The Valery Trails

"If you're looking to make your road movie about wide-open spaces and foolish choices coming back to haunt you, [Ghosts and Gravity] just might be your soundtrack." - David Maine, PopMatters

In July 2013, after some online exchanges of tracks and ideas, The Valery Trails reconvened in Brisbane to record their second album, this time with the luxury of a full week in the studio together. The album was mixed in Brooklyn with Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Sebadoh, Spacehog).

“This sophomore album hits it out of the ballpark with its firm grasp of neatly chugging rock that bristles with a wealth of tasty hooks and sparkling harmony...This is the type of music that lifts one’s spirits in the most direct and immediate way possible: There’s a straight-on honest sincerity at work that’s impossible not to be moved by.” - Joe Wawrzyniak, Jersey Beat

For album number three, the band reverted to the technologically-enabled collaborative approach of the first album with recording sessions in Brisbane and Houston coming together to create a collection of songs that explores the different elements of The Valery Trails’ sound, from the power-pop hooks of “OK” through the layered guitars of “Cordless” and “Fall Around”, with excursions into Americana (“Doesn’t Have to Live There”) and the title track “Chameleon Bones” delving further into left field.

"These guys aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel; they’re trying to do something even harder. They’re showing us what can happen when you mix a concrete respect for certain musical lineages with a brazen disregard for modern convention." - Joshua Pickard, Nooga.com

Tracks from the three albums have received airplay and charted on US and Canadian specialty and college radio, as well as community radio in the US, Australia and Europe. Internet radio has been particularly supportive, with lengthy periods of rotation play.

Songs by The Valery Trails have appeared on PBS’ “Roadtrip Nation” and MTV’s “Teen Mom 2”, as well as being featured in online videos for the Dew Tour extreme sport online videos. 

With band members formerly separated by the Pacific Ocean, live shows by the Valery Trails have been understandably rare (and celebratory) events. In 2015 the band made their live debut via a mini tour in Brisbane, Australia and in 2018 The Valery Trails made their U.S. debut with shows in Texas (Houston and Austin).

In 2020 Andrew moved back to Brisbane following an extended period of travel that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In between lockdowns and as restrictions eased, the band was able to spend time in the studio, producing a wealth of material for a busy 2022 release schedule. The Introvert Blues EP was released on February 25, followed by the Disappear EP on May 20, leading up to the release of The Valery Trails’ fourth album, The Sky Is Blue on August 12.

The Sky Is Blue is The Valery Trails’ most ambitious work to date, with the band working without a deadline and taking the time to produce each song to its logical conclusion without strictly adhering to a rigid sonic framework. Help was enlisted from Brisbane friends Tim Steward (Screamfeeder, We All Want To - guitars and vocals) and Skye Staniford (We All Want To - vocals) as well as online collaborations with a horn section in Atlanta, Georgia (Terminus Horns) and strings by Swedish musician Filip Magnusson.

The album was mixed in North Carolina by Scott Solter, who has recorded and mixed an eclectic mix of artists including The Mountain Goats, Superchunk, St Vincent and his own avant garde / ambient projects such as Boxharp and The Balustrade Ensemble. Scott was the perfect choice to bring together the diverse elements and different ideas explored in this set of songs, honoring each song’s direction while bringing them all together as an album.

Even as the band’s lives change and the world around them changes even more, The Valery Trails continue to strive towards their goal to build a body of work on their own terms.