Originally conceived as a live album based on the Spiritual Machines tour that would include three new studio tracks, the band would accept Rock's offer to record an entire studio album when his schedule opened up as a result of the ongoing struggles of his prior engagement, Metallica.

After wrapping up the Spiritual Machines Tour in late 2001, Our Lady Peace were becoming restless and dangerously close to breaking up as tensions that had simmered under the surface for years began to come to a head.

Lead singer Raine Maida in particular was feeling limited by guitarist Mike Turner's abilities in the studio; frustrations that had been present since the recording of Clumsy began to boil over.

Looking to reinvigorate themselves and change directions musically, they sought a more stripped down sound as opposed to the multiple layers and textures of their previous albums.

[3]" Although Raine Maida had begun living in Los Angeles, The band came together in Toronto to start writing new material towards the end of touring for Spiritual Machines.

For this album, Our Lady Peace sought a new producer rather than long-time collaborator Arnold Lanni to help with their search for a new sound.

[8] Raine was particularly convinced he wanted to work with Rock after watching A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, the documentary about the making of the Black Album.

They had initially booked ten days of studio time that month to record three tracks that would be included on a live album based on the Spiritual Machines tour.

[7][10] They began recording on the day of their arrival, laying down the initial tracks for "A Story About a Girl", which was written on the spot within 20 minutes after Raine heard Duncan and Jeremy tuning up in the next room.

[8] Metallica was originally scheduled to begin work on a new album with Rock in the following months but this was postponed when front man James Hetfield checked himself into rehab for alcohol abuse.

[13] They chose Detroit native, Steve Mazur, who Coutts and Taggart knew through mutual friends in Los Angeles.

"[13] During the band's holiday break from recording, Raine received a phone call from Rock on Christmas Eve, asking him if he had anymore song ideas to consider before they returned to the Maui studio in January.

According to the band, doing it live works to create a more realistic set of sounds, "a vibe" reminiscent of Led Zeppelin or early David Bowie, mistakes and all.

[11] Raine stated his intent for the album's sound, "Basically what he [Rock] did with Metallica on the 'black record', we talked and wanted to take that kind of approach.

[23] Raine had also cited his and his wife Chantal Kreviazuk's recent trips to Iraq with War Child Canada as inspiration to simplify his lyrics and to 'get to the point'.

[25] On November 26, 2002 a deluxe limited edition version of the album was released as part of the Sound Plus Collector's Series.

This version, with a different cover, came with a special bonus DVD of live tracks and the music videos for "Somewhere Out There" and "Innocent" (see below) as well as footage from the Gravity tour.

The following text is also included: The Spiritual Machines tour cemented the connection we have with our fans and inspired us to make Gravity as quickly as we did.

They said the album developed a more extreme "mainstream sound" and was "overproduced" in order to appeal to the American market, this may have been partly due to new producer Bob Rock of Aerosmith and Metallica fame.

"[31] Andrew Bonazelli of CMJ New Music Monthly criticized the album's "soul-deadening production" as well as string arrangements for several songs being a "contrived lunge towards accessibility.

"[39] In the June 22 issue of Billboard, Larry Flick wrote: "Gravity is a giant leap forward...emerging with a crisp, highly commercial collection of guitar-driven jams."

Most impressive is the wide assortment of styles here -- a tuneful anthem ('Innocent'), crunchy metal ('All for You') and spacey prog ('Bring Back the Sun') -- with which OLP defy the 'gravity' that personnel changes can have on a band.

[41]Recently, Gravity`s single "Innocent" received widespread media attention when American Idol winner David Cook performed it on the program.

In Australia and Europe, where the single was commercially released respectively on September 9 and 16, 2002 (Columbia 672965 2), three live bonus tracks, "Starseed", "Whatever", and "4 AM" were included.

The song received some attention in 2008 when American Idol contestant David Cook, who revealed himself to be a huge OLP fan, sang it on the show.

The tour continued through September 2002 dipping in and out of Canada with the bands Ash, Greenwheel and Audiovent opening for many shows.

Opening for Our Lady Peace were management-mates Finger Eleven as well as comedy troupe Trailer Park Boys and South African band Seether.

[45] The band's arena shows in Calgary and Edmonton would be recorded and released as their first official Live album later that year.

[50] Duncan Coutts stated in an interview that six songs written by the band including Mike Turner and Jamie Edwards were recorded while only three ("All For You", "Bring Back the Sun" and "A Story About a Girl") made the final cut for the album.

[11] In the midst of touring in October 2002, Our Lady Peace briefly returned to Bob Rock's studio in Maui to finish two songs left off of Gravity for an upcoming soundtrack.