An old classic...

played not so long ago at The Last Days Of Summer Festival, 25 August 2008.

The Verve's guide to Manchester

Most Stateside folks know Manchester as the dreary, grey factory town that once inspired Joy Division to cut so many dark tunes and the dismal place where Ian Curtis cut his days short. Others may associate “Madchester” with baggy pants, multi-colored pills and 24-hour debauchery, which bands like The Happy Mondays embraced wholeheartedly to escape their cobblestone confines.

Now, Simon Jones, bassist of newly-reunited The Verve and native of the greater Manchester area, has turned the Guide on to the city’s ongoing rebirth and lion-proud people; even challenging the formerly undisputed King of English cities…yes, the foggy London town. Here, let Simon lead you through his city’s rising urban hymns.

What does Manchester mean to you?

Actually, I live in Chester, which is probably the midpoint between Manchester and Liverpool. But I have lived in Manchester and it’s not far away from me, so I do go watch bands when they’re in town. It’s a great city for music; it’s got a great history with the New Order and Joy Division days, and Stone Roses—a city full of people who are very passionate about music.

What’s your favorite Manchester venue?

Well, I’m going to be biased here, because I played with a live band at the Opera House in Manchester with Gorillaz and it’s really quite amazing. It’s not a regular venue—it’s an old, beautiful opera house; kind of a Victorian sort of theater. It’s a great place, but not somewhere that bands are playing all the time. The Manchester Music Festival happens every year and they put a selection of bands at the Opera House. That’s how the Gorillaz thing came about.

Are there any venues for up-and-coming bands?

For small bands, there’s the Night & Day Café. I wouldn’t call it a dive, but it’s a small bar where they book bands and there’s always great things going on. I’ve seen lots of bands there when they’re just starting out. It’s a great little venue.

We all know about the “Madchester” scene. How has the city’s vibe evolved since that infamous era?

Since the early days of “Madchester,” a lot of money has been pumped into Manchester. I think it started with the Commonwealth Games. It’s undergoing a major regeneration. It’s a beautiful-looking city now, almost unrecognizable to what it was 10 years ago. Parts of Manchester that were shitholes before are really beautiful places now. You walk around now and there are these big posh department stores. Really, it’s a great city. It’s very cosmopolitan. There’s everything that you’d expect from a big city…you know, it’s the second city to London.

Oh yeah?

I think that for a northern town, Manchester has such great things going on. I lived in London for 10 years and London is London, but to be honest, it’s great to be back up north where I’m from. I feel like it’s been redone in the years that I was away. To finally be given the funding to regenerate is an amazing thing for the city and gives the people a lot of pride. The people of Manchester are proud of their city, and they’re going to think they’re number one. And I don’t think that’s a bad mentality to have.

What would be the one thing that gives Manchester a “one-up” over London?

The people! That’s the biggest rival, the people in the north are outgoing… they’re the greatest people in the world as far as I’m concerned. They’ve got such a great sense of humor. Sometimes, when you’ve got hard lives—because people of Manchester still have hard lives—you still have lots of great outlooks on life.

I lived in London for 10 years and I didn’t know my neighbors. Up north, you know everyone who lives on your street. It’s a much friendlier place to be, really. I think London’s quite cold, anonymous, and straightforward. There’s a much freer, easy-going vibe in Manchester. It’s all about the people.

Source: Filter-Mag.com

Nick McCabe, free DJ set in London

Nick McCabe is set to play a rare DJ set in London this October. McCabe will appear at the 1234 Action night at Old Blue Last on October 7. Doors open at 8pm, and admission is free. Playing live on the night are The Verve's favorites, Lowline, who will release a new single 'The Sound Of Music' on October 13. McCabe has joined the Manchester band onstage several times in the past.

Simon Jones on Ashcroft's solo career

"I couldn't listen to it," he says frankly. "I had lost my band and he went on to have a solo career and that was painful. When Richard played with Coldplay, I turned it off.

"I had to find a way to deal with the fact that this thing that was so precious to me was lost. My way to deal with that was to not listen to Richard's records. But I knew that I would rather have him at the top of the charts than some Pop Idol."

Although Ashcroft is contractually obligated to record another solo album, Jones thinks the band still has a lot to say.

"I've started in this band when I was 16, so a massive part of my life has been devoted to this. It means the world to me to do this. I'm not going to lie and say that everything's all of a sudden easy in this band. We still do have our disagreements about things, but we're a bit more mature and better able to deal with it.

