As a new band it can be tempting to get as much material out as possible to build a name for yourself and establish a fan base, but Time, the Valuator are taking a more considered approach. Established in 2015, the band have only released two singles so far, preferring to take the time to ensure what they do put out is the best it can possibly be. You only get one chance to launch your band and this German quartet want to do it as effectively as possible.
With the band’s influences ranging from Peter Gabriel to Thrice to Periphery, it’s no surprise that the band’s most recent single ‘When I Meet Death’ covers a variety of styles. By blending together elements of progressive metal, alternative rock and post-hardcore the band have created a unique sound, something that they were keen to ensure: “it is actually hard to limit our sound to one genre, since we aim to make our sound as colourful as possible.”
For a song that deals with the finality of life, ‘When I Meet Death’ is a surprisingly uplifting song, helped in no small part by soaring vocals, but also by the positive perspective of the lyrics. Singer Phil Bayer explains “as a child I had a phase of panic attacks when the topic ‘death’ popped into my mind. They revolved around the extreme fear of losing my loved ones, so the whole topic was a horrendous one for me because I wasn’t able to deal with it. Of course, it all got better throughout the years, but if your mind clicks like this once, it’s hard to let go of it entirely. I just wanted to reveal that there are other perspectives if you think about the whole thing long enough. And they’re not necessarily of a negative nature.”
To accompany such a moving and personal song, the band invested time in crafting an equally stirring video, a concept that they want to continue with future songs. “In general, we want to make our music videos fit the musical and lyrical atmosphere as much as possible. We love telling stories with our music and we will push on making every song and every music video a piece of art.”
Every band has its own process for creating these works of art and for Time, the Valuator, collaboration across the whole unit is important to striking the right balance, as guitarist Rene Möllenbeck explains. “Even though most ideas come from me, I want every part of the band to put in their ideas as much as possible. Most of our songs now basically start out with me having some ideas at the most random times, then I record them in my room as well as I can, then I send it to the guys to ask how they would go about it, what they want changed. Our writing premise always is doing whatever we want to do. That’s why every next release bears some surprises.”
The band’s first single ‘Elusive Reasons’ certainly came as a surprise, mainly to the band themselves, as the song took on a life of its own: “Phil turned up at my place because we just wanted to find out how our writing chemistry works. I have some cheap bedroom producer equipment which works perfectly for shaping out ideas. Our headline was: “No groovy metal stuff, we wanna do Alternative Rock on a 7 string.” I started jamming exactly what he didn’t intend to do to tease him, but then he was like “Fuck it, this is really cool” And then he hit the record button and I played the intro riff to Elusive Reasons!”
Whether planned or not, the track’s gritty sound and unmistakable melody captured the attention of Famined Records, a label known to the band through other projects. “Phil was part of Famined Records before any of us when his old band Neberu was signed. So years later we reached out again with Elusive Reasons and were happily taken in, which we are thankful for. Famined do their best to get our music out there and make people recognize our hard work. So far, this is the most successful project to all of us.”
With the backing of Famined Records, the band are currently focusing on shaping their debut album, of which they’re currently half way through preparing. “Writing the album is done except for some details. We are at about 50% of recording the album at Embark Audio. It will take some more time, but the wait will be worth it.” Recognising the importance of keeping their fans happy though, the band plan to release at least one more video in the meantime: “we are actually filming our third video very soon and we want to make it more story heavy than the last one. If we do a fourth one really depends on how well we progress through the album recording. We want to avoid huge time gaps between releases.”
The intention of releasing a steady stream of music comes from the desire to give back to their fans. The band have received an admirable amount of support since forming and, particularly with only two songs to their name, have nothing but gratitude for those who believe in the potential they’ve shown so far. “We can’t say it enough. We are really grateful for all the support coming from our fans since the very inception of the band. We were sure that what we do is good stuff, but we never would have expected such a positive impact from our two singles. The best thing ever is when people connect to the songs deeply on an emotional level. We had one fan lose a family member and he said that our music helped him deal with it better. It’s one of those moments in a musician’s life that you will always remember.”
Time, the Valuator are aiming to release their debut album towards the back end of the year in autumn or winter 2017 and have assured that once the album is released they will “hit the stage immediately after that.”
‘Elusive Reasons’ and ‘When I Meet Death’ are available for purchase here and you can keep up to date with the band through Facebook.
You can also check out our POV feature for ‘When I Meet Death’ here.