Meet Jack Valentine

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jack Valentine. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jack below.

Jack, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

Life’s a risk no matter what. You could randomly get splattered by a bus tomorrow. Life ain’t fair but it sure is short & you never know when your time’s up. All Dogs Go To Heaven was my fav as a kid; the og, not the lame sequel. Rip Judith Barsi, she was taken from this world tragically way too soon, it’s so damn sad. I always related to Charlie the dog bc risk & uncertainty is all I’ve ever known & I wouldn’t have it any other way. Got my doubts from time to time like anyone else but ya can’t keep a good dog down haha. I live by a philosophy of: Do your best & enjoy the ride bc whatever happens, happens. Embracing risk & uncertainty makes life lit af. Moved a lot as a kid, family more broke (& broken) than the 10 commandments haha; all the sob story crap that comes w that. Anyway bc so much of my early life was spent within the eye of a tornado where the only certainty was my world would get reset & turned upside down every few months, the only time I feel fully confident is during the riskiest, most uncertain of times. It’s complacency that freaks me out.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m Jack V; an alternative, nonfictional Batman of the punk rock persuasion (& not by choice). Bc of God, destiny, or just bad luck, it’s my job to carry this darkness on my chest & sing & scream about it over distorted, electric guitars. I do it for me bc I have to. Way better than therapy. Turns out lots of folks got the same problems as me & my songs fire them up enough to beat the crap out of their darkest nights of the soul.

King Of The Damned is a 5 song concept ep about a dying rockstar turned vampire in the name of forbidden love. It’s a vampire-mafia-tragedy; an emo millennial rock opera. I prioritized emotionally expressive lyrics over expositional that way each song stands on it’s own without any connection to the overarching story. Individually we have: Charred For Charlotte, a song about loving someone sm it hurts; Meet Me At The Cemetery, a song about running away from your problems; On Leather Wings, a song about not being able to let go of someone; The Forlorn Hope, a song about crashing out over forbidden love; & King Of The Damned, a song about accepting the consequences of taking shady shortcuts. On the flipside there’s just enough expositional & theatrical lyrics in each song to tell a cohesive story when all 5 are arranged in the correct order; creating a whole that’s greater than the sum of it’s parts. I’m dropping them all one by one as singles that way each song has it’s own individual artwork like illustrations in a book. The final song drops in October & I’ll be arranging them in the correct order on a special playlist for all to enjoy the ride. Between reading along w the lyrics, the musical dynamics that drive the story forward (at one point I have double bass drum patterns representing machine gun fire), & the illustrations of each song (chapter) it’ll be a gothic anime rock opera playing out inside your head.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Thick skin, discipline, & detachment. Gotta be confident enough to keep your cool when you got hecklers, or an overwhelming amount of obstacles, gotta stay cool & take care of business one thing at a time. Discipline is a must as well, gotta put in the work every day for years to master your craft & stay sharp, also gotta stick to your guns & not entertain distractions. Detachment is huge. Gotta be stoic w the shit. Whatever happens, happens, just do your best & enjoy the ride bc it’s all we got. My advice: Lay off the sauce, work out, do the yoga, eat the chicken breast & the broccoli, drink the water, meditate, practice your shit every day, read a page from The Daily Stoic every day, & shoot your best shot every single day. Oh & stay humble, always respect people. Don’t be another Hollywood douchebag.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Alkaline Trio is my fav band & my biggest musical influence. Also we’re all Chicago boys. Anyway, if I open for them a bunch on tour I know that would change my life & be such a dream come true. When I get in front of their audience with my songs & swing my mic around on some wild ass Taking Back Sunday shit, them mfs gonna lose their minds & have the time of their lives. I’m @jackxvalentine on insta & tiktok, & my email is [email protected] lets go!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Sage Feliciano

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
Are you walking a path—or wandering?

The answer to whether you are walking or wandering often changes from season to season

Highlighter Series
What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?

With so many high-achievers in our community it was super interesting to learn about the

Highlighter Series
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?

We asked some of the wisest people we know what they would tell their younger