Nearly two decades ago, the Verve Pipe's big hit "The Freshman" swept radio stations across the country. Now the band is out with a new album and will soon play concerts in Michigan. Stateside’s Emily Fox sat down with The Verve Pipe’s lead singer, Brian Vander Ark, to talk about how the band has rebranded itself over the years.
Vander Ark says the Internet changed everything; emails replaced paper mailing lists and the popularity of file sharing grew. Vander Ark says he's always embraced file sharing, and believes the dramatic change occurred in part because of consumers' desire for instant gratification.
“You can’t continue to chase that, the way things were,” Vander Ark says.
The Verve Pipe left the pop/rock scene for a while, and in the late 2000's came out with a kids album and ended up playing in places like Lollapalooza to put on shows for kids.
Now, 18 years after The Verve Pipe released "The Freshman" off of their Platinum album, "Villains", The Verve Pipe has released a new rock album.
Vander Ark says on The Verve Pipe's new album, "Overboard," he “had to get dark again.” Vander Ark says lyrically, the album focuses a lot on death and destruction.
Vander Ark says he's simplified his writing in the last two decades, and that he no longer feels the need to hide behind ambiguity and metaphors. Vander Ark says he wants to say things the way he would say them in conversation.
*Listen to the interview with Brian Vander Ark above.
