Back before Jason Narducy became an in-demand musician who’s played in Bob Mould’s band, Superchunk, Sunny Day Real Estate, a star-studded R.E.M. tribute band with Michael Shannon, and more, and before he launched his own band Split Single, Jason was a preteen who played guitar in the Evanston, IL band Verböten, who lasted for just one year but had at least one now-famous fan: singer Tracey Bradford’s cousin Dave Grohl. Grohl’s testimonial about Verböten in the Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways documentary series became the inspiration for a musical called Verböten: A Story About How Punk Saves Lives, and now Verböten have reunited to release their first-ever album. It was recorded at Chicago’s Electrical Audio, and it comes out on October 14 via Inside Outside Records (pre-order)
Jason is the only member who went on to have a prolific, active music career, but it was Tracey’s idea to reunite. “It never even occurred to me that they would want to reunite because they hadn’t played music in four decades,” says Jason via press release.
Rounded out by original bassist Chris Kean and new drummer John Carroll (Muca Pazza, Paper Mice, 88 Fingers Louie), who replaced original drummer Zack Kantor with Zack’s blessing, the band decided to write entirely new songs, rather than repurposing material they wrote as kids 40 years ago. “We asked ourselves, ‘What was it that inspired us in the 80s?’,” Jason reflects. “There were a lot of bands that were political, so we decided to lead this record with two highly political songs that are rip your face off, aggressive.”
“This is the punk rock record we always wanted to make,” he adds. “That’s what we wanted to do as kids—we just weren’t able to do it. This is how I imagined this band would have grown if we had stayed a band.”
Chris Kean says “it was easy and natural to play together again. It didn’t really feel like decades had passed. The new songs capture the spirit and energy of who we were then and who we are now.” Tracey adds, “The most important part of our band besides the music, is the lifetime friendship and respect to each other. We gel seamlessly as soon as we start. It’s like time has not elapsed except Jason is a better leader, musician, and writer.”
The first single is one of those aforementioned political songs, “Bodily Autonomy.” It’s a fiery ripper, and if you like the various bands that Jason plays in now, you’ll probably dig this too. Check it out below.
Verböten will also play their first show since 1983 on the Saturday (9/21) of Riot Fest.
Tracklist
1. No More Indecision
2. Bodily Autonomy
3. Kicking Away
4. Machine
5. Lost In My Skin
6. Dark Things
7. Better Life
8. Full Disruption
9. Radiate
10. Human Division
11. Scam Culture
12. Conviction Of Youth
