News

We are delighted to announce that The Vals have been asked to join Paul Weller as special guests for the entirety of his European Tour in 2015! We will be joining Paul and his fantastic band throughout Europe beginning with Paris on April 8th followed by shows in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Bruges, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, Muenster and Brussels.

April 8^th - Bataclan, Paris, France

April 9^th - Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands

April 11^th - Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands

April 12^th - Magdalena zaal, Bruges, Belgium

April 13^th - Gloria Theatre, Cologne, Germany

April 15^th - Admiralpalast, Berlin, Germany

April 16^th - Docks, Hamburg, Germany

April 17^th - Jovel, Muenster, Germany

April 18^th - Ancienne, Brussels, Belgium

For further info and ticket links, please visit www.paulweller.com

We are happy to announce that we have recorded a special charity football song called 'Pickepackevoll'. The song came from conversations with Football TV host Arnd Zeigler about various German football words such as 'Kacktor' and 'Pickepackevoll' and will be performed on Arnd's show on January 31st. All proceeds of the single will go to the 'Spielruam' project which is run from Bundesliga team 'Werder Bremen'.

''SV Werder Bremen is in cooperation with its supplier to the Nike TRAVEL program in Bremen.

The program uses sport as an opportunity to find an access to children and young people aged 10 to 14 years old, and thus provides a complement to the traditional offerings of youth social work in the city.

The aim is untapped or emerging places with young people to turn in cooperation with public agencies, institutions and other local actors in Bremen in lively places - for team sports, shared fun and personal development.''

You can now download the single via all digital platforms

We are happy to announce that the third single to be taken from our album 'Wildflower Way' will be 'Echoes of Summer'. In recent weeks the song has gained rotation on some of the biggest stations across Germany, Austria and Switzerland and has been a firm favourite from the album as well as during our live set.

In celebration of the reception the album has received we have decided to make the release a little more special by releasing a special EP. Alongside the single ' Echoes of Summer' is 'Look to the One' which features legend Henry Mccullough (Paul McCartney & Wings) on guitar and vocals. The track was originally recorded in Belfast in 2011 with Henry but has had some additional instruments and parts added by Paul in 2015. another re-worked track which appears on the EP is an electric version of 'Things Will Always Be The Same' from the 2009 'Sticks and Stone' album. Finally we have a cover of the Electric Light Orchestra classic 'Mr Blue Sky. In September 2014 we were kindly asked to appear on Arnd Zeigler's show on Radio Bremen and perform some tracks from our album. Arnd also asked us to perform a cover of this track and we have fell in love with it ever since. When we returned we quickly recorded 'Mr Blue Sky' and ever since has become a big live favourite for us.

Artwork for the single has been created by Stefan Duerr, a beautiful piece which works brilliantly with the rest of the artwork for 'Wildflower Way'.

The Vals stopped by the Arnd Zeigler Show on the final leg of our tour promoting new album 'Wildflower Way'. We are big fans of Arnd and his show it was fantastic to play acoustic versions of some album tracks as well as a track from our first album and a special cover of the ELO classic 'Mr Blue Sky'.

A big thank-you to Arnd for having us on the show! He was the first person to play songs from 'Wildlower Way' on his show a while back and we felt it only right to credit him on the sleeve of the record and say thanks!

Set-list :

1. Echoes of Summer

2. Bellamy Only Dreams

3. Where do We Go From Here?

4. Quiet Part of Town

5. Things Will Always Be The Same

6. Mr Blue Sky

The show will be broadcast on Tuesday 16th September. Listen again now here :

The Vals new album 'Wildflower Way' gets it's big release via Unique Records on December 5th 2014! Available on Vinyl LP / CD and Download at all good stores. This album was written and produced at Paul's mini home studio in Belfast and comprises of some of The Vals best work to date. 'Wildflower Way' has been described as more of musical storybook than a conventional album. Songs which feature characters such as Billy Milk' and 'Bellamy' coupled with Stefan Duerr's incredible artwork tell the tale of this magical suburbia of 'Wildflower Way'

Tracklisting :

1. Quiet Part of Town

2. Bellamy Only Dreams

3. Heaven and Earth

4. I Fall

5. Mailbox

6. Suzie Reaches for the Sky

7. Echoes of Summer

8. Paper Moon

9. Everything's Broken

10. Where Do We Go From Here?

11. No Truth in War

The Vals set off to spread the word of new album 'Wildflower Way' this September. Starting off at the Golzheim Festival the band will be showcasing a special acoustic set at various venues around Germany as well as radio sessions through-out the country. Singles 'Quiet Part of Town' and 'I Fall' are currently receiving heavy air-play prior to the release of this long awaited album.

Live shows include :

06/09/2014 - Golzheim Festival
07/09/2014 - Haldern, Haldern Pop

08/09/2014 - Dortmund Radio 91.2 Unplugged Show (Recorded)
08/09/2014 - Duesseldorf, KIT
09/09/2014 - Darmstadt, Schlosskeller
10/09/2014 - Cologne, Stereo Wonderland

11/09/2014 - Arnd Zeigler Show, Radio Bremen (Recorded)

We cant wait to play some special live sessions on radio in September also including Arnd Zeigler's show on Radio Bremen, Dortmund's 91.2, Deutschlandfunk, the BBC and many more.

The Vals are very happy to announce that we will open for Simon Fowler's new band 'Merrymouth' for 2 dates of their Irish tour in May. We will join the band in Mullingar and Dublin on what is their first visit to Ireland.

More about Merrymouth :

http://www.merrymouth.net/

Merrymouth are a three piece folk-orientated band featuring Ocean Colour Scene songwriter and vocalist Simon Fowler(guitar/vocals), Dan Sealey (guitar/vocals) & Adam Barry (piano/organ/vocals).

Lending their decades of first class musicianship, Merrymouth were joined in the studio by multi award winning folk musicians John McCusker and Andy Cutting in 2012 to perform on their critically acclaimed debut album, the self titled, ‘Merrymouth’. They toured the album throughout 2012 and 2013, including performances at both BBC Radio 2’s CarFest’s, The Mosely Folk Festival, and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Simon Fowler is no stranger to the folk world, In 2003, he presented McCusker with the ‘Musician Of The Year’ accolade at theBBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and subsequently went on to record backing vocals for Kate Rusby's “Underneath The Stars” album the same year.

After signing to Navigator Records, 2014 will see the band return with their second album, “Wenlock Hill”, a collection of new songs, which once again features John McCusker (Violin), a special guest appearance from Chas Hodges (Piano) of Chas & Dave, Catherine Harper (Cello), Andy Derrick (Trombone), Hugh Thomas (Clarinet), Anthony Jones (Muted Trumpet) and Nick Lyndon (Double Bass) along with a full UK and Ireland tour to support the release throughout the Spring and Autumn.

Tickets for both shows available from our 'Live Shows' page

A few years back while travelling on a train, Paul had an unexpected meeting with 'Sunshine Superman' himself Donovan. They chatted about Henry McCullough who had just recorded with The Vals that month and how he had previously recorded with Donovan at Abbey Road studios in the 70's. Paul was happy in helping Donovan reconnect with Henry following their meeting.

Recently Donovan and Paul have reconnected via the wonders of the worldwide web and the 60's troubadour has been kind enough to show his admiration for the new album tracks by exclaiming : ''Very cool record. Like the sounds and vocals''

This comes as a huge compliment to both the band and Paul who hold Donovan in a very high regard as one of the greatest songwriters of all time!

We are happy to announce the signing of a contract with Schubert Publishing for the 'Wildflower Way' album.Established in year 2003 by Andreas Schubert, the company quickly became the largest independent music publisher in Central & Eastern Europe. Schubert Publishing cover today a significant part of Europe and US with affiliates in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, UK, US, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. The album will be released on vinyl, cd and download this summer!

We had the very first review come in from the new single 'Quiet Part of Town' this week and are very happy with it! Thanks guys!

You can visit Encore Ni's site here : www.encorenorthernireland.blogspot.co.uk

Below is an extract from the review, happy reading!

'Quiet Part Of Town' has all the hall marks of a Vals classic on a bigger scale. The first track from their upcoming album 'Wildflower Way', (due for release September 2014) is a worthy opener, the fast paced, major key acoustic guitar still forming the key element of the track, with a psychedelic Beatles-esque production adding a captivating swoon to the Richard Ashcroft inspired melody. Everything from the subtle orchestral overlays, to the George Harrison styled guitar riffs scream Summer festival freedom and carefree abandon. You get the feeling that this is a real Summer record and as such, seems to mark a real turning point for the band''

The Vals were honoured recently to have been asked to contribute a cover of the Kinks classic 'Picturebook' for the upcoming tribute to bass player Pete Quaife. Pete's brother David with the help of a few friends has set up a great charity which helps children while awaiting dialysis treatment.

The album 'Pass it On' is currently available on i-tunes and cd albums and further information on the charity can be found at www.petequaifefoundation.com

The track was recorded by Paul at his home studio. You can listen below :

The renowned Irish music television series Other Voices set up camp in Derry this weekend, bringing a myriad of Irish and international stars together to raise their voices in a three-day musical celebration.

The world famous TV production records intimate acoustic performances and interviews at locations around the city throughout the afternoon, before turning the cameras on at The Glassworks on Great James Street each evening, filming live sets by the impressive collection of artists who have made their way to Derry to take part in the Other Voices spectacular.

The Vals took part in this massive celebration of 2013's City of Culture by playing to a packed out Sandino's on the final night. A special night to top off a very special time for the city.

We will have various line-ups for each show with Paul playing solo on the 4th, 5th and 6th October for the German dates. (Check out details in our previous news post)

Paul and Matt welcome new members Conor, Orlagh, Chris, Emma and Steve to the fold. They will be playing their first show with us at the Arthur's Day celebrations in Belfast on the 27th September.

Special thanks to Stefan Duerr who created our tour poster, we love it!

We also can't wait to finish off this little tour with a headline show at the famous Ulster Hall in Belfast on the 23rd of November. Probably our most favourite ever venue! We look forward to putting on a great show for the people of CAMRA. The 1,800 capacity hall is steeped in history with famous appearances from Led Zeppelin to Charles Dickens.

Look out for further shows being added to the tour soon and also news of some new releases from the band.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

20.09.2012

Hamburg Shows / Barbara Zedler's Blüten über Belfast

We are very excited of news that our friend Barbara Zedler will be releasing her excellent new book Blüten über Belfast. The tale is set in The Vals home town of Belfast and to celebrate the release both Barbara and Paul will share a night of music and words for 2 dates in the city of Hamburg. Barbara will be reading extracts from the novel while Paul will play an acoustic set on each night.

Further details of how to buy the book and see the shows can be found here: http://www.belfastkrimi.de/