Valor Kand
| Valor Kand | |
|---|---|
Valor Kand at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in 2014
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| Background information | |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, guitarist, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, violin, cello, viola, piano, keyboards, bass, percussion, drums |
| Associated acts | Pompeii 99, Christian Death |
Valor Kand is a singer, guitarist and songwriter best known as for his involvement with Christian Death, an American deathrock/gothic rock band.
Kand started his music career as a drummer, but "...had to progress to other instruments as time went by just to create the sounds I wanted to hear, whether that be keyboards, or horns, or guitars, or anything I could put my hands on."
In 1981, aspiring vocalist Gitane Demone placed an ad in Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler, saying, "female vocalist available." The ad was answered by Kand, who had recently graduated from high school. The pair formed the band Pompeii 99. Kand was fascinated by Nostradamus and took the band's name from a prophecy. Kand and Demone found drummer David Glass (aka David Parkinson),through auditions, and also worked with members Cram Netod (Marc Doten) and Poli-Sci (Polly Klemmer).
Pompeii 99 gained an audience in the L.A. club scene, and released their 1981 debut album, Look at Yourself on their own Nostradamus label, which was financed in part by their parents. In 1982, they followed this with a 7" EP, Ignorance Is the Control. Pompeii 99 was scheduled to open for Christian Death on a European tour, but when the band's lineup collapsed, leader Rozz Williams decided along with Kand, Demone and Glass to combine the two bands into a new version of Christian Death.
Kand stayed with the band when it joined with Williams in 1983 to become the new lineup of Christian Death. The band went on to record their next two albums, 1984's Catastrophe Ballet with bassist Constance Smith and 1985's Ashes with bassist Randy Wilde.
In mid-1985, Kand took over leadership of the band after Williams left, working as lead vocalist and songwriter. With bassist Johann Schumann and guitarist/keyboardist Barry Galvin, the band recorded an EP for the Italian label Supporti Fonografici called The Wind Kissed Pictures, credited to "The Sin and Sacrifice of Christian Death". The EP was later reissued in Germany and the U.S., credited only to Christian Death.
The band's full-length post-Williams release was 1986's Atrocities, a concept album about the aftereffects of World War II on the European psyche. This was followed by 1987's The Scriptures, recorded by a revamped lineup of Kand, Demone, Glass, guitarist James Beam and bassist Kota. During this period, the band found their biggest successes on the UK Indie Chart with the 1987-89 singles "Sick of Love", "Church of No Return" and "Zero Sex" and the 1988 album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ. Following release of the "Zero Sex" single, Demone split from both Kand and Christian Death in 1989.
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