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Graves of Valor are set to finally release their full-length debut, “Salarian Gate”, Tuesday on Relapse Records. I recently had the pleasure of talking with Damon, David, and Jeff of the band about the(ir) past, present, and apparently three year future.

Albumfreak: Let’s start off with a little background information. How did (From) Graves Of Valor start?

Damon: Originally, it was Richard and David and three other guys playing in another band. When Jeff quit TTEOTD he started playing third guitar. Then I(Damon) joined up and we had two singers. The other guys were really slack and didn’t show up for practices so we kicked them out and got Dayton to come play drums with us. That’s the current lineup.

AF: What was it like being in Through the Eyes of the Dead during what most think was their best period musically?

Jeff: It was cool. Richard and myself learned and progressed a lot during our time in that
band. Good times.

AF: What was the process like finding the two members needed to complete the band in the beginning?

Well we all played together before so it wasn’t hard

AF: Where do you draw your influences from?

Damon: Vocally, Carcass, Eyehategod, Buzzoven, At The Gates.
David: Between the Buried and Me, Into Eternity, Dillinger Escape Plan.
Jeff: At The Gates, Dying Fetus, Exodus.

AF: How did you guys get into playing music?

Damon: Me, Jeff, Richard, and Dayton have all played in bands together before throughout the past 7 or 8 years. David and Richard played in a punk band together after Richard left TTEOTD. It just made sense for all of us to get up.

AF: Can you tell our readers who have never heard you how you would define your music?

Damon: It really doesn’t matter how you define it. It’s too hard to pinpoint what style of metal we are if that’s what your asking. We draw influences from a ton of different genres of metal. It’s too hard to say death influenced blackened doom battle metal so we’ll just call it metal.

AF: What song best fits this description?

Damon: The entire Salarian Gate fits this description well.

AF: You guys are veterans in the business, what does it feel like?
Jeff: We don’t consider ourselves veterans, we still feel we have a lot to learn and we try and take in as much as we can from the bands we tour with.

AF: What would you do if you were not in a band?

Damon: I already run a paint company but if i didn’t play in a band that required me to tour i’d focus on opening up a venue in florence. This town has a lot of potential for a club that isn’t dance club.
David: In school for advertising/marketing.
Jeff: Pickin’ banjo

AF: How was it working with Tragic Hero Records and coming up around the same time the label was?

Damon: Tragic Hero is great. They really did a lot for us providing us with a booking agent and a van to tour with. I’m glad we were given the opportunity to be one of the earlier bands on the label. Lately things seem to be going great for those guys.

AF: Are you still friends with everyone from your Tragic Hero days? (Current and Former Bands, Employees, etc.)

Damon: Of course, we still stay in touch with tommy(owner) and a lot of the bands on the
label. They’re based out of the Carolinas so we still run in to each other on a pretty regular basis.

AF: What was the bands reaction when you guys heard that My Hero Is Me was calling it quits?

Damon: As a whole we haven’t really discussed it. We all like the guys in MHIM a lot. I don’t think they’ll call it quits too long.

AF: What was the transition like from Tragic Hero to Relapse?

Damon: Pretty stressful. We had to build a hangar to fit our new jet airplane relapse bought for us.

AF: It’s been almost a year with Relapse, what is it like being signed to the label and how does it differ from Tragic Hero?

Damon: It’s really nice. It’s good having a list of people to call when you need a specific thing.

AF: What are your thoughts on the current state of Tragic Hero Records?

Damon: I’m glad their doing so good. When we first signed to tragic they told us their main goal was to get us on a bigger label and they did it within a year.

AF: Has there been a label that you have dreamed about signing with? Why/Why not?

Damon: As of now we’re really happy with the label we got

AF: How did you come up with the name From Graves of Valor?

Damon: Richard came up with the name before we got in the band. I believe he got it from one of the Toilken books. He’s a huge fan. I’m not quite sure which one though.

AF: Before you signed to Relapse, you had dropped the “From” from your name. Can you give us a reason why?

Me and Jeff never really liked the “from” anyway so everyone agreed we’d go ahead and drop it when we signed to relapse. Everyone called us graves of valor so we didn’t really think it would make much of a difference. It seemed to bother a bunch of people though. We still get people sending us messages bitching about the name change.

AF: What was the reaction to the “Famine” EP like from the fans and critics?

Damon: Everyone seemed to like it pretty well. It helped us pick up some new fans other than the usual south east people we’re used to playing for.

AF: Why did it take almost two years to record the follow-up?

Damon: We mostly focused on touring and promoting the ep. We’ve had a lot of the songs for Salarian Gate written for a while but we didn’t want to release anything until we locked down a new label.

