Last night I attended a gig at The Old Manly Boatshed, a dungeon of a place situated in my little “Insular Peninsular” on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.
The headliners were a Gold Coast trio by the name of Valley Floor. The band consists of Jesse Bailey on vocals and guitar, Dan Briffa on drums, and bassist Clay MacDonald, who just so happens was one of the founding members of Australian roots band The Beautiful Girls.
Aesthetically the band is reminiscent of an adolescent Silverchair circa 1997. But their sound is more comparable to a cross between Arctic Monkeys/Nirvana/Black Keys/Sublime, with a surf rock/reggae/ska vibe. Throw in the occasional (nowadays obligatory) vocal harmonising and you’ve got yourself a band with a bit of an identity crisis.
It’s safe to say the boys are a talented bunch, nailing every song on their set list, but as an open minded punter I still found myself confused as to what they were actually trying to achieve musically. In saying that nowadays a lot of musicians are criticised for dishing out consecutive albums all sounding the same, but on the other hand put down if they change their sound too drastically. How many times have you said “I prefer their old stuff”? Therefore it’s hard to decide if it’s better that Valley Floor are so versatile or if one would rather them stick to one particular sound.
Regardless Valley Floor’s worth a listen and you can check out a couple of their songs and upcoming tour dates here:
