DOWNLOAD: Rival Sons - "Get What's Coming" (Click-through and enter email address)

From a 2009 Huffington Post interview with Rival Sons

Huffington Post: You guys classify your music as pure rock and roll. What does rock and roll mean to you?

Scott Holiday (guitar): If the question is what is a 'technical definition' of rock & roll ? I'd say its the melting of blues, soul, and country, first off. And it's gotta have a little boogie, or make you wanna dance or pump your fist ... and most importantly, it's gotta be DANGEROUS. It's obviously tough to really encompass this whole concept of rock & roll ... but this is my quick answer.

California blue-rock quartet, and recent signees to Earache Records, Rival Sons have just released a new 6-song digital EP via iTunes. This new self-titled EP serves as a stop-gap for the band’s first full-length for Earache, Pressure & Time, which drops in May.

While Earache has some traditional metal bands on the label (Cauldron, White Wizzard), Rival Sons is the closest that I’ve heard the label come to classic rock. Rival Sons play blues-rock in the style of Free and early Led Zeppelin with a bit of 70’s soul thrown on top. “We really connect on old blues, like Muddy Waters, Leadbelly and Howlin’ Wolf,” said guitarist Scott Holiday. “Then you add in Stax and Motown, that kinda soul feel. We’re also into 60s British bands like the Small Faces, The Who and early Zeppelin.” (Quote from ClassicRockMagazine.com)

The majority of the new disc features high-energy, bombastic blues-rock which is meant to be played live and loud. In addition to the bass-and-drums explosive swagger, Scott Holiday’s blues licks and solos will make an air guitarist cry with joy and Jay Buchanan’s vocal style falls right between that of Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers. Breaking up the disc and giving the listener a brief interlude where they can catch their breath, the new EP contains one ballad (sort of Rival Sons’ “Going to California”) “Sacred Tongue”. After returning back to the high-octane blues, the disc ramps down with the slower tempo soulful “Soul”.

Rival Sons - "Torture"


While I can’t visualize Rival Sons on tour with some of the thrash and deathcore bands on the Earache label, it is not far stretch to imagine them playing alongside bands like Rolling Stones and The Who.

Links:
Rival Sons