"When the band first split up, it was easy to be flippant about it. I think we all thought we'd just end up in another band. But I don't think any of us would be that careless again.

"If we have a disagreement, we'll work through it. It won't be, 'F--- you, f--- you, f--- you and f--- you.'"

Richard Ashcroft and smoking

The Verve refuse to line up lengthy concert runs because frontman Richard Ashcroft's smoking habit leaves him struggling onstage.

Fellow smoker Simon Jones admits he pities his bandmate because he's always battling cigarette-related issues on the road, which often leave him with performance problems.

Jones says, "I really feel for Richard because he smokes and that's hard when you've got phlegm on your lungs and you get a cold or whatever.

"I know that he struggles, especially when we've got a lot of gigs on the run. We're not really made to do that. We can't do that physically."

But Jones insists he'd never suggest the frontman stops smoking - because that's the vice that helps Ashcroft calm his nerves: "That's his own thing. I smoke, so I've got no place to say anything."

The Verve laugh off McCabe finger injury

The Verve's Simon Jones is laughing off reports bandmate Nick McCabe faces the loss of a finger after a backstage accident, insisting the guitarist simply cut it on a champagne glass.

Jones admits he and the other members of the reunited band find it hilarious that tiny details are blown out of proportion in the press.

He says, "He did hurt his finger, he cut it on a slither of glass. He knocked over a champagne glass and he was picking it up and he cut himself on a sharp piece of glass. It's no f**king big deal at all.

Because we split up and all these things happened, everyone thinks there's something strange going on all the time."

Reports suggested MCCabe needed urgent medical attention during a show in Osaka, Japan last month (Aug08) after injuring his hand - and that he played through the pain at the Britain's V Festival last month (Aug08).

But Jones insists, "It didn't effect any gigs. He didn't cut his finger, so it wasn't a real big issue at all."

Tracking 'Forth' on the charts

• UK Charts: #1 for the second week
• US Charts: #1 for 'Independent Releases' and #23 on the 'Top 200 General Billboard'
• UK Single: "Love is Noise" #10

Source: BBC, Billboard

Verve turn down multi-album deal comeback offer

Reformed rockers THE VERVE are refusing to sign a new multi-album deal after hitting number one on the European charts with FORTH - because the "treadmill" of releasing albums and touring marked the beginning of the end for the band a decade ago.

Bassist Simon Jones admits tensions were high enough after the band recorded hit album Urban Hymns and the thought of touring commitments proved too much.
Now, 10 years later, the Bittersweet Symphony stars have agreed to put family first and not sign on for lucrative, but demanding, album deals.

Jones explains, "We're not that type of band and we're not gonna go straight back in and do another record. For one thing Richard's got commitments as a solo act - he's got to do one more record for Parlophone and that suits us fine.
"I don't want to be on that treadmill again where you're in a band and you're signed to four albums and you have to fulfil that commitment. It's a joy to just sign for one record.

"I don't know if we're just sensitive guys and we can't handle the pressure - it's just turned out to be that way. After Urban Hymns (came out) we were looking at calendars with months of touring and just being at the start of it and going, 'F**k, we can't do that.' That's how it started."

But Jones tells WENN he feels the bandmates should just have taken a hiatus, rather than split. He adds, "We should have just said, 'F**king time out, let's have a couple of years off. We've been non-stop record, back to back, touring...'"

So what really happened to Simon Tong?

THE VERVE reformed without guitarist SIMON TONG in part to keep the internal issues that split the band up a decade ago to an absolute minimum.

Bassist Simon Jones admits he contacted Tong to inform him he wouldn't be a part of the reunion in an effort to avoid any unpleasantness.

And Jones insists his pal understood why he wouldn't be a part of the band's comeback.

The bass player tells WENN, "It was the four of us that started it off; Simon was in another band. He came into the band when Nick (MCCabe) wasn't there... because we didn't have a guitarist. When Nick came back, it was like, 'We can't kick Si out,' so he stayed.

"When we were putting the band back together we wanted to go back to the core members. I talked to Si on the phone about what was going on... There was no dodginess.

He was cool with it, he understood... He would have liked to have been a part of it but he understood the reasons, fundamentally, so there was no bad feelings."

