The Vals are a psychedelic pop band from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The Vals are led by songwriter Paul Doherty. In 2009 they signed with Electrique Mud Records, a subsidiary of Unique Records based in Düsseldorf, Germany. With Electrique Mud they released the singles ‘Yesterday Today’, ‘With You’ and ‘Things Will Always Be the Same’. In October 2009, they released the album ‘Sticks and Stones’ which was distributed worldwide via ALIVE! Artwork for the album was photographed and designed by Stefan Duerr. The album was recorded in just 3 days in Villa Blacksheep studios in Duisburg and produced by Bernhard Ruprecht and assisted by Jürgen Dahmen who also played hammond organ on tracks 'Things will always be the same' and 'Sticks and Stones'. The song 'Yesterday Today' was used in an episode of popular German soap opera

Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' ("Good Times, Bad Times"), often abbreviated ''GZSZ'', is a long-running German television soap opera, first broadcast on RTL in 1992. The programme concerns the lives of a fictional neighborhood in Germany's ...

(English: Good Times, Bad Times). The number one show has peaked at 7 million viewers since its first airing in 1992. The Vals track appears in episode 4328. To celebrate the release of their debut single 'Yesterday Today', the band played a special show in Belfast with

Chris Helme Christopher Alan Helme (born 22 July 1971 in Howden, Yorkshire) is an English singer-songwriter, formerly the frontman of John Squire's post-Stone Roses band The Seahorses. History Early days (1990–1996) Helme began singing and performing a ...

of John Squire's post-Stone Roses band

The Seahorses The Seahorses were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1996 by guitarist John Squire, following his departure from The Stone Roses. The band released their debut album ''Do It Yourself (The Seahorses album), Do It Yourself'' in 1997, a ...

. The Vals also played a live session for

BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

where they played singles 'Yesterday Today', 'With You', and album track 'Light Shine Down'. Their second single 'With You' was nominated for 'Single of the Week' on BBC Radio 2's The Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie Show To coincide with the release of their debut album, the band played a European tour which took in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK. In 2010 they headlined the famous 100 Club in London just weeks before former Beatle

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

headlined his own show in order to save the then threatened building. During the promotion of the 'Sticks and Stones' album the band shared the stage with

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Solihull in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 sin ...

(during both the 'Saturday' and 'Pure Acoustic' tours), Echo and the Bunnymen,

Mumford and Sons Mumford may refer to: *Amazing Mumford, a Muppet character on ''Sesame Street'' * ''Mumford'' (film), a 1999 American comedy-drama film *Mumford procedure, also called distal clavicle excision or distal clavicle resection, an orthopedic surgical pro ...

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

Horslips Horslips are an Irish Celtic rock band that compose, arrange and perform songs frequently inspired by traditional Irish airs, jigs and Reel (dance), reels. The group are regarded as 'founding fathers of Celtic rock' for their fusion of tradit ...

The Proclaimers ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

, David Holmes,

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...

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Noah and the Whale Noah and the Whale were a British indie rock and folk band from Twickenham, formed in 2006. The band's last line-up consisted of Charlie Fink (vocals, guitar), Tom Hobden (violin/keyboards), Matt "Urby Whale" Owens (bass guitar), Fred Abbott (g ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

, Peter Green of

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

and many more. The Vals also played the Haldern Pop Festival, Burg Herzberg, Golzheim Fest, Château-d'Oex, Hard Working Class Heroes,

Arthur's Day Arthur's Day was an annual series of music events worldwide, originally organised by Diageo in 2009 to promote the 250th anniversary of its Guinness brewing company. It was named after the founder of Guinness brewing, Arthur Guinness. The 20 ...

, Glasgowbury, Willowstone and many other high-profile festivals throughout this period. The Vals headlined the first episode of television show ' UTV Live at the Limelight' alongside Joe Echo (aka Ciaran Gribbins, now frontman of INXS) They headlined the 'Magners Light Fall For Fashion' extravaganza which took place in the historical St George's Market in Belfast's city centre, on Tuesday, 30 September 2008 In August 2010 The Vals played outside Belfast City Hall on a giant erected stage to celebrate the inauguration of the new Lord Mayor of the city. The band also celebrated Belfast hosting the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards by taking part in Belfast Music week where they were joined by

Duke Special Duke Special (born Peter Wilson; 4 January 1971) is a songwriter and performer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A piano-based songwriter with a romantic style and a warm, distinctly accented voice, he was previously known for his distinctiv ...

and James Walsh of Starsailor at the Limelight complex.

