Valient Thorr

Black Friday: The Big 3®

Friday, February 4th, 2011 | musiX, pdX | 4 Comments

Forget The Big 4. While I admit this is a(n) historic event for headbangers around the globe, personally the thought of dropping 100 bucks to see Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth … well, it doesn’t sound like a terrible thing (I’d probably pay $100 just to see Slayer). Wait, yes it does.

This, on the other hand, sounds like a terrific thing: For a third of the price I could go see Motörhead, Clutch and Valient Thorr, a show that’s guaranteed to rock harder (and not feel contrived and gross), and include about a third of the shirtless assholes in the audience. We all win.

Of The Big 3® mentioned above, I will always have a soft spot for the much balder, beardier Clutch (pictured), whose first three records received countless spins in my soft and squishy formidable years. I saw these riff machines lay waste to a tiny club back in 2001. And I’ve recently revisited my two favorites—The Elephant Riders and their self-titled—which still make me giddy. Pair this band with Valient Thorr and Motörhead, and you have yourself some true metal (at least some heavy, blues-based rock) up your ass. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Motörhead, Clutch and Valient Thorr play Saturday, Feb. 5 at Roseland Theater.

“Motorhead” - Motörhead

“Spacegrass” - Clutch

“Double-Crossed” - Valient Thorr

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Black Friday: The Days of Thorr

Friday, November 27th, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

Today’s the day. It was one year ago that Black Friday kicked off at The Days of Lore. Of course, the name was taken from that day people treat Best Buys and Wal-Marts like the front row of a Who concert just so they can snag a copy of Rock Band: The Beatles for three bucks.

But this Black Friday is devoid of corporate greed. There are no people. No lines. And I promise you won’t get trampled. What you do get is a look at the seedy underbelly of heavy metal. Take Valient Thorr. A friend of mine was recently raving about the celestial, stoneriffic rock outfit from Chapel Hill, North Carolina (or Venus, if you believe the band’s bio). Valient Thorr borrows from NWOBHM bands like Blitzkrieg and Iron Maiden and sullies it with the pure rock grime of MC5 and AC/DC, then buries plenty of political and social barbs underneath those mighty riffs.

Valient Thorr is fronted by Valient Himself … no, his name is actually Valient Himself. The band tours relentlessly (they played 272 shows in 2006, not even taking a day off for Thanksgiving), and has performed with the likes of Joan Jett, Gogol Bordello and Motörhead. They released their latest Immortalizer in 2008, which was produced by Jack Endino. Cred all around.

The new video for “Tomorrow Police” is just as silly as Black Friday … the shopping event and the metal feature. But I hear live is where you want to experience Valient Thorr. I just purchased my ticket to see the band in the NGC 2770 galaxy in 2079, and it only cost me 3,000 peggats. Take that, Ticketmaster.

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