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After dealing with hardship, The VeraGroove look to rebuild after two-year hardship

The VeraGroove, Greek for "Truth Groove", looks to get back into the music scene with their updated sound under new management. 

The VeraGroove, Greek for "Truth Groove", looks to get back into the music scene with their updated sound under new management. 


Coming off a two-year hiatus due to line up changes and the death of their guitarist and dear friend Stetson Lee, Phoenix band The VeraGroove has become a different animal, but it is still keeping the same message within its music. 

With original members Corey Groove on bass and Sean Lee on keys, the band rounded out the rest of the lineup with Corey's brother Johnny Groove on drums and Mark Shirtz taking up the mantle of vocal duty. 

With the group's last release being an EP from 2013, questions loomed over the future of the band, but even despite tragedy and time off, The VeraGroove looks forward to the future.  

Corey Groove spoke about the band refocusing and why bringing back The VeraGroove was necessary as they gear up for a show with Katastro for CASA’s block party on Sept. 12.

It’s been a couple years since the last release. Does the band have a lot of material stored up?

We’ve been writing since February. I left Phoenix and was playing and touring with a band from San Diego, which I came back from with a lot of knowledge. When I came back and I wanted to get The VeraGroove back together, it was similar to when the band started off when it was Sean Lee, our keyboard player, and myself. I can’t sing and Sean does back up so we were searching for a singer to come and carry us and work with us.

What was the factor that convinced you Mark Shirtz was a good choice to be the band's singer?

I found Mark on Craigslist with a well put together self-ad. He had pictures and links and I thought this guy could be someone we could do something with. We had him come in and try out and he brought this book called “The Music Lesson” by Victor Wooten, which is a bible for Sean Lee and myself. He showed initiative by asking if we wanted to jam to “The Phoenix” EP, which he wrote the lyrics down and could sing them. He showed everything we looked for in a leader.

It’s been two years since anything from VeraGroove has happened and as artists and people, you’ve progressed and changed. Is that going to reflect in the direction and sound of the music?

The music was always changing as we were making music even while we worked on “The Phoenix” with our old singer. It is going to be a different sound. We lost our guitarist Stetson Lee. He was an amazing kid. So our guitar sound is going to change but the message is still going to stay the same.

What’s the plan for the next couple months?

We are just planning on getting some shows going and getting back into the swing of things. We just signed to new management that puts us in the family tree of Authority Zero and our friends Katastro at 1212 Management. We haven’t with played them in two years so it’s great to get back with them and get playing again.

Does the genre label “Desert Reggae Soul” still apply to the goal of your music?

That was more of a joke that we put there and then the Phoenix New Times took that and it took off. It was definitely meant as a joke because every time we write we’re just trying to tell the stories of our life through our groove. That’s what the band name means. It’s Greek for “Truth Groove” and that’s the message we aim at projecting.   

Related links:

Canadian band Magic! infuses summer nights with reggae

Trevor Hall shakes up north Scottsdale with reggae rock


Reach the reporter at dloche@asu.edu or follow @DMLoche on Twitter.

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