The Verve Pipe

DOORS  OPEN AT 6:30 PM | SHOW BEGINS AT 8:00 PM

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The Verve Pipe

The Verve Pipe has spent the better part of three decades in evolution, creating a sound that transcends genre and generation. 

It's a sound rooted in pop hooks, alt-rock guitars, and the sharp songwriting of front man Brian Vander Ark. A sound that's taken the band from the golden days of late-'90s modern rock — when The Verve Pipe enjoyed multi-platinum success with hits like "Photograph" and the chart-topping "The Freshmen" — to the rule-breaking creativity of the 2010s and beyond, an era that's found the band reinventing itself with each release. Throughout it all, The Verve Pipe has released critically acclaimed music as both a major-label act and an independent band, maintaining a commitment to forward-thinking rock & roll with albums like 2021's Threads. 

Threads marks a collaborative peak for The Verve Pipe, as Brian Vander Ark shares songwriting duties with another bandmate — backup vocalist Channing Lee — for the first time in the group's 29-year history. Together, the two writers create a personal chronicle of the universal struggles we all face. Threads is an album about love, loss, abuse, addiction, relationships, romance, and revenge — an album about the human condition, in other words, laced with orchestral strings and The Verve Pipe's lifelong willingness to stretch its legs. 

"There are so many new things were able to do with Threads, sonically, and so many new themes that we wrote about," says Vander Ark, who formed the band with a group of Michigan-based friends and family in 1992. "It opened up a bigger world for us. Imagine that you're at a movie theater and you watch the previews, and the curtains are at a certain position, then the film starts and the curtains open further. That's the feeling of this record to me. The landscape is wider. It's cinematic." 

For Channing Lee, who joined the band in 2014 and made her album debut on 2017's Parachutes, the album doubles down on The Verve Pipe's longtime strengths while also exploring new ground. "The Verve Pipe has never stuck to a formula," she says. "Brian always wants to push the envelope and reinvent the band. I really respect that he's never tried to make the same hit songs over and over again, because what makes any band great is its ability to grow and change when inspiration leads you in a new direction."

On Threads, those new directions include the anthemic atmosphere of "No One's Gonna Break This Heart (Again)," the propulsive pop hooks of "Forever Reaching," the closely entwined vocal harmonies of "The Freeze," and the pop/rock classicism of "Love Will Find You Again." Brian Vander Ark pulls double duty as the album's front man and producer while his brother, Brad Vander Ark — absent from the lineup since 2001 — returns to the fold, reviving the family chemistry that lent such a unique spark to albums like 1996's Villains and 2001's Underneath. Lead guitarist Lou Musa, keyboardist Randy Sly, and drummer Zach Dubay complete the lineup, adding muscle to Brian and Channing's melodies. Sweeping string arrangements are sprinkled throughout the songs, along with lyrics about the various threads that run throughout our collective existence. 

Brian explains, "Channing came across an old Japanese legend about a red thread of fate that connects us all to those who are important in our lives. With each record, we love having a theme that we can weave our way around. It's important to me that each collection of songs can say something specific. And Threads is really about these experiences we all go through."

"It's about all the events that become pinpoints in our lives," Channing adds. "Falling in love. Getting your heart broken. Becoming sidetracked by addiction. Navigating a relationship. We're all being pulled by these big moments — these big impacts in our lives — and Brian and I viewed it as our job to tell these familiar stories, like how it feels to be in love, in a new way. With these songs, we were able to do that."

If "The Freshmen" — one of the most inescapable hits of the alternative era — introduced The Verve Pipe as young, melody-fueled Michiganders with an iconic frontman, then Threads positions them as pop/rock graduates who honor their musical past while also moving beyond it. This is the sound of a band that's still at the peak of its powers, turning the everyday experiences of modern existence into songs that are celebratory and cathartic.

"When you write a song, the song is yours until somebody hears it," Brian says. "At that point, it becomes their song, and it's no longer your baby. You can't change it. I'll work on things over and over, asking myself, 'Can I let someone else hear this song, knowing I'll never get it back again?' As a songwriter, that's a heavy weight to put on yourself. But it also raises the bar and keeps the bar high. That's one of the reasons I love playing with this band. We're better than ever, and the songs are better than ever, too

For any wheelchair or ADA needs, please contact the Box Office in advance of the performance at (202)-787-1000.

Please note that the front row of tables and chairs will be cleared for this show to create a general admission Pit. Be advised that there may be some seated areas where vision of the stage is obstructed.