The Valves were a
punk rock band from
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Scotland. One of the early British punk bands, they were chronicled in Henrik Poulsen's book ''
77: The Year of Punk and New Wave'', and featured Dave Robertson as 'Dee Robot' on
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
, G. Dair / Teddy Dair a.k.a. Gordon Dair on
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s, Gordon Scott or 'Pada' on
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
and Ronnie Mackinnon on
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
.
The Valves released three singles and then broke up in 1979. They reformed for a one-off gig in Edinburgh 21 December 2013.
[ In 2015, Ronnie, Pada and Gordon joined up with Joe Donkin, of The Cheetahs and Gordon Mackinnon, on keyboards. They are currently touring under The Valves name, playing material from the Valves, the Cheetahs and new material. Dave/Dee now lives in Belgium.]
Members
* Dee Robot (Dave Robertson) - vocals
* Ronnie (Ronnie Mackinnon) - guitar
* Pada (Gordon Scott) - bass
* G.Dair / Teddy (Gordon Dair) - drums (died 2022)
Discography
Albums
* ''Better Late...'' (Portobello Record Company - PORTY001 - 13 March 2020)
Singles
* "Robot Love" / "For Adolfs Only" (Zoom - September 1977)
* "Ain't No Surf in Portobello" / "Tarzan of the Kings Road" (Zoom - December 1977)
* "It Don't Mean Nothing at All" / "Linda Vindaloo" (Albion - June 1979)
References
External links
Collection of (mostly bad) reviews of The Valves
The Valves official homepage
TheValvesOriginal Facebook
Gordon Dair recordings
Scottish punk rock groups
Musical groups from Edinburgh
{{UK-band-stub