THE ROADSIDE IS LITTERED with thousands rock and roll bands that nobody's heard, and for most of us, that's probably a good thing. The fact is a lot of bands don't deserve to be heard in the first place. But every once in a while you find in the assorted debris a special band that works so tirelessly, creates works of such enormous and lasting value, and yet is so routinely ignored that you can only shake your head at the fickle vagaries of the music world.

The Verlaines are one of the select few. For two decades they've been releasing records of scorching, bittersweet ferocity. Beginning their recording career as a trio under the guidance of singer-songwriter-guitarist and bandleader Graeme Downes in the early 1980s, the Verlaines released a string of seven impassioned albums and some of the most tender and spiteful love songs ever written.

Downes' talents at the helm of the Verlaines reached its apex last year with their final release Over the Moon, a recording that was for me easily one of last years' best albums, and one that very few people outside of their native New Zealand ever got to hear. The Sony recording was as strong as anything they'd released in their history, but it failed to receive an international release and could only be purchased overseas via mail order. Alas, the band has since reached its inevitable conclusion and called it quits earlier this year without any major fanfare or announcements in the press.

Insidious, sweet mission of love

My own personal fandom of the Verlaines goes back about a decade, shortly after the release of their second proper album Bird Dog on Flying Nun records. Having read something about them in a fanzine, I accidentally stumbled across a twelve-inch vinyl copy of the record sitting forlornly in a used-record bin. I immediately fell in love with the striking sleeve design -- a sweet, gorgeous oil painting by Straitjacket Fits drummer John Collie-and picked it up on the spot solely on the strength of the artwork alone.

The listening experience when I got home was even better, a joy from the first drop of the needle. The songs were all varyingly different, but connected by their lyrical originality, aching beauty and aggressive guitar rhythms -- signatures that would characterise Downes' output for the remainder of his career. The delicate orchestration of the arrangements on that record reminded me of Love's Forever Changes and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, and if it's not quite in the class of those superlative albums, it's very close, and indicated to me a songwriter and arranger of genuine breadth and talent. Moving from the propulsive guitar-driven bitterness of "You Forget Love," to the dramatic tension of "Slow Sad Love Song" ('Tones of resignation, "I'll probably see you round"/Beautifully put down... A beautiful put down'), through the piano rave-up of "Dippy's Last Stand" until the epic closer "CD Jimmy Jazz and Me," the Verlaines were a realization of Bird Dog's defiant, shimmering denouement: 'We live in hope.'

I didn't catch anything else by the band until their fourth album, 1991s Ready to Fly, their first recording for the American label and Warner subsidiary Slash Records when they were gobbled up during a spree of alterno-rock signings. The Verlaines contract at Slash called for seven albums, so a secure future for the band internationally seemed assured. Having had great expectations for Ready to Fly, I dismissed it after intitial listens as a crashing disappointment in a review I wrote, but re-evaluated the record after hundreds of listens and came to conclude that it's actually one of their strongest. (I tried to make up for my shame by later naming it on a year-end best-of list). I've since deliberately resisted ever rushing to such hasty judgements upon Verlaines records -- my pattern with their releases is typically one of initial indifference, then gradual amazement, and finally unconditional devotion.

Although more oriented as a rock record than was Bird Dog, Ready to Fly again showcased another batch of Downes' stirring bittersweet love songs, but things seemed a little skittish. The ferocious rhythms were still prevalent, and elements of Downes' orchestral arrangements remained ("Tremble," "Moonlight on Snow"), but the band started taking stabs at country ("Hurricane"), blues ("See You Tomorrow"), and stage musicals ("Such As I") with varying degrees of success. The best of the record was evidenced on tracks like "War in My Head," "Hole in the Ground," and "Hold On" -- all of them as good as anything released by anybody in 1991. Best of all was the bombastic, chest pounding title-track. An over-the-top stunner, I've always imagined it as a brilliant show-stopper for Liza Minelli ('though it's hard to say how a line like 'Dunedin is cold and by winter it's gonna get colder' would play at Radio City Music Hall).

