Freed from the constraints of
time and the dreams of landing
a big record deal, James Deely
took his time to work on his first
album since 1995. Backed once
again by the Valiants, the record
called A Harder Road was ten
years in the making. This decade of time was as difficult as
the title suggests, but led to arguably the band’s finest release.
James Deely and the Valiants
originated in Long Beach Island
in the 1980s. They played many
popular bars from Asbury Park
to New York City and Philadelphia. Like many bands, they
took their shot and put a lot of
money behind a record with the
dream of making it big. When
the record deal didn’t come,
NJ STAGE 2016 - ISSUE 11
the band split up, but remained
in touch over the years. Deely
would later release a solo album,
play in several bands, and eventually move out to California
where he owns and runs a moving company.
When Paul Ford (the bassist for
the Valiants) told Deely he would
be in California for a couple of
days on the way to Hawaii, James
realized they had a great opportunity but had to move fast. He
called up Pete Barnett (the band’s
original drummer) who was also
in California and they quickly
headed into the studio and cut
11 tracks. After the recordings,
Deely and Tunkel began the long
process of overdubbing and trying to finish the songs.
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