I don’t know about you, but I want to be friends with all of the members of Valley. The indie-pop band performed an amazing set for the Association of Campus Entertainment’s (ACE’s) Fall Fest on Saturday, Oct. 9, and I’ve been listening to them on repeat ever since. Valley is a band based in Toronto, Canada, and the members of the band—lead singer Rob Laska, drummer Karah James, bassist Alex Dimauro, and guitarist Michael (Mickey) Brandolino are all incredibly talented, beautiful, and down-to-earth people. They were more than willing to talk to everyone, take pictures, and do autographs for the audience here at SLU. You might’ve even spotted them at the food truck before they went on stage. Their band came together in 2014 when their original duos (Rob and Alex, Mickey and Karah) were double-booked for a studio session. They talked about their songs together, became friends, and have been a band ever since. I had a lovely time interviewing them and eating at the food truck with them before they performed at this year’s Fall Fest.  

Do you guys have an idea of where you’d be if you hadn’t met and formed the band? 

Mickey: Architecture or we’d be a folk duo [with Karah]. 

Rob: I’d probably still be at Starbucks working my way up to head office or something. 

Mickey: Alex would be in tech. 

Karah: We would be getting into trouble, that’s for sure. 

Alex: We’re not that mischievous.  

Mickey: [to Karah] You were really a goody-two-shoes. 

You “were” a goody-two-shoes? 

Mickey: “Is” a goody-two-shoes. We’re very straight-edge, I mean look at our rider: it’s bananas, mangos, and Tostitos.  

Speaking of the food orders, I noticed that you guys asked for no plastic water bottles and wanted a reusable pitcher of water instead. Have you always done that? 

Rob: For the past two years, yeah. We tried to take single-use plastic – I mean it’s unavoidable with this stuff [Gatorade] – but yeah usually we’ll get a case of like 50 water bottles. 

Mickey: It’s like a standard at venues. 

Rob: Yeah, so wherever we can cut down we do. 

Karah: We have to ask at venues to not give us the water bottles. 

Alex: Over the course of the tour, it adds up a lot.  

Let’s talk about songwriting now. Are there any types of songs that you want to focus more on in the future? 

Rob: I feel like there’s a bunch that we still want to tap into more. I would say more and more love songs. Everyone loves a good love song.  

Does someone in the group write more songs than anyone else? 

Rob: No, it’s actually oddly very equal. It’s all of us – either we’re writing parts, or lyrics, or collaborating on a chorus. Someone will bring the verse, and then I could bring the bridge, and then Alex will write the post-melody. It’s just so equal down the line. We have certain strengths that we amplify in each other, so some of us will do more in the path that we know we’re really strong in, but it’s pretty equal across the board. There are no designated rules in the studio.  

Do you have a favorite song out of the music you’ve written? 

All of them. At the same time: “Last Birthday” the song. 

Rob: It’s not out yet. 

Mickey: Of the songs that are out, I think “My Girl” and “Cure.” 

Karah: Yeah, I’m a “Cure” stan for sure. 

Rob: Yeah “Cure” is fun, we’re playing it live for the first time today [Fall Fest].  

Mickey: Yeah, first time ever. 

Karah: Technically we did it for the first time in soundcheck. 

Do you think you focus on lyrics or instrumentation first? 

Rob: Both. 

Mickey: It depends on the song really.  

Rob: On “Last Birthday” a lot of stuff started with the title, some stuff started with just a vibe like a drum groove or a bass idea, or a keys part. “Oh shit… are we in love?” was started from a keys part and a drum loop. I find more and more nowadays that production inspires the writing, but then again, we’ll come up with titles and be like, “that’s a sick title, imagine what that could sound like.” So it’s a magical mystery box all the time.  

Mickey: Either a lot happens at once, or it changes over time. Someone might bring just a title and someone might bring a synth line that’s like a chord progression, just whatever the day calls for.  

What’s your favorite concert story? 

Mickey: There was this one time I was seeing my friend perform live, his name is Joshua Spears, and he was getting questions because there was a tech issue, and I yelled “when is the next song?” He interpreted that as “when are you going to play the next song?” and he was like “as soon as the tech is fixed,” but I meant to ask when he was releasing his next song. The whole crowd got awkward because nobody knew which side. They were trying to understand, and I just melted.  

