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Verona Steps to the Spotlight

by Kathleen Wilson

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Andy Smull

VERONA Slow bloomers.

w/Knife in the Water, Rocky Votolato, Suffering and the Hideous Thieves

Sat Feb 22, Graceland, 9:30 pm, $7 adv.

If Seattle is malleable enough to accept a band whose frontman once led both a Bellingham pop band called Asswipe (pronounced Ah-sweep-ay) and the yellcore outfit 50 Lb. Test, then it should be able to adapt to just about anything. Unless, that is, said former frontman's newest band is one that can't be placed in any one category without spilling out into at least two others. And this just happens to be the quiet, spreading dilemma (and charm) of Verona and its founder, Seattle resident Kyle Logghe.

Having formed in 1999, Verona (which also includes guitarist Tim Franz, bassist Jacob Valentine-Moyer, and drummer David Goodman) isn't a new band when you consider the crop of impatient acts that recently sprang out of nowhere to grab Seattle's attention. Verona has been a slow bloomer, an evergreen vine--the kind of band not overtly concerned with calling out to anyone in particular, but who just might trip you up as you hurry on to something else. An unflagging cheerleader when it comes to the local music community, Logghe readily admits that his band has had a tough time getting noticed. He also realizes that his resolve to remain steady of form might have been at fault.

His dilemma is that Verona is a hard-rock band with a pop heart. Logghe's voice is forceful and well ensconced in the upper ranges, while his lyrics are unabashedly romance-wrecked. Consider the prospective audiences: butt rockers who find the lyrics embarrassing; quickly dismissive indie rockers who think Logghe sounds a little bit like Bono; and emo kids who might be put off by the harder riffs. Not an easy fit, no matter how hard you lean on it.

"We've definitely had a hard time building an audience," says Logghe. "But I think it's starting to turn around, thanks to some good press and bookers letting us open for other bands. Our fan base is beginning to grow, and I think it's a good thing that it didn't happen sooner. I listen to live recordings of us from two years ago and I can hear such a difference in my voice and the guitar playing, so we're still in the development stage, and we're definitely growing along with our fan base.

"I think the hard part has been getting people out to see us in the first place," he continues. "One of the things I like most about living in Seattle is that nearly all of my friends play or work within the music community, so many of us share that common bond. I love that any night of the week, I can go out and watch a friend's band play. It's great that there are bands like Minus the Bear, These Arms Are Snakes, Juno--bands that I respect so much, whose members are my friends, but I still look up to them musically." Logghe also thinks that the scene's current diversification (and the fact that members of long-lived bands are splitting off to form new projects) has added to its originality. "It's like everyone said, 'All right, the hype is long gone, and let's just develop all over again.' Like when Visqueen came out, you know? I was a total Fastbacks fan, so I went to [Visqueen's] first show a year and a half ago and was blown away. And the New Mexicans? Totally awesome. Once for Kicks is awesome, and I wish they'd get more attention."

Perhaps Logghe is too much of a booster and not enough of an attention-grabber. "We've been really lucky this year because Matt Bayles of Minus the Bear recorded us for free, and Jason Lajuenesse from Graceland put us on some really good bills," he says. "Then William Goldsmith called and asked if we wanted to go to Los Angeles and open up for the Fire Theft, and I was like, 'What?!' [Goldsmith's former band] Sunny Day Real Estate was one of the reasons I started playing in a band in Bellingham years ago. Of course the L.A. show was sold out, and since then we've been getting tons of e-mail, and our fan base has just taken off--well, as fast as it can, considering we do all the publicity and distribution of our CDs ourselves. I mean, we even burn our CDs one at a time." The time has come, though, for Logghe to take himself more seriously, because however long it has taken, Verona is finally due for its day in the sun.

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