Gary James' Interview With Tony Valnes Of South Dakota's party band
Eclipse



They are South Dakota's premier cover band that have made quite a name for themselves in the mid-West. When Blake Shelton saw them he said they were one of the best cover bands he'd ever seen. The band he was talking about is South Dakota's Eclipse Party Band. Band member Tony Valnes spoke with us about his group.

Q - Tony, it says in your bio that you and the band bring a party atmosphere everywhere you go. How do you do that? Do you have a lot of props? Do you make costumes changes?

A - No. We don't have any props or costume changes. It's interacting with the crowd. A wide variety of song selections and a band that operates without a set list.

Q - Without a set list?

A - Yup.

Q - Will people shout out from the audience what they want to hear? What if you don't know the song?

A - Correct. You don't know everything. Basically I'll have a list of songs of say four to five hours of material laying behind me. Then I'll pick from that what song is next, or if we get a request and it's something we played ten years ago, I think we could pull that off. But it's basically a wide variety and being able to shift gears at any time. I've never been a believer in a set list because I don't know if the crowd is going to be old, young, mixed, are they going to like Country music, Rock. I also try to make it if you're sixteen or sixty, if you don't like this song, you're going to like the next song. You got a cowboy hat on or a big buckle, or if you got saggy jeans on to the back of your knees, you might not like this song, but you might like the next. I keep the set list all over the map between Country, Classic Rock, Rock, some modern music. Three vocalists and try to keep a little energy, interact with the crowd. We got a reputation because a lot of people want to go where everybody else is. A lot of time in the entertainment business it's not so much who's playing, but where it's going to be at. Sometimes you go to a certain festival because that's the place to be. Over the years the band got a reputation of pulling crowds. So, you want to go there because it's a party and everybody else is going to be there, kind of thing. You kind of have to swallow your pride and realize half the people are there to see you. The other half are there because they want to be where everybody else is and they're going to a good time.

Q - Before you go onstage are you able to read the audience and say, "Okay, our first song should be..." and then you launch into that song

A - Yes. Kind of look out and if the early show is daylight and people are sitting around, you might not want to come out of the gate and scare 'em. Then, all of a sudden it's dark and the sun goes down for the second set. As a cover band we try to do two sets. We try to stay away from the four hour bar gig. We try to keep it a little more concert like 'cause the average concert is an hour and a half long. But we look at the people and the first song is decided, one minute, thirty seconds before the first song kicks off. It's a little difficult to be a lead guitar player in this band over the years because you gotta be on your toes constantly with changing guitars. At the end of the last song I will say something stupid that the guys in the band know that it means, like, "Oh, it's summer time. My favorite time of year." That means we want to play "Summer Of '69" or "Let's Go Fishin'". Oh, you want to play "Fishin' In The Dark". Or just flat out call out a song, whatever it may be. Songs from modern artists to '80s, '90s and some Country mixed in.

Q - Now, do you play bars?

A - We play a lot of bars in the winter. You have to. In the summer we play all festivals. They call it street dances in the mid-West. Basically they'll block off a block or half a block and just have an outdoor music thing. Most bars have in their brain, you play from nine to one. That's the way it is. You never change. So, when I go to a bar I say, "I play nine to midnight. You want it? Yes or no." I've learned if you watch a six hour movie it gets blah. That's why professional concerts are only an hour and a half long because nobody wants to watch the same band for four hours. So, I try to take the bar band edge off, if that makes sense. Even though you are still a bar band, you are still a cover band in reality. You do two sets. You got one long set, take a break and another long set. It makes it more eventful. You're kind of like an opening act for yourself, so to speak. It's just not so long and drawn out. It's pretty rare in a cover band situation where somebody shows up at eight o'clock at night and sits there 'til one o'clock (at night) and listens to every song. That way you can engage the crowd. 90% of the crowd is there for the entire duration 'cause they know it's only nine to midnight and you better get there kind of thing.

Q - Blake Shelton attended on of your shows and said you're one of the best cover bands he'd ever seen. You obviously use that in your bio. Has that statement translated into more work for the group?

A - I don't think so. That was so long ago. He was up and coming. That was at the South Dakota State Fair. I don't even think a lot of people read our bio too much. We're a popular mid-West band and you've kind of heard us. We've been around for twenty years. So, either you've heard of us or you haven't, but a bio is something you kind of have to put together for a website.

Q - Eclipse has been together since 2002 then?

A - Oh, the band has been around since the '90s. Probably goin' on twenty-five years. Only two guys, myself and the lead guitar player, who are originals. You rotate other people. Sometimes you get someone for two years, five years. Everybody thinks it's fun to be in a band until they realize it's work.

Q - Where in the mid-West does Eclipse perform?

