Read Val’s Interview with Bill DeYoung of Connect Magazine in Savannah, Georgia
which talks about her influences, dreams, and what it was like touring with The Nuge.
Jan
2
Well It is january 2nd, 2011 so I’m starting the year off right. I’m going to resolve to do a better job at updating the blog more often. I feel it is important to share the experiences from the road and from the grind, as its part of journey that includes all friends and fans alike. We’re not out here just doing it for ourselves, and we’re not out here just doing it by ourselves. Music is community. Music is communication. Music is a passion worth fighting for…. especially now… more than ever.
We’re currently on I-94 heading from Jackson, MI to Chicago, IL. Then we’ll make our way north to Saskatchewan, Canada again tomorrow. It will take another 2 days of driving to get us home.
I have no idea what the specifics of this year will be. I definitely never would have predicted a Ted Nugent tour happening to me back in january of 2010.
But I can say that my plans for this year include another tour in the spring, a new record, a new side project & corresponding record for it, a whole lot more lead guitar playing (it can only get better now that’s i’ve actually started doing it), and perhaps even a book!
We’ll hit the east coast, the west coast and everything between this year too. So please spread the word and tell your friends.
I have a good feeling about music this year. I’ve been watching tv in a few places we’ve been (i don’t have my own, but i seem to catch it at friend’s houses and hotels along the way).
I think there are some really sad and uninspired things on television these days. Meaning not just garbage reality television, but also some of the music this is being played to the public right now via TV and radio.
There is a lack of creativity, honesty, and ingenuity. That’s not to say it isn’t out there. But there are some terrible things being put out right now, let’s be honest.
The business men have taken over both the business side of music AND the creative side. they don’t realize they are not the ones who are supposed to determine the music and inspirations of the time. But they have used their money to produce a certain sound, and once they figure that out, they try to keep it there, try to recreate the past, try to stick to a formula that just won’t let them down.
But I can see BIG things ahead for music in general in 2011. We are about to enter a new time. A time where reality isn’t a show, but a moral that we uphold and live by. We are in need of some great leaders at this time, and I think music is going to once again serve that purpose. Point poeple towards musicians in this respect, and some of the biggest decisions and politics of the way, will fall in the hands of musicians.
Very cool.
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Dec
11
Greetings from a snowy highway in Ohio,
We are on night 7 of the No Place tour and rocking solid. We played in an awesome venue last night in Cincinnati. It was called The Heart of the Mind and was an old red brick church from the turn of last century. It still had the giant bell in the bell tower even, and we definitely made sure to give it a few good rings last night after a couple winter cocktails. The neighborhood consisted almost entirely of abandoned houses, so not too many locals would have been disturbed by our late night hallelujah celebration, but I can’t say the same for the dogs in the neighborhood. After the bell rang out in the snowy Cincinnati night, the dogs actually formed a kind of hallelujah choir.
On drums this tour is the thunderous Tristan Helgason, born and raised in the heart of the Canadian prairies, and appearing more like a wild man Viking each and every day.
On the bass guitar is the pride of Warrenville, IL., Mr. Timothy Eads. Tim comes from a family of musical brothers, and the only complaint anyone has ever uttered about him (though I am weary of even describing it as a complaint at all) is that he might possibly be “too nice”.
I am so thankful to be on the road with some cool cats. And the shows are ROCKING!
Knucklehead’s in Kansas City, MO is the coolest blues club I’ve ever been to. In Atkins, Arkansas we met Wayne Webster who had a heart of gold and a wonderful GIANT family who all took us in and treated us like royalty. The show there was at the Hole in the Wall venue, and we shared the stage with a red hot chicken picker named Luke Williams. Luke opened up the show, and then we asked him on stage to jam out our set with us…he was just too good! Only 18 years old, and already an experienced performer, Luke is going to do big things…there is no doubt in my mind.
In Nashville we shared the stage with a band called The Levees who always put on a polished and electrifying live show. Dan Cohen who plays guitar in the Levees is also a cowriter on my song “Dark Sister’. He joined us on stage to perform the song and jammed out The Bad Girl Touch with us as well.
Last night’s show at the old vibey church on the hill in Cincinnati known as The Heart of The Mind, was highlighted by the saxophone playing of a man known as “Lightening” He was playing sax in the opening band, but we asked him up to jam out with us and sparks flew! His sax solo on our slow bluesy song “Drink My Life Away” was soul wrenching. When we did Bad Girl Touch, Lightening put an extra bend in his knees, let one arm go flying into the air, and did a crazed body shake while belting out a perfectly nasty note on his sax solo.
I could go on for hours about all the interesting, quirky, kind, good hearted, strong willed, hopeful, and inspiring people we’ve met.
And the tour isn’t even half done! If we’re coming to your area, I hope to see you soon!
And if you are out of our path of musical destruction and rebuilding, hold on to your hats and we’ll see you in the spring time!!!
Rock n roll is more alive today than ever. The phonies and the greedy have been weeded out. There is no money to fight over anymore, and the only ones that are left out on the road right now, are the ones who are living day to day, making just enough to survive, and living out adventures that most people might only ever dream about.
