The Valentine Failures

This is not your typical Texas rock n roll band. - David Glessner - 2Fast2Die.com

When we came across the 21-year-old Texan, we knew we'd hit Buyer's Guide gold - Anna Blumenthal

Check out this photo gallery of outtakes from our 2012 Guitar World Buyer's Guide photo shoot with Nicole Starr, one of our Buyer's Guide Model Search winners.

And don't miss our behind-the-scenes video from the photo shoot.

The 2012 Guitar World Buyer's Guide is available on newsstands now and at the Guitar World Online Store.



- Damian Fanelli

When I first saw the pics on their MySpace page, I immediately thought that these guys couldn't be wrong, I mean c'mon, their bass player even wears a LORDS Of THE NEW CHURCH shirt in one of them! Good taste!
While the first song ("Suicide City") can make you think about AFI, the second one ("Born Into This") sounds more like D-GENERATION and if you mix these two bands you could get a close idea of how The VALENTINE FAILURES sound. I've never thought about Davey Havok and Jesse Malin jamming together but it works! No wonder why they call themselves "Dallas degenerates" in the biography.
This is raw, dark and punked-up and their various influences can make them reach glam punk fans as well as the new generation (emo?)… But don't run away, how could you resist a song like "Dead To You"? I surely can't.
I can easily imagine that songs like "We All Die Young" or "Blackout My Heart" work really well live, now let's hope that The VALENTINE FAILURES will be able to tour on the old Continent./Laurent. - www.veglam.com

"Lights Out in Suicide City", the full-length debut by this spunky local quartet, has been garnering kudos ever since it came out late last year. The band is giving the disc a fresh pressing, making this show a relaunching of sorts. Lights Out is a brash set of glam punk, not too long on originality but loaded with catchy riffs and dripping with punk ethos. Songs like "Bloodshot Eyes" and "Dead to You" don't say anything new, but they do have a cool way of making their perspectives sound fresh. The Valentine Failures have been around since 2005, playing just about any area dive that would let them set up. Tattooed and pierced in just about every location, Justin, Wayne, Dillon and Bombs (first names only—this is punk) all look like the kind of bad boy that the girls dream about and all of the parents abhor. "We're working like crazy on new material," says bassist/vocalist Bombs. "It might be an EP, maybe even including some covers." The Valentine Failures parlay the best aspects of bands like D Generation, Lords of the New Church and Social Distortion while still maintaining that one element that eludes some bands who mine similar territory: authenticity. - Dallas Observer

"Valentine Failures are a pack of mascara-slathered sleaze ponies from Dallas who choose to write their premature epitaphs in deep crimson slashes of Hanoi meets D-Generation razor-rock. Surprisingly sweet-toothed for suicidal dudes, but otherwise breathlessly raunchy stuff."

-Sleazegrinder, Classic Rock Magazine
- Classic Rock

I can summarise this CD in two sentences. A lost D-Generation album. If you liked them, buy this. You won't be disappointed.

OK, that was three sentences but you get my drift. Luckily, I've always been a D-Generation fan, despite the fact that a) they weren't the glam rock gods I had hoped they'd be and b) they had a habit of re-recording songs from previous albums and releasing them again on their next album. I guess perfectionism is a terrible burden to bear.

Perhaps not too surprisingly, the MySpace page for Dallas four piece The Valentine Failures list D-Generation first in their list of influences and they certainly wear these influences on their sleeves. Given the similarities between the track "Blood Shot Eyes "and "Dog House" by the Sea Hags, I'm surprised that they've not also been name checked!

Having said that both those bands are now defunct and Valentine Failures are playing all new material so it's a case of honouring influences rather than being a simple tribute act. All ten tracks on this self financed release contain melodic, punk inspired rock n' roll and as their name and CD title suggests, they're clearly influenced by the grimy side of the gutter. Vocalist Justin spits out the vocals with suitable venom but clearly enough for you to actually make out what he's on about, backing vocals are used effectively, guitars are set to stun throughout. In a live situation, I bet that this lot absolutely destroy. On the basis of this CD alone there's no reason why The Valentine Failures shouldn't manage to win themselves a small degree of success but then again - look what happened to D-Generation........


