Page 52 - Classic Rock (January 2020)

“WE SMELL

A LOT BETTER

THAN WE DID

TEN YEARS AGO”

We collar Rival Sons’ sharp-dressed Jay Buchanan and Scott Holiday to talk about the

last decade, fashion, latest album Feral Roots and playing ballads at metal festivals.

Interview: Polly Glass

ival Sons guitarist Scott Holiday’s Rival Sons have been a hard-touring band for just way we did it, where we got out and away from
handlebar moustache – part Poirot, over ten years now. How does this way of life sit everything, staying up late, really sharing ideas, it
part Captain Hook – is impressive. with you? felt like a really great reset. We talked about what
It’s fair to say it’s made him one of SH: We love this lifestyle. It’s what we’re made for. we had done, and not wanting to repeat ourselves.
R rock’s more recognisable figures. It’s what we do, and if we don’t do it we feel strange. JB: We were resetting, establishing whatever
The Ray Brown suits and striking Gibson Firebird It was ‘us’, I think, since we were teenagers, and it’s we were doing. This whole thing is a different
guitars also help. grown and grown, and we’re getting to focus our journey. So we went out there and we didn’t have
Jay Buchanan joins us looking similarly chic statement, and the whole thing is just becoming wifi, we didn’t have cellphone service. We’re
in a long coat and matching boots. The singer very friendly. It feels like your favourite coat. I can’t both very busy, we’re very bossy people, so for
delights in customising clothes from high-end have it any other way and I never want it to end. us to come together, just us, and sitting there
designers, although years of dues paying in rock’s JB: I was talking to my wife last night, and I said: philosophising about whatever. It’s not as if we
underworld mean he’s relaxed in today’s grungier “Y’know, I have to say this is probably the best job uncovered a bunch of answers, it was just setting
settings while the Record Company (Rival Sons’ I could ever think of.” Are the shows physically the tone for what the next six or seven months
support tonight at London’s Brixton Academy) taxing? Yes. I walk off stage completely exhausted would be.
sound-check downstairs. and I’m ready to lay down for a couple of hours.
To put it simply, Rival Sons put rock’n’roll back It’s extremely draining, but it’s so fun! I can’t At the start of the decade, Rival Sons were in the
on the map at the start of a decade that seemed complain about how hard it is, because people minority in terms of new classic rock-inspired
to have forgotten it. Since then they’ve rekindled pay to come and watch us dick around on stage bands. Since then things have changed considerably.
classic rock fans’ passion for new music, and raked and have fun. JB: When we first came over here we definitely felt
in fans from younger generations. the minority status. And signing
Most recently they were signed to Earache Records, when we
to Atlantic Records for this year’s came over here they were using
game-raising Feral Roots. “I can’t complain about how hard it is, all the assets that they could to
because people pay to come and watch try and break us, but all of those
How do your pre-show habits today assets were metal, because we
compare to those of ten years ago? us dick around on stage and have fun.” were their first non-metal signing.
Jay Buchanan: I’ve never really So they were trying to figure out
been one to warm up vocally, Jay Buchanan what to do with us.
except for maybe screaming SH: They put us on tour with Judas
a couple of times before I go on stage. Back in When it came to writing Feral Roots, you took Priest. That was our first UK and European tour!
those days we didn’t have any room, we didn’t your first proper pause from touring since the band JB: And we did a whole bunch of metal festivals
have much of a rider and we were in a van. Most began. What did you glean from that time? and we were thrust into the metal world and
of the time with the gruelling touring schedule SH: We were busy the whole time. We got some thinking: “How do we fit? I don’t know, but we’re in
we had, you’re just trying to stay alive and things in order, but we were writing, we were in front of people so let’s keep going…”
doing whatever you have to do to make sure the the studio recording. More than gleaning, we were SH: We were playing ballads at Hellfest… We
show didn’t suffer. A lot of long drives, a lot of preparing to come back out. realised that fans of extremely heavy metal music
unnecessary hangovers… JB: What Scott says is very true. And also just are the most loyal and the most wonderful fans,
Scott Holiday: And just focusing our heart and getting that time at home and not being on the they’re just really great people. Once they adopt
energy into the show. In a way it’s not that different road, because, believe me, we stayed very busy. It you, you’re in with them. And a lot of those people
now, but our pre-show rituals are different; we had was constant, every day. It was writing all night, who like heavy music are our fans.
a meet-and-greet earlier, we have a photoshoot every night, for months on end.
after this. It’s much more structured. For a generation of rock fans who thought they
JB: And we smell a lot better than we did ten years You went off to a cabin in the woods to work on the were ‘done’ with new music, you made them excited
ago. We’ve both had showers and our clothes aren’t record. What was that like? about it again.
dirty. So that’s a big difference. SH: I think that the lake and the setting and the SH: For us it was… I don’t want to say

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