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Singer, Jay Buchanan has his reservations about joining a rock band being a blues singer songwriter, but the reaction from their audience grew, especially with the release of their eponymous debut album, Before The Fire in 2009. In their first year united, they supported Alice Cooper and Kid Rock, and even made their debut television appearance during a televised show of The Indianapolis 500.
2011 was a pivotal year for this band, as their sophomore album, “Pressure & Time” released on June 28th 2011, reached number 19 on the US Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart. They managed to have their track “Get Mine” featured in a Jeremiah Weed premium malt beverage TV advertisement that shows an arm wrestling competition. The album later reached number 1 in the Amazon best sellers. On the live side of sings, Rival Sons played a slew of dates in Canada, and then a prestigious slot at The Viper Room. They also earned slots at SXSW and Hangout Festival, and Sonisphere in the UK. Their song “Torture” earned itself a spot on the original sound track of the movie, Real Steel in October 2011, and the band were personally invited by Amy Lee to support Evanescence in the USA. They returned to Europe to embark on a headline tour to round off the year.
2012 saw the band re enter the studios to record their third full-length album in Nashville, Tennessee. It only took the band 20 days, and they worked with Vance Powell who has producing albums by Jack White and The Raconteurs on his CV. Prior to the release of the album, the band supported Evanescence, Eagles of Death Metal and Black Stone Cherry on their UK Tours, they even scored slots at Rock AM Ring, Sweden Rock, Ruisrock, Graspop and Download. Later that year, their album “Head Down” was released. It charted at number 31 in the UK album chart, and in the top 20 of Sweden, Finland and Norway.
They made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on March 7th 2013, and then did a UK Tour including a sold out show at Shepherds Bush Empire.
In January 2014, the band returned to the same studio that they recorded “Head Down” alongside Dave Cobb, to recorded their fourth studio album. Before the album was released they opened for Aerosmith on the Scandinavian leg of their European tour, and made it to the stage of Rock Am Ring and the Isle of Wight Festival. In the midst of it all, their album “Great Western Valkyrie” was released on June 6th 2014, it reached the charts of twelve countries. In October 2014, they made an appearance on Later… with Jools Holland.
Rival Sons at The Scala, London. I have been going to gigs since the tender age of 17, so it’s fair to say that over the years, I have been to quite a few. Yet, only a handful have left a significant imprint in my memory. Rival Sons at The Scala is already one of these, the sort of gigs that make me feel really grateful that I have the love of music in my life. Although the band have been around since 2008, I have only recently discovered them. When I did, I got so excited about the music, my expectations for their upcoming gig were high… and boy did they exceed them in every possible way!
The minute Jay Buchanan walked on stage, I was mesmerized. The man has incredible stage presence and a quirky persona complete with his own strut and stage antics… and then he starts singing and one gets totally lost in that powerful soulful voice of his. I focus on him because he is so striking, but his performance could not be complete without the input of the rest of the band, especially Scott Holiday, an exceptional guitarist and a playful character, whose rapport with Buchanan is obvious.
Rival Sons have been compared to Led Zeppelin and I totally get why: the classic rock and vocals are reminiscent of theirs. But this is not the only reason. Having seen them live, I realise that they follow in the tradition of all the great 70s rock bands (Led Zep but also The Rolling Stones or the Who), where a front man with great stage presence is key, but so are musicians at the top of their game and a great vibe between band members. Rival Sons definitely have all of the above and it comes through in their performance.
They played plenty of songs from their excellent new album Great Western Valkyrie as well as what I now understand to be their classics like “Keep On Swinging” and “Torture," giving the audience an opportunity to join in and sing along. My personal highlights were their rendition of “Face of Light," a beautiful and emotional song about the love of a father for his son (Buchanan’s,) and the fact that Buchanan came to the front of the stage at the end, drenched in sweat and drunk from his performance to shake hands with a few lucky fans before exiting the stage.
I have seen so many bands play gigs “by the numbers” without displaying much emotion or truly ever engaging with their audience, so this was really refreshing and on reflection, as every gig should be. I left the venue feeling like I had just witnessed a great moment, as if I had just seen The Rolling Stones play a small venue in 1973. I felt truly privileged to have been there, and that is why I simply cannot wait to see them again when they return to London in December…
FrankieBL
Been waiting to see them in the UK since discovering their music and was astounded at their musical talent, despite being the support act to Welshly Arms, the evening was fantastic. Well done to each of the bands including a third band of Charming Liars. Look forward to future gigs.
winterflood
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