We all have passions that help us write our life’s songs. My biggest joys in life are my wife, Molly, the people close to me and my music… pianos, lyrics, drums and yes… Old Guitars. Old Guitar was inspired by the 1957 Martin guitar my father, Gary, played in college. My siblings and I would bang […]
The Nickel Slots are headed back to our “home away from home,” Belgium! Yes, we’ll be back in the land of beer and chocolate this summer, playing shows from June 30th through July 9th. We did our first Belgian tour in 2012 and our second in 2014. This time we are booking with some friends we […]
Thanks to our friends at Armor Gold Cables, I was able to attend this year’s NAMM show with my brother Chris and nephew Bryan. It was great to see Stephen Simon. Armor Gold continues to be a huge supporter of The Nickel Slots, and we love their cables! The NAMM show celebrates all that is […]
Hey, Nickel Slots fans! You’ve seen our first two music videos, for “The Devil’s Chain Gang” and “On the Wall.” We had a lot of fun making them with Jason Knight, Sean Kime, and their team. Now we’re about to shoot our third, and we need your help! We’re making a video for “A Shot […]
Back on March 9th of 2015, The Nickel Slots had an opportunity to open for the legendary Bob Seger. He had rescheduled the Sacramento stop on his 2015 “Ride Out” tour and needed a local opener. Bob’s management approached Andy Hawk at 98 Rock and asked for a recommendation for a local act. Andy recommended The Nickel […]
Kenny here, this time to share some stories and pass out some goodies! Everyone remembers the first concert they ever went to. My Uncle Jerry dragged me to a Johnny Cash show when I was 11 and slipped me a few beers in the parking lot. But I’ll save that story for later. The Nickel […]
When people see me in person they will notice that my arms are full with tattoos. My fascination with tattoos started at an early age. I remember when I was just a kid and one of the members in my parents’ band showed up to practice at my parent’s house with a bandage on his […]
The Nickel Slots are returning to Harlow’s Restaurant and Night Club on Friday, February 5th. We’re excited to share the stage there again with Joy and Madness, one of our favorite local Sacramento bands. This night will be a mix of Americana, Alt Country and Rock & Roll from us, and some Funk and Blue-Eyed Soul […]
Happy Holidays, everyone! Several times The Nickel Slots have done special hometown holiday shows in December, learning a few Christmas songs to play for the occasion. These shows ended up being some of our favorite, and we enjoyed sharing our take on classic Christmas songs with our fans, so we decided to record some of these songs. […]
We are excited to announce that we are doing a worldwide promotion of another Nickel Slots music video! Six months ago we kicked off a campaign with Steve Baker of Visual Image Marketing to promote our “The Devil’s Chain Gang” video, and it got us played on dozens of music video networks, over 15 music […]
I got two new live videos of The Nickel Slots for ya. First, from a show at Toot’s Tavern in early January with Coffin Hunter. That band is fronted by Jack Gibson, bassist for Exodus, and he joined the Slots on banjo for their song “One Foot in the Gutter.” The first ever banjo solo […]
Whoa! The boys are playing at Sleep Train Arena on Monday, opening for one of my favorite rock n’ rollers, Bob Seger! When his show was moved from March 3 to March 9 he needed a new opening act, and he asked The Nickel Slots to do the job. Tickets are still available, so if […]
We were recently contacted by veteran Nashville music video promoter Steve Baker, who had seen our video for “The Devil’s Chain Gang” and loved it. Steve wanted to help us reach a wider audience with the video, and we jumped at the chance to work with someone of his reputation. The promotion we are doing with […]
We made a video last night to wish you all Happy Holidays! Here it is. Bonus: it’s got our brand-new original Christmas song, all about a wish from one Mr. Valentine. Enjoy the season, everyone! Also, nominations are now open for the 2015 Sammies (Sacramento Area Music Awards). Wouldn’t it be cool to see The […]
On Tuesday, August 19th, The Nickel Slots released our new music video for “On The Wall” from our third album, Let It Ride. The video was directed by Jason Knight and Sean Kime, who also directed our video for “The Devil’s Chain Gang.” We are very proud of this video, and it was a pleasure […]
On Thursday we played the Beveren State Prison. We’d heard from other bands that playing a prison show was cool so we decided to give it a go this tour. Beveren Prison is brand new, a state-of-the-art facility just opened this spring. Each cell has a TV and computer with limited internet access. The grounds are […]
