Hilton Valentine is still playing in the band?

[Noémi Lehoczki]

I saw him playing in youtube videos, in new recordings, but he isn't at the "Animals today".

[Julian Thome]

No Hilton is not playing with Eric anymore. Their last gig together was on November 28, 2008 at the River Rock Casino (British Columbia).

Hilton hooked up with Jim McCarthy (drummer from THE YARDBIRDS) to record his new album "Rockin' Daddy" (you can hear clips on hiltonvalentine.com). A few "BASEMENT TAPES" are released on his myspace page.

The last recorded gig on video with Eric & Hilton was on September 28, 2008, the TV show "Soundtrack to my Life" (UK TV).

Eric plays with a "sometimes" complete new band. I'm not sure if Red Young is with them anymore. Paula O'Rourke is making solo career right now.

[Dragon Lady]

Thank you for information !

[george anthony]

Very interested. How does Hilton look these days? How does he sound?

[Spike]

Plenty of snow on the roof but he seems to have aged well. Still can play and I felt he brought some of the original Animals sound back to Eric's shows. House of the Rising Sun and CC Rider come to mind from the shows that I saw.

george anthony said:

Very interested. How does Hilton look these days? How does he sound?

[george anthony]

That's interesting cause Hilton was never a real good guiatar player. Was he playing chords or lead?
Thanks,

George

[Spike]

Well everything is relative and I guess it depends on how you define "a real good guitar player" . He played both but if memory serves me correctly he provided leads on the original Animals songs only and there was some play off with the other guitar player (Boom Boom comes to mind here). If you didn't think he was a good guitar player in the 60's, you probably would carry the same opinion today. I personally like that sound (early Sones, Beatles, etc.) but see how it pales to some other guitarists.