Healthy in Paranoid Times is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace, released on August 30, 2005 by Columbia Records, as the band's final album for the label. The disc was released on a standard CD as well as a DualDisc, with the reverse side containing a documentary on the making of the album. The album fared well in both Canada and the U.S., but didn't match up to the success of its 2002 predecessor, Gravity. The first single was "Where Are You", released in Canada during June 2005 and released in the United States a month later. The second and third singles were "Angels/Losing/Sleep" and "Will the Future Blame Us", respectively.
According to the album's liner notes, Healthy was recorded in 1165 days at ten different studios. 2000 hours were spent both discussing and playing music and 43 songs were written and recorded. Over 6000 GB of hard drive space was used for the recording. The band's inability to choose which songs (and which versions of songs) they were satisfied with caused them to prolong recording and push back the release date several times, causing much tension within the group. Every one involved with the project unofficially quit at least once and the band came close to breaking up several times during the process.
Healthy in Paranoid Times has a lighter sound and tone, and is less metaphorical than Our Lady Peace's pre-2002 releases. The second single, however, "Angels/Losing/Sleep" has vocalist Raine Maida singing at a higher pitch, making the jarred, falsetto-like voice Raine Maida and Our Lady Peace was formerly known for. Other songs, like "Boy", also have a lighter melody and vocals, instead of the heavier sounds on Gravity. The album mostly deals with current world events, and discusses issues such as war and the current state of the world, rather than the social and relationship themes featured on Gravity; however, some songs still features the social and relationship themes, which can be found in songs like "Picture" and "Apology". It has been classified as a politically charged album.Fuller, Carn "" The Star Phoenix May 1, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2010 In particular, the song "Wipe That Smile Off Your Face" was confirmed to be written about George W. Bush.Gonshor, Adam "President Bush Inspires Our Lady Peace Track " andPOP.com October 13, 2005. Retrieved January 5, 2010
Background and writing The members of Our Lady Peace began writing new material together soon after the Gravity tour began. In October 2002 they returned briefly to Bob Rock's Maui studio to record two unfinished songs from the Gravity sessions that were planned to be released on a soundtrack, which never happened. "Working with him on that soundtrack song was just another reaffirmation for us how well we work together," Maida stated in an October interview. "With the way this band has grown, and the way we've come to trust Bob, it would be ridiculous for us to look for another producer now. When we're all together, we feel like we can do anything. We have to go at least one more round with him. I think we just scratched the surface of what we can do together."Cronick, Scott "" At The Shore Oct. 2002. Retrieved November 30, 2009 By the end of 2002, the band was eager to re-enter the studio in Maui to begin laying down demos with Rock. Two new songs, "Not Afraid" and "Talk is Cheap" were premiered in March 2003 while touring in Europe with Avril Lavigne.
They began working more quickly on material then they ever had. "We write songs in like five minutes now," Maida said at the time, "The energy's there." For the first time, new guitarist Steve Mazur was included in the songwriting process, having not been in the band yet while Gravity was being written.Gonshor, Adam "Our Lady Peace Almost Break Up Recording ‘Perfect’ Album " andPOP.com October 13, 2005. Retrieved January 5, 2010 "On this record we really tried to write together," Maida says. "It’s easy for me to come in with a song, say here it is, lets go record it and it’ll be done in a couple of days. But when you have to sit in your rehearsal hall and you wait for that magic to happen, well, it doesn’t always happen right away, but that was the M.O. for this record and it worked."Missio, David "" Chartattack September 2, 2005. Retrieved December 21, 2009
Recording and production The band returned to Rock's Plantation Studios in Hawaii in May 2003 to begin the first recording sessions for the album. Their intention was to record an album even more simplified than Gravity and even closer in sound to what they sounded like live, an overall different record. "I think we all knew going into it that it was an important record for us," said Duncan Coutts. "I think that when you get more than ten years into a band, It has to be a rebirth for us. We didn't want to go and remake any of our past records."Jackson, Adam "" The Lantern (Ohio State University) November 17, 2005. Retrieved January 5, 2010 In one month, they recorded 12 songs live off the floor, most in two or three takes each. Following these sessions, several of the songs including "Walking in Circles", "No Warning" and "Wipe That Smile Off your Face" were premiered live. After touring concluded for the year, the band was set to finish the album that October in time for a January 2004 release. While satisfied with the recorded material at first, with time the band became more critical of it and decided they would only be demos.Taylor-Munro, Chris "Our Lady Peace" Canadian Musician September 1, 2005. They felt strongly about the songs "Picture", "Will the Future Blame Us?" and "Angels/Losing/Sleep" but felt that the rest of the songs didn't live up to them. "Even though we loved the energy of what we'd done, not enough of the songs were making the hair stand up on the back of your neck and so we realized that we needed to do more work," bass player Duncan Coutts explained.Saxberg, Lynn "" Ottawa Citizen August 27, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2005 The album's projected release was pushed to June and then August as recording continued.Chad "Our Lady Peace To Release New Album In June " - Alternative Addiction April 2, 2004. Retrieved December 21, 2009Haidet, Doug "" Unknown April 11, 2004. Retrieved December 21, 2009
