EXIT VERSE
Singer/guitarist Geoff Farina (Karate, Secret Stars, Glorytellers) teamed up
with drummer John Dugan (Chisel, Edsel) and bassist Pete Croke (Brokeback,
Tight Phantoms) to form Chicago's Exit Verse early in 2013. Drummer Chris
Dye (Speck Mountain, Chin Up Chin Up) replaced Dugan in 2014 shortly after
the trio’s first release, and the new lineup made their rounds in the US and
Europe armed with the songs that would become Grant No Glory. This second
set of taut rockers from Exit Verse certainly sounds born from the road
(Foghat reference intentional), as each song unfolds with the precision and
vitality that a rock band discovers steadily and methodically, city after
city.
Since Karate’s 2005 demise, Farina has continued to diversify his music
career. He recorded 3 records with his acoustic trio Glorytellers; tours and
records with singer/guitarist Chris Brokaw (Come, Codeine) and with the
Roman folk band Ardecore; and regularly tours Europe and the US carrying
only his 1935 Gibson steel-string and a ragged carryon. When he’s not
traveling, Farina teaches music history and theory at DePaul University, and
he has taught at the University of Maine and Colby College. Stalwart bassist
Pete Croke supports Brokeback, the Tight Phantoms, and a number of other
Chicago regulars; and Chris Dye teach teaches drums at Vic’s Drum Shop when
he’s not busy with Speck Mountain or Wedding Dress.
Grant No Glory was tracked by engineer Andy Hong, who has had his hand in
most of Farina’s projects since Karate’s The Bed Is in the Ocean in 1998.
Hong tracked Grant No Glory at Chicago’s Minbal studio, and Farina completed
the final mixes at Hev-E-Kreem, his amorphous home studio that was the
birthplace of the Secret Stars.
