Valient Thorr
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| Valient Thorr | |
|---|---|
 Old Promo shot |
|
| Origin | Chapel Hill, North Carolina |
| Country | United States |
| Years active | 2003 - Present |
| Genres | Rock |
| Labels | Volcom Entertainment |
| Members | Valient Himself Eidan Thorr Dr. Professor Nitewolf Strangees Odinn Thorr Lucian Thorr |
| Past members | Donn Thorr Jjin Thorr Bjorn Thorr |
| Website(s) | http://www.valientthorr.com |
Valient Thorr is a rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional history
The group has based their band backstory on a conspiracy theory and changed part to fit in with the band, which consists of the band crash landing their spaceship in North Carolina in 1957. They became stranded there because Walt Disney stole their time machine. Also, according to this story, they are from Burlatia, which is located in the three rivers inside the planet Venus.
The actual conspiracy which predates the band goes a little something like this.
"March 16, 1957, in Alexandria, Virginia, one of the finest leaders of the planet Venus known as Val or Valient Thor [1], operating under the direction of the Central Control and who had been chosen to make the contact as well as direct the project, landed his craft and was met by two police officers, weapons drawn. A thought transference quickly convinced them that he meant no harm and he was ushered into the back seat of their patrol car.
After crossing over into Washington, D.C., they were met by the secretary of Defence along with six of his staff members. Soon police from every conceivable district and agency had joined in, all trying to claim their right to escort him to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Through his own version of the power of positive thinking, he was to dismiss them all and soon passed through the security posts followed by an Air Force Captain. It has been stated in the past that Val Thor has a space craft that is on the water of Lake Mead near Las Vegas."[2]
The name of some of the members come from people involved conspiracy theories with Extraterrestrial life. Valient Himself is in reference to Valient Thor. Dr. Professor Nitewolf Strangees is in reference to Dr. Frank E. Stranges.[citation needed]
[edit] Actual history
On July 1, 2003 Valient Thorr self-released their first album (only pressing 1000 copies which were sold at shows), Stranded on Earth, which had the same musical setup as present, but one of their guitarists (Djinn Thorr) used a keyboard, which helped to bring dance elements into their music. This aspect of their music not only further influenced their legendary live shows, but helped to cement their local status as the ultimate live band, with packed hometown shows at local favorite venue Kings Barcade (located in downtown Raleigh, NC). They toured the United States and Canada shortly afterward, doing 47 shows in 52 days.
After replacing original drummer (Donn Thorr) with current drummer Lucian Thorr and ditching the keyboard entirely live and on release, they were soon signed to Volcom Entertainment, where their full-length album Total Universe Man was released on June 7, 2005. At that point, the group members gave up their regular jobs, which ranged from 6th grade teachers to pornshop workers, and set out on the road. They performed on the Volcom stage on the Warped Tour 2005, for the entire tour, expect for a few shows where they played the main stage. They continued touring, taking six days off for Thanksgiving and ten for Christmas. Along the way, they lost their original rhythm guitarist (Djinn Thorr) and replaced him with Bjorn Thorr before going on tour with Hot Rod Circuit and Piebald. In honor of his departure, Eiden Thorr took Djinn's old position at shows, moving from Stage Right (the position he held since the band's inception) to Stage Left.
In February 2006, they stopped briefly in Costa Mesa, California to write the follow-up to Total Universe Man.
After Bjorn Thorr left the band, he was replaced by current guitarist Odinn Thorr. On July 11, 2006 they released their follow up album, Legend of the World. They toured the entire Warped Tour again for the summer of 2006 playing the Volcom Stage, with the exception of the hometown stop in Raleigh, where they closed out the night after NOFX and AFI on one of the two mainstages to a packed crowd. At the moment they are doing a short headlining east coast tour, up and down for a month or so, then in mid-October 2006, a tour with Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, Eagles of Death Metal and others follow.
The song "Fall of Pangea" is an unlockable song in the game Guitar Hero II. The song tells of their version of the history of the world, including how humans were created by Venusians searching for a new planet to live.[3]
[edit] Members
- Valient Himself - Vocals
- Eidan Thorr - Guitars
- Dr. Professor Nitewolf Strangees - Bass
- Odinn Thorr - Guitars
- Lucian Thorr - Percussion
[edit] Discography
| Title | Release Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Stranded On Earth | July 1, 2003 | Self-Released |
| Total Universe Man | June 7, 2005 | Volcom Entertainment |
| Legend of the World | July 11, 2006 | Volcom Entertainment |
[edit] Television appearances
- Fuse TV, Warped Tour special (behind the scenes)
- G4 TV, Attack of the Show! (performance)
- Warped: Inside and Out (six episode show on Fuse) - four episodes (performance, and behind the scenes, narration)
- Game Head, episode from The Warped Tour
- Daily Habit, episode on Fuel TV
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Video of Phil Schneider's lecture at the Preparedness Expo in November of 1995
- ^ More information available at - http://www.galactic-server.com/rune/valienthor.html
- ^ http://www.volcoment.com/news/article.asp?sid=&articleID=453
Categories: Articles lacking sources from November 2006 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Rock music groups | Musical groups established in 2003 | American musical groups | North Carolina musical groups | The Triangle, North Carolina