The album's mood and direction would shift again when Maida traveled to Sudan and Darfur to shoot a documentary with War Child in the middle of recording. "We were there for a couple of weeks, and we came back from that and went right back into the studio, and it was like: 'God, this song sucks. I’m not saying that anymore.' You start reflecting on lyrics and any message you’re trying to get out there, and it really altered everything again."Staff "" FMQB.com August 19, 2005. Retrieved January 4, 2010 The band recorded in six-week spurts, traveling between studios in Toronto, Los Angeles and Maui, recording and re-recording more and more songs. With no deadline from the record company, they kept recording and gaining more perspective.Staff "" Access Magazine Aug. - Sept. 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2005 "We'd get together, write, record, take two weeks off, go back in and we ended up doing that on and off for the last two-and-a-half or three years," By this time, over forty songs were in the can including "Picture", "Don't Ask Why" (Where Are You), "Holy Ghost" (Angels/Losing/Sleep) and "Vampires", which was briefly considered for the album's title. The sessions became strained at times as the band couldn't figure out where the album was going. "We had so many songs," said Taggart, "and we just started to go crazy."McQueen, Anne Marie "Peace prevails in CD struggle" Ottawa Sun May 12, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2010 Many songs went through multiple incarnations such as "Boy", which caused the band a lot of stress and took over three weeks to break down and re-record. They were also butting heads with their producer. "There were some fucking horrible sessions," Maida admitted.
A particularly brutal session took place at Satellite Park Studio in Malibu. "It was like a month of, we'd basically broken up, fired Bob [Rock], he quit and then there were those times where it was like, 'Oh my God, that's magic, how do we get more of that?'"Spegel, Ashley "" - Chartattack August 15, 2005. Retrieved December 21, 2009 Maida even quit once after firing Rock at a group meeting. "For me that was pretty much it. I was pretty much done with the band . . . It was really dark," Maida Noted.Pacienza, Angela "" Canadian Press August 30, 2005. Retrieved January 4, 2010 Pressure was also coming from the band's management and the record company, who continued to fund the band's sessions. Raine commented, “I think we were at, like, 35 songs, and we all sat in a room and said, ‘Yeah, but there’s only eight that we all like.’ Everyone's really frustrated.... And I think Bob had even lost perspective at this point. We’re sitting there in this shitty little studio in Malibu, and it just got a little aggressive and agitated in the room."Newton, Steve "Going to war with Our Lady Peace" Straight.com April 27, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2010
The album's release date was once again pushed back to January or March 2005 while a final recording session was held in Mississauga, Ontario to re-record most of the songs that would make the album. During these sessions, guitarist Joel Shearer of the band Pedestrian visited with them and contributed his guitar playing to several tracks. "He [Shearer] came in the last couple of sessions to help us out and to get a little different guitar perspective on there." Duncan Coutts explained, "We had a couple of our friends that came and played. One guy, Adam, played a little B3, and Jason Lader played on that song. He was also our Pro Tools engineer for part of it—not the whole thing, part of it, doing Pro Tools editing. He played on a song that never made the record." Coutts recounted the atmosphere of the final recording session. "It was kind of like a musical community, like friends and musicians would stop by and people that were working there, part of the recording team. Bob sang vocals; Bob played guitar. Eric Helmkamp, Bob’s assistant engineer and Pro Tools engineer—he sang on some stuff. It was just about a musical team."Green, Jason "" - Playback Oct. 2005. Retrieved December 21, 2009 These sessions brought the whole project back into focus for the band, easing many of the tensions that had arisen earlier. According to Coutts, "I don't know what would have happened if not for that time."Krochak, Gerry "" - The Leader-Post May 4, 2006. Retrieved December 21, 2009
After all was said and done, Our Lady Peace had recorded 45 songs at ten different studios, twelve of which they finally felt satisfied with. The album was mixed by Randy Staub at the studios in Maui as well as at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, B.C. Mastering was done by George Marino at Sterling Sound in New York City. The album's final release date was assured to be August 30, 2005, two and a half years after recording began.Newman, Melinda "" The Los Angeles Times June 17, 2005. Retrieved January 4, 2010
Themes The raw and unpolished sound of Healthy in Paranoid Times is attributed to the previous album Bob Rock produced, Metallica's 2003 album St. Anger which was recorded just before Healthy. According to Raine, Bob said that a polished record full of overdubs like Gravity was not where his head was at the time and the band agreed. "What Bob Rock did with Metallica on the 'St. Anger' record was just record everything - no Pro Tools, no overdubbing, no fixing stuff, and then pick the best pieces and put them together," says Maida. "We're trying to take that approach, where it's that raw."Bliss, Karen "" Canoe.ca July 6, 2003. Retrieved December 17, 2009