This year a band called Loom have pretty much been responsible for creating a sound I’ve started looking for in other new bands. I really really don’t want to hear someone with just an acoustic guitar babbling on about things that hold no meaning to me. Nor do I want the overuse of synths plaguing my ears. I want something loud and obnoxious. I want music that is the opposite of who I am. I want the music I listen to borderline deafen me as I listen to it. I want it to bring rage and Lord knows what else. I want it to be the kind of music I just lose myself completely in. When I saw Crocodiles this week, I saw a bunch of people just lose their mind to them; that’s what I want to constantly hear. It moves me more than any other kind of music.

So when I checked my emails earlier and saw something from a band called Valentine Gray, I knew I wasn’t being sent something that would emotionally ruin me. Instead I was being sent something that made me feel like I did when I first heard Loom some time ago. That relief that music with this amount of fight, fright and passion. There’s a sense of urgency in their music and it fills you with something entirely spooky. Ross has a beautifully haunting voice that makes you think you are in the midst of a Thriller film. Or maybe he’s out to corrupt your dreams. Either way, I don’t think anyone can deny just how great Valentine Gray are. As I listen to the demo of their song, Fruit, all I can hear is a wealth of potential coming through. It doesn’t matter how big this band could get because they are the kind of band who will no doubt end up with a cult following. Bands like that are the bands you cannot help but believe in. Just look at how well Loom are doing.

The reason as to why I’ve mentioned Loom a few times here is because they have asked Valentine Gray to play at one of their dates as part of their residency at the Black Heart in Camden on the 24th October. Both bands are brilliantly loud, so if you’re okay with going into work slightly shaken and deaf the day after; go to the show.

Their songs just ooze such fury that fires you up and makes you question everything and everyone. That’s just how it should be. They make music to thrash your body about to; which is why they are the perfect band to support Loom in a couple of weeks. There is no doubt they’ll fire up the crowd with their unapologetic energy. Valentine Gray have a raw feel to their music which is found in the likes of PJ Harvey to Captain Beefheart. Sure they sound strange, but why would you not want to be? It’s fine to be a little weird and a little wired. That’s how you wake up the genius in you. Valentine Gray are a band that will thrive off their cult-following that they will no doubt have. This is the kind of music I want to hear. If it has no fight in it, then it just won’t work. Valentine Gray are going to be just fine, that’s a given.

Valentine Gray’s bio on Facebook states, “Alternative to not very much that isn’t already an alternative to something else.” They are simply, ahead of their time. Their style is like a catharsis and brilliantly brooding.

You can listen to their rowdy sounds here: https://soundcloud.com/valentinegraydemos