I haven’t owned a TV in 3 years. I don’t miss it at all. I don’t watch the Jersey Shore, and I don’t watch Entourage. I am grateful and lucky enough to live my own reality show, my own life of wild adventures and twists and turns. There are no cameras, there are no producers. This is Woody Guthrie. This is Jack Kerouac. This is Motown. This is the Seattle grunge movement. This is Townes Van Zandt and Malcolm Holcombe. This is Bob Lefsetz being a more relevant critic on the music business than Rolling Stone Magazine is anymore. This is Hendrix at Woodstock and Richie Havens improving as an opener. This is the Beatles playing their first show in America, and The Band playing their last show with a line up of friends sharing the stage with them as rock n roll royalty. This is Jeff Beck still on tour in 2010 at the top of his game, and Ted Nugent playing 2 hours straight in 110 degree Arkansas heat in the middle of July at the age of 62.
Maybe some people just forgot about rock n roll. But the people living it didn’t. It’s all the things that happen when you aren’t playing music, that allow you to fall in love with rock n roll. And while so many girls my age are busy worrying about if they are thin enough to be in the music industry, or pretty enough, or stylish enough (and to be completely honest I suppose I’ve wondered these things myself in my weaker moments), here I am in a disheveled state and I couldn’t be happier. We’re cruising through the back woods of Ohio and West Virginia, yesterday’s grime is still on my teeth, yesterday’s clothes on my back, and yesterday’s need for a shower still existing today. I am the most broke, the most unkempt, the most NOT skinny I’ve ever been! I’m Clint Eastwood… I’m dirty AND hairy! And in the last 7 days I’ve played more guitar solos than I previously had in my entire life. In the last year I’ve come face to face with my heroes from Creedance Clearwater Revival, I’ve shook hands with Billy Gibbons and hugged Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, I’ve spoken to guitar great Eric Johnson about the trickiness of Mastering an album, I had my hero Tom Morello see me play and say “hello” in Los Angeles, I’ve sat in on a studio session in Nashville where Brent Mason laid down flawless guitar solos over and over agaiin, and then in a moment “picked” which one would be the keeper. I’ve sat in on a mixing session with Andy Wallace, my favorite Sound engineer of all time, and heard his banter with the great GGGarth Richardson and Chris Shaw over dinner and drinks, scoffing at the production requests of over stressed and under educated A & R executives, and tell their stories of the great musicians they’ve work with like excited fans themselves. And of course how can I leave out getting to open 40 shows for the Motor City Madman himself, and on a few occasions actually sharing the stage with Ted Nugent when we performed a duet to his song “Never Stop Dreaming”.
I too am a music fan. A fan or great musicians, great talents in the industry both on stage and off, and obviously these things I have listed above are special to me because of what these people mean to me. It has nothing to do with money. I know this is true because I haven’t made any! It was purely my love of all things rock n roll, my love of its history, its lifestyle, and its spirit, that has lead me to those who share my passion. The only thing I can seem to reason from it, is that rock n roll has no requirements or admissions rules, or boundaries. And therefore to follow whatever spirit that music evokes in you, can’t possibly lead you anywhere except STRAIGHT to the promised land, and to those who laid the bricks in the path you try to follow along.
There may not be as many of us out on the road these days, or as many new bands breaking through or being financially able to stay afloat out on the highways.
But as long as the band Val Halla is out here, I know that the saga continues. Tristan, Tim, and I may never get to be rich and famous, but no one can keep us from being rock stars. We’re already living it! …And people are leaving the shows with smiling, so what else could I ever ask for?
Nov
6
Val Halla will be embarking on a 24 date U.S. tour beginning November 26th.
Please stay tuned for official dates to be posted later this week!!!
ALSO
2010 TOUR T-SHIRTS are still available for a limited time only!
Get yours before we run out! This last leg of the tour should see the last of them go!
Send $20 and requested size (S, M, L, XL, or XXL)
either through paypal to valkyrieprods@gmail.com
OR
send cheque or money order (US Funds or Canadian Funds accepted)
to
Val Halla Music
c/o Merchandising
#310 – 845 Broad St
Regina, SK. Canada
S4R 8G9
****Autographed CDs of Val Halla’s album NO PLACE are also available through the same method. Autographed copies are $15 each.
Aug
20
Jul
25
“Canadian singer/songwriter Val Halla phones our hotline just days in advance of her upcoming show at Cleveland’s House of Blues with the legendary Ted Nugent. (Show date: 7.28.10) The lovely lady describes her unique sound, her new self-released album, ‘No Place,’ what life is like on the road with the Motor City Madman, her new music video, “”Stay (I Wanna Be with You)” the music scene in her new hometown, Nashville, the struggles of having her tour van broke into, and much more!”
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW HERE <<<<<CLICK
Jul
12
Float the river and the mistakes away.
Was floating in the bottle just yesterday.
The current has changed, by order of the world.
The war is still ahead, but to be fought by other girls.
A mutiny, a blasphemy, a sabotage at heart.
I’ll float away from thoughts of pain, before they even start.
Jun
29
Val Halla plays Fort Lauderdale at Revolution, opening up for Ted Nugent. June 29th, 2010
Photos by Michelle Feingold
www.MinervaPhotography.com
Jun
6
Check out the new video for Coming Home by Val Halla! Video created by Faux Reel Films!
To watch on youtube: