The Valiant hail from Southampton. They are Ben Byrne (front man), Si Phillips (clean vocals, guitatist), Richard Pannell (guitar), Benji Pugh (bass) and Dan Moss (drums). Drummer Dan spoke to us about the band, life outside The Valiant and the band's plans for 2011.
You're quite a 'young' band, having only formed in 2009, but you have supported a number of big names in the underground metal scene in the UK - which band was your favourite to support and why?
We’re all aged between 20 and 24, me being the youngest and Ben being the old man ha! Personally my favourite band to play with was For The Fallen Dreams, a friend introduced me to them a while back and I thought they were an amazing band from the moment I started listening to them so getting to play with them at a packed Southampton show was wicked.
Is the current line up the line up you've had from the start?
We have had one guitarist change because our old guitarist left due to university commitments; Rich is the newest member.
How would you describe your sound in 5 words?
Heavy, melodic, metal, hardcore, catchy.
Which bands inspired you to make music?
Well speaking from my point of view, I'd have to say bands like A Day To Remember, Architects, Underoath, Bring Me The Horizon etc.
Tour plans for 2011?
We do plan to tour at the start of April and hopefully again later in the year, fingers crossed. Plus we have support slots coming up with Senses Fail and Glamour of the Kill, and a main stage slot just confirmed for a festival in Belgium in May. We’re quite excited about this show as we haven’t played outside of the UK yet, and some of us have never even been out of the UK!
What's your latest release called and where can we get a copy of it from?
Our latest release is called 'This Is Just The Beginning' it's a 6 track EP and you can pick it up from us at any live show and on our web store www.thevaliantuk.bigcartel.com.
How do you write your music? Does one member of the band come up with most of the riffs and lyrics or is it more the case of all band members having an input into the songs?
I would say it's mostly Si that comes up with the initial riffs, he brings them to practice where we all then have a input on it, sometimes even changing the whole structure of a song, while Ben sits in the corner with his notepad and pen writing lyrics.
What are your day jobs and what's the hardest thing about balancing work and band life?
At the moment I work temporarily at a solicitors, moving legal documents, Ben is a plumber, Rich is in the fire service, Benji is at uni and Si is currently unemployed, but at least it gives him time to write! Sometimes it can be hard with people not being able to get time off work and uni but I guess that's one of the things you have to deal with in a band. If you don't have money going in you won't get anything out.
Favourite venue to play and why?
I think The Joiners in Southampton is the best, it's local, it has great sound and a great reputation. We’ve played some cracking shows there.
If you could travel anywhere on tour where would you wanna play and why?
I'd love to play in America, I've never been and I have always wanted to go, it would be awesome to go and do the thing we all love doing.
What's been the most exciting thing so far for The Valiant?
I think the most exciting thing is the amount of support we received on our EP release show and the EP in general. We have had massive support from fans which we couldn't be more thankful for, massive support from Alex Baker at 'Kerrang!' for playing us on his show pretty much every week and HUGE help and support from our lovely manager Marianne Harris.
And what's the one thing you hope to have achieved by the end of 2011?
By the end of 2011 I hope we are playing more shows across the UK so we get a chance to show people what we've got, with the hope of them appreciating what we do and to build our fanbase.
