History Music / Verdena

Verdena are an Italian rock band hailing from Albino, Bergamo. They consist of brothers Alberto (vocals, guitar) and Luca Ferrari (drums) and Roberta Sammarelli (bass), but they're often joined by a keyboardist while they're on tour to provide backing vocals and additional instruments. Formed in 1995 when they were teenagers under the name Verbena, they changed its spelling when they found out an American band was already called like that. Their first, self-titled album was released in 1999, and showcased a heavy grunge and alternative rock influence ({{Nirvana}} and Motorpsycho being the main inspirations for their early sound) and a fondness for [[WordSaladLyrics mind-screwy lyrics]], which hardly, if ever, made sense - the focus being mainly on the sound and images provided by the words, leading to often bizarre results, though they've gotten a bit less abstract with time. Throughout the years their sound has gotten more and more varied, [[NewSoundAlbum culminating with Wow in 2011]], which arguably marked a transition from being an alternative cult band to reaching a wider audience without selling out.

Verdena are an Italian rock band hailing from Albino, Bergamo. They consist of brothers Alberto (vocals, guitar) and Luca Ferrari (drums) and Roberta Sammarelli (bass), but they're often joined by a keyboardist while they're on tour. Formed in 1995 when they were teenagers under the name Verbena, they changed its spelling when they found out an American band was already called like that. Their first, self-titled album was released in 1999, and showcased the heavy influence {{Nirvana}} had on their early sound and the [[WordSaladLyrics mind-screwiness of their lyrics]], which hardly, if ever, made sense - though they've gotten fairly better at them with time. Throughout the years their sound has gotten more and more varied, [[NewSoundAlbum culminating with Wow in 2011]], which arguably marked a transition from being an alternative cult band to becoming somehow popular without selling out.

* Scatting: "Omashee" is sung entirely like this.

* SpeakingSimlish: "Omashee" is sung entirely like this.

* GenreRoulette: Wow goes from mellow, acoustic songs to almost Industrial sounding messes to Stoner Rock to New Wave.

* StudioChatter: A pretty funny one at the beginning of "Il Tramonto Degli Stupidi", where Roberta says something unintelligible and Alberto replies more or less "Don't talk bullshit!".

** "Sorriso in Spiaggia pt 1 & pt 2" ("Smile on the Beach") is a shout-out to the TheBeachBoys album "Smile", a personal favorite of Alberto.

* GrowingTheBeard: If you listen to their first album and then listen to their most recent one, they hardly sound like the same band.

* ReclusiveArtist: While they're more than happy to appear in interviews whenever a new album comes out, between albums they disappear completely to work on more music and leave very vague messages on their official website.

** "Sorriso in Spiaggia pt 1 & pt 2" ("Smile on the Beach") is a shoutout to the TheBeachBoys album "Smile", a personal favorite of Alberto.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Elefante" sounds a bit familiar if you've heard FooFighters's "Low".
* ThrowItIn: "Scegli Me" begins with Luca saying "maybe...". The band liked it and decided to keep it in the song.
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Alberto justifies his lyrics saying that they're only meant to be abstract images.

* ShoutOut: Oh god, where do we begin...let's just say that many, many of their titles reference other bands ("Cara Prudenza" is a reference to "Dear Prudence" by TheBeatles, "Angie" shares its title with a RollingStones song, "Non Prendere L'Acme, Eugenio" is a not-so-subtle reference to [[Music/PinkFloyd "Careful With That Axe, Eugene")]], movies ("Solo Un Grande Sasso" is a quote from the movie "TheThinRedLine") or novels ("Glamodrama" references "Glamorama" by Bret Easton Ellis).

* MindScrew: Their lyrics, almost constantly. "Stenuo" turns it UpToEleven with a completely nonsensical chorus where the made-up words are treated like legit ones. [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext Yeah]].

Verdena are an Italian rock band hailing from Albino, Bergamo. They consist of brothers Alberto (vocals, guitar) and Luca Ferrari (drums) and Roberta Sammarelli (bass), but they often hire a keyboardist to play with them while they're on tour (the most recent one being Omid Jazi). Formed in 1995 when they were teenagers under the name Verbena, they changed its spelling when they found out an American band was already called like that. With the release of their first album in 1999, they soon became known for two things: the heavy influence {{Nirvana}} had on their sound and the [[WordSaladLyrics mind-screwiness of their lyrics]], which hardly, if ever, made sense - though they've gotten better at it with time. Throughout the years their sound has gotten more and more varied, [[NewSoundAlbum culminating with Wow in 2011]], which arguably marked a transition from being an alternative cult band to becoming somehow popular without selling out.

* StudioChatter: A pretty funny one at the beginning of "Il Tramonto Degli Stupidi", where Roberta says something unintelligible and Alberto replies more or less "Shut the fuck up!".

* Solo Un Grande Sasso (2001)
* Il Suicidio Dei Samurai (2004)

* SurrealMusicVideo: "Phantastica", where the band members play disguised as monkeys. "Angie", "Caños" and "Isacco Nucleare" are pretty surreal too.

* MindScrew: Their lyrics, are almost constantly. "Stenuo" turns it UpToEleven with a completely nonsensical chorus where the made-up words are treated like legit ones. [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext Yeah]].