Riot In The Valley

“Riot in the Valley” are Folk based Rock band based out of Toronto, Canada. The band was formally established in early 2011 but it’s foundation stems back long before that. In 2005 at the tender age of 16 vocalist Alex Galli and guitarist Riley McLean, then high school classmates, formed an acoustic duo, aptly named “Galli and McLean”. The two played along side one another at local pubs and school events for 3 years.
In the spring of 2008 the duo caught their first break when they were cast on the television series Disband, which aired on Much Music. The show featured young Canadian musicians and gave them the opportunity to be coached by a music industry veteran and eventually perform for a panel of judges. It was on Disband where Galli and McLean were introduced to award winning producer Greig Nori (Sum41, Hedley, Mariana’s Trench, Iggy Pop).
Nori was intrigued by the duo’s unique sound and catchy melodies but wasn’t fully convinced that they were committing themselves whole-heartedly to their craft. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” recalls Galli who was simultaneously pursuing a career in hockey at the time, “we were sitting at a table at the Cadillac Lounge in Toronto after one of our performances and Greig looked me right in the eye and said sort of unconfidently, ‘Are you really convinced that your heart’s into this?’ It was like right then and there my whole mindset changed, a switch went off in my head and I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be a musician. I had so much on the go at the time between hockey and music I was like I was a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. In a competitive industry like music there comes a point where you have to decide am I all in or am I all out?”
“After the show Greig told us to keep working and writing. He told us to keep in touch and dedicate every ounce of ourselves to our music” Galli explains. The boys began spending countless hours honing their craft, constantly writing new material and perfecting the melodic, lyrically driven songs that captured Nori’s attention in the first place. “After meeting Greig, I didn’t put my guitar down for two years, every night I would write and practice over and over again. Every so often I would email him a batch of songs and he would get back to me with advice and critiques. It’s quite inspiring when a producer as accomplished as him is taking the time to correspond with you” says Galli.
After nearly two and a half years of writing, Nori finally decided the boys were ready to make a record, “When I heard the new batch of songs, I couldn’t stop listening to them” says Nori, “They are hypnotically captivating and real. As a producer and manager, I can honestly say that something as good as this doesn’t come along very often. I knew immediately that this was one of those projects I couldn’t possibly pass up.”
Alex and Riley contacted long time friends Scott and Derek Lucier to begin working on demos. They soon realized that Scott and Derek’s knack for coming up with musical melodies and ear catching vocal harmonies was undeniable. The chemistry was instant and without much thought, “Riot in the Valley” was born.
“Riot in the Valley” combines well engineered, thought provoking lyrics with instantly catchy melodies to create memorable and timeless songs. Mixing the genres of Country, Rock and Folk, the band utilizes a unique blend of conventional Rock instrumentation with an array of instruments typically used in Country, Folk and Blue Grass such as banjo, pedal steel, mandolin and ukulele to articulate a truly distinctive sound.
With Nori steering the ship as producer, the band has just wrapped up recording on it’s debut album, “Wasteland”, tentatively set for release in 2013. The album is a concept album, which beautifully etches a collection of “coming of age” stories intertwined with countless vocal harmonies and gripping guitar melodies.
In the last two years Riot In The Valley has managed to make waves in the Canadian Music Scene already playing on bills featuring legendary acts such as Kid Rock, Tim McGraw, Carry Underwood and Alabama.