Valdez is a four piece art-rock band from Philadelphia, they released their debut album entitled ‘This’ in the spring of 2017
Bands are constantly evolving entities. When I first got together with the guys in Valdez, I had become accustomed to moving very fast when it came to recording and releasing music. Indeed, the first Valdez record was recorded in a pretty compact period of time (two weeks of tracking and one week of mixing) but we’d had the luxury of playing much of the material live before heading into the studio.
For the second record, I had planned for us to record first so that we could release the album over the summer of this year (2019). That plan has undergone a revision as both personal matters and (like Pink Floyd) the band dynamic of needing to play the tracks live beforehand, means we’re unlikely to get anything completed this year.
It’s sad but we’re all devastatingly handsome and we’ll deal with it somehow.
So for the first time in almost three years, I’m only going to be releasing one album this year and that will be the fifth and last volume of The Black Bag Archive, in December.
That’s totally cool as I’d rather we do it well as a group, rather than quickly as individuals running to my thrash metal production metronome. 🙂
It’ll be done when it’s done. Simon
The band is: Simon Godfrey, Vocals & Guitars Tom Hyatt, Bass Joe Cardillo, Keyboards Scott Miller, Drums
Bad Elephant Music is delighted to announce that Dial, the second album from progressive electronic rock project Shineback, will be released in September, with pre-orders now open at the BEM Bandcamp store.
Five years ago the release of Shineback‘s first album Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed saw the launch of the fledgling Bad Elephant Music. Its ground-breaking style, incorporating elements of rock, pop and EDM in a heady fusion of styles was widely acclaimed on its launch, with one commentator describing it as “possibly the most progressive album ever”.
Unlike its predecessor, Dial has no central story linking the songs, though the theme of communication provides a thread through the album.
“We humans do a marvelous job of failing to communicate with one another, often when it matters most”, says Shineback main man Simon Godfrey. “All the songs on Dial carry that as an underlying theme. Musically, very much like the debut album and last year’s Minotaur EP, the new record seeks to hop the fences between genres, just to enjoy the process of getting dirty while in the hunt for buried sonic treasures”.
Alongside Simon’s regular writing partner (and labelmate) Robert Ramsay, guests returning from Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed include Matt Stevens (The Fierce & The Dead), Dec Burke (Frost*, Darwin’s Radio), Hywel Bennett (Dec Burke Band) and Henry Rogers (Touchstone, Mostly Autumn). New collaborators Tom Slatter, Daniel Zambas (We Are Kin) and Simon’s bandmates in Valdez Joe Cardillo and Tom Hyatt make this album very much a Bad Elephant family affair.
Dial will be released on CD and download on 14th September 2018.
Bad Elephant Music:
http://music.badelephant.co.uk/Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/BadElephantMusic/
Twitter: @elephantbad
The last five years have been a whirlwind of activity for Simon Godfrey, the creative force behind Shineback. Since releasing Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed in 2013, Simon has married, moved from Streatham to Philadelphia, released a solo album, Motherland, under his own name as well as three instalments of the digital Black Bag Archive series, as well as forming the well-respected rock band Valdez, releasing the superb This album in 2017.
Originally emerging from the neo-prog scene of the late Eighties, Simon made the switch from drums to guitar and vocals to become part of Tinyfish, one of the mainstays of the progressive music scene in the South East of England in the early part of the twenty-first century. Simon has become recognized as one of the most distinctive and highly acclaimed songwriters of his generation. His projects cut through genre boundaries, veering wildly from acoustic introspection through power pop rock with Valdez to full-on electronic rock experimentation with Shineback.
Dial is the third part of the Shineback musical journey, following Rise up Forgotten, Return Destroyed and the Minotaur EP. Together with long-time collaborator, lyricist and spoken word artist Robert Ramsay, Simon takes us on a rollercoaster musical journey which is sure to excite and delight all lovers of adventurous rock, pop, and EDM.
When Simon isn’t creating music or playing live with Valdez across the USA he can be found bewildering fellow dogs walkers as he and Dora take their morning constitutionals.
I am very happy to be able to share with you the amazing CD cover for RIVERSEA’s 2nd album THE TIDE created for us by the wonderful Ed Unitsky…
🙂 I hope you agree that Ed has done a superb job with the artwork and made us the perfect follow up to our first album OUT OF AN ANCIENT WORLD…
Our new album THE TIDE has been 4 years in the making and features the same ‘core’ group as our first album: Brendan Eyre, David Clements, Alex Cromarty and myself…
Pre-order for the album will go ‘live’ at the beginning of January (along with a video release of the title track) with the cd units ready for shipping by the end of February…
The track listing is:
1 THE TIDE
2 SHINE
3 BLASPHEMY
4 YOUR LAST DAY
5 DROWNING IN VERTIGO
6 STRANGE LAND
7 THE DESIGN
8 FALL OUT WARNING
9 GOODBYE MY FRIEND
10 TO THOSE THAT ARE LEFT BEHIND
11 UPRISING
12 THE TIDE (reprise)
We are very pleased to finally be sharing our album with the world and we can’t wait for you all to hear it…
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
