The Verve: Interview

"The beauty of the jams is that we just don't know where we're gonna go to next," Richard Ashcroft explains of 'The Thaw Session' (the title a reference to 'Deep Freeze', the strung out, experimental secret track on 'Urban Hymns'). "It's exciting, for the four of us to do that kind of thing again. That's the only reason I'm here really, to get the four people together to create this sound. That's the buzz."

"I've been listening to some live Verve stuff," Nick McCabe enthuses. "Si found loads of live versions of things like 'Life's An Ocean', and they were getting more elaborate each night - they piss on the originals from a great height. Just us playing together, bouncing off each other."

"That's how we learnt to play music," Simon Jones continues. "Locked away in a room in Wigan, 16, 17, just jamming. The fact that we did that for 10 or whatever years, that's still there, man, that never disappears. So for this we literally just pressed record and saw what happens. And what happens is The Verve."

"That the beauty of this band - the sum is greater than the parts," says Richard. "I'm sure when Nick's playing his guitars he's buzzing off the drums and bass, or the vocals. Like when we go and listen back, we tend to buzz off somebody else. Unless you're in a slightly self-conscious state of mind and you're totally in on your own instrument. It's more really for us and the fans, who have stuck around all the years and have supported us, and me, and the whole thing as an entity. They're the people, beyond ourselves, that are really gonna appreciate this..."

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