News Archives
11-04-2012 -- Richard Ashcroft interview on BBC6 Radio
Richard talked to Steve Lamacq during an hour long show about The Verve's Urban Hymns - the radio show's featured 'classic album of the day', and the events surrounding it. Urban Hymns remains one of the top 20 best-selling British albums of all time.
The show opened with This Time, went to Sonnet on the break, came back with Bitter Sweet Symphony and finished with Richard's choice of Velvet Morning. Among other things Richard recounted how Liam Gallagher had contributed with the screaming on Come On and how he'd gone absolutely ballistic, and how there's no such thing as 'cool' - he was quite happy to have his Nan turn up at his gigs because she enjoyed his music!
04-03-2011 -- "My aim is to get more stuff out..."
...he [Richard Ashcroft] says, "because there's so much more and I really wouldn't like to be judged on solely what I've done so far. I haven't even really scraped the surface of what I'd like to do. My goal for the next album is to step on and somewhere fresh from (The United Nations of Sound), perhaps as closed to stripped naked as possible. That's probably what interests me after this."
And he doesn't rule out working again with The Verve, which last reunited for 2008's Forth and select live dates. "It's pretty much an open-ended thing," Ashcroft says. "When we were recording ('Forth'), I don't think anybody was thinking we were going to do something else straightaway. From my angle, it didn't all go the way I would've wished, so that affects your decision about when you'd work together again. So with the future, who knows? I'm enjoying seeing whatever comes next, and I'm not necessarily making big plans of bold statements about The Verve or anything else. We'll just have to see what happens."
Excerpt from a report on www.billboard.com (by Gary Graff, Detroit - March 04 2011)
03-03-2011 -- The Adjustment Bureau
Richard Ashcroft and composer Tom Newman (10 times Oscar-nominated)
wrote and performed a new song, Future's Bright for the opening of the forthcoming sci-fi
film The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Terence
Stamp. The film is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick.
Director George Nolfi selected images submitted by fans for an original video set to the song 'Future's Bright'. Watch here »
The film opened on 3 Mar in the US and UK.
A soundtrack album for the film is available on iTunes (US)
Listen to Future's Bright:
23-02-2011 -- US Promo video for Are You Ready?
Giorgio Testi was commissioned for the production of the US release of the Are You Ready? promo video. It was created from live footage from the show at Shepherd's Bush Empire on 16 June 2010.
Says Giorgio:
“The idea was to make it very cinematic whist keeping its live vibe. So I went for loads of slow motion shots, dolly tracks on stage, film grain, and darkness. I tried to keep the edit pace very slow and classic, using the majority of shots coming from camera angles close to the artists, to make this performance very intimate.
“We decided to apply an extreme crop on the image and use some split screen here and there, inspired by the timeless live performance by The Who at Woodstock.” watch here »
13-01-2011 -- Killing Cancer Charity Concert
Richard Ashcroft performed four acoustic songs (for setlist see gigography) at a charity concert against cancer alongside The Who, Jeff Beck, Debbie Harry & Bryon Adams at The Apollo, Hammersmith in London.
Richard was first on the bill and between songs acknowledged the recent death of his good friend Rex Sargeant, RIP. He also said he was honoured to be there.
07-12-2010 -- Richard performs intimate gig at Union Chapel, Islington
The Union Chapel, Islington - a beautiful setting for a
wonderful evening - Richard Ashcroft wowed his fans with a fully acoustic
and perfect performance, watched from the front pew by his wife Kate.
Richard thanked his fans for coming out in the cold and quipped, "There's
no sheep in the room tonight!" And he urged fans to keep up with 'brain' on his website.
He took requests from the crowd (for setlist see gigography), and closed the show with an incredible C'mon People which had the whole congregation on their feet! Richard's voice was on top
form and had never sounded better, proving he doesn't need a band, just his voice and a guitar. A nice touch was the
Christmas Card, individually signed by Richard, for each member of the RPA Club.
01-11-2010 -- Richard signed to US Record label Razor & Tie
Beka Tischker, vice president of A&R at Razor & Tie, said, "It's an honour to work with someone as esteemed as Richard. Besides being one of the seminal figures of modern British rock music, his music has touched my life. It's the icing on the cake in this business when you get to work with someone who soundtracked important parts of your life."
15-10-2010 -- Second RPA Club exclusive download released
The long awaited second exclusive RPA club members' download track was released to club members today - called Here We Go Again (lyrics available on the lyrics page).
07-08-2010 - 08-08-2010 -- Summer Sonic, Japan
The United Nations Of Sound wrapped up their international tour with two dates at Summer Sonic in Japan.
04-08-2010 -- Perth gig cancelled
The Perth show (planned for 4 August) was cancelled a few days beforehand. The reason given was commitments in Japan.
01-08-2010 -- Richard walks off stage in Queensland after only one song
At the Splendour In The Grass festival Richard Ashcroft was forced to leave the stage after only one song due to voice problems. It was rumoured he'd stormed off because of a low turn-out, but earlier in the day he'd cancelled all press interviews for health reasons.
The following is the official statement by Jazz Summers, Richard's manager:
"After three gigs in two days, including a two hour show in Sydney on Saturday night, we knew Richard would have to look after his voice for the Splendour in the Grass set so we cancelled all promotional activity for Sunday. It wasn't until he got on stage on Sunday night at Splendour that he realised his voice wouldn't make it through the set.