Renegade good intentions turn to scorn

By the time the Verlaines subsequent release Way Out Where hit the shelves in 1993, I was a fully-fledged, hard core fan. I caught their earlier live performance in Toronto at Lee's Palace, played before an embarrassingly meager thirty-or-so patrons, and stood breathless. Despite the poor attendance, the band ripped into their set as if playing before a packed stadium. It was the best "pound-for-pound" show I've ever seen, and got me tracking down their older releases -- the solid Hallelujah All the Way Home (1985), the shaky Some Disenchanted Evening (1990), and the brilliant batch of their earliest singles and EPs that was later compiled onto the excellent Juvenilia set.

Way Out Where was the second Slash release and although not as charming as Bird Dog, was arguably the best collection of songs the Verlaines ever put together. The album was their most directly rock and roll, and padding the line-up with an extra guitarist, "Mission of Love," "Blanket Over the Sky" and "Way Out Where" became the most ferocious songs they'd ever recorded. And for balance, Downes' delicate touch on "Lucky in My Dreams," "Stay Gone," "Black Wings," and the epic closer "Dirge" made for an exceptional recording from beginning to end.

Things should have been surging upward for the band. They soon after contributed the song "Heavy 33" to the No Alternative compilation, written and recorded especially for the AIDS charity Red Hot Organization. Accompanying strong fellow efforts by the likes of Pavement, Uncle Tupelo, the Beastie Boys, Patti Smith and American Music Club, this track is probably the Verlaines recording owned by the greatest amount of people. ('Though many of those owning it may well be oblivious. Interestingly, Downes' stamp is the most prominent on the compilation, with his early nugget "Joed Out" receiving a lovely cover on the comp by his old pal Barbara Manning.) There were many fine tracks on No Alternative -- Pavement's wonderful "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence" leaps immediately to mind -- but "Heavy 33" was the best of the lot and should have focused attention onto Way Out Where and put the Verlaines over the top. It didn't, and nobody seemed to notice or care.

Worse was to follow. Slash opted out of the seven record deal and cut the band loose. For all intents and purposes, they fell off the face of the planet.

Downes, meanwhile, steadied himself by getting back into his studies and completed his PhD thesis on Gustav Mahler at the University of Otago. His varsity career is at once a source of pride and balance for Downes, but it's also something he's uncomfortable discussing in press coverage about the band, as he related to me in correspondence earlier this year:

"Articles do focus on the PhD, I guess it's an easy angle for them. From my perspective, I don't think it makes for great press. It's too easy for people to form preconceptions on the basis of that. And you know some people are gonna expect Yes or Emerson Lake and Palmer or some other orchestrated abomination. I hope my education doesn't show overtly in my music. It's there in a million ways of course, but the whole point is to move people without them noticing any obvious cleverness to my mind. A guy with a PhD can do that; so can a guy who doesn't know middle C from his arsehole. Both people are capable of crap as well, nothing's guaranteed either way. Education helps you do a wider range of things and do them quicker, but in pop music it doesn't guarantee you're going to do things better than anyone else. What criteria do you judge that on anyway? So I've got a PhD . . . big deal . . . does the music do anything for you? If it does, fine, but the writer's level of education should be a minor consideration."

Which is exactly as it should be. That said, Downes' education has provided solace in the face of dwindling record sales and half-empty concert rooms, providing him another focus of expression as well as an outside career. He's presently teaching at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand -- a kind of Rock and Roll college in Auckland that trains musicians in theory, analysis, songwriting, and performance -- and the income provides him a certain level of comfort as well as the ability to record on the side.

Feel the dark night with its cold eyes,
It'll take more than this to finish me I know

"It seems pointless to say "never again" when something might happen again one day if the planets align," Downes tells me about the future of the Verlaines. "At the moment, the band is scattered to the four winds. Perhaps like the Clean we will get together every 4-5 years and make an album, who knows, though at this point it would seem unlikely."

