Paul Chastain and Ric Menck, with Matthew Sweet, Jeffrey Underhill, David Gibbs, Mitch Easter, Tommy Keene, Peter Phillips, Adam Schmitt, Tony Marsico, Greg Leisz, and special thanks to Geoff Merritt.
Influences
Faithfull to the grand tradition established by midwestern rock & roll groups like Cheap Trick, Pezband, Off Broadway, d'Thumbs, the Names, Shoes, Loose Lips, Take Me, Stavin Chain, E*I*E*I*O, Yipes!, Screams, the Rave, the Vertebrats, the B-Lovers, the Farm Boys, the Elvis Brothers, Weird Summer, Epicycle, Green, Luxury, Boys With Toys, the Dig Mandrakes, and the Ones.
Sounds Like
Loud guitars, rumbling bass, and clattering drums, over which a guy can be heard caterwauling.
Formed in 1985 by Paul Chastain and Ric Menck, both of whom live in Champaign, Illinois. Early demos (recorded by Willie Wells above CV Lloyd's music shop in downtown Champaign, Illinois, and Jeff Murphy at Short Order Recorder in Zion, Illinois) are eventually released by the lovingly inept Martin Whitehead on his Subway label in the UK under the Choo Choo Train moniker (These recordings are now all collected on a compact disc called Hey Wimpus: The Early Recordings of Paul Chastain & Ric Menck, available from Parasol Records). After a period of confusion, Menck and Chastain relocate to Providence, Rhode Island, which they intuitively feel will become the next Liverpool or Seattle. It never happens. While living in Providence, they hook up with Jeffrey Underhill, whom Menck knows from his work with a band called the White Sisters (Menck released their second 45 on his Picture Book label), and they decide to call their new group Velvet Crush. Slow to get going, the fledgling trio eventually develop a rather scrappy beat combo approach and soon begin making frequent treks to New York City where they befriend Louise and Hilly at CBGB's. Louise books them to play a series of shows that have since become semi-legendary amongst power pop geeks living in the Big Apple. This leads to more touring up and down the East Coast, and eventually the band travel to record with their friend Matthew Sweet at his 8-track home demo studio in Princeton, New Jersey. After three sessions Chastain, Menck and Underhill complete enough material for an album, which they decide to call In The Presence Of Greatness as a tribute to all the bands they've been influenced by. Alan McGee agrees to release the album on Creation Records in the UK, and a now defunct label called Ringer's Lactate releases it in the US. Soon VC begins flying overseas ona regular basis to play a series of small British club tours, and are eventually asked by Teenage Fanclub to open the entire British leg of their Bandwagonesque tour. Considering this the opportunity of a lifetime, VC happliy play a month of dates with the Fannies, during which they are afforded the opportunity to hear one of the greatest bands of their day tear apart an audience night after night. Completely awe-inspired, VC return to America, and after a period of negotiation with McGee, become official Creation Recording artists. A plan is hatched to begin recording what VC hope will become their mangum opus. It is decided the legendary Mitch Easter is the only man capable of producing such an effort, and the boys excitedly pack up their old blue van and head down to North Carolina. Over the summer they commence sessions for the album, which they will eventually title Teenage Symphonies to God, first in Charolette, at Reflection Studios, then outside Winston-Salem at Mitch's Drive-In Studio (in the renovated garage of his parent's home!). The record takes several months to complete. During the process former British pin-up star Stephen Duffy somehow befriends the group by telling them their music reminds him of the second Generation X album. Duffy then moves into their lavish hotel, and despite several attempts at introducing a Jackson Browne influence into VC's material, eventually realizes he's getting nowhere and splits for Alaska, leaving the boys and Mitch to finally complete the sessions unencumbered. When released, Teenage Symphonies receives a four star review in Rolling Stone, and the band find they are becoming big stars in Spain and Japan. To spread the gospel they cram into a series of econoline vans and/or business class airplane seats and bring their music to the people. To embellish the onstage cacophony, Mitch Easter is convinced to join on lead guitar, and when he can finally no longer tolerate the harrowing van rides, he is replaced by the equally legendary Tommy Keene, who immediately becomes a serious foe for Jeffrey at the art of cards. The gigging is relentless, and eventually the boys limp home exhausted and morally bankrupt. It is at this precise moment they decide to record their next (3rd) album, which unfortunately is also intend to be a "live in the studio" affair. Sessions convene back down in North Carolina with Mitch, who has now relocated to a new in-home studio called the Fidelitorium in Kernersville (the center of the universe), but it becomes immediately apparent the boys haven't prepared any new material, so most days are spent helping refurbish Mitch's house instead of actually recording. Frustrated, Underhill returns to Providence and helps recruite Peter Phillips, a fry cook who has previously played lead guitar for local legends Six Finger Satellite and Medicine Ball. This re-energize the band temporarily and they manage to complete the (3rd) album, however, the fact that it sounds like a cross between Derek & the Dominos, Mott the Hoople and Buch Owens' Buckeroos doesn't impress anyone at the label. In the wake of Oasis massive worlwide success VC are unceremoniously dropped from the Creation roster. Herein follows another period of confusion, after which Menck decides to pick up stakes and move to Los Angeles, and the band suddenly becomes bi-coastal. Out of the kindness of his heart, Alan McGee agrees to let VC release their completed (3rd) album on the privately owned Action Musik label (manufactured and distributed by the Parasol Label Group), and somehow VC manage to retain a fanbase in Japan, thanks mostly to the hard work of their friends at Sony Nippon and June Shinozaki at Sony Publishing. The third album, which they decide to call Heavy Changes, receives only mariginal reviews, and eventually Menck and Chastain feel the need to re-establish their good name and begin recording a new long player in California with old pal Matthew Sweet at his new home studio in Los Angeles. Free Expression most definitly signals a return to form, and garners a series of glowing reviews in places like Magnet Magazine. It is quietly followed by an altogether more sublime affair called Soft Sounds, which is originally intended as a Chastain solo effort until Menck horns his way in on things. A year or two later the band's 6th album, Stereo Blues, is recorded in Champaign, Illinois with a bevy of local musical luminaries, including Adam Schmitt, who is also enlisted to co-produce the album. When Stereo Blues is released Chastain and Menck realize they have come full circle. To quietly promote the release, Matthew Sweet allows VC to step up and play some of their songs in the midst of his own live concerts, which unfortunately, seems to confuse the audience more than it pleases them. Menck and Chastain realize a sabbatical is in order, and until they feel sufficiently reinspired there will be no new recordings or live performances.
Good news! The brand new powerpopcompilation "Souvenirs" is being released this week! It contains 21 great North American powerpop tracks from 1975-95. You can hear three of the songs that just have been uploaded on our Myspage page. The CD contains great tracks by Choo Choo Train, who had both Ric Menck and Paul Chastain as members and by The Reverbs that had Ric Menck as a member. The CD also contains a previously unreleased song by the great Canadian band Pointed Sticks recorded in the late 70..s. It is availabe from Not Lame Records and Kool Kat Musik, and it will very soon be available from CD Baby.
Thanks for being our friend. We love you guys and have every album. Hope to hear something new again someday! :D
You may be interested to know our brand new album, Breathing The Flood, is out today! You can check out sample tracks, buy the cd or download high-quality mp3s at the link below…
We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!
Thanks for the add. I hope Paul and Ric soon will feel reinspired again to go on with Velvet Crush. They were an inspiration for Peter and the Pets for sure! Bart (P&P)
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