PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Lara Kisel from Planetmosh interviews the Rival sons before their sell out show at the Manchester Academy 3.
Interview with Scott Holiday and Robin Everhart from Rival Sons 6th November 2011
L.K. You have supported some amazing headliners. Alice Cooper, ACDC, Judas Priest in the Epitaph tour in the UK and just finished with Evanescence in the US.
That has got to be amazing for you guys?
Scott Holiday- Absolutly, As odd as it sounds it happened, not many bands get to support the greats like Alice and Judas Priest.
Is this a dream for you guys?, supporting the greats ?
SH- Some are dreamier than others, some are more unexpected like the last one we just came off of which was a pleasant surprise, but I think we speak for all of us when we got to do ACDC that really was unbelievable- Then priest was really great. That was really really big- We were doing all the festivals; actually we did all the festivals with them… it like crossed over.
Yes, you played on the main stage at High Voltage, how did that go ?
SH- It went better than the first one. I think it went better than the first high voltage performance. We got to play longer; it was night time, but the sound was quiet… they had like, this sound problem where it was really quiet on the main stage, it was total shit, everybody was really like…whats going on. Then it popped when the main bands played… not cool-
I missed High Voltage this year, I was pretty gutted but did you manage to see a lot of the bands on the line up?
SH- To be honest we had so much press that day- our PR people are so good they just lined up and drilled us so we were pretty much working…
Robin Everhart- we had press right after our main stage performance.
SH- I did watch priest at the end though I didn’t get enough of them from the whole tour I went back and watched them again they were great.
Did you manage to see Slash and Myles Kennedy?
SH-No they were right after us I think really close when we played we were working.
RE- I did see our PR girl drive him around in a golf cart ha ha.
SH-It might not of been him we just say a guy with curly hair and top hat so we don’t know for sure ha ha
I saw them at Apollo this year they were absolutely amazing.
SH- The singers great Myles works really hard- a really hard worker- The Apollo is where we played right with Priest here… great theatre.
So you have had quite a busy 2011 you brought your self-titled EP then your debut album after ‘Pressure and Time’ and you have been touring. How have you handled the amount of pressure and hard work you guys have put in to it?
RE- and time…haha
SH- Haha… We handle it with time, no erm…TIME ha ha
RE- Available now at HMV… haha
SH- Well yeah you…You know what your aimed to do when you step into this so you know so err… we want to stay busy its not really pressuring at all for us. What’s pressuring is when you have records out and your not selling or you have records and your ready to record and you cant record- That’s a lot of pressure you know… so just being able to do is just a probably pressure release for us. Feels very natural you know.
What can you tell us about the background of Rival sons because you have only been going since 2008?
SH- Yeah just around three years now… just about on three years now…erm I don’t know… what do you want to know specific.
How you got together and your band influences?
SH-I guess we got together- I had left a record deal I was in from my perspective I started kind of to like write songs towards a new idea that I had and began to audition people and find a new thing- I came across our drummer Mike Miley through a mutual musician friend and… err he told me that this drummer was a perfect cross from between Keith Moon and John Bonham.
Sound perfect alright but yeah we talked on the phone and hit it off really nicely me and him it was a nice kind of match.
So then we found Robin at a jazz gig they were doing at Isaaca Hays home really strange and far out but yeah- we all hit it off pretty quickly too really imitate you know.
Since he has really big jazz background so we can really stretch out you know so We were instantly starting to take form that we could go on a one form on a lot of thing and have fun and then…err
We had another singer for a while that we worked with and actually signed a deal with Emi and… err we left that behind when we found Jay Buchanan while I was cruising round on the internet I knew I was going to make another record and I… erm and I was looking for some inspiration kinder thing and came across Jay and erm this fellow Jay Buchanan had some acoustic blues music.
I love this guys voice I actually thing I want to make a record with so I told the guys they went yeah great I told Michael oh Jay Buchanan and he was like one of my best friends known him for like ten years so he contacted him and we all met up- me and Jay talked about a whole bunch of the blues and we what we liked about rock and roll and what was missing. That’s kinder how it started. That’s the longer form.
So what are your influences individually that you have put into Rival Sons?
RE- Well everything…
SH- We probably could go on and on about that but I think in general a lot of blues, a lot of urban blues, sun records recordings and… err up to like the Mod era from 65 on.
I can name a whole bunch of the bands but we are into so many of them obviously like The Yardbirds, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Cream. That whole angle really affected all of us.
Then we got a whole other side where we all listen to jazz and have jazz backgrounds like Robin, Folk music, Motown- I think the heartbeat of this band is soul music and blues…blues and soul- I think actually as rock and roll as it is, rock and roll is probably the next stop. The heartbeat is the soul and the blues music.
What differs between your American fans to your British fans?
RE- British fans are more rabid.
SH- Current state… yeah
RE- Definitely hungrier…
SH- Well we come from California Los Angeles so New York and LA have this reputation of being really… erm how do I put it… their just a little tighter you know what I mean like… they are not as quick to just like fall in love you know with the music and stuff and over here people are ready for rock and roll romance they want to find the band they want to enjoy they want to have a good time.
The moment we came over here I think every show we’ve done here has been sold out… Every UK show we’ve done has been a sold out show- amazing fans amazing people they are more quick on the draw on the whole rock and roll scene.
We have got quite… we definitely had a really big indie and I think that’s slowly starting to die out now and people are trying to get back to the roots and the rock and roll and how it all started.
SH- Yeah hopefully
RE- And the club music.
Oh dear no I’m a big 80’s fan so I’m not into club and dance music it is not really my scene lol.
RE- You all ready for this der der der… that’s 80s dance music right….crap ha ha
SH- haha…
One of my favourite bands from the 80’s is Motley Crue…
SH- Ahh… you like the hair bands.
I do… I love the hair bands…
SH- Its funny too coz really in the states…especially from California and around the coast it’s really pastiche like there’s not a huge fan base for 80s rock- over here it’s like actually vital.
RH- People who we talk to over here- Steel Panther sells records…
SH- Over on the radio people over here are talking about this band in a very serious light we’re going is this real- people would not say this shit on the radio where we’re from- fun era that’s for sure.
Thank you very much
SH- Well thank you for your time.
Interview by Lara Kisel, photo by John McGibbon.
More photos from the gig HERE
