FROM: LATHUM NELSON/MITCH SCHNEIDER

KATHY VALENTINE

TO MARK ‘LIGHT YEARS’ RELEASE

WITH SEPTEMBER 7 IN-STORE AT LOS ANGELES’ AMOEBA RECORDS

AND SEPTEMBER 14 CONCERT AT LOS ANGELES’ TROUBADOUR

  BACKED BY ALL-STAR BAND

KATHY VALENTINE will mark the September 6 release of her self-produced debut solo album LIGHT YEARS in Los Angeles with an in-store performance at Amoeba Records (Wednesday, September 7) and a special concert at the Troubadour (Wednesday, September 14). Taking lead vocal and guitar duties, VALENTINE will be backed at these shows by her Impossible band: guitarist Vicki Peterson (the Bangles), drummer Clem Burke (Blondie), plus Mark “Muddy” Dutton (LA Guns, Burning Tree) and Abby Travis (Beck, Elastica), who will share the bass and keyboards.

Loved by generations of pop fans as the powerhouse bass player in rock’s most successful all-female band ever and the co-composer of such Go-Go’s hits as “Vacation,” “Head over Heels” and “Whole World Lost Its Head,” VALENTINE takes center stage on LIGHT YEARS as a songwriter, singer and seriously shredding guitar hero.

VALENTINE wrote all of LIGHT YEARS‘ 12 tracks (the exception is a cover of Gary Myrick’s “Guitar, Talk, Love and Drums,” a song which she says, “covers all my basic requirements for a rockin’ life”). Building each song in the studio with a little help from her friends, including co-producer Dutton, Clarke and Ace Frehley, VALENTINE moves light years beyond her work in the Go-Go’s, crafting a bold and broad range of sounds and styles. There is angularly funky poetry slam (“Creation Myth”), Beatles-y bubblegum flavored with a George Harrison-style slide guitar (“Getting By”), bluesy balladry (“Happy Endingless”), raucous New Wave pop (“Retouch Me”) and elemental punk swagger (“Bad Choice”)–all defined by VALENTINE’s pop-smart hooks and choruses. The true revelation, however, is her expressive guitar slinging–be it maniacally metallic or acoustically melodic–and lead vocals that are by turns sweet, sassy, wistful and wise.

“I tried to use my strengths as a backup singer and approached singing like I do my guitar playing,” she says of her leap of faith into the vocal booth. “Tone is everything–that and good taste can be just as important as technique. I tried to sound emotionally truthful, and have enough attitude, intensity and character to get the song across.

“The thing that took me the longest, and that I am most proud of, is the lyrics,” VALENTINE continues. “I’ve always written for other singers, and enjoyed writing lyrics that they would connect with. For me it was harder–there’s not a lot of drama or romantic angst in my life anymore. I like to leave room for the listener to wrap their own experiences around the words.” VALENTINE adds, “I am really proud that the Go-Go’s have a place in history, one that very few people can claim. But I also don’t want to have my music career relegated to being part of a nostalgia act. There is much more to me than having been a Go-Go.”

LIGHT YEARS, to be released on VALENTINE’s own label All For One, will be distributed through the independent major Redeye. “I really made it as a calling card,” VALENTINE concludes. “Light Years is a document of several decades of being a musician that reveals more about who I am as an artist.”

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