Versus (band)

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Versus
Origin	New York City, U.S.
Genre(s)	Indie rock
Years active	1990 – 2001
Label(s)	TeenBeat, Caroline, Merge
Associated acts	+/-, TFT, Whysall Lane, The Pacific Ocean, Flower, Containe
Members
Richard Baluyut Fontaine Toups James Baluyut Patrick Ramos
Former members
Edward Baluyut Robert Hale

Versus was an American indie rock band formed in 1990 by Richard Baluyut, Fontaine Toups and Edward Baluyut in New York City. The band were noted for their marriage of indie pop songwriting and vocal harmonies to the "loud-soft" dynamics of grunge and alternative rock. They were also noted for their proficient and disciplined musicianship and for their credo of "meat, sports and rock", neither of which had much currency in the early 1990s American indie scene. They named themselves after the Mission of Burma album Vs.

Versus has counted at least one, usually two and sometimes three of the Filipino-American Baluyut brothers as members throughout its existence, and was perhaps the most prominent example of a wave of American indie bands emerging in the early 1990s which featured Asian American members. Merge Records was Versus' most recent record label, although they have maintained a long involvement with TeenBeat Records, and released two CDs through Caroline Records in the mid 1990s.

1 Breakup and Other Projects
2 Current Status
3 Members
4 Discography
5 External links

Breakup and Other Projects

The band still continued to tour occasionally but began a recording hiatus in 2001 after it broke up for a short period and Richard Baluyut relocated to San Francisco. The members afterwards moved on to other bands - James Baluyut and Patrick Ramos formed +/-, Fontaine Toups formed The Fontaine Toups and Richard Baluyut converted his solo acoustic project Whysall Lane into a full band. Former member Edward Baluyut formed and played in The Pacific Ocean from 1996 to 2003.

Current Status

After a prolonged period of inactivity (the band had only played one show in the preceding 3 years) Versus played a private warm-up show in November 2007 and opened for Yo La Tengo at a Hanukkah show on December 4 2007. Further activity by Versus appears likely as Richard Baluyut had recently returned to live in New York City, both TFT and Whysall Lane appear to have broken up, and +/- seems to be temporarily on hold while member Chris Deaner is touring as part of Kelly Clarkson's live band. Versus opened for Love Is All at the Bowery Ballroom in June, 2008.

Members

Richard Baluyut - guitar, vocals (1990-2001)
Fontaine Toups - bass, guitar, vocals (1990-2001)
Edward Baluyut - guitar (1990-1991); drums (1992-1996)
Robert Hale - drums (1991-1992)
James Baluyut - guitar, keyboards (1995-2001)
Patrick Ramos - drums (1996-2001)

Discography

Insomnia/Astronaut [7"] Land Speed 1992
Bright Light/Forest Fire [7"] Pop Narcotic 1992
Let's Electrify [cd-ep] Remora 1993
The Stars Are Insane [cd] TeenBeat Records 1993
"Tin Foil Star" on January Working Holiday [7"] split single with Scrawl Simple Machines 1993
Frog/Go Tell It On The Mountain [7"] K Records 1994
Big Head On/N.I.T.A. [7"] TeenBeat Records 1994
"Tin Foil Star" on Working Holiday! comp. [cd] Simple Machines 1994
Dead Leaves [cd] TeenBeat Records 1995
"Reveille" on Ear of the Dragon: 19 Asian American Bands comp. [cd] Fortune 5 Records 1995
Deep Red [cd-ep] TeenBeat Records 1996
Yeah You [7"/cd5] (UK only) Caroline Records 1996
Secret Swingers [cd] Caroline Records 1996
Glitter of Love [7"/cd5] (UK only) Caroline Records 1996
Two Cents Plus Tax [cd] Caroline Records 1998
Afterglow [cd-ep] Merge Records 1999
Shangri-La [cd5] Merge Records 2000
Hurrah [cd/lp] Merge Records 2000
Drawn and Quartered [cd-ep] Insound Tour Support Series 2000