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

contacted Paul Doherty after she learned of a festival he had organised in Belfast under the banner of 'Peace and Love'. 'Valfest' seen The Vals appear alongside

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...

founding member and guitarist

Eric Bell Eric Robin Bell (born 3 September 1947 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish rock and blues musician, best known as a founding member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy from 1969 to 1973. After his time in Thin ...

and

Henry McCullough Henry Campbell Liken McCullough (21 July 1943 – 14 June 2016) was a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was best known for his work as a member of Spooky Tooth, The Grease Band and Paul McCartney and Wings. He also perfo ...

. Yoko sent her message when the festival was organised in Belfast in 2008. An event which helped raise money for local charity. The message from Yoko included: "You will know, now that you are doing the Peace and Love Festival, you are connected to all of us, the family of peace of the world. Good for you." The message was signed off, "lots of love, Yoko". In 2011 The Vals teamed up with

(Wings &

) on the single ‘Look to the One'. McCullough provided backing vocals and lent his famous guitar sound to the track which gained much success. The video for the 'Look to the One' was produced by Mal Campbell at Causeway Studios. 'Look to the One' was voted 'Single of the Week' by radio station CityBeat which reaches a weekly audience of 144,000 listeners in Belfast, around 25% of the adult population Another track from the same sessions, Emily O', was recorded alongside the

Methodist College Belfast God with us , established = 1865 , type = Voluntary grammar , religion = Interdenominational , principal = Jenny Lendrum , chair_label = Chairwoman , chair = Revd. Dr Janet Unsworth , founder ...

Choir but is yet to be released. During the promotional campaign of the single 'Look to the One' , the band performed an acoustic version of Emily O' for the Ralph McClean show on the BBC. This was both filmed and broadcast on radio. In 2012 The Vals announced the 'Autumn Acoustic Tour' with shows in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and finishing at the world famous

Ulster Hall The Ulster Hall is a concert hall and grade A listed building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated on Bedford Street in Belfast city centre, the hall hosts concerts, classical recitals, craft fairs and political party conferences. History ...

in Belfast. In February 2013 the band took part in RTÉ's '' Other Voices'' Music Trail, an event which celebrated the City of Culture for that year, Derry. On 26 September 2014 The Vals released ''Wildflower Way'' via Unique Records. The album was preceded by singles "Quiet Part of Town" and "I Fall". Both singles had substantial airplay throughout Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and the UK. In 2015 the band appeared on ZDF Morgenmagazin television show in Germany performing the track "Echoes of Summer". The estimated television audience is 3 million viewers for the show. On 1 February 2015 The Vals played the song "Pickepackevoll" live at the German football-themed television show ''Zeiglers wunderbare Welt des Fußballs''.The Vals - Pickepackevoll "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQqMJhyDSws" The title of the song and some of the wording of the song were taken from famous phrases used in that show regularly. The Vals were special guests of Paul Weller on his 2015 European Tour. The band played a total of 9 shows around Europe with Weller in countries France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Discography

* 2009 - The Vals - "Yesterday Today" (MCD/Download / MUD002-2) * 2009 - The Vals - "With You" (MCD/Download / MUD005-2) * 2009 - The Vals - "Sticks & Stones" (LP/CD/Download / MUD004-1/-2) * 2010 - The Vals - "Yesterday Today/With You" (7" / MUD002-1) * 2010 - The Vals - "Things Will Always Be The Same" (Download / MUDDigital01) * 2011 - The Vals featuring Henry McCullough - "Look to the One" (CD / Download) * 2014 - The Vals - "Quiet Part of Town" (Download / UNIQ/Digital16) * 2014 - The Vals - "I Fall" (Download / UNIQ/Digital17) * 2014 - The Vals - "Wildflower Way" (LP / CD / Download / UNIQ204-1 /-2)

References

External links

The Vals websiteUnique Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vals, The Musical groups established in 2005 2005 establishments in Northern Ireland Rock music groups from Northern Ireland Musical groups from Belfast