Valient Himself has announced his first solo album, Crooner Jukebox, is to be released on Smokedoggg Records, February 03rd on cassette and digital formsts, with vinyl to follow in March. In advance of this, he has also shared his new single, a cover of Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down.” Check out the track and find out more in the srticle below.
Stream/buy “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” here.
“I’ve always wanted to put out a record where I can try new things” admits Valient Himself, adding, “Sing in different ways than I have before. I love that Post Pop Depression record Iggy Pop put out where he is just crooning the whole time. What an incredible talent. This isn’t a heavy rock album. This is a curated playlist of some of my favorite jams I love to sing that I’ve totally spent quarters (and dollars) at the jukebox on. And I hope it’s just volume one. I am indebted to all my friends for helping me accomplish something this beautiful. I would never have been able to do this without them.”
Valient Himself has been the charismatic frontman for Valient Thorr for the last 22 years. He regularly does guest vocals with the Avett Brothers and has sung live or on albums with Motorhead, Mastodon, Red Fang, Gogol Bordello, Municipal Waste, Men Eater, Hjortene, Brief Lives, Heavy Temple and Fever Moon.
Relocating from NC to Richmond VA in 2012 he partnered with Josh Novicki and became a restauranteur. Opening Cobra Cabana in 2018, Hot For Pizza in 2020, The Sandspur (Carolina Beach, NC) in 2023, and taking over Kings (Raleigh, NC) in 2023. Whenever he can find time, he still paints, makes and releases music thru his small press label Smokedoggg Records, and hosts a late night “Coast To Coast” inspired talk show called Out There with Valient Himself Wednesday nights at midnight on Instagram live (@outtheretalk).
Valient worked with friends from all over the country on this release for the last few years. “It was a pandemic project to finish an album of covers with buddies that I always wanted to play with but never had time because we were always touring.“
The buddies? Ian MacDougal (Riverboat Gamblers, Broken Gold, Band of Horses), William Cashion (Future Islands), Danny Blanchard (A Giant Dog), Ashish Vyas (Gogogo Airheart, Thievery Corporation, Ruff Feechers), Matt Conner (Station Aries, RPG), Lucian Thorr (Valient Thorr, Birds of Avalon), and so many more.
The tracks? Covers by Neil Diamond, Kiss, Flaming Lips, Neil Young, Roky Erickson, Suicide, Alice Cooper, Todd Rundgren, Harry Nilsson, Wayne Kramer & MC5, & George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. The tracks were recorded all over the country in different studios from Austin, to LA, to Baltimore, to Richmond. The whole thing was mastered by Joel Grind (Toxic Holocaust). And quite a bit of it was mixed by Yavé Rust.