in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 5, 20 20 | 22 Oakville band Valley is up for a Juno as Break- through Group of the Year.Year.Y "It feels really nice to be recognized for all the hard work we've put into our art and careers," said guitarist Michael Bran- dolino, who along with vocalist Rob Laska, bass- ist Alex Dimauro and drummer Karah James, make up the band. "There are so many amazing artists who also deserve the nomination and we are very grateful to even be considered. We spent our whole lives growing up as Canadians watching the Junos every year and it was a dream my whole life to also be nominated one day." The nomination is one more step in the right di- rection, he said. The band members, all born in 1995, met through a "pretty crazy fate acci- dent," when a studio engi- neer accidentally double booked the four "and we just clicked." "We showed each other our music and felt in- spired by both. Honestly, it was a very natural ex- perience and I can't pin- point how it actually hap- pened, I just remember having new best friends one day and it never wore off." All went to school lo- cally for either music or audio engineering and production. "After we met and jammed and started re- cording, we realized there is something spe- cial here so we went into it with full force." When their music made waves in the indus- try, they chose to record and tour and signed a re- cord deal with Universal Music in 2017. The band's debut full length record "Maybe" ac- quired 18 million streams last year and continues to be streaming about 90,000 a day just on Spotify, said Brandolino. "All four of us come from a slightly differentfrom a slightly differentf background; some grew up on jazz and world mu- sic, some Motown, some rock and roll, so our mu- sic becomes a bit of a melting pot of influenc- es," he said, adding if he had to identify their style it would "fall under alter- native pop." Valley has touredValley has touredV across Canada and the U.S. several times with artists like Lennon Stella and The Band Camino. They begin a North American tour with Lovely The Band this spring. The young band has al- so shared the stage with Walk Off the Earth and AWalk Off the Earth and AW Great Big World and, at the end of February, will play three nights at To- ronto's Danforth Music Hall with The Beaches. The Junos will air Sun- day, March 15 on CBC be- ginning at 8 p.m. NEWS BREAKTHROUGH YEAR CULMINATES WITH JUNO NOMINATION Local band Valley is up for a Juno for Breakthrough Group of the Year. Shannon Beveridge photo