Velvet Crush emerged as a classic power pop outfit modeled after the Raspberries and Big Star, taking shape in Rhode Island during 1989 even though its origins traced back to Champaign, Illinois. There vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck first connected and started playing together. Menck established the small Picture Book imprint in that same locale, using it to issue his own and Chastain’s solo recordings along with singles credited to the Springfields, Choo Choo Train, the Paint Set, and Bag-O-Shells. The label also put out material by Milwaukee-based White Sisters, whose guitarist Jeffrey Borchardt became friendly with Menck. After Borchardt relocated to Providence, Rhode Island in 1988, he persuaded Menck and Chastain to join him, and the trio soon launched Velvet Crush’s initial live appearances.
Longtime acquaintance Matthew Sweet oversaw the band’s 1991 debut In the Presence of Greatness, which impressed the British music press enough to secure a contract with the influential U.K. label Creation. For the 1994 follow-up Teenage Symphonies to God—its title drawn from Brian Wilson’s phrase for the music planned for the Beach Boys’ legendary SMiLe LP—the group recruited producer Mitch Easter, already noted for his contributions to R.E.M. and his leadership of Let’s Active. Solo endeavors persisted alongside band work, including Menck’s 1996 release of the solo collection The Ballad of Ric Menck. The long-awaited third Velvet Crush album, Heavy Changes, finally surfaced in 1998 on the band’s own Action Musik imprint. Without Borchardt, the remaining members reappeared in 1999 on Free Expression, followed by Rock Concert in fall 2000.
Chastain and Menck reunited with Matthew Sweet in 2002; Sweet produced and contributed multiple instruments to the resulting Soft Sounds. A harder-rocking approach marked 2004’s Stereo Blues, produced by Adam Schmitt. Although new studio activity ceased after that point, the group maintained occasional live performances. Omnivore Records issued Pre-Teen Symphonies in 2016, assembling demos and live recordings from the Teenage Symphonies to God period.
