Ashcroft: 'Verve didn't massacre the past'

Richard Ashcroft has said that The Verve's second reunion did not "massacre" their past.

The Wigan band formed in 1990 and first broke up in 1995 before reforming for 1997's Urban Hymns. They split again in 1999 but reunited in 2007. They released Forth the following year before parting ways a third time.

Of their second reunion, Ashcroft told The Independent: "We didn't massacre the past.

"And X amount of people from a generation got to see us who never got to see us before. So, I'm trying to look at the positives now."

However, Ashcroft reportedly claimed not to have listened to Forth since the band split and could only name three songs he enjoyed on the record.

Of his new project as RPA & The United Nations of Sound, he added: "When I look at it, I could have attempted this in the '90s, 1997, when I was making 'Bitter Sweet'. I could have been working with these guys then, it just took a long time to get there.

"The idea, if there was any idea, was carrying on this dream of still believing that the roots of music can be drawn on as inspirations. And not mirrored back to you like some facsimile of what you've heard before."