Verve Get Oasis' Stamp of Approval ... Again

Posted on Sep 23rd 2008 4:00PM by Jolie Lash
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Just a few weeks ago, 11-years after splitting up on the eve of great American success, the reunited Verve released their fourth studio album, 'Forth.' The band -- which captured the attention of America with 'Bittersweet Symphony,' and its video, featuring lanky frontman Richard Ashcroft smashing into people unapologetically as he walked down a city street -- split in 1999, not long after a U.S. tour. And though it took over a decade to reform the band, it was an easy sell for Verve bassist Simon Jones.

"Richard made the rounds with a phone call," Jones tells Spinner. "And this band, having been in my blood since I was 16, I didn't have to give it much thought."

The group, formerly a quintet, reunited as a foursome after guitarist Simon Tong chose to stick with Damon Albarn's the Good, the Bad & the Queen. But it brought the group -- Ashcroft, Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury -- back together with guitarist Nick McCabe, who made a swift departure from the band in '98 after rumors of fights amongst the men.

With so much history behind them, Jones said the first meeting of the four men together went well. "[It was] strangely calm," he says. "I was last to arrive -- Richard picked me up in his Mini from the station. We got back to the studio where we had arranged to meet, had a coffee and a chat with the others for an hour or so, then we were straight into playing and recording. Magical!"

While early reports said the reformation was just for a UK tour last fall, Jones said the boys knew all along what their plans were. "I think we all agreed early on that it would be the full package," he says. "Being a full entity was important to us. We were confident we would pull it off."

The record was written and recorded in Richmond, London, and produced by the band themselves. "We wrote the album in the studio, right from the first meeting," Jones says. "We generally jam and let the music suggest itself through intuitiveness and genuine chemistry. It's something we have always done. Also, Richard has masses of songs, so he would play through, and we'd join in and generally develop [them] into something through jamming it out."

And though the record is doing well now -- it topped the UK charts and landed at 23 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. -- one person predicted its success early on after a casual run-in with the group.

"We bumped into Liam [Gallagher from Oasis] and played him what was the beginnings of 'Love is Noise,' to which he said, 'Yeah! Rockin,' and 'Sit and Wonder,' to which he said. 'F---in' top bassline.'"