Verbena (band) - History

History

The band was founded in the early 1990s by high school friends Scott Bondy (vocals, guitar) and Les Nuby (guitar), Duquette Johnston (bass) and Carson Lamm (Drums) under the name Volume.

Anne Marie Griffin (additional vocals, guitar) replaced Nuby and the band Volume was renamed Shallow. Eventually drummer Carson Lamm quit Shallow to play with the band Fuzzy Sons, and the original Remy Zero drummer Louis Schefano joined Shallow. Shallow released the songs "Lot" and "Always and Forever" on the compilation album Balkanize Now. Soon after, Nuby rejoined the group as drummer (replacing Schefano) and the band recorded a handful of singles and an EP for Merge Records under the new name Verbena.

Following their first full length Souls For Sale (1997), produced by Dave Fridmann and released on Setanta Records as well as Merge Records in the US, the band attracted attention from Dave Grohl, who agreed to produce its major-label debut, Into The Pink (1999) released on Capitol Records. Before recording, Johnston left the band and Griffin took over bass duties. The album's single "Baby Got Shot" received moderate modern rock radio airplay, and its music video landed in rotation on MTV2 in mid-year. Shortly afterwards, Griffin left the band and was replaced with Nick Daviston. Verbena continued as a trio and released La Musica Negra (2003), produced by Rob Schnapf, and again earned airplay for the single "Way Out West" with a music video that featured Kiefer Sutherland and Natasha Lyonne. They toured in support of La Musica Negra, often under the false name of The Alabama Boys Choir. Verbena disbanded in 2003 after extensive touring.