You can't help but detect a trace of sadness as Downes talks about his band in the past tense. The Verlaines have been an integral part of his existence for over half of his life, and the last pair of albums were arguably the most impressive work the band had ever done. The lack of commercial success on any of their output notwithstanding, Over the Moon stands as a remarkable conclusion. It's a culmination of everything the band does best, and features Downes' most mature work and lyricism, especially his love songs that are at times so earnestly romantic and bittersweet that you have to excuse yourself when he claims that they're actually about other people. The aggression of the rhythms is backed off a bit from Way Out Where, but none of the impact is lost. The songs "When I Fall," "Uncle Big Jaw's Late-Night Farewell," "Reasons For Leaving" and the scintillating album-ender "Coming Back to You" are amongst his most personal and affecting work, evoking at once the pain and loss of human relationships, and the mournful resignation and acceptance of his own fate. 'What I'm looking for, I don't know, but I got nothing to show for it,' he sings in his signature anguished wail, sounding at once hopelessly lost yet defiantly optimistic on the Verlaines career-ending track.

A fitting end to a perfectly balanced high wire act.

Remarkably, one of the more intriguing aspects of the recording for those probing a little deeper can be found in the cover artwork -- again courtesy of John Collie -- this time featuring a stark black & white photograph of dead cattle carcasses.

"The Over the Moon shots are all from a death and mayhem holiday we spent together in central Otago, trout fishing, drinking and rabbit shooting," Downes relates. "Excellent time. We have the use of a fisherman's hut on an island so would regularly go up there for long weekends trout fishing. It is a great place, and its somewhere where I used to go to get away and contemplate the world. 'To an upcountry mile, I banished my too-full head' ["Perfect Day"]. Naturally the demise of the Slash thing brought with it, fairly or unfairly, a sense of failure. Central Otago is where I thought a lot about such things and many of the songs on Over the Moon were conceived up there."

Despite the demise of the Verlaines, Downes seems to remain as motivated as ever. Last year he wrote and performed a song called "Patience is Gone" with Barbara Manning on her last album Barbara Manning in New Zealand that he's immensely proud of. And as of right now, he's presently in the studio working on a forthcoming solo album. His enthusiasm is unrestrained.

"I am in the process of recording my solo album though it is progressing slowly. They are collectively the best songs I think I have ever written, pretty much the cream of the crop from about the last three years. Even though songwriters invariably feel that about their new material, I have been living with these ones for some time and the response I've had from the odd few live gigs I've done suggests they are very strong. The plan is definitely to finish it in the next few months if possible.

"I am doing it at a home studio with a colleague from work, aiming to record about 13-14 songs if possible, time and money permitting as well of course. As far as musicians are concerned, it's just me with guitars and synthesizers. The drums and bass are all programmed and I don't see too much likelihood of any other musicians being needed. I might ask Shayne Carter [Straitjacket Fits] to do some guitar on one track. It's being produced/engineered by myself in association with Peter van der Fluit and Mike O'Neil. These guys were in a NZ pop band called the Screaming Meemees in the early 80s. Peter has been in England for years doing a lot of techno/dance stuff since then. Peter and Mike are the tech heads in the operation, Peter being the programming/sampling man -- we're using logic audio -- while Mike, who owns the studio, is the pro-tools whiz.

"This might lead you expect a very different sounding record than a Verlaines one. Yes and no. So far it sounds very much like me -- once my foghorn voice gets on it as Mr. Knox once said, it is very hard to disguise who it is anyway.

"The last couple of Verlaines records focused very much on the band, i.e. a guitar band. The solo stuff is likely to be less of a full-on guitar assault. Most of the tracks are fairly intimate anyway and stylistically it will be all over the place. But it's really too early to tell right now. So far I am delighted especially with the ease and flexibility of the technology. There is no problem thus far with things sounding sterile either which is good. I am very confident about the songs. It won't be released under the Verlaines. It will probably just be Downes, though that might change. Release? No idea. Internet? I don't know about the wisdom of record companies but then we'll just have to wait for it to be finished, give a few people a listen and see if anyone goes for it."


Discography retrospective

Dunedin Double EP
(Flying Nun Records, 1982)
Angela, Crisis, You Cheat.
Graeme Downes-Guitars, Vocals
Jane Dodd-Bass
Greg Kerr-Drums
(Engineer: Chris Knox)
Downes: "First experience of recording. A major buzz. The whole thing was like fairy land. I knew so little about the recording process that overdubs were something of a revelation. I remember listening back to the guitars on "You Cheat" going, wow, cool."

