Biography
The New Jersey native is a bit of a modern-day renaissance man: He’s a musician, actor and a novelist. Val is truly a jack of many trades and has proven himself a master of anything he takes on. A creative soul, he is inspired by the world around him. He takes bits and pieces of life, love and spirit and pours them into his work, be it in his writing, his acting or most importantly, his music(Chicago pride 11/08). As Val puts it, “..life confuses me, and saddens me and makes me scratch my head, and gives me a stomach ache, makes me laugh and I took it all in and the only way I know how to deal with it in some way is to spit it back out through music.”
Val Matthew Emmich was born and raised in Manalapan, New Jersey. “I was always a big music fan from a very early age and I took piano and saxophone lessons growing up. But I hated practicing and eventually quit those instruments. I asked my parents for an acoustic guitar and they bought me a cheap Yamaha acoustic one, but I never played it. I was too impatient to learn how.” He also loved sports and was on the soccer team in Manalapan High School. At the age of 15 sophomore year of high school, he was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and had to give up all strenuous activities. He picked up the guitar again and finally learned, because he had nothing but time on his hands. “I was forced to be patient. I had to have medicine dripped through my arms three times a day and couldn’t do much else. I still hate practicing though. That hasn’t changed. And I never went back to organize sports. From that point on, it was music. Writing songs is the reason I love music. That sense of creation and communication.” (acebizshow 11/08)
Ben Trovato band
He attended Rutgers University, majoring in English, Philosophy and American Studies. He was in various bands such as Awake Asleep and Ben Trovato with long time friends Eric Micali, Harris Katz, and P.J Adamo. Acting was more of an afterthought. To pay off student loans, he work in a use book store. Where a co-worker, who’s son was in The Sopranos, suggested that he try acting to pay for school. She put him in touch with her son‘s manager and has been his acting manager since. “I completely fell into it. I started going on auditions having never acted in my life and had some early success, landing a few national tv spots and getting paychecks” (gothamist 11/2008). Emmich was in some ad campaigns such as Got Milk? Burger King and AT&T Wireless.
After he graduated from Rutgers, confused and reacted, he travelled and backpacked across Europe and Australia. “The year after I graduated college was a confusing time. All of a sudden there was no path laid out in front of me. I believed I could go any direction I wanted. It was both liberating and terrifying. I started having panic attacks for the first time in my life. I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted to do something creative, but I was too scared at the time to follow through with my music. It was like I had nothing invested emotionally in acting and everything to lose with my music. So I played it safe.” Val upped his roles in acting with bit parts on now-cancelled shows like, “Third Watch”, “Ed” and “Hope & Faith”. What he eventually figured out led him to head back to Jersey and re-examine his career(Hudson Reporter 2003).
photo by Dave Sgalambro
He stopped acting and in 2001 he teamed up with Andy Gesner to start Artist Amplification group and recorded more music. Emmich recorded an independent EP entitled The 15 Minute Relationship, inspired by Liz Moore’s Self-Help book. Then in 2002, his first full length album, ‘Slow Down Kid’ was released. With the help from a long time friend, Matt Schumann they filmed the first music video for “Shock” in a friend’s basement where Val had stayed. A second video was filmed, ‘Privacy Attracts a Crowd’ which earned recognition. Val was the first unsigned artist to have a music video to appear on MTV’s Total Request Live. He continues to have a strong relationship with MTV. The airing of “Privacy Attracts a Crowd” gained interests by major recording labels. He signed with Epic Records. The label didn’t think any of his existing songs were strong enough to be the single so they asked him to write more. He wrote thirteen songs altogether just to make that one. Epic re-released “Slow Down Kid” in 2005 only adding four new songs. You can lose yourself and what you believe in from all the pressures. Val later explained the relationship with signing with a major deal. “In the beginning, it was never that big of a decision, because it’s always subtle. It’s never overnight. First it’s like: ‘Oh try writing with this person’ and then ‘extend that chorus’. They wanted me to write a single for radio and I gave them 14 songs and they chose one and spent money that was supposed to be for my second record to record that one song and I handed it to the president and he said, ‘eh, I think you should keep writing,’ and I said to myself, ‘No way, I’m writing another note for these people.’ They were making me chase my tail, ya know? That’s when I realized that they wanted something that I couldn’t keep guessing on and I had to focus on what I want”(Aquarian 2/2007).
