Our Lady Peace Preparing New Album, Talk Clumsy/Spiritual Machines Tour

It's a grey and slushy day in Toronto, but Our Lady Peace bassist Duncan Coutts isn't letting that get him down. Instead, he's marveling at Bruce Springsteen's stamina.

"Hopefully we can channel Springsteen's staying power for playing long shows," he says with a chuckle.

They'll need all of the energy they can get. The band have announced they'll stop in [almost] every province between Nova Scotia and B.C. this March, but they won't focus on their most recent LP, this year's Burn Burn. Instead, they'll play 1997's Clumsy and 2000's Spiritual Machines in entirety.

The band will perform on two nights in most cities, with each day broken up into two sets. The first set each night will be dedicated to either Clumsy or Spiritual Machines, while the second set will contain material spanning the band's seven-album discography.

Coutts says the decision to play Clumsy and Spiritual Machines front-to-back serves a dual purpose: it'll be a challenging task for the band and a treat for fans.

"Selfishly, it'll be fun for us, but secondly, it's a thank you to the fans. We're very fortunate to have had a career as long as we have," he says. "Clumsy is a record that people always ask about, and Spiritual Machines is always a record people are asking to hear more obscure songs from."

OLP will be performing exclusively in theatres. Their tour dates, says Duncan, aren't just run-of-the-mill concerts — these are events.

"I think that some of the older theatres sound great, and some of my favourite shows I've seen at [Toronto's] Massey Hall," he said. "The old red drapes — it's just really special. I think we're putting a lot of thought and effort into this, and theatres just seem like a natural fit."

They've also promised a few special things for fans during this tour.

VIP packages will be available through the band's website, which will include premium seats, a band meet-and-greet and Clumsy and Spiritual Machines posters. They'll also have a hardcover book available containing material from OLP's past, including scraps of vocalist Raine Maida's old lyric books, concert laminates and posters.

But Duncan says the band will work on a new album prior to the tour. Guitarist Steve Mazur and Maida have been in Los Angeles writing new songs, and the band will hit in the studio in January.

Like Burn Burn, Coutts says he expects the band to record and produce the record themselves. They haven't confirmed any timelines for the disc, but he expects the writing and recording process to go quickly.

"This time, we promise it won't be very long," he said. "We're hoping for it soon — next year."

Coutts says although the songwriting process isn't completed, he expects their new material to be a departure from their previous releases.

"One thing we've done throughout our career is to push ourselves into different musical places," he said, adding Our Lady Peace have never tried to write a Clumsy part 2.

"We're always trying to stretch and be different, so I'd assume that we're going to try to do the same thing again."

Catch Our Lady Peace at the following dates:

March 7 Halifax, NS @ Cunard Centre
March 9-10 Montreal, QC @ L'Olympia
March 12-13 Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
March 15-16 London, ON @ Centennial Hall
March 19-20 Kitchener, ON @ Centre In The Square
March 22-23 Ottawa, ON @ Centrepointe Theatre
March 24 North Bay, ON @ Capitol Centre
April 27-28 Thunder Bay, ON @ Thunder Bay Community Auditorium
April 30-May 1 Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
May 3-4 Regina, SK @ Conexus Arts Centre
May 6 Saskatoon, SK @ TCU Place
May 7-8 Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Events Centre
May 10-11 Calgary, AB @ Jack Singer Concert Hall
May 14-15 Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
May 18-19 Nanaimo, BC @ Port Theatre
May 21-22 Victoria, BC @ Royal Theatre