THE VERVE release a documentary video on May 10 featuring rare studio footage and live performances. The Verve – The Video ’96-’98 also features the band in the early stages of demoing songs, plus video promos for the singles from their 1997 album ‘Urban Hymns’.
Highlights on the 90-minute tape include Richard Ashcroft singing ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ for the first time in the studio, plus live footage from their triumphant 1997 Haigh Hall gig near Wigan, as well as footage from their US tour in September 1997.
The film also includes exclusive interviews with all Verve members.
The video was first planned back in March 1998, when it had the working title This Is The Verve: Do Not Panic.
The band’s spokesman said: “The band have been working on this for a while. They put it together and these things take time.”
He added that, unusually for a music video, the release was Certificate 15 – “That’s probably just for all the ‘Fucking come oooon!’s in it from Richard.”
He also confirmed that Ashcroft has again been recording tracks on his own, this time at Olympic Studios in southwest London. NME first reported that the singer had been laying down solo tracks in January.
But the spokesman stressed it did not mean that Ashcroft was embarking on a solo career.
“He’s a songwriter, so he goes into the studio and writes songs. That’s what he does.”
The spokesman remained noncommittal about the future of The Verve.
“There’s still nothing to say at the moment,” he maintained.
The band’s manager, Jaz Summers, said at the time of the band’s gig at Slane Castle in Dublin last August that it would be their last live performance and that he had no idea whether the band would ever record together again.