But Jones admits he and his bandmates feared that adding another strong personality to the famously temperamental band would lead to a short-lived reunion: "It would have been too hard, it's hard enough for the four of us. If you bring more people to it, it's harder to communicate and communication has always been our difficulty."

So far so good for the four-piece, but Jones claims the distance between them helps: "We don't have to see each other every night; it doesn't have to be like it was for the first record, we don't have to go to the pub together and we don't have to be in each others' pockets. "Actually, when we are in each others' pockets, it's to the detriment of the band. It's a more mature approach. It's not like when we lived in Wigan and we all had a house together and experimented with drugs together. We're protecting the band this time and not letting it f**k up."

The Verve release 'Forth' album

U.K- based rock group, The Verve, put out their fourth studio album, Forth, to the anxious hands of their fans.

Most Americans know the group from their ready-made soundtrack/playlist hit "Bittersweet Symphony," off of their 1997 record, Urban Hymns.

Despite the more than 10-year gap between their last record and the newly-released, Forth, The Verve have only had their talents fermented into something even better to observe.
"Sit and Wonder" sits as the introduction to a record that skips the generic verse-chorus formula and is replaced with with trance-inducing guitar distortion.

The second track, "Love is Noise" sounds like a psychedelic choir fronted by vocalist Richard Ashcroft - which is quickly followed by the converse sound of "Rather Be" were the choir and instrumental parts melt into the background to a mellow-sounding plea from Ashcroft.

"Valium Skies" features thudding bass lines, brought to us by Simon Jones, to accompany lyrics that the listener can never quite distinguish whether they are about drugs, a girl or both.

I was surprised, but very glad, to find the track "Columbo" included slinkly guitar riffs paired with a hurried, pounding bass line to create a spy film-esque quality that contrasts to the otherwise trippy meanderings of the record.

To finish off the band's newest endeavor is "Appalachian Springs," a nod to the aforementioned Urban Hymns. Fans of the group can find exactly what they were looking for - winding guitars that lead us to no where really but do a great job distracting the listener with its melodic sound.
Forth was everything I expected, but in the best possible way. The Verve took a step forward but without losing what was good about them in the first place.

Source: Meredith Mitchell, East Tennessian

Blogcritics reviews Forth

Comebacks are always about one of three things: money, sentimentality, or unfulfilled promise. Sometimes it's a combination: the most famous comeback of all, Elvis Presley's 1968 Lazarus-like, temporary resurrection — Vegas style — was an audacious cocktail of unrequited titillation and religious symbolism, calculatingly designed to prick both middle America's libido and buckle it's bible belt. At the other end of the spectrum is The Police's unlikely recent coming together for the first time since their acrimonious divorce more than twenty years ago. Sting spelled out the raison d'etre of their worldwide tour; "There will be no new album, no big new tour, once we're done with our reunion tour, that's it for the Police" leaving the trio an estimated $192 million dollars better off before parting ways.

Since The Verve imploded for a second time in May 1999 the possibility of reformation had been remote in the extreme. The band's core - singer and lyricist Richard Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe - had enjoyed a massively fractious relationship even during their heyday, and whilst the former had gone on to pursue a solo career of greater commercial than critical impact, the latter had practically retired from music.

Paradoxically the success of their final album, 1997's Urban Hymns appeared to be a big part of the problem. Released in the unedifying final days of Brit pop at which point most observers seemed to have finally got the joke, it's melancholy spirituality proved an appealing foil to Oasis' coke-bore paean Be Here Now. It would go on to sell more than six million copies whilst spawning the modern classics "Bittersweet Symphony", "Sonnet" and "Lucky Man".

The subsequent creative tensions between the group's leadership would eventually signal their downfall. McCabe felt that Urban Hymns had strayed too far from the band's roots, a philosophy christened in the cosmic psychedelia of their first two albums A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul, decrying "Bittersweet Symphony" as "Up there with the best Bon Jovi record". For his part Ashcroft revealed that he had been working on solo material since 1996. Eventually, Dear John letters were sent.

It was two days after the conclusion of 2007's Glastonbury that Ashcroft announced to the world that he, McCabe, and fellow protagonists Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury had rebuilt their bridges and were planning to entering the studio for an exploratory session. Brushing off questions about the remarkable number of hatchets which had been swiftly buried, the singer then went on to prove that he was still as confident in the band's skin as his own, claiming that "We're one of the few bands who can jam and not sound like Lynyrd Skynyrd" and postulating that it would be a "Travesty" if a reformed Verve weren't allowed to headline the following year's festival.

