ARROW VALLEY Talk New EP, Single And More

Luke Hatton (Guitarist/Producer)

Nicky Hughes (Guitarist)

Arron Turner (Vocalist)

Mark Harris Bristow (Drums)

Abbas Ali (Bassist) 

Arron – Luke and myself officially met through the forum “joinmyband.co.uk” in 2019 during the Covid pandemic, but actually met roughly 10/11 years prior, I don’t know if you believe in fate, but there is a very interesting story behind that… Luke and Mark were in collaboration in a touring project (Cloven Hoof) to which Luke broached the subject of Arrow Valley in 2022 in a car journey. Abbas later applied for our bassist advert, to which we quickly snapped him up. Finally but not least, Nicky and Arron have been friends for many many years, like 15/16 I think? and we worked together on many failed projects, but we wrote some parts of the first EP together in our mid 20s and I asked him to join us in late 2023.

Arron – Arrow Valley – Luke and myself began work on our first EP “You’re Not Alone” in August of 2019 after exchanging the acoustic recordings and structures.

Myself – I would say when I was around 17, started with the grunge over tone, after being heavily influenced by Pearl Jam. I think the first song I ever wrote was called “In Hiding”

Arron – Oh Wow, ummmm I would probably say singing along to Tina Turner – Simply The Best as a kid! haha.

Arron – Luke sent this riff to me, completely by surprise, with a “what do you think of this” label attached to it, as soon as I heard it I got goosebumps, I was looking out of my window at the clouds whilst the track was playing and the lyrics fluked out, along with the melody. Honestly, Luke wrote such a blinder, it was so easy to write to and the chorus had to be big, simple, but big. Ironically I wrote the lyrics about disconnecting from the digital world and reconnecting with nature, whilst using a computer haha.

Arron – We wanted to shoot in a beautiful place, settled in nature, away from the noise, which would suit the theme of the song. Low and behold Luke’s in-laws are actually key holders to the Chillington Hall, Brewood grounds – they offered us the unique opportunity, of which we are so grateful. The video was directed by Nicky & Jessica Hughes who have directed all of our video footage so far, however my mate Phil Griffiths – shot, edited and produced the final piece.

Big shout out to “Greencameraaction” on Instagram, if anyone’s interested in a videographer, he’s new to the game, but very thorough and easy to work with, the video looks amazing!                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Arron – It was a basic culmination of Luke and myself forming the melodies and structures together then handing over the templates as demos to Abbas and Mark, allowing them to build their parts influencing more structure changes in the songs, then presenting the final piece. Unfortunately Nicky was late to the party at this point, however his writing and abilities will be present in our next release… Oops, did I just say that? (shifty eyes)

Arron – So the bulk of the recording was done at Luke’s house, guitars, bass, vocals, synth. The drums were recorded by friends of ours at Vault Studios, based in Kiddiminster. Luke produced the entire EP, and I am so proud of him. Blows my mind how he’s able to hear the things he does.     

Arron – Hahaha it’s always the outtakes I would say or that time Luke and I finished tracking the vocals for “The Killing Fields”, we got a lil drunk and high after, then started writing a f****** pirate song whilst half cut, and sent it to the lads giggling like schools girls.                                                      

Luke – One big upgrade we made for the record was the purchase of a Shure SM7B vocal microphone, which are a studio standard for most. It really helped shape the tone of Arron’s voice for the record. Vocals are undoubtedly the most important element of the sound, and the new microphone made the mixing of the vocals an absolute breeze! Well… the microphone coupled with recording Arron in a padded cell made out of any soft furnishing, clothes, teddy bears we had to hand in order to get a nice dry recording.

Arron – Owwwf interesting question, I guess first and foremost, is that WE as a band had a good time, we do this because we enjoy it and we have to evaluate things, if we aren’t, so thats key. However, secondly, did we entertain, did people “get it”, I understand not everyone’s going to like our material, but it’s so humbling when someone approaches you after a show to say they enjoyed it.

Luke – We all take a great benefit from an in ear monitoring rig, which allows us to be in total control of our monitoring sound on stage. It helps us bypass the occasional stereotypical ‘grumpy sound engineer’ who’d sooner eat the stage monitor than turn the volume up. Not to disrespect all sound engineers, we have worked with some absolute legendary engineers over time, but as the saying goes, ‘it’s the minority that spoils it for the majority!’. Most of the band suffer with G.A.S (gear acquisition syndrome), so we’re regularly buying and trying new equipment. Apart from Arron, he’s quite happy with one microphone and one lead… and a bouncy ball (to keep him busy backstage).

Arron – My home town along with Nicky’s is Redditch, born, bred and 4 fingers to prove it haha.

1. Green 2. Round-abouts 3. Central 4. Reminiscent 5. Alluring.                                                                                                                                                                   

A. Ode

B. The Killing Fields

C. All Good Things                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Ummm, I rehearse a lot before the next show, making sure my voice is prepared, I warm up often with a YouTube coach named “Jeff Rolka” doing the basics, like scales, lip trills and then before I go on stage I try not to use my voice and I have nice cup of mint tea 🙂

Arron – The Punisher, that film was built for metal.                                                                                                                                                                                         

Arron – Our resident artist Jessica Hughes, so we gave her a basic template of what we wanted and she drew out this f****** god looking Ram, that literally demands focus.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Breaking Benjamin, Killswitch Engage, anything Mark Tremonti touches, Iron Maiden, Inflames, Funeral For a Friend, Gojira… I mean this list, it could just keep going and going. 

So we have 2 dates in November, starting with 15th at the “Metal Monocle” in Leicester, followed by a headline slot at “Record Junkee” in Sheffield on the 30th, alongside our friends “Tired Of Fighting”. We have started applying to venues and festivals for 2025 and have established some slots. We’re just excited to play, ya know?                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Arron – Yes and no, some songs took longer than others, Ode for example was a lost cause for a while, until something clicked. However the other songs were a breeze to write and we still have so much material waiting for the light, so watch this space.

Happy – People showing up to support local music, go-karting, writing, gaming.

Unhappy – Playing to an empty room sucks, however we’ve been pretty fortunate so far.