Versus (band)

Versus
Origin	New York City, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock, noise rock
Years active	1990–2001, 2009 – current
Labels	TeenBeat, Caroline, Merge
Associated acts	+/-, TFT, Whysall Lane, The Pacific Ocean, Flower, Containe
Members	Richard Baluyut Fontaine Toups Edward Baluyut
Past members	Robert Hale James Baluyut Patrick Ramos

Versus is an American indie rock band formed in 1990 by Richard Baluyut, Fontaine Toups, and Edward Baluyut in New York City. Richard and Fontaine were to remain the two core members throughout the band's history. The band was 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", none 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 is 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.

The band makes an appearance in the 1994 cult road movie Half-cocked.

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.

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