Belgium really is two countries. And it’s not just the language. Yes, people in Flanders speak Dutch and people in Wallonia speak French, and generally only the former learn additional languages. But there are other differences, too. Our first tour here two years ago was only in Flanders, so Friday’s trip to Bouillon, close to […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in June. Woodland on Saturday I’m always fired up when the Slots play my hometown of Woodland, and this Saturday (June 7th) I’ll be full-on fired up! Not just Woodland, but one of my favorite bars, the Stag. I have […]
After five months of blood, sweat, and broken strings in the recording studio, our third album is complete! It’s called Let It Ride, and we are releasing it at our Concert in the Park on Friday May 2nd. But we can’t wait until then to share these songs with you, so every day from now […]
The boys have been recording their third album “Let It Ride” since late last year. They let me bring my camera into the studio, so you get to see a little of the magic being made. Check it out! –Kenny
It’s no secret that I love guitars. I own my share of Fenders, Gibsons, and Rickenbackers. But this blog post is about my love affair with Reverend Guitars. I was first introduced to Reverend back in the early 2000s when they still made their USA series. Reverend loaned me a red Slingshot with two P-90 […]
Here’s a holiday greeting and a special song for all of our fans. Thank you for your support!
Our music video for “The Devil’s Chain Gang” took home three awards at the Sacramento Film and Music Festival! We attended the festival on Saturday night, along with the video’s directors Jason Knight and Sean Kime, and had a great time watching it on the big screen at the Crest Theatre in between several other […]
Update 09/02/2013: Join the band and the video’s directors after the screening to celebrate at Gallagher’s Irish Pub! Last month we were excited to learn that our music video for “The Devil’s Chain Gang” was accepted into the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. We’re very proud of the video and thankful to directors Jason Knight […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in August. Roll the projectors The boys’ very cool music video for their song “The Devil’s Chain Gang” was just accepted into the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. I’m no Roger Ebert, but that seems pretty awesome to me! Save […]
The boys recorded a video blog this week to do the drawing for their house concert contest. I tossed my name into the hat, but they said I ain’t eligible to win. The video’s also got some practice footage of a new song called “Float Around.” Check it out! Links to stuff they mentioned: Old […]
We’re busy right now booking shows for this summer in large outdoor venues: festivals, park concerts, county fairs and such. To make sure we don’t get too bored with these wide open spaces, we want to play at least one intimate show. So we’re going to give one lucky Nickel Slots fan a house concert […]
The boys recorded another video blog for y’all this week. In this one they drop some behind-the-scenes footage from the “The Devil’s Chain Gang” video shoot on you and tell you how downloading a free MP3 of the song can help them in a Hard Rock Cafe contest. Check it out! To download and vote, […]
You already know what the four of us sound like as The Nickel Slots, but not as much about the music that brought us to this point. We want to take you backstage to get a look at those influences. And given a certain song of ours, it seemed appropriate for each of us to […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in December. It’s in the can I done told you that the boys were planning their first music video for “The Devil’s Chain Gang.” Well, it ain’t a plan anymore! They shot it yesterday right here in Woodland, and I […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in November. Third time’s a charm The boys are really excited to announce a show with The Mother Hips! These guys are legendary Bay Area rockers. If you’re skeptical because you remember a couple of previous cancellations when the Slots […]
The boys recorded a video blog for y’all this week, a new thing they’re gonna do every so often. In this one they give you a tour of their practice pad, explain some background about their November 10th show in Davis, and give you a rehearsal preview of a new song. Check it out! –Kenny
I brought my Flip video camera on tour with us this summer, and whenever I managed to remember I handed it to a roadie/friend/promoter and asked them to take some footage at our shows. We usually ended up with about five songs recorded from each show, so apparently five songs is the common attention span […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in August. Back home and playin’ Belgium and Holland will never be the same, I hear. The boys tore it up over there and left behind a bunch of new fans who can’t wait for ‘em to visit again. I […]
I’m a beer snob. I won’t claim full connoisseur status because I have several friends who know far more than I do about beer and a few who even brew their own, but I’m always looking to try new beers instead of relying on a basic Bud or Miller. So when The Nickel Slots decided […]
