The Verve Pipe

US rock outfit The Verve Pipe was formed by Brian Vander Ark, Brian Stout and Donny Brown in East Lansing, Michigan in 1992 and are most associated with their post-grunge hit of 1997, "The Freshmen". The band released their debut EP I've Suffered a Head Injury in 1992, which originally surfaced as a 10-track album. The Verve Pipe's second album, Pop Smear, arrived in 1993 and helped the band to secure a local following in Michigan. However, it was their third platinum-selling album Villains, released on RCA in 1996, that elevated The Verve Pipe's reputation, producing two popular singles, "Photograph" and the Number 5 Billboard Hot 100 hit "The Freshmen". Two more albums came next – 1999's The Verve Pipe and 2001's Underneath. The band took some time out until 2014 when they returned with Overboard. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Villains in 2016, The Verve Pipe played a special acoustic performance of the album at Ann Arbor's The Ark, immortalizing the performance on the 2017 live album Parachute.