Why Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida calls Albert Camus's The Rebel a timely read

Raine Maida is a songwriter and frontman of Our Lady Peace. The Canadian alternative rock outfit, formed in 1992, has since been nominated for 12 Juno Awards and won four.

When he had to take stock of his family's possessions, Maida recently re-discovered the literary classic The Rebel by Albert Camus.

This interview originally aired on Feb. 19, 2018.

Choosing what matters

"I live in L.A. and the fires that happened a couple of months ago made me go through my important stuff in my house. They put out this map on this alert system and we were in the second evacuation zone. We had to be 'Ready, Set, Go!,' which is basically that you needed to be able to leave your house in two minutes. I grabbed some old books by some Beat poets and I found this one. I started reading it again because it's all about what means to be a rebel." 

A timely read

"The Rebel feels very timely now, seeing what's going on in the world and the advent of social media and protests. It's a philosophy book by Albert Camus. Camus really asks the question in his essay, 'What is a rebel and what's the purpose of a rebel in life?' I find today that we're living up to it a bit more, in terms of engagement, and wanting to better a lifestyle. Not for selfish reasons, but for the greater good. I felt like it was important to re-read, knowing where we are."

Raine Maida's comments have been edited and condensed.