The Veer Union is a Canadian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. They have released four studio albums, '' Time to Break the Spell'' (2006), '' Against the Grain'' (2009),'' Divide the Blackened Sky'' (2012), and an EP ''Life Support Part 1'' (2013). Their fourth studio album, ''

Decade A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...

'', was released on January 29, 2016. The fifth and sixth, ''Decade II:Rock & Acoustic'' and ''Decade III:Demos & Rarities'' were released on August 31, 2018, followed by ''Quarantine Collaborations'' on December 17, 2021, and recently by the EP ''Manifestations''.

History

''Time to Break the Spell'' as "Veer" (2004-2007)

The band was formed in 2004 by founders Crispin Earl, and Eric Schraeder, under the original name of "Veer". The band released one independent album, '' Time to Break the Spell'', in 2006. After the album's release, and touring with bands like

Hinder Hinder is an American rock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, formed in 2001 by lead singer Austin John Winkler, guitarist Joe "Blower" Garvey, and drummer Cody Hanson with bassist Mike Roden and guitarist Mark King joining in 2003, solidifying ...

Theory of a Deadman Theory of a Deadman (abbreviated as Theory or TOAD) is a Canadian rock band from North Delta, British Columbia. Formed in 1999, the band is currently signed to Roadrunner Records as well as 604 Records. The band includes traits of music styles, ...

Seether Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion wit ...

and

Black Stone Cherry Black Stone Cherry is an American rock band, formed in 2001 in Edmonton, Kentucky. They were signed to Roadrunner Records until 2015; the band is now signed to Mascot Label Group. The band consists of Chris Robertson (lead vocals, lead guitar), B ...

, the band was able to attract major label interest, and signed a record deal with

Universal Motown Records Universal Motown Records was an American record label that operated as a division of Universal Motown Republic Group. It was the contemporary incarnation of the legendary Motown Records label, and the "urban" half of UMG, although there were some ...

. Once signing to the label, the band decided to change their name to "The Veer Union". The band explained that it wasn't legal problems, but rather getting away from negative situations and coming together in a more positive one.

"It was more of a band decision. Before TVU we were all in other bands and not digging the situations we were in. So we "veered" away from the negativity and came together as a "Union". Originally it was Veer, when we got signed, we added the Union."

After the band received major record label attention, the album was re-issued in August 2011.

''Against the Grain'' (2008-2010)

Before releasing their debut album, they recorded and released a self-titled EP containing alternate versions of songs on their debut, and unreleased songs as well. The band released their debut album, '' Against the Grain'', on April 21, 2009. Against the Grain has reached number 32 on Billboard's

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

, and its first single, Seasons, has reached number 10 on Billboard's

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart, number 16 on the

Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

chart and number 30 on the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. "Seasons" was also the official theme song for WWE Backlash 2009,

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

, From July to September, the band supported

Sick Puppies Sick Puppies is an Australian alternative metal band formed in Sydney, New South Wales in 1997. After releasing their debut album '' Welcome to the Real World'' in 2001, the band rose to prominence in 2006 when their song " All the Same" was u ...

and Hurt in a tour throughout the U.S., and then later toured with

Cavo Cavo is an American hard rock band from St. Louis, Missouri. Because of their sound and musical influences, they are sometimes classified as post-grunge. Band history In late 2000, guitarist Chris Hobbs, bassist Ryan Kemp, and drummer Chad ...

and

Framing Hanley Framing Hanley is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2005. They released their first studio album in August 2007, titled ''The Moment''. History Formation and ''The Moment'' (2005–2009) Lead singer & songwriter Kenn ...

. Despite the band's success with the album, the single "Seasons", and reports of the band getting along very well with their record label, the band was dropped from the label after touring in support of the album ended.

''Divide the Blackened Sky'' (2011-2012)

Despite being dropped by Universal Records, the band decided to continue on without major record label support. In 2011, the band announced the title of their second album would be '' Divide the Blackened Sky,'' and would be released on smaller label Rocket Science Ventures/Red Distribution. In 2011, they held a contest to have fans submit artwork to be picked to be on the album's front cover. ''Divide the Blackened Sky'' was released on March 26, 2012, and the first single was "Bitter End". Frontman Crispin Earl said of the album, ""Our new record, ''Divide The Blackened Sky'', is a much darker and heavier effort than our previous works. It depicts all the hard times we have been through over the last couple of years." On February 22, 2012, it was announced that bassist Marc Roots and guitarist James Fiddler left the band. The band chose to use their previous bass tech, Winston Wolfe, as a touring replacement on bass, and decided to not find a replacement for Fiddler as the second guitarist, opting to continue as a four-piece band. In April 2012, the band toured with

My Darkest Days My Darkest Days was a Canadian rock band based in Peterborough, Ontario, consisting of lead singer Matt Walst, bassist Brendan McMillan, drummer Doug Oliver, and keyboardist Reid Henry. They were discovered by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, who sig ...

and

. In July 2012, the band announced intentions on releasing a fourth studio album, for release some time in 2013.

