TOUR OF DUTY

the old road of getting your video played on MTV doesn t really work any more, because, I don t know about over here, but in the States MTV is full of game shows and dating shows, which is not what it was about when it started up. So bands have to go out on the road and work. So says Scott Bondy, vocalist and guitarist with Verbena, a loud, raucous four-piece from Alabama.
He s not complaining, mind; he actually thinks it s a good thing.
Yeah, I think it is good, because I know some bands who weren t able to cope with the pressures of instant MTV success, he notes. They had one massive hit song and then they weren t ready to follow it up because they didn t have the material.
The same cannot be said of Verbena. Formed in 1995 in Birmingham, Alabama, from the ashes of some local outfits, Verbena immediately began writing and rehearsing songs that Scott had written years before. They were kinda teenage pop songs, he admits, and we were just playing what we wanted to play.
Soon though, Verbena realised that they could play any style of music they wanted. The amps were cranked up and both Scott and co-vocalist Anne-Marie Griffin started to sing golden harmonies over the raw-edged result. The end product is Verbena s riff-heavy but sparkling debut album, Souls For Sale.
Most of the 10 songs are choc-full of loud, raucous guitar riffs and dual male-female vocals. However, it seems that Scott hasn t neglected those teenage pop songs of his youth, as each track, no matter how heavy or loud it gets, still has a catchy hook or chorus as its backbone.
Yeah, we didn t just want to make an album of noise, but we didn t want to make a standard pop album either, he says. Every song has a basic hook and we build the rest around it. Really, every song on the album could be played by someone on their own with an acoustic guitar, and that s the way we wanted it.
Souls For Sale is released on Setanta, an unusual concept for the London label that has become known as the home from home for Irish acts. So how did a rock band from Alabama end up on a London label famed for signing Irish bands?
Well, Keith (Cullen, head of Setanta) came to see us play a show in New York a couple of years ago and he really liked what he heard, Scott explains. We got talking and we sent him some demos, and things just developed from there.
One unusual fact about Verbena, which is noted on their self-penned press release is that two of the band have been in prison, while two have not.
We just wanted to write something different from the usual, boring releases, offers Scott. But yeah, two of the band, which doesn t include me, got into some trouble, but I don t think it s my place to talk about that.
You d have to wonder why they put it in a press release then, no? Anyway, what s next up for Verbena?
Touring, basically, he says. We ve just finished an American tour. We re playing some dates in Europe and then it s back to the States again. We want to keep touring, and let people get to know us. Hopefully it will be a gradual thing where we can play bigger venues each time we tour, and build it up from there.
A pragmatic approach and, hopefully, one that will see tracks like previous Single Of The Fortnight, Hey, Come On , reaching the audience they deserve. n