valentiine

This rocks as hard as anything that came out in the '90s, and sounds just as relevant today. Great work. - Triple J - Dom Alessio

Being a girl hurts sometimes. If you aren’t one and therefore didn’t know or understand the extent of how much, have a listen to this album and you’ll soon empathise. If you do happen to wake up female every day and you’re having a tough time of it, pour yourself a tall glass of this and neck it. Stat.

Every generation gets its soundtrack for being fucked-over, heartbroken, or misunderstood. While being a little jealous that I’m now just this side of too old to get emotionally overwrought in my room with the music up loud writing in my diary because no one understands me, I’m very happy for today’s adolescents to have a band like Valentiine to serve that very purpose.

The three young Melbourne ladies, (Erica, Rachelle and Vanessa) have taken one for the team here and smashed it out of the park on their scorching debut album. It’s proper, raw, gruelling femme-rock. They pick up what nineties torch-bearers like L7, Hole and Magic Dirt’s Adalita so ferociously put down, and run away with it – while pulling its hair and smudging its eyeliner, of course.

The genre’s requisite angst is most evident on the opening track Hates Me and later on Better For Me, while the band’s real song writing strength – blatant emotional nakedness and the ability to lay it out bare in a way that connects – rules the album on Never Forget You, the painfully beautiful, rip-your-heart-out allure of Birthday and the heaving closer, Today’s Tomorrow.

While the album serves as an effortlessly smooth aural experience with all nine of the songs existing in seamless cohesion with each other, it is a credit to the charisma of the individual songs that while listening, there is an almost distracting desire to hear them live instead, as if that would be the unlocking of their true nature and potential.

Like the legendary purveyors of the sound in its heyday, Valentiine have managed to craft a satisfyingly downbeat girl-grunge album that will retain relevance over time and the changing conditions in the lives of listeners. - Beat Magazine (Erin Hill)

Met up with Valentine, a 3 piece all girl grunge band from Melbourne. They were all real nice and watching their sound check made me excited about their set. They were gonna be good.
What a great way to end the tour. Before we played I saw Valentine and they were great. Their lead singer, Vanessa is an amazing young woman. She’s got a lot of charisma.

-13th September, 2008 - Adalita Srsen (Magic Dirt)

"Melbourne's hardest working ladies of grunge rock, Valentiine, are set to grace The Tote front bar with their workaholic presence every saturday in January.
Recalling the craftmanship of The Breeders, the slow burn of 7 Year Bitch and the telekinetic intensity of Drew Barrymore in Fire Starter(!). The Valentiine live experience will see The Tote's infamous carpet awash with melodic noise. Catch the ladies of Valentiine before they head back into the studio to finish recording their debut album, which is due for release mid year 2010." - Beat Magazine - Erica Lewis

Having played a staggering 60 gigs over the past year, including a string of headline shows in Sydney, and recently picking up a support slot with Magic Dirt and Partyline (ex Bratmobile), Melbourne's hardest working grunge rockers Valentiine tore up the stage at IDGAFF on friday night.
Word around town was that the Valentiine live experience was something you did not want to miss. I almost felt part of the cool club hearing about them, as the valentiine buzz started purely by word of mouth. Like playing a game of chinese whispers.
Walking through the doors to IDGAFF i wondered why i had not heard about Valentiine sooner, as i looked around the room i felt like the only one who did not know about them.
The 3 girls didn't say a word and kicked into their first song Hates Me. Crunching guitars, snotty lyrics, and a beat that jumpstarts your heart. Hates me! was all i heard as the crowd chanted along.
It was 45 minutes of pure pop hooks, swallowed in melodic mess. I knew i tapped into something special when the crowd started swarming the stage and attempting to surf.
Second last song, power blew, running on reserves, but nothing would have been enough to dim the energy that night.
If you haven't already seen these girls, then you were just like me a week ago. . . deprived.
- Beat Magazine 09