Michael A. Turner (born June 5, 1963), also known as Emtee, is an English-born Canadian musician and producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist and founding member of the band Our Lady Peace[1] and current member of alternative rock supergroup Crash Karma.[2]
Mike Turner | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Turner in September 2001 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael A. Turner |
| Also known as | Emtee |
| Born | June 5, 1963 Bradford, England |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, record producer |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1992–present |
Life and career edit
Born on June 5, 1963, in Bradford, England, Turner grew up heavily influenced by punk rock. His first guitar was a gift from his mother on his seventeenth birthday. He played in a variety of bands during the 1980s.
Turner moved to Ontario, Canada at the age of eighteen. He studied English literature at the University of Western Ontario. He lived in Saugeen-Maitland Hall at the University of Western Ontario along with fellow Our Lady Peace band member Duncan Coutts.[3]
Our Lady Peace edit
1991–2001 edit
In late 1991, Turner placed an ad in Toronto-based Now newspaper in search of musicians. Michael Maida, a criminology student at the University of Toronto,[4] was the first to reply. The two formed a band called As If, inviting Jim Newell as drummer and a friend of Turner's, Paul Martin, to play bass. After they played a number of gigs in Oshawa with sets containing a mix of original and cover material, Martin departed soon after, and the band placed an ad for a replacement bassist. Chris Eacrett, a business student at Ryerson University, replied and was accepted after an audition. During that time, Turner and Maida attended a music seminar where they met songwriter and producer Arnold Lanni, the owner of Arnyard Studios. The band, with Lanni, commenced writing new material and recorded some material under the As If name.
Soon thereafter, the band's name was changed to Our Lady Peace, with Maida changing his first name to Raine to avoid confusion, after a Mark Van Doren poem of the same name. It took the band eventually a year and half of constant back and forth talks with Sony to secure a record deal. With encouragement from their producer Lanni and his management team, the band performed some gigs in Eastern Ontario and Montreal in conjunction with The Tea Party eventually supporting acts. It was not until Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin heard a song of OLP on the radio that he asked them to be a support on his tour.[5] and Alanis Morissette.[1]
Turner left Our Lady Peace in late 2001, citing musical and creative differences.[6]
2021–present edit
In the summer of 2021, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida announced that Mike Turner was involved with the production of their tenth studio album, Spiritual Machines 2.[7][8][9] Maida stated that it wouldn't "be right" to make a sequel to Spiritual Machines without Turner.[8] The first Spiritual Machines album, released in 2000, was the last Our Lady Peace studio album Turner had been fully involved with prior to his original 2001 departure from the band.
Turner was also a featured special guest during Our Lady Peace's 2022 cross-country "The Wonderful Future Theatrical Experience" live tour, where he appeared in holographic form as well as performed live on stage at select venues.[10][11] It was Turner's first time playing live with the band in over 20 years.
Crash Karma, other projects edit
After his 2001 departure from Our Lady Peace, he began producing music and played guitar in the Canadian band Fair Ground, with Harem Scarem guitarist Pete Lesperance. Turner was approached by Amir Epstein of Zygote and Edwin of I Mother Earth about forming a band after they met while recording in Turner's Toronto based studio. With the addition of Jeff Burrows of The Tea Party, Crash Karma released their first single "Awake" in 2009 followed by a debut album in March 2010.[12][13]
Inspired by his work with producers Arnold Lanni[14] and Bob Rock,[15] he became very interested in the production side of music, and decided to produce and write full-time.
He experimented with live recordings, using a small mobile recording rig of his own design. He also built a private recording studio in his home, taking on projects for labels like Capitol, EMI and Sony. Turner then opened a public recording studio in Toronto called The Pocket with a few partners from the music industry. The partnership has since dissolved although Turner remains active at the studio hosting diverse artists including Alert the Medic, Shaye, Luke Doucet, Hawksley Workman, Sloan, and Feist. Recordings from The Pocket, with Turner producing have won two Canadian Broadcast awards, one in 2009 for "Afflicted" by Age of Days[16] and again in 2011 for Crash Karma as Rock Group of the Year.[17]
Contributions and awards edit
Discography edit
Our Lady Peace edit
- Naveed (1994)
- Clumsy (1997)
- Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch (1999)
- Spiritual Machines (2000)
- Gravity (2001)
- Spiritual Machines 2 (2021)
Fair Ground edit
- Down In It (2006)
Crash Karma edit
- Crash Karma (2010)
- Rock Musique Deluxe (2013)
Award wins and nominations edit
References edit
- ^ a b Billboard - Our Lady Peace Bio, Retrieved from Billboard.com on 2016-06-05
- ^ Sound of Music - Our Lady Peace Bio Archived 2016-08-04 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved from Sound of Music.ca on 2016-06-05
- ^ "CANOE -- JAM! Music - Artists - Our Lady Peace : Serious rock with Our Lady Peace". Archive.today. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Biography". NME. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
- ^ Serious Rock With Our Lady Peace Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved from jam.canoe.com on 2016-06-05
- ^ Guitar World - Our Lady Peace, Retrieved from Guitar World.com on 2016-06-05
- ^ @ourladypeace (July 30, 2021). ".@rainemaida is doing a live AMA right now. Head to https://redd.it/ouooq6 to ask your questions!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b Maida, Raine (July 30, 2021). "I'm Raine Maida, lead singer for Our Lady Peace and Chief Product Officer ＆ EVP @ S!NG app here to answer all your questions. AMA". Reddit.com. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
Did you mean Mike Turner . Yes we speak and Spiritual Machines 2 would've [sic] be right without Mike involved.
- ^ Bell, Kaelen (July 30, 2021). "Our Lady Peace Detail 'Spiritual Machines 2'". Exclaim.ca. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
- ^ Devlin, Mike (June 2, 2022). "Our Lady Peace breaks new technological ground with tour that opens Monday in Victoria". Times Colonist. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
- ^ "10 captures of Our Lady Peace's unique hologram performance in Victoria". Victoria Buzz. June 7, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
- ^ Crash Karma lands on its feet, Windsor Star, Retrieved from windsorstar.com, 2013-09-20
- ^ Sterdan, Darryl (March 10, 2010). "Q&A with Edwin". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
- ^ The Art of Songwriting With Arnold Lanni, Retrieved from CMW.net on 2016-06-05
- ^ OLP Are Putty In Producer Bob Rocks Hands, Retrieved from MTV News on 2016-06-05
- ^ a b 2009 Canadian Radio Music Awards Winners, Retrieved from CMW.net on 2016-06-05
- ^ a b 2011 Indies Nominees/Winners, Retrieved from Indies.ca on 2016-06-05
- ^ A History of Video of the Year Winners at the MMVAs Archived 2015-06-25 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved from MuchMusic.com on 2016-06-03