| It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Flashback, 1998: Despite scoring a huge hit in America with "Bittersweet Symphony," The Verve's highly contentious reworking of an orchestrated version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," things were not well within the English band.
After postponing an American tour in February to support its Stateside breakthrough, "Urban Hymns," The Verve announced plans to head out on the road with influential trip hoppers Massive Attack. But before the pairing ever had a chance to materialize, Verve guitarist Nick McCabe dropped out of the band, and a few weeks later, Massive Attack dropped off the tour.
By then, the writing was clearly on the wall. Despite soldiering on through a summer tour of the U.S. and Europe that concluded with a concert before 100,000 Dubliners at Slane Castle in August, the band had effectively run its course. Eight months later, in April 1999, The Verve announced that it had called it quits.
Former frontman Richard Ashcroft almost immediately begun work on his first solo record, enlisting the aid of his wife, keyboardist Kate Radley, Verve drummer Peter Salisbury, and pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole, who filled in for McCabe on the last Verve tour. A few months later, Ashcroft and Radley would discover that she was pregnant. (The couple's first child, Sonny, was born this past March.)
Ashcroft's resulting album, "Alone With Everybody," is a sweeping, emotion-laden record that offers a snapshot of the artist at several different crossroads, both in terms of his career and his personal life. MTV News' David Basham recently sat down with Ashcroft and discussed the new album, its poetic origins, and the songwriter's fascination with literary dualities and New York City.
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MTV: The Verve's last album, "Urban Hymns," started off as a solo project before you re-enlisted the band. Did that separation make it easier to approach the making of this album?
Richard Ashcroft: I think I've suffered in the past for kind of getting somewhere and then having to start again. It would have been a lot easier if the ["Urban Hymns"] album had been my album and this was my second album. Constantly doing comebacks [means that] so much weight is put on a record before it's even been finished.
To me, I look upon this record as the first time I've put a collection of songs together, all self-written, a flowing 13 tracks. It's my first record, really. I did seven songs on the last [Verve] album, so I'm in my very early days as far as the songwriting is concerned. I've only written 25, 26 songs. But I was aware of the pressure. I'm aware of the pressure of coming from the last record, but I work on instinct and do most things on instinct, and it's only afterward that you start really analyzing what's been done.
MTV: Following the breakup of The Verve, did you seriously consider just retiring from music altogether?
Ashcroft: I think that thought is always with me. I think anyone who has chosen a certain path, they're always aware that there's a path running parallel and a completely other life waiting for them if they want it, if they're brave enough for it. I've always been aware of that. That's why the band stopped before [it finally broke up]. It was almost a statement to myself and to everybody around me that I wasn't afraid to say, "No, I've had enough of this. This is driving me crazy, and it isn't worth it."
What I'm talking about there is really, at this point in time right now, I could be lying next to a stream with my wife and my baby, looking and taking in the sky, but I've chosen to go a different route. I've chosen to be in New York City over these few days and promote the record. [RealVideo]
It's about asking when is the right time to say, "Yeah, I'm taking a step back now. I'm gonna close the door for a few years and I'm gonna invest my time in my family and the people around me." Through that, I'll probably have more empathy and write better songs.
Life, death, and mad psychedelic jamming... NEXT! >>>
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