Death and the Maiden

The Verlaines were another acclaimed Flying Nun band from Dunedin. Here's the video for their first single "Death & the Maiden".



The Verlaines took their name from poet Paul (not the former Thomas Miller), which when added Graeme Downes classical training and penchant for writing songs with deep musical and artistic allusions caused them to be tagged as "pretentious", which was a bad thing to be in the postpunk era.

While they were cutting this single in Auckland, the Verlaines opened a concert for the Fall which was recorded by Flying Nun for the NZ-only live album Fall In A Hole. When Mark E. Smith spotted a copy in a London record shop a few months later (for an exhorbitant price), he made an angry phone call to Chris Knox for releasing the album for import without telling him. Flying Nun had to reimburse Mark E. for all sales of the album, which caused them to go into financial duress and prevented them from promoting homegrown bands like the Verlaines.

Fortunately, the Verlaines went on to sign to a major label and have a long and fruitful career, interrupted by breaking up every decade or so. They even have a new album called Corporate Moronic coming out sometime before the end of this decade.