Valora’s Syd Duran Stuck to Her Guns When It Came to Their Record Deal

Valora is a six-piece hard rock band from Whittier, Calif. featuring frontwoman Syd Duran. Some Noisecreep readers might recognize the name Valora from Duran's appearance on Breaking Benjamin's recent single, 'Blow Me Away.' Signed to Hollywood Records, Valora will be issuing their debut album, 'I Waited for You,' in the coming months. They're currently out on tour with melodic-rock faves 10 Years. The band is also giving away a track called 'No Matter What,' for free, at this link.

Noisecreep spoke with the beautiful Duran and got a quick rundown on Valora's history up to this point. "It all started out for me as a little girl. I've always wanted to be a singer. Everything I've done front that point on has been to try and help me achieve that. Whether it was voice lessons or learning or an instrument, it's always been about music for me," says the singer.

"Right out of high school, I hooked up with some songwriters that were as serious as I was about music and Valora was born. One of the songs we wrote together was called 'I Waited for You' and we decided that it was probably the catchiest thing we did and it had potential to be a hit. So we found a film student that made the video for us for a budget of like $500. We broke into my local high school [Whittier High] and shot it there. Then we threw it up on the Internet and this was right when YouTube starting blowing up."

Watch 'Extreme' From Valora

Noisecreep asked Duran if it took long for record label A&R reps to start reaching out to her. "The video started getting buzz pretty quickly and indie labels began contacting us. But I wasn't really interested in that and I was hoping for a major label deal. A few weeks later someone from Hollywood Records got in touch. They asked me to come in to meet Bob Cavallo, their chairman. They wanted me to play some songs for him in his office."

Besides being the Chairman of Disney Music Group, Cavallo is a music industry legend who has worked with everyone from Prince and Earth, Wind & Fire to Weezer and Green Day. Most other young musicians in that kind of situation would have been crippled with fear, but Valora relished the moment. "It was a dream come true for me. Here I was performing for the head of a huge company. I played for him and walked out with a record deal. Things don't really happen that way in the music business anymore, but it somehow did for me. I was so excited and grateful."

Produced by Johnny K. (Disturbed, Megadeth), Valora's debut album 'I Waited for You,' will be in stores soon.

Valora on tour with 10 Years:

9/28 - Seattle, WA

9/30 - Boise, ID

10/1 - Pocatello, ID

10/2 - Missoula, MT

10/4 - Eugene, OR

10/5 - Reno, NV

10/7 - Sacramento, CA

10/8 - Chico, CA

10/9 - Modesto, CA