www.facebook.com/shadowvalleyband
From: Texas
Sounds like: Goth/Metal
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? Who thought of the name “Shadow Valley" and is there any meaning behind it?
We got our start in music when we attended El Paso High School and met each other in a guitar class, we decided to put a band together to perform at a talent show and only expected to stay together for that one night, but we received a good reception from the audience and really enjoyed playing onstage. We also had many common music interests so we decided to stay together and create our own music. We developed our sound to be reminiscent of that 80s sound from 80s metal bands and post punk/gothic bands. As for the name of the band, the guitarist and bassist, Eli and Tony, came up with Shadow Valley one night after struggling to come up with one for awhile. The exact origin of the name is unknown, but Tony did come up with the name a long time ago for a fictional band, but he wasn’t thinking about that at the time when coming up with it, so it was like his subconscious helped to create the name.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
We mainly want people to connect with our music and be able to listen to it and identify with something that could help them with any issue they may be going through.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
We’d say our sound has a bit of everything for everyone, we can sound mellow at times or we can be heavy. For our metal sound, its a twist on the traditional heavy metal sound and has been compared to Iron Maiden, Rainbow, and Metallica. For our gothic sound, it can be described as atmospheric with a driving force on top of that atmosphere. It would be most similar to the likes of Joy Division.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
This is a hard one, but we’d say Megadeth, Skullfist, and Metallica.
5. How has Covid affected what you do as a band?
Covid had a small impact on us as we weren’t able to do as many live shows as we were used to doing, but it didn’t have much of a big impact as we were still able to release an EP and an album during the pandemic. We do hope to tour soon.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Gothic Metal?
We think Gothic Metal in recent years has gone a bit under, it isn’t exactly what it used to be since some of these newer bands and songs tend to sound the same at times. It was better when gothic metal bands used to be more innovative and play around with vocal dynamics as well as sounds. Our favorite gothic metal band is still probably Type O Negative, the 90s were probably the peak of that sub-genre.
7. What’s the current music scene like locally there in Texas?
The state of Texas as a whole seems to have a good amount of diversity in sub-genres and bands coming out of it. But in our hometown of El Paso, Texas, there have been bands struggling to survive the pandemic. The music scene in El Paso doesn’t have too much diversity in genres or sub-genres, but it has grown and improved over the last few years. The soundscape here is definitely changing for the better.
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
We have such a deep abhorrence of streaming services, mainly Spotify. They pretty much pay nothing out to artists, and the CEO of it doesn’t seem to understand how unfair his royalty pay out is. Hopefully someday these streaming site CEOs will wake up and pay a fair rate. Probably won’t happen, but we can dream.
9. What’s next for Shadow Valley?
We are currently working on our next album which is to be named and announced, we’re striving to release it later this year. We also plan to do a small tour and more shows depending on how the pandemic goes.
10. Any shoutouts?
We’d like to thank From The Depths Entertainment for allowing us to be on their roster! Thanks to all our families and fans who have supported us through the years, and a thanks to all the bands who helped us get our start and have remained with us through this journey!
