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.
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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.
North America’s Premier Prog Festival The Rites of Spring Festival in Gettysburg, PA is proud to feature 11 great bands over 3 days in the first weekend of May 2018.
RoSfest tickets on sale today at 12:00 noon. Three Day Pass: $236.00
We are pleased to announce that Valdez and Lines in the Sky will perform at the 2018 edition of the Rites of Spring festival. And in the spirit of being progressive, we have booked both bands to perform at the opening slot on Sunday. In 2018, our faithful can look forward to two “sermons” on Sunday morning.
Valdez is a quartet based out of Philadelphia in the US, featuring the talents of singer and guitarist Simon Godfrey (Tinyfish, Shineback ), bassist Tom Hyatt (Echolyn ), keyboardist Joe Cardillo (Cold Blue Electric) and drummer Scott Miller (Stone Jack Baller). They released their debut album “This” just after ROSfest 2017, and have a new album in the pipeline.
Lines in the Sky are based out of Nashville, and was formed back in 2011, and consists of Jesse Brock (vocals, guitars), Bowman Brock (drums, percussion) and Ben McAnelly (bass). They have two albums to their name so far, “Hilasterion” (2014) and “Parallel Travel” (2016), and their third album “Beacon” is just about ready to be launched.
Both bands will have a 45 minutes long set, with a 10-minute long break in between bands so that the crew can prepare the stage and equipment for the second band. And as we are talking about Sunday morning, we rather suspect that a slight break in between bands might be a welcome feature for those in the crowd that has been a bit too festive the night before.
This is the first time we have given the “Church of Prog” slot to two bands to share. Both of them are stellar up-and-coming bands, hence this novel solution for booking both of them.We look forward to enjoying both of their performances. Of course, both bands will appear at the signing table after the concert.
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