Cherub Rock: A date with Valentiine

As the Valentiine and Cable35 Tour On Tick continues WithGuitars met up with the girls in York for a tour of the historic Viking city.

WithGuitars writer Jamie Gambino and photographer Phil Hutchinson meet Valentiine at the venue late afternoon and singer/guitarist Vanessa is all apologies about arriving later than scheduled due to traffic.
“were not going to bother sound checking, so have we still got time for a tour? It looked beautiful on the drive in” – how can WithGuitars refuse to take Valentiine around York.

I am wondering where we can show the girls first when drummer Shelly declares “I wanna see some castles and shit! We don’t have anything like this back home” so that’s the agenda sorted and after a freezing cold photo shoot outside York Minster it gets even better when bassist Erica whispers that she would like to go and get a drink.

We opt for taking over both the jukebox and the upstairs of the Stone Roses Bar, as we get the drinks in (Erica – red wine, Vanessa, Shelly & WithGuitars – lager, but not Fosters “we don’t even have that shit back home!”)
Shelly declares “I fucking love this jukebox!” and so we rape and pillage the bloody amazing jukebox to bring you…
Valentiine’s Juke Box Smashes!

Babes In Toyland: Bruise Violet

Breeders: Cannonball

Hole: Violet

L7: Pretend Were Dead

Nirvana: Aneurysm

Pixies: Debaser

Throwing Muses: Bright Yellow Gun

The Subways: Rock & Roll Queen

Smashing Pumpkins: Cherub Rock

Veruca Salt: Seether

How did the tour happen?, how did you meet up with Cable35?
“they found us on YouTube, they were really into us and we loved that those guys are so into their music so we decided to tour Europe together”

Is it difficult being a touring band without the backing of a major record label?
“yeah, we pretty much rely on selling merch to get by”

What has been the strangest gig of the tour?
“we were booked to play in a jazz club in Amsterdam, they knew we were a rock band but they wanted us to keep it below 95 decibels and play for two hours!, we got into trouble every time Shelly hit the drums!”

How long did you play for?!
“we lasted three songs before we just walked off!”

How do you relax on a day off?
“Sleep! and were always having to do washing & stuff, we try not to be too girly about stuff like that on tour but fuck it we ARE girls!”

What is the best concert that you have seen?
“The Breeders! we absolutely love Kim Deal, we saw them during the ‘Mountain Battles’ tour and it was pretty perfect, the performance, the harmonies with Kelley and we love how Kim smiles throughout like she just adores playing live”

You have covered the Nirvana song ‘All Apologies’ live, how did that come about?
“it was for a show with a couple of other bands, everyone had to do a 90’s track and we thought nobody would dare touch Nirvana so we did!”

What is the music scene like in Australia?
“in Melbourne there can be a lot of jealousy when acts get big”

“you couldn’t do a tour this size back home, were playing like 24 shows in Europe and back home it would be about 6”
We leave the pub and head back to the venue for tonight’s gig.

For me what makes Valentiine such a great band is not just how in sync they are with each other when they play live, it is also the passion they have for music. Enroute to Stereo – in fact all day – we chat excitedly about our favourite bands and mutual adoration for all things Courtney (Love), Kat (Bjelland), Kim (Deal), & Kristin (Hersh).

Valentiine take to the stage first as they have been alternating headline duties with Cable35. Despite not sound checking the girls rip the place apart and even the sound guy looks impressed as they give it everything they have.
Off stage Vanessa, Erica & Shelly are warm, friendly and very funny. On stage the girls are professional as they effortlessly deliver raw rock thrills – WithGuitars are once again impressed by the Australian grunge trio who play a slightly different set tonight from the one we saw at Doncaster’s Vintage Rock Bar.

So what does the future hold for Valentiine? Vanessa, Erica & Shelly are planning on relocating to the UK next year in order to be a full on touring band. Album number two is around 40% done and they are debating whether to finish it in Australia or wait until they have moved.

One thing you can be certain of is that you are going to be hearing a lot more from Valentiine in 2013 and that can only be a good thing.
Valentiine and Cable35 only have a few more dates left to play on their ‘Tour On Tick’ check the bands website for details (http://www.valentiine.com)

All photos for WithGuitars by Phil Hutchinson