Interviews - Live 4 Metal

Interview with Thor of Valdur
By Dave Schalek August 2009

I must say that I’m greatly impressed by Valdur, a relative newcomer onto the USBM scene. Valdur hail from the incomparable beauty of the Eastern Sierras in northeastern California, a relatively isolated area (the road trip along U.S. 395 is one the best geology drives in the western United States). I recently had a chance to converse via email with Thor, Valdur’s guitarist/ vocalist.

I can’t imagine that the Mammoth Lakes area has much of a black metal scene. Please give us a brief history of the band?
Mammoth had no real metal scene until William, Matthew (L.S.), Zach (Blasphemy) and I joined forces to create Valdur in the winter of 2004. We practiced the shit out of our “cold as fuck” rehearsal bunker and after releasing a couple of demos , finally got our “in” when asked to play with Lightning Swords Of Death and Nachtmystium in downtown L.A. Zach has since left the band due to other commitments, and we remain a three-piece to this day.

What bands and genres would you specifically cite as influences of Valdur?
There are so many killer bands out there that I don’t even know where to start … everything from Mercyful Fate to Immortal and everywhere in between. I like to say we are influenced a lot from the melodic side of black metal along with the intensity of a death metal band, but I may be way the fuck off.

How does the environment of the Eastern Sierras influence your music and lyrical themes?
Without the winter storms and mountains that we are surrounded by, Valdur would not sound anything like we do. These surroundings give the music and lyrics truth and without that it would be pointless to make the triumphant music we have chosen to make. All hippie shit aside, there is an obvious force that comes from the mountains which we reside in, and we make sure to use it to our fullest advantage.

Does living in the relative isolation of the Eastern Sierras help or hinder the band’s development?
It definitely makes playing shows difficult due to far distances and often brutal weather, but we make the best of it. Sometimes we need to get the fuck out of the mountains, so we try to enjoy the car rides to and from, and also the city life. In many ways, living far from any city has kept us focused on Valdur without much influence from the inner city masses and madness.

Please give us a brief synopsis of the band’s recording history?
We gave out a couple of demo CDs in 2003 -2004 and after an unexpected demand, decided to write our first full length based on those songs. The full length was released in 2005 on Bloody Mountain Records. One of the demos made it onto a three way split with The Frost, and Massemord. That was released on Blackmetal.com records in 2007. Shortly after that, Lightning Swords of Death asked us to do a split with them and, of course, that was of great interest to us. The split was released on our U.S. tour in 2008 and that about sums it up.

How often does Valdur perform, and where?
We try to perform no less than once or twice per month when we are all together. This is far from enough, and we will be putting more effort into traveling and performing this upcoming year. This summer has been quiet from our side, but late fall and early winter should be pretty intense as far as shows go. We have based most of our efforts on the West coast from Seattle to San Diego, but the majority of our shows have been in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Last summer, we were on tour with L.S.O.D and Gigan, and we hit up most major cities in the U.S. We had no chance of making it all the way east to New York, New Jersey, and so on, but we are hoping to get our chance there this coming spring.

Has Valdur been getting notice from labels?
We have received a lot of interest from both magazines and record labels after the release of our split with Lightning Swords of Death, and our most recently released promo song, “Berserker”. Also, we will be featured in a new PSP PlayStation game called “Undead Knights”, along with Endless Blizzard and Lightning Swords of Death.

What can we expect in way of a new full-length from Valdur?
We are in the process of writing our second full length album and if all goes well, we will be recording this winter. Faster drums, heavier guitars, and an all around better sound quality are to be expected.

What are the band’s immediate plans?
Our main focus right now is writing music for the new full length. It is a busy time for us. Thanks to the response from the underground metal scene, and we hope to keep impressing those who support Valdur!

Thor
Thank you for your time.