The Verve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Verve.
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| Country |  England |
| Years active | 1990 – 1998 |
| Genres | Alternative Rock, Space Rock, Shoegaze, Ambient |
| Labels | Hut Records |
| Members | Richard Ashcroft Nick McCabe (1989-1995,1996-1998) Simon Jones Peter Salisbury Simon Tong (1995-1998) |
The Verve (formerly Verve) was an English alternative rock band of the 1990s, originally formed in 1989 at Winstanley Sixth Form College, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, by vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Simon Tong later became a member.
Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to space rock and shoegazer music, by the mid-1990s the band had released several EPs and two acclaimed records. They also endured name and lineup changes, breakups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits. The band's commercial breakthrough was Urban Hymns and the single "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which became a massive worldwide hit. Soon after this commercial peak, the band quit amid creative struggles between the band, yet singer Richard Ashcroft denied claims it was between him and guitarist Nick McCabe. By then they had become one of the most influential British alternative rock acts of the decade, and with Urban Hymns defined an era.
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[edit] History
[edit] (1989–1992) Formation and Verve EP
The Verve (originally called Verve) formed when the group met at Winstanley Sixth Form College, Wigan Metropolitan Borough, in 1989. Led by singer Richard Ashcroft, the band caused a buzz in early 1991 for their ability to captivate audiences with their musical textures and sonic aptitude. As bandmembers sharing a collective liking for the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Funkadelic, and Krautrock — and a legendary appetite for psychedelics — they were signed to Hut Records and their debut studio release, Verve EP became a critical hit, making an impression with ethereal guitar work by Nick McCabe and psychedelic space rock. The album, featuring the artwork of designer Brian Cannon, came out in December 1992 and produced the singles "All in the Mind", "She's a Superstar" and "Gravity Grave", as well as spawning a few tours including the Gravity Grave Tour.
[edit] (1993–1994) First album
1993's A Storm in Heaven, the band's full-length debut, produced by Britpop record producer John Leckie (both in the UK and the US), was a critical smash, but critical acclamation failed to translate into commercial one.
The second single, "Slide Away", topped the indie rock charts. The band played at the alternative rock festival, Lollapalooza, in 1994. The tour was disastrous for the group as Ashcroft was hospitalised for dehydration caused by overdosing with Ecstasy, and Salisbury was arrested for destroying a hotel room in Kansas. After the tour, the Jazz label Verve sued the band for trademark infringement and forced the group to officially change their name to The Verve.
[edit] (1995–1996) Turbulent recordings and a breakup
The turmoil continued well into the recording sessions of the follow-up album, 1995's A Northern Soul. The sessions started off well; McCabe even called the first three weeks of recording the happiest in his life (due to the massive intake of Ecstasy). However the rampant drug abuse and the strained relationship between Ashcroft and McCabe during the sessions took its toll on the band. Richard Ashcroft later described the recording experience as "Four intense, mad months. Really insane. In great ways and terrible ways. In ways that only good music and bad drugs and mixed emotions can make".
The band departed from the neo-psychedelic sounds of A Storm in Heaven and focused more on conventional alternative rock. The singles "This Is Music", "On Your Own", and "History" all reached the UK Top 40. The latter two singles were particularly new for the Verve as they dabbled with soulful ballads.
Around this period, Oasis guitarist and friend of Ashcroft, Noel Gallagher, wrote the classic "Cast No Shadow" for the troubled front-man. The song can be found on the album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. Ashcroft returned the gesture by writing the title song "Northern Soul" for Noel Gallagher.
Album sales were once again disappointing and Richard Ashcroft broke up the band 3 months after its release in July. Ashcroft reunited the group just a few weeks after the breakup, but McCabe refused to rejoin the line-up. As a replacement, the band chose Simon Tong - a schoolfriend of Ashcroft and Jones - to fill in the lead guitar duties for the remainder of the 1996 tour. Tong is credited with originally teaching the two to play guitar.
[edit] (1997–1999) The height of fame and final break-up
Ashcroft, Jones, Salisbury, and Tong went ahead and started writing songs for the upcoming album, with most of fall 1996 and early 1997 passed through recording sessions. In 1997, Nick McCabe returned to the fold alongside Tong - a crucial moment for the band. With the lineup back together, the group went through a "spiritual" (i.e. full of drug intake) recording process to finish the epic Alternative Rock classic, Urban Hymns. For the first time in their careers, the Verve experienced commercial success. Not only was the album a hit in the UK, but the band also "broke" into the US and much of the rest of the world. The first single from Urban Hymns, "Bitter Sweet Symphony", entered the UK charts at #2. The single reached #12 on the US charts, their highest position ever in the Billboards. The song borrows a reversed looped sample of a symphonic recording of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time". "Bitter Sweet Symphony" also featured on the compilation album 'VH1 Rocks'.
ABKCO Music, which runs the Rolling Stones' back catalogue, and which had warned The Verve against using the Rolling Stones sample in "Bitter Sweet Symphony," successfully sued the Verve for 100% of the royalties for "Bitter Sweet Symphony"; further, as a result of the lawsuit, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were given songwriting credits and full publishing rights to the song, which later appeared in a Nike commercial against The Verve's will. After the song was used in the movie Cruel Intentions, The Verve filed a moral rights (copyright) suit to make sure the song was not distributed anymore. Then, as the band was on a tour to promote the album, bassist Simon Jones collapsed on stage. Nick McCabe suddenly pulled out of the tour and decided he couldn't tolerate the constant life on the road any longer.
