is how we express ourselves. They’re inquisitive as to what certain songs of ours are about. As far as it being a job, I’m not sure we even understand it to be a job.
What is your favorite activity with your children?
Watching them express themselves. Rowan occasionally picks up a guitar and writes a song. Any time a microphone is on in the studio they all need their turn at recording themselves singing. It’s also getting to the point where sitting down for a meal with them is mind-blowing. The questions are fascinating as you could imagine from curious 5 and 6 yr olds
Have you started to talk to your kids about the non-profit work you do like War Child? How do you foster a sense of being a Good Samaritan in your children?
They’re a little young to get too deep into what we do in terms of our charity work but we involve them in conversations about helping others, and being a part of the big picture. For Rowan’s 5th birthday he decided to ask for Warchild donations instead of presents. That type of gesture leads us to believe that even as a child he is growing up connected to this world on a larger scale.
How does working in music help you be a dad?
It allows me to work at home when I’m not touring. I get to be very present in my children’s lives that way.
Does success come at the price of missing your children's milestones?
We miss some but the quality time at home when we're not on the road more than makes up for it. Being away from home is never easy. I’m lucky that Chantal is able to bring the kids out for portions of the tour so we rarely ever go more than 10 days without being together.
Do you listen to music at home with the kids? If so, who gets a lot of play on the CD player?
Music is a constant at our home. Were always working with different artists and recording in our studio. The kids have total access to us so they are constantly exposed to all kinds of music. For the car we let them chose playlists. Needless to say they are very diverse playlists, everything from Lady Gaga to Tom Petty.
Any thoughts to a kids' album with Chantal in the near future?
Probably not. Our kids have already made that leap into adult music. The impetus would have been to do it for them but we missed that train.
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