‘Something Really Beautiful and Energizing’: NCHS ’09 Grad Valk Hitting All the Right Notes

On the evening of Nov. 7, 2014, Laura Valk took to Stage One of the Rockwood Music Hall, a venue located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, to perform with her band Skout. And to perform music from her debut EP, set for a worldwide release the very next day, titled ‘Again Anew,’ to a live audience for the first time. A musician typically would have days—if not weeks—to prepare with her bandmates for such a pivotal moment. Yet as a result of crazy, hectic schedules, Valk only got to rehearse with them the night before. So with just one night’s practice and the band playing on a corner stage so small that its drummer had to play off to the side, Valk walked up to the mic, looked out at the about 70 people who filled the intimate, standing-room-only venue to capacity, and played the first note of her musical career.