photo by Ken Schles
Emmich’s next phase was to grow a long beard, grab cases of red wine, get a place in Woostock, live in a house by himself and just write music. He needed all distractions away from him and he believed that it took his songwriting a step up when he said goodbye to everything in his daily life. Val described in his myspace blog his re-born experience, “I am currently living in a house by myself in the middle of the woods in upstate New York. felt i needed a fresh start. felt i needed to remove all distractions and get back to what i love doing. which is creating. so i've been doing nothing but writing out here and i am really excited about what i've come up with. i feel like i'm accomplishing what i set out to do which is to test the limits of my songwriting and see how far i can take it. trying to eliminate all rules. i feel like some kind of crazy born-again...that's how blinding the light is. there's a lot of things i can't tell you yet. some of you can easily fill in the details but... i suppose one might ask me: "Why are you writing more, you just spent the entire year writing songs? Why do you need more? When are you going to actually release this music you are writing." Well, those are all good questions. here are some answers. i didn't like what i was writing this year. i didn't like the reasons why i was writing. i write b/c i'm compelled to and not b/c i have to. and i decided i didn't like the people i was working with b/c they were not understanding me. and i didn't agree with them about what music is supposed to be about. soooo i am making changes. it will take some time to get it all worked out but i can't remember feeling this good and hopeful. its a scary thing to tell people who kind of support you to fuck off. but i just don't care anymore. it was either that or let them kill my love of music. and that's not an exageration. so i'm here like i said starting new. and for the right reasons.”
photo by Tiffany Dearborn
In 2006 he left Epic Records and the result from he renewed self-confidence was his self-released album , “Sunlight Searchparty” which also features the DVD “It’s Only Your Life: the Making of Sunlight Searchparty.” The album takes an honest look at some of life’s most intimate experiences, dealing with life and all the emotions that accompany us. Spanning topics as varied as rebirth, vengeance, honor and infidelity. Emmich’s interrelated presentation is a breath of fresh air and should be an inspiration to anyone who’s stood up in the face of adversity and triumphed. A b-sides album, “Songs, Volume 1: Woodstock” was released a year later.
“Sunlight Searchparty” included the song “The Only One Lonely” which won the best video category at the 7th annual Independent Music Awards in December 2007.
Earlier in the year, he played along side as Tina Fey’s boy toy, Jamie, in 30 Rock’s episode “Cougars”. Not only did he become eye-candy for older women but the role gained him a loyal following in the gay community. Later he became involved with “No on Prop 8” ad with Kathy Griffin. In 2008, he locked lips with Lucy Liu (his first make out scene, nonetheless) on the short-lived show, "Cashmere Mafia".
In the summer/fall of ‘08, it proved to be a busy time for Emmich. He played lead on his first feature film, “Fighting Fish”(due out for release 2010). Emmich described his role challenging and very different from any acting project he ever done. He was hesitant to call himself an actor before he got the role and wasn’t sure if he even liked it. But after the film he caught the acting bug. In concern as being typecast as a pretty boy romantic lead, his answer was, “Well, I might have been scared of that before this film but this guy is a regular Joe. He’s not good with women. I changed my look for it. I think it will go against any kind of type that I’ve been. But yeah, let’s put it this way: I don’t need to play anymore “cute guy seductress” roles.”
photo by Alex Di Surevo
After filming the movie, simultaneously his album, “Little Daggers” was released by Bluhammock records and filming for a recurring role in “Ugly Betty” began. He was hesitant on taking the role of a musician in Ugly Betty but considered it to be harmless because of it’s over-the-top style. In the show, he sings in every episode he appeared in, which includes; an acoustic rendition of “American Girl“; “Get On With It,” a single from “Little Daggers” and nominated for best video in the 8th annual Independent Music Awards; “The Only One Lonely”; and “Snowy Day” which he wrote specifically for the Betty.
In the winter/spring of 2009, he took his band out on a small tour run to finally promote “Little Daggers”. Currently, Val is working on the follow-up of “Little Daggers”. He has been giving us leaks of his works in Near Records recording studio in his you tube channel. He copyrighted his first novel, “A Break in the Weathers” and currently writing his second novel.
