The Verlaines

Way Out Where The Verlaines RSD 2024 edition

After a run of acclaimed albums released via New Zealand’s Flying Nun label through the 1980s, The Verlaines signed a deal with Los Angeles-based Slash Records. By mid-1992 the band were regrouping after touring in support of Ready To Fly, their first album with their new label. Second guitarist and vocalist Paul Winders joined and new drummer Darren Stedman was recruited. With Graeme Downes and Mike Stoodley, they began rehearsals at home in Dunedin, New Zealand, working on a new set of songs that would become Way Out Where. The resulting set of songs was a bigger, denser and more muscular sounding recording compared to earlier efforts, with exhilarating distorted guitars and drums and vocals to the fore. Chicarelli pushed the band in more of a rock direction, typified by songs like the rollicking This Valentine, the monolith Blanket Over The Sky, the pop perfection of Lucky In My Dreams, and the stirring, now classic Dirge. On the tail of these sessions Chicarelli joined the band in Sydney, Australia where they cut their contribution to the No Alternative compilation, “Heavy 33”.

Way Out Where has never been issued on vinyl. Now on transparent black vinyl for Record Store Day 2024.