''Life Support Part 1 and Decade'' (2013-2020)

In early 2013, the band started a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

to help raise money towards working on future music. The band met the goal, and then began working on material in

Edmonton, AB Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

for an upcoming release, titled ''Life Support Part 1'', which was released on December 10, 2013. In December 2015, the band announced that they would be releasing a fourth album, consisting of Earl and an all new lineup, entitled ''

'', on January 29, 2016. The First single, "Defying Gravity", was released in the same month. The release coincides with the tenth anniversary of their first album, ''Time to Break the Spell'', and consists of five reworked unreleased tracks that were written prior to the first album, and five tracks that are completely new. In addition to Earl, new members include Ryan Ramsdell on rhythm guitar, Dan Sittler on lead guitar, Tyler Reimer on drums, and Amal Wijayanayake on bass guitar and screamed vocals. In early 2016, the ensemble travelled the southern, southeastern and Midwestern United States along with

Bridge to Grace Bridge to Grace is an American hard rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. Formed in 2012, the group has released an EP titled ''Staring in the Dark'' and a studio album named ''Origins''. Since 25 August 2017, the band has been on hiatus. H ...

, Bobaflex and Artifas.

''Slaves To The System'' (2020-present)

In August 2020, the band release a new single titled Slaves to the System with the album planning to come out early spring next year in 2021.

Musical style and influences

The band's musical style is most commonly described as

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

post-grunge Post-grunge is a derivative of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s rock bands such as Bush (British band), Bush, Candlebox and Collective So ...

. They have also been described as

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

. The band used to employ a style of dual harmonized vocals, typically between vocalist Crispin Earl and Eric Schraeder in a similar style to the band

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

, until Schraeder left in 2013, leaving vocals to only Crispin Earl. Earl has mentioned other influences of the band as

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamo ...

, and

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

Members

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2004 till:13/04/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2004 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2004 Colors = id:LeadVocals value:red legend:Lead_Vocals id:BackingVocals value:pink legend:Backing_Vocals id:LeadGuitar value:teal legend:Lead_Guitar id:RhythmGuitar value:brightgreen legend:Rhythm_Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Lines value:black legend:Releases id:other value:gray(0.5) legend:Other_Releases LineData = at:01/01/2006 color:black layer:back at:21/04/2009 color:black layer:back at:26/03/2012 color:black layer:back at:29/01/2016 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Crispin text:"Crispin Earl" bar:Eric text:"Eric Schraeder" bar:James text:"James Fiddler" bar:Ryan text:"Ryan Ramsdell" bar:Dan text:"Dan Sittler" bar:Marc text:"Marc Roots" bar:Winston text:"Winston Wolfe" bar:Amal text:"Amal Wijayanayake" bar:Neil text:"Neil Beaton" bar:Tyler text:"Tyler Reimer" bar:Ricardo text:"Ricardo Viana" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:Crispin from:01/01/2004 till:end color:LeadVocals bar:Eric from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2013 color:LeadGuitar bar:Eric from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2013 color:BackingVocals width:3 bar:James from:01/01/2004 till:22/02/2012 color:RhythmGuitar bar:James from:01/01/2004 till:22/02/2012 color:BackingVocals width:3 bar:Marc from:01/01/2004 till:22/02/2011 color:Bass bar:Winston from:22/02/2012 till:31/12/2012 color:Bass bar:Amal from:01/01/2013 till:01/01/2017 color:Bass bar:Amal from:01/01/2013 till:01/01/2017 color:BackingVocals width:3 bar:Dan from:01/01/2015 till:08/08/2020 color:LeadGuitar bar:Dan from:01/01/2015 till:08/08/2020 color:BackingVocals width:3 bar:Ryan from:07/01/2012 till:end color:RhythmGuitar bar:Neil from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2013 color:Drums bar:Tyler from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2017 color:Drums bar:Ricardo from:01/01/2017 till:end color:Drums ;Current *Crispin Earl -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

(2004–present) *Ryan Ramsdell -

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

(2012–present) *Ricardo Viana -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2017–present) ;Former *James Fiddler - guitar, backing vocals (2004–2011) *Eric Schraeder - guitar, backing vocals (2004–2013) *Marc Roots - bass (2004–2011) *Neil Beaton - drums (2004–2013) *Tyler Reimer - drums (2015–2017) *Amal Wijayanayake - bass, backing vocals (2013–2017) *Dan Sittler -

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(2014-2020) ;Touring *Winston Wolfe - bass (2012)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

*'' Decade: History of Our Evolution ''(31 August 2018)

EPs

Singles

References

External links

Official Website of The Veer Union
* Billboard's Artist Biographybr>Interview with The Veer Union on UpVenue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veer Union, The Musical groups from Vancouver Canadian post-grunge groups 2004 establishments in British Columbia Motown artists Musical groups established in 2004 Universal Motown Records artists