Way Out Where saw The Verlaines at their most driven, but it was also a sort of submission. 

The 1993 album was written in an atmosphere of acceptance about the band’s fate, songwriter Graeme Downes says. It was the Dunedin band’s second release on the American independent label Slash, and he knew it was something of a valediction 

“To a certain extent it’s a farewell to the big time dreams,” Downes says. “This was probably the last hurrah in terms of being with a relatively big American record company.” 

As a consequence, the songs on Way Out Where are grounded in a lot of deep philosophical ideas, as well as literary illusions.  

It was the culmination of more than 10 years of creativity, and served as an ellipsis on The Verlaines career, although further albums would ultimately materialise.  

An important turning point had arrived in 1988, when legendary New Zealand independent label Flying Nun was subsumed into the Australian Mushroom Records juggernaut.  

Unhappy with that prospect, The Verlaines sought a new label that would better further their interests. Their manager, Downes’ wife Jo, approached Los Angeles based Slash, who eventually offered a seven album deal.  

The band already had a good following in North America, as earlier records had been released there. The 1987 album Bird Dog had charted highly in the College Radio Charts. 

“We had already had a pretty good run with the early records, and we’d been there in 1989 for the first time,” Downes says. “The kids were digging it on the college campuses.” 

Ready to Fly in 1991 was the first of the Slash albums. Recorded in Australia, it failed to meet the label’s expectations.  

Downes recalls that when they returned to Dunedin after touring, the record company gave him a deadline of just a month to write and demo the next album. 

While that was never going to be possible, he did work harder than ever on the songs that became Way Out Where. 

“I think it took three or maybe four months,” Downes says. “That was getting up at six o’clock in the morning every day and working my arse off. I’m proud of the work ethic that went into producing that batch of songs.”

It was a busy time in the songwriter’s life, with his young family in Dunedin, and the completion of a doctoral thesis on Austrian composer Mahler.  

The Verlaines were also changing. Bassist Mike Stoodley had joined before Ready to Fly, while drummer Darren Stedman and guitarist Paul Winders came aboard in mid-1992. 

They now quartet almost immediately began rehearsing Downes’ new songs, before flying to Los Angeles to record Way Out Where in early 1993. 

Thanks to a generous budget from Slash, they worked with producer Joe Chiccarelli. The Grammy Award-winner’s recording credits also include the White Stripes and Frank Zappa. 

“It was a pretty grueling process, but the greatest learning curve in my life in terms of how you record,” Downes says. “You have to be with a record company with a certain amount of heft to be able to afford that experience. I’ve tried to keep his standards with me for 30 years now.” 

Having rehearsed with Chiccarelli for 10 days, the band then recorded between various studios, including NRG in North Hollywood where the drums were tracked.  

The producer was particularly tough on Stedman, Downes says, making sure that the drum grooves were perfect. 

Way Out Where was released late in 1993, and The Verlaines toured extensively to promote it, including seven weeks supporting indie favourites Buffalo Tom across the US and the UK.  

But unfortunately the band never found the wider acclaim that they deserved. 

“We tried our hardest and toured our guts out,” Downes reflects. “I thought they were a great bunch of songs, and we were a pretty hot band at the time. But if they’re not going to take, they’re not going to take.” 

And so when The Verlaines returned to Dunedin, the aspirations changed. Focusing on other things, Downes raised his family and eventually pursued a successful academic career. 

The fact that there’s still interest in The Verlaines, and Way Out Where is finally being released on vinyl 30 years later, is clearly satisfying for the songwriter. 

This Record Store Day release, and other recent Verlaines reissues on North Carolina label Schoolkids Records, have been coordinated by Stedman.  

Way Out Where has been remastered for vinyl by Frank Arkwright at London’s Abbey Road, and Stedman says, “there’s much more space in the music and a border, more muscular bottom end.” 

For Downes, it’s a bit of a miracle that Way Out Where is having a second chance to be heard. 

“Most things just disappear without a trace,” he notes. “There’s not many people in any kind of club where the work they did 30 years ago has any cachet with the audience. There’s a bit of an ego stroke in that I guess.” 

• Way Out Where is released on vinyl by Schoolkids Records on Record Store Day, Saturday April 20