A grueling five day a week practice schedule produced a repertoire of original songs which eventually were committed to a vinyl recording bearing the name of the band itself.
The VALHALLA album, along with the band, very quickly became a bay area phenomenon and found its way to several hundred radio stations in the U.S. and overseas (mainly in the Netherlands) along with many favorable write ups in local, national and international magazines.
The common theme which was repeated in those magazine articles was that, “the band had a sound which harkened back to Van Halen’s early days.” The band’s musical style was also compared to other established artist’s such as Bad Company, U.F.O., Free, and Boston; but the band VALHALLA itself just simply insisted on describing themselves as “Locomotive Rock” due in part to a bay area magazine article which described them as, “being like a Powerful Locomotive.”
The band practiced hard and played hard, always striving for perfection. This was most evident in their live shows. A VALHALLA show could always be counted upon to be action packed and full of energy with the boy’s giving their all to the packed houses where they were playing. From jumping off 6′ high platforms, to running and sliding on their knees to within inches of the audience’s noses, VALHALLA would often times steal the show as the opening act for other bands. Often times going back out onstage for an encore performance to the audience’s chanting of their name: “VALHALLA! VALHALLA! VALHALLA!”
The bands which VALHALLA opened for include: Keel, Wendy O Williams, Taxxi, Helix, Waysted (U.F.O. members), Cub Koda (Brownsville Station), Davy Pattison (Vocalist for Montrose and Robin Trower) and early unsigned group’s like Metallica and Poison (Just to name a few)!
The producers who worked with VALHALLA were always impressed, and very much enjoyed being in the studio with the boy’s as well as producing their material. Well established artist’s in their own right, the names of Vahalla’s producers include: Ronnie Montrose, Robert Berry from the band 3 with Keith Emerson & Carl Palmer, and also Doug Caldwell & Charles Bohn.
A bay area magazine at the time which was called; Bam Magazine (Bay Area Music) did a feature piece on the band and said: “VALHALLA’s locomotive sound along with Chal Ware’s party time holler can clearly be heard on the bands self produced vinyl E.P.” VALHALLA! Expect this band to go far!”
With a tip of their hats towards a Psychedelic band from the 60’s and also to a current metal band using the same moniker, it is clearly evident that the name itself invokes visions of a misty Nordic battlefield where gallant warriors must die in battle in order to bravely tread the halls of VALHALLA