Part of the ensuing get together was subsequently released as a free download, knowingly entitled The Thaw Sessions. It found a group sounding loose limbed and full of renewed vigor, but in its fourteen plus minutes, there was little for devotees of Urban Hymns to immediately identify with. By the time Glastonbury curator Michael Eavis acquiesced to Ashcroft's prophetic demands and awarded them with the this year's closing headline slot, sheer momentum dictated that, despite an almost incomparably familiar repetoire, the finale would be a new song "Love is Noise" rather than one of their trophy cabinet full of one size fits all anthems.

Here then was the fulfillment of The Verve's destiny - playing their music to the widest audiences possible, fans and curious alike, all soon to be re-caught up in the band's cosmic undertow. Other festival appearances followed, each seemingly more grandiose and triumphant than the last, but already rumours began to brew up in their wake. By the recent V festival, whispers were of bust ups in Japan and demands for a separate dressing room. All probably lies - but for Ashcroft and McCabe especially, it came with the territory.

Typically counter cyclical, the punningly titled Forth arrives at the end of a big touring stint. The Verve big top was once again open for business and reassuringly it was full of things that aren't really what they seem. As I previously hinted, it's probably appropriate now for those who fell for the charms of Urban Hymns, but have no desire to reach back beyond that, to pretty much stop reading here.

Ok. For the six of you left reading, let's continue.

The first thing that hits you is the realization that this is a band record. Ashcroft messianic zen seems subdued throughout, content to be a foil to McCabe's wall of sonic trickery, voice frequently left to wander down in the mix. Opener "Sit And Wonder", clocking in at just under seven minutes, freewheels understatedly, an evident result of a recording process which involved whittling down the band's nebulous existentialism, but still content not to get bound up in too much structure. Ashcroft speaks of crawling into a black hole and then begs for light throughout, further proof, in any were needed, that Forth is far from a belated shot at Snow Patrol's excruciatingly dull, but worthy, status as Christmas stocking filler du jour.

There are a handful of familiar totems for the class of '97 to groove to, but out of context the only conclusion to be drawn from the presence of the linear, expectation meeting "Love Is Noise" is that it's simply an airplay friendly horse of Troy.

Overall, two moods flourish - the visceral, frazzled psychedlia of "Noise Epic", "Columbo" and "Numbness" - the former pulling up somewhere between Queens Of The Stone Age and a youthful Bad Seeds. In juxtaposition, the campfire gentility of "Rather Be" and "Judas", both of which bearing the marks of an Ashcroft pushing hard for melody and reminding that this is the band who created the classic, mirror diving lysergic beauty of "Man Called Sun".

Much has changed since then. To their credit there is only one really uncomfortable moment - the mom-and-pop harmonics of "Valium Skies", never trust a song which contains the words "The air I breathe" - but on closer "Appalachian Springs" things begin to pull together, the words part monologue, part poem, all four members lining up behind each other in something resembling the formation which they probably envisaged over a year ago. Like the rest though, it deliberately fails to seek or draw any kind of conclusion.

Inevitably, given the baggage, the talk is not of how good, but how long. Ashcroft himself declared that the acid test of any comeback was for the reformed to get back in the saddle; undeniably it's a nettle which many of the Verve's quixotic forebears have failed to grasp. That they are an extraordinary band was never in question, constituted or not, permanent or not. That Forth fails to satisfy is however inevitable given the creative schism which followed their last release. Proud of its incongruity, had some Minnesotan solo artist recorded it in his mother's barn it would probably have been hailed as a classic. That it wasn't, and that the progenitors took a step back from the precipice of populist mediocrity is also to be admired. So if not so good, how long? Ashcroft's mojo is undoubtedly out of the bottle, but for as long as it continues to sacrifice itself for the cause, we may see things reach a state of temporary permanence for a while to come.

New single: "Rather Be"

I have it from a trusted source that "Rather Be" will be the band's second single from Forth. It was previously mentioned that "Judas" would be the likely contender. This puts into question why "Judas" was pre-released on iTunes. In any case, it will be one or the other. The former would be my choice. Additionally, Forth is #1 for a second straight week. Link here.

