Verbena

Verbena was a rock band from Birmingham, Alabama, founded in the early 1990s by Scott Bondy, and Les Nuby who would become mainstays for the entirety of the bands career, despite undergoing several line-up changes. They released three albums, two of which were issued on Capitol Records.
The band was founded in the early 1990s by high school friends Scott Bondy (vocals, guitar) and Les Nuby (guitar), Duquette Johnston (bass) and Carson Lamm (Drums) under the name Volume.

Anne Marie Griffin (additional vocals, guitar) replaced Nuby, and original Remy Zero drummer Louis Schefano joined to become the band Shallow, who released the songs «Lot» and «Always and Forever» on the compilation album Balkanize Now. Soon after, Nuby rejoined the group as drummer (replacing Schefano) and the band recorded a handful of singles and an EP for Merge Records under the new name Verbena.

Following their first full length Souls For Sale (1997), produced by Dave Fridmann and released on Setanta Records as well as Merge Records in the US, the band attracted attention from Dave Grohl, who agreed to produce its major-label debut, Into The Pink (1999) released on Capitol Records. Before recording, Johnston left the band and Griffin took over bass duties. The albums single «Baby Got Shot» received moderate modern rock radio airplay, and its music video landed in rotation on MTV2 in mid-year. Shortly afterwards, Griffin left the band and was replaced with Nick Daviston. Verbena continued as a trio and released La Musica Negra (2003), produced by Rob Schnapf, and again earned airplay for the single «Way Out West» with a music video that featured Keifer Sutherland and Natasha Lyonne. They toured in support of La Musica Negra, often under the false name of The Alabama Boys Choir. Verbena disbanded in 2003 after extensive touring.

Current projects

In the fall of 2005 Bondy and Nuby each started their own respective solo projects. Nuby had a brief stint in Amy Ray’s backing band, The Volunteers, as second guitarist throughout her Prom tour. In September 2007 Bondy released his solo debut American Hearts under the name A.A. Bondy on Superphonic Records, later re-released by Fat Possum Records the following year. Bondy released his second solo effort When The Devil’s Loose in 2009.