Michael Raine Maida

Born Feb 18th 1970 in Weston, Ontario, Canada, he is the vocalist and lyricist of the band. He also plays guitar, especially for writing, but prefers to leave most of that to Mike. The first song he ever learned to play was 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' by U2. After three knee surgeries and chronic back problems, Raine started practicing yoga, and meditation to relieve the strain. He also plays more guitar live now to keep himself from going too crazy on stage. His lyrics are personal, yet very interpretable and cryptic. Raine is an avid reader, (songs Starseed and Hello Oskar are derived from books he's read) and a self proclaimed media junkie. His parents are divorced, his dad owns a construction business and he has a brother 18 years younger. He also has mystery tattoo the right side of his back which no one can figure out what it is! Before Our Lady Peace Raine was studying criminology at the University of Toronto, and was only a four month semester, 2 1/2 credits away from his degree. His influences are mainly female singers, notably Sinead O'Connor, because they are more acrobatic, they "get much more naked vocally when they sing", and because of their lack of ego and machismo. He also likes middle eastern sounds, and artists like Jeff Buckley. Raine goes by his middle name to avoid confusion between him and Mike Turner.

Email: karl_17@yahoo.com