Several months after guitarist Nick McCabe announced that the Verve were on hiatus, a source has told the Sunday Mirror that neither McCabe or bassist Simon Jones are on speaking terms with singer Richard Ashcroft and the band is effectively over.
In April, McCabe announced on Myspace that, “The Verve seem to be on holiday and show no sign of not being on holiday”. However the state of the band may have been worse than previously thought with the Sunday Mirror’s source stating, “As far as Nick and Simon are concerned the Verve no longer exist”, and, “They think Richard was just using the reunion to get his solo career on track”
Amusingly back when the group reunited Ashcroft told Billboard, “The Verve are an ongoing concern. It’s not something that we’re all just gonna chuck away again”.
McCabe and Jones have managed to turn the break-up to their advantage, seizing the opportunity to form a new band with Goldfrapp’s violinist Davide Rossi and drummer Mig Shillace. Called The Black Ships, they are reportedly already recording an album which McCabe promises will be “Krautrock-style excursions… and maybe, just maybe, the killer pop record we’re toying with making”.
Read ClashMusic’s previous news story about The Black Ships HERE.
