Exclusive Interview with The Verse

May 2024 · 6 minute read

The Verse are one of the hottest up and coming bands around right now. They’ve toured with some of CelebMix’s favourite artists like Bronnie and The Hara. They’ve wowed us on the road and with some pretty awesome covers, but now they’re about to wow us with their debut single ‘Thick as Thieves’.

We had a chat to them to find out all about touring, their upcoming festival performances this summer and of course getting the scoop on their upcoming single.

For anyone who hasn’t heard of ‘The Verse’ yet, can you tell us a little bit about you? 

We are an unsigned four piece band from the Midlands playing Indie Rock Music whilst jumping around stage having a laugh! We have been together just over a year now, Jack Taplin 17 on Drums, Dean Pinnegar 17 on Bass, Alex Cottom 18 on Lead Guitar and Jack Harrison 19 on rhythm guitar and lead vocals.

How did The Verse form? 

JT and Dean were in a band previously and wanted to put another band together. They jammed with a singer who brought Alex along. JT, Dean and Alex wanted a specific sound and the singer felt more comfortable solo so they parted ways and looked for a different singer. JT spotted Jack on YouTube and stalked him till he agreed to meet for rehearsals in Birmingham. We all met up and instantly hit it off and The Verse were born.

Your music style is very upbeat and fun. Who are your musical inspirations?

We make no apologies for writing and playing upbeat anthemic music, we love it and we hope audiences do too. People go to a gig to let off some steam, jump around dance and just let go and have fun so we gravitate towards that style of music but between us it’s varied. We listen to The Hunna, Artic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Catfish, Bruno Mars, The Beatles, Drake, Nothing but Thieves, Kooks etc but our car journeys to gigs, events and rehearsals are pretty musically eclectic. It can be anything from Michael Jackson to McFly!

Your debut single ‘Thick as Thieves’ is coming out on 1st June, what can you tell us about the single? 

It’s the second track we wrote together after Woah. It’s about questioning where you stand with someone when you realise they are basically taking your love and attention for granted and are picking you up and putting you down when they want. Kind of like a power shift to one side in a relationship that a person is realising they have let happen. Musically it’s got our DNA, an upbeat melody, anthemic chorus but an arrangement that we hope is interesting and varied. Essentially we hope it makes people want to dance and jump around at a gig.

Is this going to be followed by an EP soon? 

To be honest we are undecided at the moment, we are toying with the idea of just dropping a single like every month or so for a few months or like your question maybe just putting an EP out there. If we do a monthly single drop it gives the fans something to look forward to! We are writing that much music at the moment we could drop an album every six months! 

You’ve already toured this year with some of our favourite artists, how was that?

Just wow, what a year. January with Bronnie and then April with The Hara. Those acts and Alstar Music have given us some great opportunities and amazing memories this year and we are only half way through! Bronnie’s energy on stage and her performance is fantastic and The Hara lads are excellent musicians and professionals who put on an amazing performance.

Have you got any backstage stories you can share with us? 

We think the random unplanned singalong backstage with everyone when on The Hara Tour was an amazing experience, Band Olympics with Offshore was funny as well and Harvey from Offshore still owes us a Verse tattoo on his arm for losing against JT! The bonds we all form backstage as musicians are immense and everyone is supportive of each other. 

You’ve got a summer of festivals and shows coming up, how are you preparing for these?

We’re just rehearsing really trying to get a set together that works for festivals. People want to singalong and dance more than at gigs. Front rows at gigs are full of people filming or wrapped up in the music but at festivals people want to dance, bounce and interact with you the performer more. Our set has to reflect that. We are adding a couple of new covers we are rehearsing but mainly getting our own songs nailed that we are writing.

Which other artists are you hoping to catch at Burton and Shard Fest? 

We’re looking forward to catching as many sets from different acts as possible to be honest. We’re also buzzing to catch up with acts we have gigged with but haven’t seen for a while. There are some great bands playing.

What else can we expect to see from you guys in 2018? 

We want to visit parts of the country we haven’t been or that have been to far from cities we have gigged in. We definitely want to get to Wales and down to the East Coast and the South Coast, we’re hoping our mates Offshore and Galaxy Thief will put us up when we do! We also want to continue writing, releasing and performing as much music as we can. We aren’t one of those bands desperate to get signed, we’re young so we have years for that, at the moment its about staying connected to fans, growing as musicians (Especially Dean!!) and showing People who we are as The Verse.    

Lastly, in no more then 10 words why should we all stream/download Thick as Thieves?

Jack Harrison – Download it because we like it, so you might too! 

JT – Download Thick as Thieves and bop like nobody is watching!

Alex Cottom – It will be the best three minutes of your life!

Dean Pinnegar – With our track Thick As Thieves we aim to please!

The Verse’s debut single is available to pre-order now from iTunes, and is out on 1st June, make sure you download it! Keep up to date with The Verse this summer by following them on Twitter @TheVerseOff

Are you a fan of The Verse? Let us know on Twitter @CelebMix

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