AJ Morocco: April 17, 2011

Urban Verbs

1. Origins

   
   
   Urban Verbs started in 1977 out of the ashes of The Controls, a short-lived art punk band. Both bands were fronted by singer and songwriter Roddy Frantz, who is the brother of Chris Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club). Along with The Slickee Boys, Overkill, The Razz, The Nurses, White Boy and Black Market Baby, the Urban Verbs were at the center of a small but burgeoning music scene in Washington DC in the late 70’s. In one of their earlier press kits, the band listed The Doors, Talking Heads, Steve Reich and Brian Eno as major influences.

2. Robert Goldstein

   The band was started by guitarist Robert Goldstein and Roddy Frantz, who both moved to DC from Pittsburgh. Frantz was attending American University and began experimenting with playing music and reading poetry (through a bullhorn) in 1976. Goldstein moved to DC from Pittsburgh to attend Foreign Service School at Georgetown. After deciding that he didn’t want a career with the CIA, Goldstein started working as an exhibition consultant for several museums and galleries around DC.

3. 1980 & First LP

   
   
   The Verbs were signed to a two record contract with Warner Brothers in 1979 by Bob Krasnow, who is best known for signing Ike & Tina Turner and The Pointer Sisters. Before recording in a proper studio, up until that point they had only recorded live tapes with Inner Ear’s Don Zientara. The LP was produced by Mike Thorne, who had produced Wire‘s “Pink Flag” LP. The Verbs were offered an opening slot for Joy Division on their 1980 tour, which was set to begin in May. When the band arrived in Toronto for the first show, they were informed of the death of Ian Curtis. Later that year, Linda France left the band and was replaced by Billy Swann.

4. Danny Frankel

   Danny played drums in the Urban Verbs, and was the only member to receive formal musical training. Danny studied jazz with Paul Motian and studied percussion with Fred Begun, who was first percussionist with the National Symphony Orchestra.

5. Damn the Critics

   Critics have dismissed the Urban Verbs (and most of the early Washington DC scene in general) since they first appeared. Rolling Stone writer (and The Who archivist) Wayne King gave both Urban Verbs LP’s two stars each. He described the band as “Progressive synthesizer-dominated music for eighties hippies”. Funny, that sounds more like a description of “Face Dances” and/or “It’s Hard” to me. But anyway. The Trouser Press is equally harsh, stating that, “Roddy Frantz’s urban-alienation lyrics, delivered in a fair approximation of David Byrne’s vocal style, typecast the group as second-string imitators. The Verbs’ records showed great potential, but this needless flaw prevented them from being taken seriously.” Of course, plenty of people took them seriously and hindsight is 20/20. Urban Verbs made a huge impression on the younger generation, most notably with Dischord Records co-founder Jeff Nelson (Minor Threat, Three). The band’s practice space at The Atlantis building (famously lamented in the Bad Brains song “At The Atlantis”) was arguably the center of the DC scene. Playing cheap shows for all ages audiences became the cornerstone of Dischord Records, and forever changed the way audiences perceived and connected with musicians. In 1980, the Atlantis Club became the 9:30 Club, which is widely regarded as one of the best independent-run venues in the country.

6. Early Shows

   Urban Verbs played their first official show in January 1978 and had a reputation as a must-see live band. The band played several art galleries in DC, including The Asta Theatre, The Museum of Temporary Art, DC Space, the Pension Building and the Corcoran School of Art. But they also made concerted effort to reach a wider audience by playing punk shows. They played CBGB’s twice in 1978, opening for The Cramps and Pere Ubu.

7. Robin Rose

   Robin was the fourth person to join Urban Verbs, he was a visual artist living in New York before moving to DC in 1975. He is also a successful painter who has had work shown at several major galleries. Robin’s synthesizer work on both Urban Verbs LP’s is nothing short of groundbreaking. The synth has always held a mysterious place in a rock band, I think that in his case, knowing WHEN to play proved to be just as interesting and dynamic as knowing WHAT to play.

8. Recording with Brian Eno

   
   
   Amazing video with early footage of the band playing in DC, matched with the audio of “Next Question” recorded with Brian Eno in 1979. Wikipedia says that they recorded another song with Eno called “Pensive Lives”, which was not re-recorded for the first LP. Both of these Eno recordings have never officially been released.

9. Linda France

   Linda played bass and piano in Urban Verbs, and was the third person to join Goldstein and Frantz under the Urban Verbs name. Linda was born in Paris and was a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied painting and commercial art before moving to DC to work as a freelance artist.

10. Reunion Shows

    
    
    Since breaking up in 1981, the Verbs have played two reunion shows, one in 1995 and one in 2008 which was recorded for NPR’s “All Things Considered”, which can be heard here