Verbow, 1

I believe that the band Verbow is the best thing ever to come out of my soon-to-be new hometown, Evanston, IL. But then, I also believe that Verbow is just one of the best things ever:)

Jason Narducy & Alison Chesney formed Verbow in the mid-90s as an outgrowth of their duo Jason and Alison, where she played cello and he played guitar and sang. With a bassist and drummer, they carried those elements forward to build one of the most powerful bands I've ever heard. Not just loud.....POWERFUL. Because of her imaginative cello playing and arrangements. Because of his beautiful songs and singing, and his powerful & gorgeous guitar. Because the band was tight but never formulaic.

Verbow played lots of great shows, released two amazing studio albums, and then broke up. You can hear those studio albums on MySpace:

http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.artistalbums&albumid=white-out-8103960&artistid=14069793

and there are some good live videos on YouTube (although the sound isn't great). Here's one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqSoHY-Bres

After the band broke up, Jason became the bassist in Bob Mould's band, and Alison transformed herself into the "experimental" cellist Helen Money:

http://www.helenmoney.com/launch.html

Jason also formed the band Rockets Over Sweden. They released an ep featuring some of his best songs and singing, along with a feast of power chords. Recently Jason's been heard in the band Boston Spaceships. He also plays the occasional gig around Chicago, and continues to tour and record with Bob Mould.

This month Verbow released "Live at Schuba's", a compilation of performances from 1998-2001. Containing many of their best songs, it's worth checking out. They did a well-received reunion show at Schuba's this May to celebrate the release. So maybe we'll see them again...........