Death and the Maiden 45
(Flying Nun, 1983)
Death and the Maiden, CD Jimmy Jazz & Me.
Graeme Downes-Guitar, Vocals
Jane Dodd-Bass
Alan Haig-Drums
(Engineer: Bill Latimer)
Downes: "Flying Nun booked us and Sneaky Feelings in for an overnight session. Sneaky Feelings recorded their single first from about 7 'til midnight. We went from there until about 7.00am. I remember trying to get Alan to drum it faster but he always locked in to the same tempo no matter what (I'm glad he did now). I chain smoked Camel cigarettes and sang up in to the mic pointing down at about 45 degrees to try to rough up my voice. Sorta succeeded. The backing vocals had everyone from the two bands and Chris Knox in a big circle around one mic, which is why it sounds so messy in the first chorus. We stripped it down to just Jane and Chris in the final chorus but didn't bother redoing the first one . . . what the hey."

10 O'clock in the Afternoon EP
(Flying Nun, 1984)
Baud to Tears, Pyromaniac, Joed Out, Burlesque, Wind Song, You Say You.
Graeme Downes-Guitar, Oboe, Violin + Vocals
Robert Yeats-Drums + Percussion
Jane Dodd-Bass, Organ + Backing Vocals
(Engineer: Terry King)
Downes: "Very cool though tense at times and a mixed result. Doing the backing vocals for "Joed Out" in one take and the guitar solo bit at the end likewise was a real buzz. It's always a great feeling when a song falls into place with no effort at all. We raided Chris Knox's kid's toy box for various toy bells and things for "Wind Song." Working with only one track for the percussion, we had several people playing different bells round one microphone. Sorta like a bell ringers' convention. I regret "You Say You" turned out as a pallid representation of the live event. Needed walls of guitars and distortion, but I didn't even know what a distortion pedal was at that time."

Hallelujah All the Way Home LP
(Flying Nun, 1985 & Homestead, 1989)
It Was Raining, All Laid On, The Lady and the Lizard, Don't Send Me Away, Lying in State, Phil too?, For the Love of Ash Grey, The Ballad of Harry Noryb.
Graeme Downes- Guitar, vocals, banjo and keyboards
Robert Yeats-Drums
Jane Dodd-Bass
(Engineer: Phil Yule)
Downes: "This was one of the greatest experiences. We had toured and saved money for about two years to pay for this recording and every hour of the day for the ten or so days that it took was meticulously planned out, guitar overdubs 3-4pm, horn player from 4-6, vocals from 6 to 11, etc. I remember almost conducting Robbie through the drum parts. Because we never demoed in those days we used to finalise the parts in the studio. He was magnificent. I was studying instrumentation at university by this stage, so I was starting to flex my imagination. It was a big thrill to hear things realised in sound after sweating over things for months before. Very emotionally draining experience. We did the vocal for "The Ballad of Harry Noryb" last; I couldn't face another take by that stage, so the vocal you hear was the first and only attempt."

Juvenilia (compilation of early singles and EPs) LP
(Homestead Records, 1988)
Death and the Maiden, Doomsday, Joed Out, Baud to Tears, Crisis, Burlesque, You Cheat, Pyromaniac, Wind Song, Angela, You Say You, New Kinda Hero, Instrumental (live), Phil Too? (live), CD Jimmy Jazz and Me.
Downes: "We remastered "You Say You." "You Cheat" was entirely remixed because it was done really badly on the Dunedin Double ep. I also sang a new vocal over it, which is louder but not entirely satisfactory, but at least you can hear the guitars at the end. It's radically different on the Juvenilia edition to what is on the original, much closer to how it was intended to sound. When we did Dunedin Double I knew nothing about making records and the concept of mixing was completely foreign. I couldn't afford to go to Auckland to do it anyway so left Sneaky Feelings in charge of mixing the songs (they were heading up that way); they did okay with the first two but took my instructions regarding "You Cheat" rather too literally. [Homestead's version of Juvenilia featured 5 tracks unavailable on the Flying Nun version -- "Doomsday," "New Kinda Hero," "Instrumental," "Phil Too?," and "CD Jimmy Jazz and Me." That latter song is the b-side version of Death and the Maiden, not the superior version later covered on Bird Dog.] The only other difference that I can remember between the NZ and US editions was in the colours used on the cover of the original vinyl release. Homestead thought the whole thing too messy and changed the colours to make the title more legible. I don't think they succeeded. The illegibility was the point after all."

