The island giveth and can taketh away
Evan Valentine – “The island giveth and can taketh away”
Born in Sacramento, California in 1996, Evan Valentine grew up just south of Boston on the coast. While growing up, he had access to a grand piano, drum set, bass guitar and acoustic guitar. A cousin had a drum set in his basement and around age eight, Evan took an interest in drums.
Evan and high school friend, Gavin Gebhart, started Good Trees River Band. They are currently contracted with Gitcha Records, out of Nashville, to produce a new album, titled Blowin’ Smoke. They started as a Roots Americana jam band and moved into a mostly original Psychedelic Rock Band.
Evan tries to keep the creative process going every day – a full song, a riff, a tune that comes to mind, or something he tries on his looper that fits together well. He grew up with heavy metal, Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead and the Swedish group, Opeth as his most influential music. Another favorite was an Australian group called King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. They were one of the most prolific songsters, releasing over 27 albums with no particular genre, trend, or guidelines. They produce rock music, jazz fusion to heavy metal – kind of an Australian “No Rules” based music group. Evan continues to write music often.
Mark King moved to Key West first and Evan followed. Evan has always been a “Deadhead” so he naturally gravitated towards the Happy Dog Band. His first gig was one of the early Reef Relief Jerry Garcia Birthday bash jams at the Green Parrot. The Grateful Dead have been cultural icons for decades, long before Evan was born and he is a dedicated follower.
There is some kind of tangible magic on this island of Key West and Evan is trying to understand it and, hopefully, be able to define it. He has met people from all over the country and throughout the world that even if he only sees them a handful of times in a year, for some unknown reason he considers them life-long friends. He says that he’s never been anywhere “that he has met that many people and felt like that in such a short amount of time.”
Nashville and New Orleans are comparable but in Key West there is a “do it yourself” (DIY) comradery that requires a commitment to submit to the energetic flow of the island. A level of respect is required for Key West and the people around you. Evan claims there is a powerful force in town that can’t be taken for granted.
Evan speaks of a reward based philosophy or challenge, “The Island giveth and the island taketh away.” If one resists it and does not respect the community or doesn’t pay their dues, then they will not receive the love that the island has to offer. 
Kind of like a pay it forward philosophy. It’s not exclusive but it’s all about making the right choices. Respect the island and it will respect you.
Playing on this small island with so many venues scheduling repeat performances, there is a bit of a repetition cycle that one needs to escape. To prevent falling into a Groundhog Day Syndrome, Evan escapes by traveling often to mix up the locations, the music, and performances.
While in Key West, he loves the music and the overall vibe of his good friends, Jesse Wagoner and Jillian Todd. Their chemistry and energy is incredible. If he had no idea who they were, or complete strangers, they would be his favorite musical group – “They play all my favorite songs.”
While reading a post by fellow Key West musician Jon Skiff who was earlier diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and is going through very serious health issues and sharing dome of his updates. Evan was inspired by s line in one of Jon’s posts. He wrote “Skiff’s Song” it includes an inspirational lyric “Give all your loves now”. It will be released at a planned Live Now, Love Now fundraiser October 12 at the Key West Theater. It’s also one example of that reward-based philosophy and the powerful island force that Evan referred to earlier.
There are no comments yet, add one below.
Leave a Reply