About Valv

Valv is a brazilian band that has various influences and similar tendencies.The result is a dense and strong sound. In the beginning of 2000, Luciano Cota (guitars) and Alexandre Augusto (drums) decided to put a band together. They wanted to play the sound they have always loved, but didn't have the chance to do with their former bands. Both had played together in other bands from Belo Horizonte, such as Laranja Serra D'água and Vellocet. Alexandre, who is a drummer and also does backing vocals, brings great influences from bands from the Brit-Pop scene and alternative American punk-rock, like Blur, Teenage Funclub, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Catherine Wheel, Cold Play, Guided by Voices, Charlatans, Kent, Hum, Swervedriver, Bufallo Tom among others. The same influences can be mentioned to the guitar player Luciano who also contributed with some of punk-rock due to the fact that he played for over 5 years in a great band of the national punk scene, Dread Full. When they decided to form the band, they didn't have a bass player and they wanted another guitar player, preferably one who could sing. The search for a bass player wasn't very difficult. Daniel Maia, an old friend, accepted the invitation to join the band right away. Influenced by great punk-rock bands such as Misfits, Ramones, Stooges and others like B'52s, MC5, Beach Boys, New Order and The Cure, Daniel brings a unique and personal touch to the bass lines produced in the band compositions. Besides playing bass, he also does backing vocals. Lacking only a guitar player/leading vocals, the search started. The initial idea was to have a girl as the lead singer. But after many attempts to recruit one, they either played well and didn't quite sing the way they expected, or the singing was great and didn't play the guitar well enough. Unfortunately both characteristics were never present in the same person. Lack of luck. While they were searching for the last member of the band, they were already getting together and rehearsing periodically. Some of the songs from Ammonite were composed back then, such as Debtor's Jail and Over It. In October 2000, Alessandro Travassos had recently arrived from abroad, and was in search of a band to go back to playing. Alessandro also participated in great bands in Minas Gerais such as No Hands and Le Çá. During his band search, he met Alexandre who invited him to rehearse with the band. The first rehearsal with the original and complete line up happened. With mainly English and European influences, such as New Model Army, Gene, Garbage, The Cure, Smiths, Bjork, Drovers, among others, Alessandro brought great melodies and compositions to the group, completing and finally shaping the unique and original sound of Valv. The band has released an EP and a CD, respectively called "Ammonite" and "The Sense of Movement".