Bird Dog LP
(Flying Nun, 1987 & Homestead, 1988)
Makes No Difference, You Forget Love, Take Good Care of It, Just Mum, Slow Sad Love Song, Only Dream Left, Dippy's Last Trip, Bird-Dog, Icarus Missed, C.D. Jimmy Jazz and Me.
Jane Dodd-Bass, Backing Vocals
Robbie Yeats-Drums, Xylophone
Graeme Downes-Guitars, Blues Harp, Oboe, Piano, Vocals
(Engineer: Victor Grbic)
Downes: "More instrumentation, etc. After "You Say You" [10 O'clock in the Afternoon] I lost all faith in guitars or my ability to get a decent sound out of one in the studio so I started using more orchestral instruments. Like Hallelujah, we had worked a long time to pay for it. We had tried to record "Slow Sad Love Song" live many times with mixed results. Finally tried to do it the studio. It had been waiting in line for a long time, and was the first song I had ever written. We took some guitars from "Jimmy Jazz," played it backwards and sped it up in order to transpose it from D to E, to create some of the mayhem at the end. "Jimmy Jazz" itself we had to sync up two 16-track machines in order to fit all the string and brass parts on. No automation for the mixing, so we needed about 8 sets of hands on the desk, took us about 18 hours to mix, and the mix was a performance in itself. Everybody had about ten tasks each to perform (pan this left at the chorus, ride the guitar up here and back again at the next verse, etc.). Felt good when it was done. Victor and Jane remixed "Just Mum" about ten times to get it right (Jane was living in Auckland by this stage and I had gone home to Dunedin). They hated it by the end, not surprisingly. When I got it home I thought, this is the best record I've done so far. I also thought it would be an absolute lemon, I didn't think people would get it at all."

Some Disenchanted Evening LP
(Flying Nun & Homestead, 1990)
Jesus What A Jerk, The Funniest Thing, Whatever You Run Into, Faithfully Yours, Damn Shame, This Train, Down the Road, We're All Gonna Die, Anniversary, Come Sunday, It Was.
Robbie Yeats-Drums
Mike Stoodley-Bass
Graeme Downes-Guitars, Oboe, Piano, Vocals, Xylophone
(Engineer: Victor Grbic)
Downes: "A very difficult album, with new bass player and a bit of a change in style. After the excesses in instrumentation on the previous two, I decided to strip this one down to the 3-piece as much as possible. In hindsight, I should have listened to the songs a bit more and thought about it longer rather than conceive a policy on how they should be recorded a priori. Very stressful. I got very ill and tired and sang badly for most of it. Drank a lot of whisky to keep my spirits up. Probably didn't help. A lot of people like this record because it does sound frail. It was!"

Ready To Fly LP
(Slash Records, 1991)
Gloom Junky, Overdrawn, Tremble, Such As I, Hurricane, War In My Head, Inside Out, See You Tomorrow, Hole In the Ground, Ready to Fly, Moonlight On Snow, Hold On.
Gregg Cairns-Drums
Mike Stoodley-Bass
Graeme Downes-Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards
(Engineer: Victor Grbic)
Downes: "First Slash album; again a very stressful affair. We decided to do it on our own as usual without a producer. In hindsight, we would have been better to use a producer at that stage. I'd gone about as far as I could go with my own studio expertise, and I think Victor found it stressful as well in a foreign environment and with more depending on the outcome. If we'd used someone like Joe Chiccarelli on this record it would have turned out quite different I think (Greg would have been sacked in the first few days I suspect, and the tempos would have all been slower. We tried to make up for lack of groove with excessive speed, again in hindsight not a good idea). Fun working with a harp player."