TNS show number 10 took us back up to The Netherlands to a town called Dordrecht and their annual Big Rivers Festival. Big Rivers is a 3-day music festival with a Mardi Gras theme…lots of beads and colorful jester hats. It was still raining hard when we climbed back into the black van for the hour-plus […]
Throughout this tour of Belgium and The Netherlands we’ve had a variety of shows. We started with a town square, a biker hotel, and two festivals where we had a great time and met some wonderful people. But there is nothing like a club show on a weeknight to see how a community gathers together […]
Usually, Saturday is a day for relaxing. Watch the game, chill with friends, go do something carefree. But on this tour, Saturday was for workin’. The Nickel Slots played four sets yesterday at two different festivals. The first “festival,” called Eddy Rock, earned those quote marks because it felt like someone’s backyard party. The yard […]
About a year and half ago I became good friends with one of the dads whose son was on my son Bryan’s baseball team. One day at their practice we started talking and the first thing he recognized was the Exploited T-shirt that I was wearing, so naturally the conversation moved to music. It was […]
Actually, it’s more than that many miles to get from Sacramento to Gierle, Belgium, closer to 5500. But however you count it, we’re less than a week from leaving on our first European tour! After playing in rock bands for years this is something that each of us has had on his bucket list, and […]
So a few years back I decided to take up running. I started getting winded partway through the second set and decided it was time to start moving around off the stage and stop counting “shows” as “workouts.” I’d tried running on the track team back in junior high. (You didn’t have to try out […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in June. Classin’ it up I’m real excited ’cause the next show the boys are playin’ is right in my hometown, Woodland CA! They’re doin’ a show at the Woodland Opera House on Saturday with Roadhouse 5, the band that […]
With The Nickel Slots preparing for our show at the Woodland Opera House, I was reminiscing about when my brother Chris and I were kids and the Beatles tribute band Rain performed there. I must have been in 6th grade and I remember our dad provided the sound system for that show. Having grown up listening […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in May. Summertime comes early The boys are playin’ only one show this month, but it’s a big one. For the third year in a row they’re headlining at Sacramento’s Friday Night Concerts in the Park series! I’ve brought the […]
We wanted to share this rare live video of our performance at the Apple Store in San Francisco on February 10, 2012. Longtime Sacramento promoter Jerry Perry arranged an in-store appearance for The Nickel Slots. This video recently arrived in an unmarked box, inside a film canister with no note or explanation. We had a great time […]
Yes it’s true, The Nickel Slots have two shows this coming Saturday. On April 28th we will be performing at the Northern California NAMIWalk at William Land Park right here in Sacramento! We will take the stage at 10am. and the event will wrap up around noon. Then later that night we return to Hotel Utah in […]
We are sorry to report that we are no longer playing Friday night April 20th at Toot’s Tavern. We apologize for the late notice, but just found out this afternoon that we’ve been dropped from the bill. Don’t blame this on The Mother Hips or their management: the facts we do know indicate that they’ve […]
Hey y’all, Kenny Franklin Valentine here to tell you what’s up with The Nickel Slots in April. I’m a good friend of these guys. They wrote a couple songs about me that you might know. Anyway, one of the books that the Yolo Hilton lets inmates borrow is about web stuff, and I’ve had a […]
Go ahead and take a good, long look at the photo. I know that it’s at least caught your peripheral vision. You don’t need to read the rest of the entry first, it’s OK. I’ll wait. Damn, isn’t that beautiful? That’s my new Reverend Mercalli 5 bass in violin flame maple, which I’ve had the […]
The Nickel Slots were approached by longtime Sacramento promoter Jerry Perry about playing the Apple flagship store in San Francisco. When I found out, it felt just like the first time I turned on my first iPhone. I was excited, I was overwhelmed, and I felt special. I was excited because I have been an […]
On January 7th The Nickel Slots had the opportunity to play at Supreme Pro Wrestling’s (SPW) PunkSlam wrestling event. Allow me to explain SPW. It is the Sacramento area’s independent wrestling promotion organization. They will actually be celebrating their 12th anniversary April 22nd with an action-packed ticket. If you have never been to an SPW […]
