Skylarking

The Rise and Fall of The Verve Pipe Part Three

The success of the follow-up to The Verve Pipe’s I’ve Suffered A head Injury depended upon the music, as it should. “The Freshmen” (acoustic version) was a cult fan favorite, and something on the new album would have to touch people in a similar way.

I was listening to a lot of XTC back then. I was playing catch up to the rest of the band, who were absolute freaks about them. Everyone felt like XTC was the Beatles, if they had stayed together. “Dear God” was the first song that I had heard by them:

Dear God, Hope you got the letter, and I pray you can make it better down here.
I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer, but all the people that you made in your image,
See them starving on their feet, ’cause they don’t get enough to eat
From God

Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears, And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street, ’cause they can’t make opinions meet,
About God,
I can’t believe in you

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too!

Dear God, don’t know if you noticed, but your name is on a lot of quotes in this book.
Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look, and all the people that you made in your image,
Still believing that junk is true. Well I know it ain’t and so do you,
Dear God

I won’t believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners,
No Devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
You’re always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown. Those lost at sea and never found,
And it’s the same the whole world ’round. The hurt I see helps to compound,
that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Is just somebody’s unholy hoax,
And if you’re up there you’ll perceive, That my heart’s here upon my sleeve.
If there’s one thing I don’t believe in…It’s you,
Dear God.

- By Andy Partridge, From the XTC album Skylarking

That was it for me - I was hooked. I was thrilled to know that there was an entire back catalog of XTC songs to discover. I spent 1992 and 1993 listening to these albums obsessively. Skylarking was the album that had the most impact, I think. the segues from song to song, biting lyrics and harmonies had the most influence on what would be The Verve Pipe’s follow-up album, Pop Smear.

Brian Stout had to be let go, mostly for lack of work ethic. We had to work hard to get to the next level, and we needed all hands on deck to do so. Brian was a great guitarist, a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants soloist, but not very productive on the business side. He would say things like, “Me listening to CDs to learn more about music is just as important as you guys hanging up fliers for the shows.”

Enter A.J. Dunning, who’s work ethic may not have been that much stronger than Brian’s. His playing, however, was far superior. We felt it the first time that we rehearsed with him. He contributed great moments on Pop Smear, and live, people were amazed at his soloing ability, and the fact that he would smoke cigarettes on stage while playing, taking a drag between beats. It was all coming together. Great harmonies, great musicianship and top-notch writing.

At the album release party for Pop Smear, we made an ambitious move, and booked the State Theater in Kalamazoo, MI. 1500 seats would prove to be too many to fill, but even at 600 or 700 people, it looked full, and we sold an unbelievable 500 CDs. It was a terrific show, one of our best. We had a small string section and horns. We played for 2 hours, and gave everyone something to remember that night. We closed it with a crowd sing along to “The Freshmen.” This was our moment, I felt. The moment where we left the local scene behind, and were about to do great things. Finding a record label to take us to the next level was the next step. Frustratingly, It proved to be much harder than any of us had anticipated.

To Check out XTC: Dear God Video