Biography
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Years Active
1981 – present (44 years)
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Members
- Graeme Downes (1980 – present)
- Robbie Yeats
The Verlaines is a New Zealand rock band formed in 1981 in Dunedin and named after French poet Paul Verlaine.
The origins of the band can be traced back to 1979 when the group's founder Graeme Downes took direct inspiration from fellow Dunedin group, The Clean, to form a band with Craig Easton, Anita Pillai, Phillip Higham and Greg Kerr. It was in 1981 that the group made their first public appearance with their initial five-piece line-up.
The band's recorded debut was on the seminal "Dunedin Double" EP, released by Flying Nun Records in 1982 (the EP featured debut recordings of a number of bands who would go on to be central to the mythology of the Dunedin sound).
The band released albums on three different labels, plus a mini album, three singles and two compilations. In 2003, a career retrospective, You're Just Too Obscure for Me, was released. Their signature songs included Death And The Maiden, C.D. Jimmy Jazz & Me, Bird-dog and Ballad of Harry Noryb.
While led by Downes (subsequently an academic at the University of Otago), many other New Zealand musicians played guitar, bass, drums and brass instruments during the different stages of the band. These members came from, or later joined, the likes of The Chills, Snapper, the Same, The Dead C, Trash, Able Tasmans, and Sooty & Sweep to name but seven.
After a 17-year hiatus the band released "Pot Boiler" in 2007. In 2008, the group released a free online-downloadable single, Yanghtze Cod & Chips. The release "Corporate Moronic" followed in 2009, and "Untimely Meditations" in 2012.
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