Jools Holland update

Following their amazing performance on the 'Later with Jools Holland' show in 1997, the band were due to appear again on the show to be aired on September 23. According to Channel 4's Teletext service (normally a very reliable source), the band have pulled out with no reason given for the cancellation.

The Verve goes 'Forth' and forges a reunion

The Verve's road to reunion has been a bittersweet symphony.

In 1997, The Verve's hit Bitter Sweet Symphony launched the English rock quartet to international stardom, propelling album Urban Hymns to platinum sales in the USA.

But the success of Symphony also was a harbinger of the band's demise. The pressures of touring and fame proved too much, and in 1999, the band called it quits. Nearly 10 years later, they've put the rocky past behind them and released fourth album Forth, new this week on the group's On Your Own label.

For fans who have been waiting patiently for a reunion, Forth is a seamless transition from Urban Hymns, employing the poetic lyricism and shimmering atmospherics that established the band as one of the most influential of British rock.

"I called the band back together simply for the joy of making music," says lead singer Richard Ashcroft, speaking over the sound of a rooster crowing from his home in Gloucestershire, England. "I don't think The Verve should be something we just kill off. Let's breathe some life into it."

But Ashcroft, 36, is taking a realistic approach to the reunion. "If it works out, it does, but if not, I'm glad we got to record this album."

To create Forth, the band (Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury) met in the studio for the first time since its breakup, with equipment ready to go. "We just got down to business," Ashcroft says. "We're there to make music, not to get along, not to create false relationships.

"Forth is really the most spontaneous album we've ever done. People thought we were fossils, but they're all wrong."

Ashcroft is promoting the project with reluctance and says no tour is planned to support Forth. "I thought that being famous means you have to have created great works, but nowadays it's just fame for fame's sake," he says.

But Ashcroft has been around long enough to know that fame comes with a price. Before the breakup, the band was plagued by lawsuits. Jazz label Verve filed a trademark infringement complaint, forcing the band to change its name to The Verve. ABKCO Records demanded Bitter Sweet's profits and royalties over use of a loop from the Rolling Stones' The Last Time. Rampant drug use and friction between Ashcroft and McCabe also kept the group uncomfortably rooted in the limelight.

Still, Ashcroft has no regrets. "Fame is a funny thing. It's a combination of a Shakespearean comedy, Spinal Tap and Hunter S. Thompson. You've got to just have a laugh at it."

Even if Forth revives the band's former glory, Ashcroft has no plans to give up his solo career. "I don't want to invest all my mental and spiritual resources into something that may not work out," he says. "I have a family now, I do what I do, and I go home. I'm very lucky to have had the career I've had. I'm so grateful. The true friends and fans will continue to follow us faithfully."

Does another Bitter Sweet Symphony await fans on Forth?

"Bitter Sweet is the greatest pop anthem of all time," he says. "But success is often outside of an artist's control. Otherwise, Velvet Underground would have been the most popular band in the world."

For now, he's content with whatever comes his way. "Right now, I've got a gospel choir singing in my head, I've got Jay-Z joining me in a duet. Who knows where I'm going?" he says. "But I will always continue to make music, whether it's with The Verve or on my own."

Source: USA Today

The Verve / Forth

Genre: Epic Brit Rock
Verdict: The Second Coming
Label: MRI Associated

The story is that when Verve headlined the mammoth Glastonbury Festival this year, the band ended with the epic "Love is Noise" (the first single from Forth), and the attendees turned into a teeming, screaming throng of souls. It wasn't just that the return set had captivated thousands as much as a wholesale greeting from the masses: "Welcome back." After years of enduring the malodorous Coldplay as the biggest representative of the Brit rock scene, The Verve, led by the dark visage of Richard Ashcroft, has come to rip the crown off Chris Martin's gigantic head. Gone are the early days of the epic psychedelia, but who cares? It's been eight years, and I'm happy to hum along to "Rather Be" or get lost in the mood of "Valium Skies" or raise my lighter to "I See Houses" than continue to endure the overwrought music of Martin & Co. "Love is pain," indeed.

Verve victorious in album chart

Reunited rock band The Verve have shot straight to the top of the album charts with their first release in more than ten years.

Their album, Forth, was recorded when the band reformed last year following a split at the height of their success. It knocked Irish three-piece The Script off the number one spot, The Official Charts Company said.

Despite their success in the album chart, The Verve's single, Love Is Noise, fell two places from seven to nine.

Source: NME