A - We play South Dakota, Minnesota, and a little bit of North Dakota and a little bit of Iowa. We're' more so in South Dakota. So, we try to play only three shows a month now that we're older and have occupations. However, this summer (2022) has been extremely busy. I think we're on a twelve week run in a row 'cause after COVID everybody wants to do something. All these towns are having events. The ones that had events are going to have 'em again. People want new events. So I think across the U.S. musicians are working a lot more than they used to. I know that for a fact. There's a festival I was in charge of booking and running the show, so to speak, for the guy and it was very hard getting national acts. Everybody is busy and the prices are way up. Guys that were $25,000 to $40,000 are all of a sudden a $100,000 act.

Q - You say you work at another occupation. Is it related to music?

A - No. Real estate.

Q - So, you're a real estate agent then?

A - Yup. My partner in the band over the years owns a bar. He's owned a couple of bars and owns a couple of apartment buildings. We're businessmen that are also musicians and so we learned how to make a small side business. There's not a lot of money in music if you're not famous, so to speak. We learned how to turn our hobby into a small side business that actually generates a little cash. We look at it more as a business. We understand it. Our job is to sell drinks, period. You're in a bar, that's what they do. So, you better learn some party songs. You better learn some songs you don't like. Musicians always argue about the set list. I say women drive the market. If chicks like the song, women, females, chicks, I apologize for saying chicks, therefore I love it. Will I play "Jesse's Girl". I'll play it every night. A lot of musicians say, "I ain't playing 'Brown Eyed Girl' or 'Jesse's Girl' ever again." Why would you not play a song that women love and make them happy? So now we've just added a Shania Twain song. The guys in the band just kind of cringe. It's still like A, B, C, D, E, F, G. It's still 1, 2, 3, 4. It's still playing the right notes in the pocket and having pride in playing well and doing a good job and doing your part and kind of throw your ego aside. We're very open minded when it comes to a set list, and in return that creates, "Why do you want to sell beer to people who like Country music?" I want to sell beer to people who like Rock music and Country music because one plus one is two. Now I got more of a crowd. So we kind of do that, a wide variety.

Q - Are you content to play other people's music night after night? Creatively speaking, is that satisfying to you? Have you ever written any original music?

A - Yeah. I released a couple of songs. I had one song break Top 40 on a charting system they call Power Source Charts back in 2010. I did that to scratch my itch, exactly what you're saying. "What if? If I would have pursed this full-time, did I have what it takes?" kind of thing. And so I released a song. There was no promotion. Once you broke the Top 40 and have no record deal you are kicked from number 31 to just off the charts and gone. But I climbed from whatever it was, 90, and it kept climbing every week. To answer your question, I have a great idea of what it would be like to be a pro. You play the same ten or twelve songs night after night after night. You got to have a musician with a strong work ethic to never doing anything new. Never doing anything new is not creative. You got to have an incredible, strong work ethic. That's probably why a lot of musicians turn to drugs and alcohol, because they're so bored to make themselves have fun playing the same songs. In a cover band, when we want to learn a new song, we just send out a text, "Hey, let's throw in Def Leppard. We're getting requests for Def Leppard." Everybody learns their part. At sound check we go over it. We talk about the ending, or the bridge and bang! We have a new song. We're responsible and trained enough we don't even rehearse. Practising is what you do on your own time. Learn your part. Show up. We'll do it at sound check. Cover bands can have more creativity than an original (band). That sounds weird. You can learn new material and you're not forced to play the same things over and over. If you're working for a pro, he wants you to play that guitar solo note for note, like it's wrote. If you don't, you're fired. I allow creative freedom. It makes it a little more fun. Maybe songs are allowed to be a pinch faster than the recordings were, so they have more energy. That kind of thing.

Q - Have the people whose songs you play passed through South Dakota?

A - Oh, absolutely. There's a casino twenty minutes from my house. Then I've been going to Sturgis for twenty-five years. Sturgis is one of the largest music venues in the world wrapped up and hidden in the form of a motorcycle rally. You just look up who's going to be at Sturgis every year and there's seven, eight, nine, ten venues. It's incredible. The opening stuff is horrible money. All it is, is a pat on the back and it looks good on your bio, on your website. And it's fun. Usually the pay is horrible, a couple hundred bucks. No one knows that. We can go out and make much, much more doing our own show.

Q - I see you play quite a few instruments. Should the band ever break up you can go as a one man band.

A - Yeah, maybe. I don't know. We have a miniature concert. It's kind of our gimmick. We have enough P.A. that any pro could rent in their rider. But yeah, we're just a cover band. We kind of put on a bigger show. It kind of goes on with that party band thing. It's a large production. Two shows this year we had fire shooting out to kick off. We had a professional in to kick off an AC/DC song and a concert sound.

Official Website: www.sdEclipse.com

© Gary James. All rights reserved.