by Phil T.
- Glitzine

The Valentine Failures make the heart grow fonder with this rollicking romp on the dark side. Better than average lyrics set this album apart from the usual offerings. Members are Justin (who delivers powerful vocals reminiscent of Vince Neil), Dillon (guitar, vocals) and Bombs (bass, vocals). Wayne I5 (drums) provides the solid, steady beat that keeps you looking forward to the next track. Most enjoyable are "We All Die Young," "Dead To You" and "Anything, Anything," which features excellent guitar work and a galloping bass that force you to move your head, feet, fingers, or something. This group of young and talented musicians has great potential. (Skid Dickson) - HarderBeat

http://www.theeagle.com/spotlight/The-Valentine-Failures-bring--punk-metal-rock--n--roll-to-B-CS

By KELLY MINNIS
Special to The Eagle


The Valentine Failures are bringing back sleazy 1980s Los Angeles metal with a vengeance, channeling the dirty hard rock of early Mötley Crüe, Faster Pussycat, Appetite For Destruction-era Guns N' Roses and L.A. Guns, but with an Iron Maiden lyricism and a punk rock urgency.
"L.A. Guns was a good starting point for us," said Justin Elliott, the Dallas band's lead singer and guitarist. "We knew we wanted a stripped-down, straight-up dirty, dark rock 'n' roll band."

And that just about sums up The Valentine Failures' modus operandi.

Elliott and drummer Wayne Stokely said they knew of each other from playing in similar bands in the Dallas music scene, so by 2005 they decided to form a band.

"We started writing songs together and started looking for a guitarist, but we were having a real hard time finding one," Elliott said, adding that one night, while tossing a few back at a Dallas bar, fate intervened.

"We saw this guy walk by in an L.A. Guns T-shirt, and I thought to myself, 'Man, I wish that dude played guitar,'" Elliott said.

It just so happened that he did, and that's how the band added guitarist Dillon Reid to the line-up.

"Dillon had the same mindset as us but helped to bring more of a modern edge to the band," Elliott said.

Bassist Brandon "Bombs" Stack joined after answering a musician-wanted classified ad.

"Bombs brought on the punk attitude," Elliott said.

Last year, The Valentine Failures released their Lights Out In Suicide City CD. The songs careen along at a frantic pace with lyrics about dead-end dreams and the tough streets of the big city.

Born Into This has that classic pre-hairspray, '80s L.A. metal sound, with turgid guitar riffs, galloping drums and a catchy almost-pop scream-along chorus.

Dead To You adds an almost gothic post-punk feel to the power chord ride, with Elliott's Vince Neil-esque vocals. Dark Stars shows off Stokely's powerful, commanding drums, and Bloodshot Eyes brings the stripper strut.

Although The Valentine Failures hail from Dallas, they consider themselves more of a regional band, playing Houston, Austin and all points in-between.

"Dallas doesn't have much of a music scene anymore," Elliott said. "There's lots of extreme metal here, but even that's dying out."

Elliott cited a lack of promotion and downloading to the shrinking live music scene.

"These days with so many other things competing for people's attention, you've got to bust your ass advertising, you can't just depend on MySpace bulletins to get people out."

It also helps to offer a nondownloadable experience, and The Valentine Failures offer a live show that is like bringing a stadium experience to a small club space.

"We bring our game no matter where we play or who we play for," Elliott said. The band strives to bring a large and professional show each gig without falling into Spinal Tap buffoonery, they said.

"Yeah, no Stonehenge for us yet!" Elliott joked.

It is with the live show in mind that The Valentine Failures planning to release a live DVD in the spring.

"I've got nothing against studio albums, but seeing a live band is much cooler to me," Elliott said.

The band has a large overseas fanbase and it hopes that a live DVD would help to show those fans what The Valentine Failures really are about, plus the band will include extras like footage from appearances on live television and unreleased tracks.

The Valentine Failures hope to get into the studio to record an EP or possibly a 7-inch single next summer, and expand their touring base outside Texas and the Southeast.

Whichever route The Valentine Failures take, the band hopes to attract new audiences to their metal-punk hybrid sound.

"It's cool to see extreme punk rockers mixed in with the metal fans at our shows," Elliott said. "We don't appeal to just one crowd, and we play every show as big and powerful as can be. That's just us."
- Bryan/College Station Eagle