Karah: Okay, I have a funny story about Mickey. One time when we were in Boston, he realized he forgot his shoes at the last venue. His shoes. Who forgets shoes?  

Alex: It has happened more than once; he’s had to buy shoes before a show multiple times.  

Mickey: I was wearing my slippers. 

Karah: It’s like when you see a pair of pants on the side of the street and think about how those got there. Anyway, he forgot his shoes so he, like an hour before the show, looks up “shoe stores near me” and he goes to buy another pair of shoes but his phone dies. I don’t know the middle part of the story, but he ended up coming back literally one minute before we were about to go on stage.  

Mickey: They were huddled up ready to go on stage without me. 

Karah: We were hooked in, ready to go, and our tour manager was like, “where’s Mike [Mickey]?”  

Mickey: I went on without my ears [earpiece] and my pack and no shoes. I didn’t even end up buying shoes. 

Karah: That was a treat. Two shows after that, he kept trying to buy shoes, so then he’d always be like “shoe stores near me.” Then he went out another time and cut it really close, so now the joke on tour is “shoe stores near me.” 

Mickey: Every time someone is like “hey we’re in a big rush,” I just say “shoe stores near me.” 

Karah: There’s always crazy stuff that happens on tour, like this morning. Our front of house guy didn’t bring his passport. This is the irony of it: he was in his Uber when he realized he didn’t have his passport, and he didn’t tell us until he got to where we were. 

Mickey: We were using the house tech guy here [at SLU] and he did an incredible job mixing, so we lucked out. The guy who forgot his passport was a one-off guy anyway because our regular guy wasn’t available.  

What’s something you miss from home while you’re on tour? 

Karah: My NutriBullet.  

Rob: NutriBullet, that’s such a Karah answer. 

Mickey: My bed. 

Rob: I miss – oh there’s so many things. My sister just had a kid and has a new dog so – her name’s Scout – I do miss her a lot.  

Karah: The dog, not the kid. 

Rob: I also share dog duties with my girlfriend. Cooper and Scout, I miss them a lot.  

Mickey: I miss my girlfriend, too. 

Rob: Yeah, I’m lucky I get to tour with my girlfriend so I’m spoiled, but I do miss the dogs a lot. The dogs are number one.  

Alex: Dogs for me. Yeah, my dog.  

Rob: Alex has a really cute cockapoo. 

Alex: Named the same name as your sister’s kid.  

Mickey: The dog came first. 

Rob: Karah’s dog is across the country so even when she’s home she’s still missing her dog, which sucks. She has a dog named Cosmo. 

Karah: Always missing Cosmo. 

Rob: I guess dogs, girlfriends, and NutriBullets are the real answer.  

Speaking of NutriBullets, and to end this interview with a fun question – if you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be? 

Karah: Wow, I love that question.  

Rob: I would be a spork because it’s the most practical. 

Karah: I would be a VitaMixer because that’s on brand. That’s been my brand. 

Alex: I know what I am – I’m a spatula.  

Rob: Because you’d be used for yummy food. Pancakes. 

Karah: Because you’re thorough.  

Alex: Exactly, exactly. I get it all. I try to make sure I don’t forget anything. 

Karah: Yeah, Alex is a thorough person.  

Alex: Sometimes you have to take the time to get everything, but you get it all –  

Karah: – and people get annoyed with the person that is really thorough because they take so long. 

Alex: But guess what? I don’t wanna waste any of the chocolate in the bowl, and I don’t wanna waste any of the eggs – by the way, making eggs with a spatula is the way to go. 

Karah: I’ve been telling you that since day one. 

Mickey: Anyway, I’d be –  

Rob: You’d be a ladle because you like soup, and you scoop up knowledge a lot. 

Mickey: I like soup? 

Karah: This guy had soup one time. 

Rob and Alex: Okay, maybe a sponge. 

Mickey: I was gonna say a fridge. 

Rob: That’s not a utensil though! It’s an appliance. 

Karah: I said VitaMixer, that’s an appliance. 

Rob: Oh, that’s true.  

Mickey: Yeah, I’ll just say fridge. I hold stuff in and then it gets smelly. 

Rob: It’s got everything.  

The band recently released a new EP called “Last Birthday” and is currently on tour with the band COIN. Stream Valley’s music to help Mickey get another pair of shoes (or stream it simply because it’s great music).