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Verona Grove at Triple Rock Social Club on 8/17/07

By: David Rachac

Verona Grove - Photo by David Rachac

In the sport of horse racing, it is difficult to evaluate the likely success of a horse that has never been in a race before. Sure, there are some things that might give you a clue—like the horse’s parental lineage, the success of the trainer or speed of a non-race workout—but until you actually see what a horse can do on the track, you just don’t know if he is a champion or a candidate for the glue factory. All of the breeding and training in the world is meaningless if your horse just can’t perform when it counts. 

Handicapping a band coming out with their first major release has many of the same challenges. Verona Grove is signed to a division of Universal run by Pat Magnarella, who manages such acts as Green Day, The Goo Goo Dolls and The All-American Rejects, so Verona Grove are obviously held in high esteem by someone who knows the world of power pop/punk. Their CD, The Story Thought Over (release date of August 21), was produced by Jamie Arentzen, the guitarist from underrated pop-rock band American Hi-Fi, and is filled with 11 hook-heavy anthems reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World, The Academy Is and Quietdrive. So they have the pedigree, but could they cut it live? Even with seeing just an abbreviated eight-song set at the Triple Rock, they left no doubt in my mind that they have the chops and the vision to be the real deal. 

It isn’t just a matter of every song having a killer hook or smart lyrics or sweet harmonies, it is in the way that these young 20-somethings are able to project musically and lyrically well beyond their years. Guitarist/vocalist Tony Anders and bassist Charlie Wilhelm could have opted to try to be this year’s Fall Out Boy/Taking Back Sunday/My Chemical Romance clone—glossing all the guitars to hell and shouting out choruses that would be parroted back to them by throngs of eyeliner-wearing junior high kids—but instead, Verona Grove went for a richer, more classic power-pop sound. Part of this is no doubt due to Arentzen’s influence, whose love for Cheap Trick and Big Star is imprinted on all three of American Hi-Fi’s CDs, but Anders’ ear for a hook and a turn of a phrase has appeal well beyond the teen set and begs not to be limited to a niche sonic signature. 

Verona Grove - Photo by David Rachac

And the sound came out big and bright and bursting, starting out with “Small Town Celebrity,” a song poking fun at themselves as well as the legion of “teenage rock stars/Only 30 years old.” Anders and Wilhelm play and sing together with the ease of the long-time band mates that they are, and even though drummer Josh Helm is new to the group (he joined after the completion of the CD), the band played with precision and a disarming level of confidence, which made their whole performance feel relaxed.  They easily switched between ballads such as “No Words to Say” to uptempo songs like “Broadcast the News.” In between songs, there were small trades of friendly banter, but for the most part (probably because of their short set time), they jumped quickly into their next song with a minimum of fuss or delay. 

As enjoyable as it was watching how effortlessly they were able to fill the stage with sound and motion, I was most impressed with how the band was able to guide the timbre of their songs to be vulnerable without being weak, yearning without being cloying and positive without being sappy. Many other bands (especially ones so young) would be content to collapse into a pit of despair and doubt and sob their way through the entire show, but Anders wisely turns his lyrics upward, always looking and striving for something better, like the chorus in “A Song For The New Year:”`

'Cause a heart won't save me
And I hope that maybe
This year will be much better than the last
Tell me we're okay now, we'll forget the past
This year maybe we'll just make it through 

With the performance of their first single “Goodbye Surrender,” Verona Grove ended almost as soon as they began, which was the only disappointment of the night. But I saw enough to make me anxious for their return, knowing that they have all of the tools and talent to bring it live.


Set List
Small Town Celebrity
Everything You Dreamed
No Words To Say
I Haven’t Got Much (But I’m Getting Somewhere)
Broadcast The News
Revolution
A Song For The New Year
Goodbye Surrender

Location Info: Triple Rock Social Club
Artist Info: Verona Grove

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