Hailing from Michigan, The Verve Pipe would be best known for the late
90’s song The Freshman which tackled difficult social issues. Today we’ll
answer the question whatever happened to the verve pipe?
Hailing from East Lansing Michigan The Verve Pipe formed in 1992 by Brian Vander Ark, Brian Stout
and Donny Brown. Vander Ark at the time was in a band Johnny With an Eye & Brown played in the
group Water for the pool, while Stout worked in a studio both bands were working in. . They would
end up forming the group the Verve and putting out their first EP in 1992 titled I’ve Suffered
a Head Injury. The EP would contain their huge hit The Freshman, albeit an acoustic version.
Stout would leave the group shortly afterwards and be replaced by guitarist AJ Dunning who
would stay on for the next decade or so. Stout would leave the group with one parting
gift the band’s name. Vander Ark would tell Southjersey.com about his former bandmate
"He was in the band for four months and named it," We were talking about The Big To-Do -- an
awful name. The Big Whoop was another one. And he said, 'We're gonna call it the Verve
Pipe,' and he got up and left. Then he quit the band and left us with that horrible moniker."
The band would release their first full length LP Pop Smear the following year in 1993.
While it would be a modest seller, the band soon earned a reputation for their live shows
and developed a cult following in their home state of Michigan mostly by playing college
parties. Vander Ark would tell Entertainment Weekly ”Playing fraternity parties is the best
way for a young band to make a living, ”A lot of times you play two songs and
the cops come break it up. You’ve made your money, and the frat president apologizes.”.
Pop Smear would end up selling around 40-50000 copies and The Verve Pipe soon signed with
RCA Records in 1995. The band would work with producer Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads fame.
Vander Ark would point to his religious upbringing as leaving him and i quote “ridden with guilt,” a
subject that he frequently visits on the Verve Pipe’s major-label debut Villains.
The song photograph would be the first single released from their major label debut
and it would help vander-ark break a funk in his songwriting with the frontman telling billboard
magazine “”I was writing all these darker things, which i generally prefer and it is easier to emote
on different topics but i didn’t want to be trent reznor for a whole album.” Ironically it would be
Photograph that got the band signed to RCA and the track would be heavily influenced by the Beatles
Penny Lane. Photograph would end up peaking at number 17 on the mainstream rock charts.
The second single cup of tea did little to make much of an impact,
but then the third single released in 1997 helped the album Villain's become a huge seller.
Vander Ark would tell "We've gone through a lot of
different versions of the song, basically with the same melody, but with a different feel. It started
out as kind of me and an acoustic guitar, and then joining a rock and roll band was the dream for me.
So then having a rock and roll band, I wanted all the guys to play along and, be able to step up to
that plate, so I'm thrilled that the song is out there now, and it's pretty much complete."
The Freshmen." told the tale of two men seeing the same women during freshman’s in college.It was a
story that Vander Ark had lived himself. Vander Ark would however add one piece
of fiction adding to the story that the women took her life which in reality shed didn't.
There would be several versions of the song floating around. & the version that ended up
on Villians would be re=recorded and remixed with Black Crowes producer Jack Joseph Puig
prior to the single being released in 1997. Puig
gave the band an opportunity to see the song in a different light.Following the
success of the Freshman. Future pressings of villains replaced with Puig's version.
According to MTV he college publication "U. Magazine" would sponsor a contest
where college students letting the magazine know their most memorable experience as a freshman
with the winner getting the verve pipe to show up and play on their college campus..
The band would open 33 dates for Kiss on their reunion tour in 1996 and it was an
awful experience with Vander Ark recalling to chicago tribune Their audience doesn't
want to see anyone but KISS. We were spat on At the end of the day the Villians would sell a
whopping 1.5 million copies. The band also shared success at the same time with another band sharing
a similar name, the British group the Verve. This would sometimes create confusion among members
of the public with Vander Ark would tell South Jersey.com ? this day, people come up to me and
say, 'I love 'Bittersweet Symphony.' And I'm like, 'Thanks.' I'm sure some people bought our record
by mistake. And I'm absolutely fine with that" he'd say. Side note guys i've done a whole video
on bittersweet symphony and how the rolling stones ripped off the verve. The link is down below.
For their follow up record The Verve Pipe would hook up with producer Michael Beinhorn.
And it would be Beinhorn’s work with Soundgarden was a key reason why the band chose to work
with the producer. While the band struck out with critics with their first major release,
fans loved it. The opposite happened with their follow up record, which was self titled . With a
budget three times that of their previous album, their sophomore major release failed to land an
audience. . Vander Ark would tell chicagotribune “We went from a budget of 400K to 1.2 million,
just messing around in the studio being rockstars. The first week sales were like $8 to 9,000.
It was a slap in the face." he'd remember. Their final record with RCA 2001’s Underneath,
was their final nail in the coffin with RCA as it was released around the time of 9/11 with
Vander Ark saying to the chicago tribune “It was a demise of our own dowing U& when we finally got
it together with underneath, which we thought was our best album all the stars were aligned,
then 9/11 hit literally 4 or 5 days before our album was to be released and it just killed us.
Following the failure of the band’s Undearneath album they went on a lengthy hiatus. During
that time Vander Ark had to make ends meet and according to chicago tribune he was playing in
people’s living rooms as a way to pay his rent. This was documented in a short film
He would eventually reshape his career making money by giving speeches,
releasing solo records and scoring hollywood productions as well as doing some acting
himself. In 2009 The Verve Pipe would reconvene, but with a different twist. " The band decided to
cater more towards a younger audience - kids. The inspiration appears to have come from two places.
One source claimed it was an offer the band got to partake in a kids compilation album,
while the second one was that Vander Ark was playing around with lyrics to a song and thought
it might be fun to write songs for kids & he would tell the Philly Voice ell the Philly Voice
"We decided to go and make an album with four-part harmonies and guitar solos and the kids love it.
We make more money on the kids albums than the rock albums. Kids actually buy CDs. They want to
leave the show with something. If it weren't for our kids music, I would be at the mall
working at Guitar Center, where a lot of guys, who had hits in the '90s, are presently employed.
Their first album for children would be 2009’s a family album and 2013’s are we there yet? The
band would release their first proper follow up to 2001’s underneath with 2014’s overboard followed
by their most recent record 2017’s parachute. The Verve Pipe is still active on the touring
circuit to this day. Tha pretty much does it for today’s video guys thanks for watching. Be sure
to hit the like button and subscribe and we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.