Way Out Where LP
(Slash Records, 1993)
Mission of Love, I Stare Out, This Valentine, Blanket Over the Sky, Cathedrals Under the Sea, Aches in Whisper, Way Out Where, Lucky In My Dreams, Black Wings, Stay Gone, Incarceration, Dirge.
Graeme Downes-Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards
Darren Stedman-Drums
Mike Stoodley-Bass
Paul Winders-Guitars, Vocals
(Producer: Joe Chiccarelli)
Downes: "This was a joy. Chiccarelli gave us a hard time for ten days in pre-production and nearly killed Darren. I finally learned how to get some better guitar sounds (hence, in hindsight I wish we had used Chiccarelli for Ready To Fly). A bit stressful in mixing process, tempers got flared but it turned out fine in the end. Didn't sell enough for Slash which was sad, but I learned so much doing this record, I am very thankful for the opportunity to have done it. A few of the songs turned out pretty much as I would have liked them to, particularly "Dirge," "Incarceration" and "Way Out Where," in fact most of it."

No Alternative (Various artists compilation) LP
Heavy 33
Graeme Downes-Guitars, Vocals
Darren Stedman-Drums
Mike Stoodley-Bass
Paul Winders-Guitars
(Producer: Joe Chiccarelli)
Downes: "We had only just come off tour when Paul Heck from Red Hot approached me with the project and the approaching deadline. We'd pretty much emptied the cupboard recording Way Out Where so I had to write quickly. I worked on "Heavy 33" and a version of what would eventually become "Uncle Big Jaw's Late-Night Farewell" [Over The Moon]. We initially decided that "Big Jaw" was the better option but the lyrics were crap (I don't even think it was called that at that stage) and so despite having wasted one days pre-production and only having half-a-day left we canned it and went with "Heavy 33." The song was lyrically all there but the arrangement was a bit hazy. But with Joe Chiccarelli's help -- bless him, he also took the tapes back to L.A. and remixed it on his own time -- as well some hard work on our part, we managed to get it pretty well sussed. I've often felt we could have performed it better with more time and familiarity, especially the vocal, but that's the way it is. I'm proud of it anyway."

Over The Moon LP
(Sony/Columbia NZ, 1997)
Hanging by Strands, Bonfire, Sky-Blue Window, Jailhouse 4:00am, Feather Fell, Perfect Day, When I Fall, Uncle Big Jaw's Late-Night Farewell, Dunderhead, Dawdling on the Bridge, Writing on the Wall, Reasons for Leaving, Coming Back to You.
Graeme Downes-Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards, Oboe, Cheap Shot Cello
Darren Stedman-Drums
Russell Fleming-Bass
Paul Winders-Guitars, Vocals
(Engineer: Tex Houston)
Downes: "Very cool, relatively stress free, and pretty much happy with the outcome inasmuch as it sounds pretty good next to Way Out Where even though it was recorded in Dunedin on stuff-all money. Mixed the whole thing in 4 days (started smoking again during it). The final day went from about 10.00 am to 6 the next morning. Two litres of whisky and six packets of cigarettes later (Me, Jo [Keith, partner] and Nick [Rowan, mixer]), slid down the wall and passed out. Did a great job I think, given the circumstances."

Videos:
Downes: "Yes, we made lots of those. They are awful, ill-conceived, low-budget things. If God came down on the Day of Judgement and said, "Show me the vids or proceed to hell!" my reply would be "Fuck you sunshine!" Don't have copies of the crap ones. Don't have copies of very many of them come to think of it. Videos . . . loathsome things, hate them."

The possibility of a rarities, covers, b-sides, and unreleased material comp down the track:
Downes: "There are a few songs or different versions of songs lying around, but they're all rubbish and I wouldn't consider releasing them to anybody. I never did get the hang of that side of rock & roll marketing (i.e. get the fans hooked then release as much stuff as possible 'cos they will want the complete set of your work and will buy any old crap) . . . bunch of arse! Basically any songs that never excited me sufficiently got consigned to the trash before they even finished resounding off the guitar let alone get to tape. Reputedly, Brahms wrote dozens of string quartets in his life . . . published 3 of them . . . the rest . . . smoke! Smart man . . . I admire that."



Copyright D. G. Fisher