Artist description Hard Hitting Modern Rock.

Music Style Modern Rock

Artist History Based in Portland, Oregon...Valhere has played the West Coast club scene for the past 8 years. Valhere's released their first five song EP, "Instantly, Promise!", in October 2000. The band is releasing their first "full-length" album, "This lonely highway..." in Spring 2002. A busy touring schedule will follow the release of "This lonely highway...", in Summer 2002.

Group Members Andy Koontz: Vocals/Guitar, Randy Bowden: Bass/Vocals, Mike VanYserloo: Drums, Scott Phillips: Guitar/ Vocals

Press Reviews VALHERE This Lonely Highway... (Subtonic Records) Reviewed by Erick Mertz--- Valhere doesn't pull any punches in delivering honest, brassy barroom styled rock and roll. With a crunching, guitar heavy style much like early Social Distortion, there are no teary eyes in the songs of lost and unrequited love on their album This Lonely Highway... Rather, the members of Valhere have chosen to turn up the amps and knuckle down, making themselves one of Portland Oregon's hottest underground acts. The music on This Lonely Highway is the kind that sticks to your bones hours after the CD has ended. Thick and satisfying, the eleven tracks of brawling sound are all of the raucous and driven variety. Valhere doesn't employ sound gimmicks or flashy production, choosing a consistent straightforward sound from beginning to end. Most endearing from the collection is "Come On," an anthemic song which appears twice on the record, once electric and again acoustic. With songs about the solemn tracts of highway and tempestuous love, the record is best enjoyed in its entirety, making a perfect companion for a road trip or backyard barbecue. Tinged with country and blues elements throughout its forty-six minutes, Valhere have jumped into something big on This Lonely Highway... and exploded with it tenaciously. [Pick this up at northwest.localsonline.com.] © 2002 - Erick Mertz ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Portland Online Music Net May- 2001 By: Bob Cooper "Instantly, Promise!" EP---VALHERE - Instantly, Promise Valhere has been a staple to the Portland music scene now for several years, playing every club from Mt Tabor to Barbati's to the Beaverton Starbucks (sorry I missed that, it's right up the street from me) to Ash Street Saloon. Comprised of singer/songwriter Andy Koontz, bassist Randy Bowen, and drummer Mike VanYserloo, Valhere have kept their flag flying dilligently all this time, and MEANING to put out their first record for a long time, and even entered the studio several times but were somehow dissatisfied by the sterility or lackage of the proper vibe or environment. Undaunted, these brave souls marched on, eventually coming to the conclusion that if they were ever going to find the proper recording place, they were certainly going to have to just build their own. So they did, and the product is Instantly, Promise. [Editor's Note: Is that a Say Anything reference?] This is actually a 5-song EP of some pretty well-crafted pop tunes in the vein of Hootie And The Blowfish or a very mellow REM. The secret weapon for this band is the radio-perfect vocals of Andy Koontz, whose tones actually seem to grasp many influences, very trademark and easily identifyable. The music is quite simple, basic rhythmic guitar grinding out chords with follow along bass licks, yet it's simplicity is something the band is proud of, and I'm sure this will work well for them. Tunes like Heart Of The Matter (my personal fave) demonstrate that pop radio play is possibly within their grasp, as it exhibits that necessary element... that formula for replay that so many bands try to capture, but miss by a mile.Track 5 is 16 minutes of silence followed by what appears to be an impromptu live-in-the-studio tune called Whatever I Swear, which I feel most clearly illustrates their live in-person sound. This self-produced cd is the first installment for them. Their follow-up will be a second EP called FINALLY FOUND ME set for release this spring, and a full-length CD planned for 2002. Wanna find out more? Of course you do, just poke up www.valhere.com ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// VALHERE - This Lonely Highway Subtonic Records ---Valhere are back again, this time with a full length album. This Lonely Highway is a collection of tunes, some new and some of which were actually written since the time of their Instantly, Promise EP, and have been tossed around a while during some other projects the band has been busy with. Whatever the origin, this latest effort takes what I previously considered a good band about two steps further. TLH contains more of the same type of pop tunes that they have been purveying around town during several shows over the last couple years. Personally my tastes in music have leaned toward the heavy side, but I have always been a sucker for storytelling, and this album not only features lyrics worth following, but it contains lyrics that can be related to on several different levels. I don't know where Andy Koontz pulls the tonal quality from in his vocals from (I have heard him talk and he sounds nothing like his singing voice) but they have an almost addictive quality, like the guys that they get to sing those bad- ass cereal commercials. You know, ..'come to the Honeycomb hideout"….type of energy, reminiscent of Matchbox 20. These vocals are further strengthened by some well- fitted backup vocals, giving the tunes the power to carry themselves. The icing on the cake would be that the album was mastered by Bob Ludwig (of Bruce Springsteen fame, amongst others) so the element of pop- perfect radio friendliness is clearly present. It would be hard to say which song is my favorite, as I tend to view this cd as a package deal. However I am an "alternate take" kind of guy, and the last song is an acoustic version of Come On, which I find delightful. In terms of quality, attitude, and the spirit in which it was created, I would say this is one of the top 10 albums to come out of Portland this year, and for that I can't help but feel proud. Good work guys! You can (and probably should) obtain this and other Valhere recordings at their official website: www.valhere.com Bob Cooper, © POMN

Location Portland, Oregon - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).