AF: What was the recording process like this time around?

David: More stressful than usual

AF: Being experienced, how did you approach the recording process this time around?

Jeff: We were used to recording with Jamie, so it just took some time adjusting to the way Brian works, but i think we ended up with a better final product

AF: What were the recording sessions like on a day to day basis?

JEFF: Really just a lot of sitting, practicing, going over riffs, xbox 360.

AF: Can you tell us a bit about “Salarian Gate”?

David: EPIC

AF: Can you tell us where the name “Salarian Gate” originated from and does the album cover have any specific meaning behind it?

Damon: The entire album is based from the assassination of Julius Ceasor in 44bc to the sack of Rome in 410ad. The salarian gates were the gates opened by slaves allowing the Visigoths to enter Rome nearly completing Rome’s fall from greatness. As far as the cover artwork goes, Orion from relapse got my lyrics and designed it according to his vision of the album theme. We all love it.

AF: What is your favorite track off the new album and why?

Damon: Probably Bridles of Incitatus right now. My favorite track keeps changing. I’m really happy with all of them.
David: I like them all, haven’t really gotten a chance to tour with them and feel them out live, so I dont really have a favorite as of now.
Jeff: Locusta

AF: Who writes the lyrics in the band? What do the lyrics usually deal with?

Damon: I write all the lyrics. With Salarian Gate I focused on the fall of Rome. On Famine I wrote mostly about the way our country is becoming so much of a religious government and it’s negative affects(kind of like the fall of Rome). I also write about literature I like and historical events. Whatever feels right at the time.

AF: Who would you love to work with on your next album and why?

I really enjoyed working with Brian Elliot on Salarian Gate. The next album is still a good while away so I haven’t really put much thought into it.

AF: What do you think about the current scene nowadays?

Loving it.

AF: Speaking of scenes, what is your musical scene like in South Carolina?

David: Crazy, people come out and support the bands every show now

AF: Any unsigned or small label bands from your area you would like our readers to know about?

Damon: I’m really into by the sins fell angels from augusta/columbia. Everyone should go check those guys out.

AF: If you could recommend any album from any band, past or present, for our readers to listen to, which album would it be and why?

Damon: Eyehategod’s take as needed for pain. Because it’s the best fucking album of all time!
Jeff: At the gates: slaughter their souls.
David: Between the buried and me: silent circus

AF: If you had to pick a favorite from all the bands you’ve toured with, who would it be?

Damon: The classic struggle and a stained glass romance.
Jeff: With dead hands rising

AF: What dream tour would you love to be on with any past or present bands?

Damon: I’d love to tour with carcass or misery index
David: Amon Amarth, Between the Buried and Me, Dillinger.
Jeff: Slayer, The Country Gentleman

AF: What is one of the craziest things to happen to you on the road?

Damon: Last summer in New York we went home to stay with random guy we met wandering around the club outside with no shoes or shirt on. He offered us a place to stay and anywhere is better than the van in the middle of the summer. He hopped in and took us down the road a couple of miles to a project apartment in the middle of the hood.

We all loaded out and he gave us the lowdown on the area as far as which gangs controlled which block and such. When we started walking upstairs he pulled his room key out which was a 12 inch butcher knife and jimmyed his door open. When we got in the place there was no furniture at all just a couple pillows on the floor. Richard immediately decided he’d go sleep in the van. We all sat around and got high with the dude with the butcher knife and no shoes. Dude went into this long ass rant about getting his son hooked up in the meth business and how they rob people and break into cars.

Now i’m starting to get a little sketched out. Right about then jeff looks down and notices the whole apartment floor is covered in blood. I go ahead and tell dude we’re going to head on and he flips out and starts telling me how he can get me for home invasion. Right when we go to leave we hear about six gunshots in the parking lot down stairs. Richard then sends me a text telling me not to go down there he just saw a guy get shot while he was sitting in the van. The police showed up so we had to stay another hour our so waiting on them to leave. It’s pretty funny now though.

Also, one time we hit a deer and messed him up really bad. I got out the van stuck both of my fingers in his nostrils and held his mouth until he passed.
David: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

AF: What are your thoughts of illegal downloading and cds getting leaked onto the internet?

Damon: It sucks for the bands. It’s awesome for everyone else though. It’s going to happen so just don’t let it leak and package your shit well so people are interested in buying the cd.
David: I always buy band’s CDs to support them. I’m not sure what will happen.

AF: What should fans look forward to for the rest of 2009?

David: Pure unfiltrated awesomeness
Jeff: Three more years to live

AF: Any final thoughts?

Jeff: Go buy Salarian Gate!