"I was watching the show from the sound desk and was surprised when he appeared to be missing the high notes on his opening track 'Are You Ready?'. I could sense his total frustration at the situation.
"Immediately following the show, Richard sought advice from a doctor and was ordered not to speak or sing for 72 hours. Today he is consulting a specialist in Queensland"
30-07-2010 -- RPA & The UNOS go "down under"
The band kicked off two dates in Australia in Melbourne and Sydney on 30 & 32 July respectively. A long awaited Australian visit for Ashcroft fans, the shows were well received by fans and critics alike.
25-07-2010 -- United Nations Of Sound hits the charts
The album charted No.20 in the U.K. charts.
19-07-2010 -- United Nations Of Sound is released
Debut album United Nations Of Sound by RPA & The United Nations Of Sound was released. Born Again, the second track on the album, was also released as a single for download only.
13-07-2010 - 26-07-2010 -- Richard appears on a series of radio shows in London
Richard Ashcroft appeared on five radio shows over a two week period starting with BBC-6 Radio on 13 July, and two more each on Absolute Radio and XFM. (see gigography for more details, setlists etc.)
05-06-2010 -- The European tour kicks off in Ancona, Italy
The European tour kicked off in Ancona, Italy Sat 5 June and fan reviews called it "AMAZING" - with 10 songs aired from their new album and two encores, one of which was an acoustic solo set of 3 songs. The tour continued in Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Manchester and finished off at Shepherd's Bush in London on 16 June. Songs old and new went down well with fans, with solo favourites such as Brave New World, Science Of Silence, C'Mon People, Lonely Soul, Check The Meaning, Music Is Power, A Song For The Lovers and Break The Night With Colour as well as plenty of Verve classics such as History, Weeping Willow, So Sister, The Drugs Don't Work, Sonnet, Lucky Man and Bitter Sweet Symphony.
09-04-2010 -- RPA Club launched
RPA club was launched for an annual fee of £30. In return fans receive the download only track 'Third Eye', 3 further download tracks during the next 12 months, an exclusive members only t-shirt, exclusive shows for club members, and presales on gig tickets.
18-01-2010 -- Are You Ready?
The video for Richard Ashcroft's new song, Are You Ready? (with newly formed band RPA & The United Nations of Sound) was made available to watch exclusively on NME.COM. It was also aired for the first time on Radio One's Zane Lowe show in the evening.
The song is to be included on the new album (working title Redemption).
Talking to Yahoo! Music, No. I.D. said the album is not a traditional Rock record. "It's like a gumbo fusion, it's stuff on there like the Blues. There is a little more aggressive drums than your average rock album", he said.
18-12-2009 -- Richard's new single 'The Journey' released for download
Richard Ashcroft's new song The Journey was released for download on iTunes, and is the theme music for a short film of the same name by Richard Jobson and Emma Thompson about the realities of sex trafficking. All proceeds go to the Helen Bamber Foundation.
17-12-2009 -- RPA & The United Nations of Sound !
No I.D. is to produce Richard Ashcroft's forthcoming solo album (as yet untitled) that is due out in April 2010. Richard was impressed with No I.D.'s production of Jay-Z's D.O.A. and an interview where No I.D. spoke of how some producers destroy albums just for the sales. Richard's newly formed band RPA & The United Nations Of Sound went in and recorded between 20-30 songs in New York, Los Angeles and London. String arrangements are by Benjamin Wright, the man responsible for the strings on Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, and engineered by Grammy Award-winning Motown legend Reggie Dozier (Outkast, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye). Other musicians featuring on the album include Mary J Blige’s guitarist Steve Wyreman, Paul ‘DW’ Wright (bass), and Derrick Wright (drums).
Mid 2009 -- The Verve Split.... again.... ?
Never officially announced, rumours gathered momentum of another Verve split.
25-08-2008 -- Richard performed solo
Richard Ashcroft performed a stunning solo set at The Last Days Of
Summer Festival at Stowe House in Buckinghamshire. Although Richard's
performance was followed by Athlete and headliners Supergrass, Richard was
undeniably the star of the show!
Performed in the grounds of one of the most expensive private schools in England, Richard joked about his old school using shiny toilet paper for tracing paper, and then sung his own short version of Working Class hero.
05-08-2008 -- Richard's solo career to continue
During an interview with Zane Lowe at BBC Radio 1's Maida Vale Studios, Richard Ashcroft revealed that he had every intention of continuing with his solo career, and saw no reason why it shouldn't continue alongside The Verve.
06-07-2007 -- News continues on The Verve Online
Visit The Verve Online news archives for continuing news of The Verve (reformed).
26 June 2007 -- The Verve reunion was announced.
It was announced that Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury would reunite once more to reform The Verve. It came as a huge shock to fans as only earlier in the year Richard Ashcroft was quoted as saying "There would be more chance of getting all four Beatles together on stage than a Verve reunion". Dates for a November tour were announced - 2 each for Glasgow, Blackpool and London, and an album promised for the end of the summer. Simon Tong did not rejoin fellow bandmates, but chose to continue to work with The Good, The Bad and The Queen.
