Interviews

Interview with Valient of Valient Thorr

Published

7 years ago

July 28, 2017

Ron

Empire Extreme got to cross paths with Planet Venus legend Valient of Valient Thorr while they are still crashed on the planet earth and decided to tour with The Warped Tour. At first I wasn’t sure how this galactic spaceman was going to welcome me, but at the first moment of contact Valient was a gentle and Philosophical being with much enjoyment of music.

Before we started the interview Valient looked at my Recorder App on my phone and talked about the first thing he ever had to record on and play with looked just like the App.

Empire: Why did you travel from Venus to NC?
Valient: It’s just where we crashed landed, when your falling from space never know where you’re gonna land. It’s kind of like being born, you never know if you’re going to be in Kansas, or Florida.I always say it’s not where you’re from it’s where you’re at.

Empire: How long did it take to learn the language and you have the accent down really good.
Valient: The accent use to be way worse, I had to back off of it a bit. I just watched a movie last night in the specific region of where I was, it was in Kings Mountain and I was in Lincolnton, the movie was called Masterminds it’s a comedy with Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig and Zach Galifianakas, they have the accent down.

Empire: I asked Gwar about running into you guys. Any stories of meeting them in space?
Valient: Not in space. But here on earth I have. I actually reside in Richmond Virginia now so I run into them quite often. Dave Brockie (Oderus) was the guy who got me to move there. We actually had our first interactions with them in Europe, Gwar was trying to enslave them. I don’t think I have ever told this story but Oderus wanted breakfast super early one morning in Germany, and we were doing a three day thing where we were going to play shows in Austria one night, then Germany the next day and then that same night in Denmark or somewhere. It was like 3 countries in 24 hours. We played the show the first night and we didn’t want to leave cause there was all these babes there, and we left driving through the crowd while they were rocking the vehicle like we were Ramones or The Beatles. So we get into Germany at like 5 am, and breakfast won’t be ready till 6. And Gwars human handlers were there, and we’re hanging out and Dave Brockie walks up and I don’t know who he is at the time, “yes we are going to need coffee and eggs for like 6-8 people, will take scrambled and over easy and do you have oatmeal?” And I was like sorry I’m playing I’m just here for coffee too and some guy said it be out in a minute and then he said “ You don’t understand we want coffee, we want eggs for 8 people” I’m like dude I’m in a band, I don’t have that. He then said “ you don’t understand we want coffee, we have been up all night we want coffee and we want eggs and hot sauce and creamer for the coffee and I want it NOW” and I’m Like man I don’t have any coffee, he was like “ I’m just kidding my name is Dave, want to smoke some weed on the bus?”

Empire: What Earth bands inspired you?
Valient: I would say Bon Scott for presence, Jim Morrison for writing and poetry and Philosophy of Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo. I think the world has reached its peak and it’s devolving.

Empire: I know you guys did Tours with MotorHead and stories about Lemmy you like to share?
Valient: I have a lot of stories that I use to tell, but since he passed away they have become more personal, but I will say everyday something comes from that. Yesterday we were in Jersey and trying to get the kids to see us, walking the line they say. I got tired of saying the same old shit. I got in front of all the people and said “ excuse me, all these people behind me are going to take your joints, so you might as well just give them to me” everybody was laughing and this female cop started walking up to me and I was like is she going to be pissed about that. She comes up to me and asks if I was a singer in a band and I said yes and she was like I thought so I seen you open up for MotorHead at Asbury Park in 2011 with Clutch. Lemmy taught me a lot through song writing and not just his. Here’s a story this is a quick one. He would ask people if they like Valient Thorr and they say no and he make them listen to our music. He asked me one time if I like Tom Petty and I didn’t and he made me listen to 2 ½ albums and pause it and talk about song writing. Years later I sometimes sing with this band from college called The Avett Brothers and we did a cover of Tom Petty’s “ Don’t do me like that” and I realized he might have been talking about that because I can sing that very well and in that key, and he’s such a smart guy.

I made way over to the HardRock stage to check out Valient Thorr’s set. This was my first time seeing them and was blown away. Just the energy that everyone in the band omits is infectious. Such a killer show I’m glad that the crashed landed on earth because they kick soo much ass, and with most bands being pretentious, Valient is above all that and is better at being a humble human than anyone else.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Related Topics:Baltimore MD Empire Extreme Valient Valient Thorr Warped tour

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

2 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.