Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of “Till the End of the Day,” a rocking Kinks cover by the Verbs.
The song is from the band's new album, Cover Story, which will be released February 24 via Jay-Vee Records.
The Verbs were founded by drummer/producer Steve Jordan and Meegan Voss, frontwoman of the Poptarts and CBGB regulars the Antoinettes, plus bassist Willie Weeks (George Harrison, Eric Clapton, David Bowie) and Japanese guitarist Tamio Okuda.
"Meegan and I love the Kinks," Jordan told us. "I had the pleasure of producing a track for Ray Davies in our loft studio in New York. He's written so many great songs. Some should never be touched, but we thought this [1965 tune] is a very underrated classic, let's do it!
"We cut it twice. The first time was cool but a little too clean, so we cut it again with looser approach. We also did it layered. Tamio and I cut the basic, then Pino Palladino put bass on, then Tamio added the solo, Meegan played electrified acoustic guitar, then sang. Then I put two more guitars on myself."
"I used a cheap guitar and amp that was lying around my home studio," Okuda added. "I don’t remember the specific model."
All the songs on Cover Story were hits at some point; the band didn't try to do interpret obscure music, but simply honor their favorites. You can check out the complete track list below the Soundcloud player.
“Even in the jazz tradition, you would cover a popular tune and make it your own," Jordan said. "We played a few of these songs live in Japan on our last tour and the response was fantastic. Most of the audiences hadn't heard these songs before but they just blended seamlessly with our original material. That was the confirmation for me.”
For more about the Verbs, visit theverbs.us.
The Verbs, Cover Story:
“Till the End of the Day” (The Kinks)
“Baby Blue” (Badfinger)
“Black Is Black” (Los Bravos)
“Easy Now” (Eric Clapton)
“United We Stand” (Brotherhood of Man)
“Glad All Over” (The Dave Clark Five)
“I Saw the Light” (Todd Rundgren)
“You Showed Me” (The Byrds/The Turtles)
“Have You Ever Seen the Rain” (Creedance Clearwater Revival)
“I'm Not Lisa” (Jessi Colter)
