VerseChorusVerse

VerseChorusVerse - Tony Wright

VerseChorusVerse - Manchester Cathedral, 13 October 2015

VerseChorusVerse is the moniker of Northern Irish singer-songwriter Tony Wright. He is the founding member of And So I Watch You From Afar.^[1][2]

Background

Born Michael Anthony Wright, he began learning the guitar at age eight, taught by his mother, and at age thirteen he started performing in public. He formed And So I Watch You From Afar in 2004 with members of his previous bands, PepperBook and Zombie Safari Park, Johnny Adger, Rory Friers and Chris Wee, respectively. After two albums, three EPs and seven years of touring in the USA, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Latvia, Ireland and the UK, Wright left the band in 2011.^[3]

Solo career

Wright has released three EPs, VCV EP (2011), "Six Songs" (2012) and The Inches EP (2013), and two albums, VerseChorusVerse (2014) and, "Say & Do" (2015). His second EP, "Six Songs", reached number 3 on the Bandcamp charts. It was a collection of lo-fi covers of some of his favourite alternative and punk acts, all proceeds were donated to the Action Cancer and First Fortnight charities. It was a limited release and is now deleted. To accompany his third EP, "The Inches EP", Wright moved into the moving visual art medium for the first time, releasing a video for each track, conceiving and directing two of them himself and acting in the other two. The project was called, "VerseChorusVideo", with the releases premiered on the popular Nialler9 & Harmless Noise music blogs. The first eponymous album was produced by Iain Archer and was nominated for the 2014 NI Music Prize. In 2015 he released Say & Do, a collaborative album of his original songs produced by and featuring David Lyttle. It charted at number 21 on the UK album charts and number 1 on the Amazon Blues Charts.^[4]

On 25 June 2018 he surprise released his third album, "outro", to help fund the publication of his first book later in the year. it was hailed as, "a return to the edge & dynamic he brought ASIWYFA", by The Thin Air.^[5] "outro", has been acclaimed by critics and fans alike in a slew of 4 star reviews, with The Irish Times stating the album, "...touches on a dazzling array of styles and sees Wright at the peak of his powers, writing, performing and releasing the best material he’s done since the first two, classic ASIWYFA albums"^[6] and "his VerseChorusVerse creative vehicle has grown into a fully fledged musical entity, effortlessly creating songs that can uplift and comfort – which is ultimately what great music, and art, should be all about".^[7]

He has toured with Gogol Bordello, Jesse Malin, Devin Townsend, Anneke Van Giersbergen, Daniel Johnston, Tim Wheeler of Ash, Andy Cairns of Therapy? and Jonah Matranga amongst others. His live sets are known for their honest, conversational, inclusive and energetic style.

In 2017 he finished filming for his debut motion picture, a small role in the biopic of Bert Trautmann due for release late 2018.

His contribution to Arts from Northern Ireland was recognised & rewarded by becoming Artist in Residence at The MAC Belfast for July & August 2018.

Discography

• VCV EP (Hunter Records, 2011)
• The Inches EP (Third Bar, 2013)
• VerseChorusVerse (Third Bar, 2014)
• Say & Do (with David Lyttle) (Lyte Records, 2015)
• "outro" (Kobalt Music, 2018)

References