Shark Jumping: Part 4
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Artist:
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, dead bands who peaked in the middle of their run and only had a few albums. Well the next band on the docket is one I though was dead but turns out their playing a show here in August with Toad the Wet Sprocket (who may be on this list eventually themselves). This undead, zombie band of undead zombies is The Verve Pipe. Now if this editorial sounds sycophantic it's not just because Brian Vander Ark is one of my trusted Mogs, it's actually because I really, truly dig The Verve Pipe. 
Despite their first full-length album (and previous EP) being quite good, it's worlds away from who The VP will become later in their career. "Pop Smear" has a Dave Matthews, early Guster-ish jam-band vibe to it. Not a lot of distortion, bouncy, reverbed percussion, rootsy harmonies and Brian Vander Ark doing his best Seven Mary Three vocal impersonation. (Hey, it was the 90's, lots of guys sounded like that.) Like all the other bands in this series this once had something either special or marketable and they got their album out there. While there are no singles to speak of they made their mark and began work on their second release.
Whatever happened to the band, other than a slight line-up change, between 1993 and 1996 definitely shifted the wind in their favor. Their second full-length "Villains" was grittier, louder and sported some major improvements in both composition, production and style. Their first hit "Photograph" peaked briefly in the charts but it took a full year and a cleaned-up version of their biggest hit "The Freshmen" to garner any real notoriety. The song was a radio darling and every guy with an acoustic guitar in my high school (including me) learned how to play it. Like Marcy Playground, however, the song did little to capture the true strength of the band's sound, leading many to write them off as another soft alternative band ala Matchbox 20. That's a damn shame because "Villains" is one of the best albums of 1996, it's almost better than Pinkerton. There I said it.
After another three year break the band came back with their obligatory eponymous release and Soundgarden producer Michael Beinhorn behind the wheel. The added grunge production made the album crunchier than "Villains" but it's almost too slick. The single "Hero" did little damage in the charts as the majority of radio stations were bowing to the shrine of Nu Metal and Rapcore; a poppy alternative song just didn't compete with Limp Bizkit, for some reason. While the album features a more vocally experimental and diverse Vander Ark the songs themselves seemed to have been born in a different time and the fickle trends of the day passed over the album with little interest. However tracks like "Supergig", "Kiss Me Idle" and "She Has Faces" will always salvage the album for me.
Fast forward to 2001, September 11th to be exact. The Verve Pipe releases (or, according to the music industry, _doesn't_ release, as it's "official" release day is now Sept. 25th) their fourth album "Underneath". It could have been just bad timing, but the album lagged and, in fact, many people didn't even know it had been released. The album is much more relaxed and friendly than their previous releases and is closer to their first album "Pop Smear" than any of the others in theme and mood. The lead single "Never Let You Down" bi-passed alternative radio almost entirely and instead found a place in the Adult Top 40 category. As of now the band is unsigned and has no plans to record another album, however they do appear at times to play random shows together.So, yeah. They'll always be awesome to me, even if no one else gives a crap or can get past the fact that they released "The Freshmen". They're a good group of guys who play superior post-grunge and they rock at it. NEXT!Tune in, music fans, for the next installment of..... this thing I'm doing! Dun Dun Duuuun.
Despite their first full-length album (and previous EP) being quite good, it's worlds away from who The VP will become later in their career. "Pop Smear" has a Dave Matthews, early Guster-ish jam-band vibe to it. Not a lot of distortion, bouncy, reverbed percussion, rootsy harmonies and Brian Vander Ark doing his best Seven Mary Three vocal impersonation. (Hey, it was the 90's, lots of guys sounded like that.) Like all the other bands in this series this once had something either special or marketable and they got their album out there. While there are no singles to speak of they made their mark and began work on their second release.Whatever happened to the band, other than a slight line-up change, between 1993 and 1996 definitely shifted the wind in their favor. Their second full-length "Villains" was grittier, louder and sported some major improvements in both composition, production and style. Their first hit "Photograph" peaked briefly in the charts but it took a full year and a cleaned-up version of their biggest hit "The Freshmen" to garner any real notoriety. The song was a radio darling and every guy with an acoustic guitar in my high school (including me) learned how to play it. Like Marcy Playground, however, the song did little to capture the true strength of the band's sound, leading many to write them off as another soft alternative band ala Matchbox 20. That's a damn shame because "Villains" is one of the best albums of 1996, it's almost better than Pinkerton. There I said it.After another three year break the band came back with their obligatory eponymous release and Soundgarden producer Michael Beinhorn behind the wheel. The added grunge production made the album crunchier than "Villains" but it's almost too slick. The single "Hero" did little damage in the charts as the majority of radio stations were bowing to the shrine of Nu Metal and Rapcore; a poppy alternative song just didn't compete with Limp Bizkit, for some reason. While the album features a more vocally experimental and diverse Vander Ark the songs themselves seemed to have been born in a different time and the fickle trends of the day passed over the album with little interest. However tracks like "Supergig", "Kiss Me Idle" and "She Has Faces" will always salvage the album for me.Fast forward to 2001, September 11th to be exact. The Verve Pipe releases (or, according to the music industry, _doesn't_ release, as it's "official" release day is now Sept. 25th) their fourth album "Underneath". It could have been just bad timing, but the album lagged and, in fact, many people didn't even know it had been released. The album is much more relaxed and friendly than their previous releases and is closer to their first album "Pop Smear" than any of the others in theme and mood. The lead single "Never Let You Down" bi-passed alternative radio almost entirely and instead found a place in the Adult Top 40 category. As of now the band is unsigned and has no plans to record another album, however they do appear at times to play random shows together.So, yeah. They'll always be awesome to me, even if no one else gives a crap or can get past the fact that they released "The Freshmen". They're a good group of guys who play superior post-grunge and they rock at it. NEXT!Tune in, music fans, for the next installment of..... this thing I'm doing! Dun Dun Duuuun.
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