Alternate version of Not Afraid.

Not Afraid was conceived in a circular shaped venue in Brussels, Belgium during a soundcheck while touring for Gravity. Not sure why my brain stores pictures and information such as this, but perhaps because it was my first ever experience (I believe) of writing with OLP. I think that the excitement and novelty of the time for both OLP and myself is apparent in the track. It was new experiences for both of us, and we were pumped (still are!).

Admittedly, this song has been a contested one in our camp. While at first I would say we were all equally excited about it, as we worked in the studio, the desire to make it “even better” caused frustration. I think that Bob Rock thought we had something really special with it and was pushing us to take it someplace even higher, and somewhere along the way something was lost. It happens. Such is life, such is the process of making a record. What you are hearing here is the original version that we cut at Bob’s studio on Maui, in an infant state of production. The band agreed that this, instead of the later, more finished version, was the one that we’d rather share with you--rough, bare, unfinished edges and all.

On a technical note, it’s an interesting musical phrase because the opening guitar lick is very much based on one chord, but when the bass enters it plays a different note than that chord. In layman’s terms, it’s kind of musically “wrong”, and that’s why it’s compelling, at least to me.

We were so excited initially by Not Afraid that we decided to perform it, instead of “Innocent”, live at the Juno awards one year. The only problem was that the only ones who knew we weren’t playing Innocent come showtime were us. We haven’t been invited to perform on the Junos since. I’m not sure if that is why. Possibly.

-Steve