The band continued with established session guitarist B.J. Cole replacing McCabe but the spark of their return seemed to be deserting them. After two headline performances at the V Festivals in 1998 and one at Slane Castle outside Dublin, everything went quiet. Rumours began circulating that the band had called it quits for good. Finally, in April 1999 it was announced that The Verve had split up.
[edit] (2000–present) Post-breakup activities and Ashcroft solo career
After the band's final collapse, Simon Jones and Simon Tong formed a new group called The Shining as well as working with former Stone Roses-guitarist John Squire on a group that never properly formed. Tong has also appeared as a live replacement for ex-guitarist Graham Coxon in Blur and the additional guitarist for Gorillaz. Nick McCabe has mostly remained quiet after the breakup, although he has recently worked with a few artists, notably John Martyn and Leeds based band, The Music. Besides working with Ashcroft, Salisbury also filled in as the drummer for a UK tour in 2004 for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, when their original drummer briefly left due to alcohol and drug abuse. Salisbury also owns a drum shop in Stockport, England.
By the time the band finally split, Richard Ashcroft, who had quit taking drugs by the early 2000s, had already been working on solo material accompanied by, among others, the band's ex-drummer Peter Salisbury and B.J. Cole. In April 2000, his first solo single, "A Song For The Lovers", was released and hit Number 3. He debuted with Alone With Everybody (June 2000) and followed it by Human Conditions (October 2002). Recently, backed up by Coldplay, Ashcroft performed "Bitter Sweet Symphony" at the Live 8 concerts on 2 July 2005 at Hyde Park, London. Many felt this would help to revive his solo career and, though receiving mixed reviews, his third solo album, Keys to the World (January 2006), peaked at #2 in the UK charts (being kept off the top spot only by Arctic Monkeys' record breaking debut) with the first single, "Break the Night with Colour" reaching #3.
Regarding the possibility of a Verve reunion, Ashcroft has ruled out the possibility 3 years ago in an interview with VH1: "No likelihood [for reunion]. Life's too short. When I was recording my first solo album, a mixture of fear in becoming a solo artist and a sense of unfinished business led me to think, 'Let's give Nick a ring and get this going and call it the Verve.' I can't do that again. That was Spinal Tap enough." Recently, when asked the question again by Jam Showbiz, Ashcroft responded by saying "You're more likely to get all four Beatles on stage".
[edit] Discography
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[edit] Line-up
- Richard Ashcroft - vocals, guitar (1989-1999)
- Nick McCabe - guitar (1989-1995)(1997-1998)
- Simon Jones - bass guitar (1989-1999)
- Peter Salisbury - drums (1989-1999)
- Simon Tong - guitar, keyboards (1995-1999)
[edit] Replacement guitarists
- Bernard Butler (1997)
- B.J. Cole (1998-1999)
[edit] Trivia
- The song Lucky Man appears in the film The Girl Next Door.
- The beach where the band took the picture of Gravity Grave single, was Formby, near Southport, and the naked man was actually a friend of the band identified as "B" who is currently drumming for new band indigo Moss, whose forthcoming album was produced by The Verve's Simon Tong.
- When the band released their first single All in the Mind in 1992, they flew to America where they set up on the back of a truck and drove around Manhattan while playing extended versions of "Man Called Sun".
- The band won 3 Brit Awards in 1998 for Best British group, Best album (Urban Hymns) and Best producer (The Verve, Chris Potter & Youth). However they weren't there to receive the award in person as they were playing a rescheduled gig at Brixton Academy in aid of the National Children's Homes, Action for Children, and the House Our Youth 2000 campaign. Part of the gig was beamed via satellite into the award ceremony hall.
- The band won 3 NME Awards in 1998 for Best video, Best single (Both for Bittersweet Symphony) and Best band. They refused to pick up the awards on stage.
- The song "Life's not a rehearsal" that can be found in one of the two History singles, is an instrumental remix of the song "Life's an ocean" that appears in A Northern Soul album. The remix was made by Verve guitarrist Nick McCabe.
- The front cover of the album A Storm in Heaven and the place where the She's a Superstar video was recorded is Thor's Cave in Staffordshire. The back cover of the same album was taken in Birkdale cementery.
- The band performed at the 1993 Glastonbury Festival with borrowed instruments. Their own gear had been stolen from their van.
- By the time Oasis were supporting some Verve shows during A Storm in Heaven period, Richard, Noel and Nick performed an impromptu a capella version of She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain with Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs on spoons, after a power-cut in Glasgow.
[edit] External links
- The Singles CD/DVD compilation Official site
- A Storm in Heaven
- The Verve live!
- The Verve Info
- The Verve Lyrics
| The Verve |
| Nick McCabe | Richard Ashcroft | Simon Jones | Peter Salisbury | Simon Tong |
| Discography |
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| Studio albums: A Storm in Heaven | A Northern Soul | Urban Hymns |
| EPs: Verve EP | FIve by Five |
| Compilations: No Come Down | This is Music: The Singles 92-98 |
| Singles: "All in the Mind" | "She's a Superstar" | "Gravity Grave" | "Blue" | "Slide Away" | "This Is Music" | "On Your Own" | "History" | "Bitter Sweet Symphony" | "The Drugs Don't Work" | "Lucky Man" | "Sonnet" |
| Tours: Gravity Grave Tour | Urban Hymns Tour |
| Related articles |
| Britpop | Hut Records | Chris Potter | The Shining | Cathy Davey | Gorillaz | B.J. Cole | Bernard Butler |
