| Rivals
Sons are a band that first hit our radar earlier this year with the
release of their latest album 'Pressure & Time'. We spoke to
Mike and Robin back then about how things were going on the Judas Priest
tour and at the time they promised the band would be back in
November. Sure enough they kept good to their word so we catch up
with the band again to see how things are progressing ...
MM
- Why the mix of blues and rock?
RS - Rock
and roll comes from the blues, and blues is the one of the purest, most
raw, emotional kinds of music that ever happened. We all love it, the
natural progression rock and roll took, and our music is less of the
melding.
MM
- How did you all meet?
RS - Scott and Miley (Mike, the
drummer) started the band, and then they met Jay at a rock gig, and then
Robin, and it spiraled from there. Got a singer, got a deal, got shows,
that old chestnut!
MM
- What's been the best gig you've done so far?
RS - The whole
tour! We played the Classic Rock Awards last night, that wasn't the best
gig yet. But of the tour, we played King Tut's in Glasgow last night,
very high rated. Also Detroit – we started there and it kicked ass.
Montreal was a good one. Glasgow – they put the barriers up, we asked
why there were barriers, but we realised that we needed them! Got there
and a Dixieland band were played downstairs, and they had good soup, it was
amazing.
MM
- Songwriting: do you work on it together or is it an individual thing?
Scott - This album was interesting. First I (Scott) would write the
songs, then Jay would write the songs, then we would come together.
We
just did what we thought we needed to the songs.
MM
- Have you ever had songs that have metamorphosed through the writing
process?
RS - Absolutely. Everyone makes an honest
contribution so it manages to change the songs.
MM
- Why the name Rival Sons?
RS - It's a confrontational
fight. Awesome cosmic genealogy fascination and conjures up a lot
of adjective. We play our version of power metal, with the blues, it's
much heavier than thrash.
MM
- What would be your dream gig?
RS - On tour
we are paid so much money that we nearly suffocate with the payment in
the building. The gig at the Classic Rock Awards was amazing, we played
to Bryan May and James Beck – it's cool having these people in the
audience. Peter Frampton asked about us. There's a dream gig
where you play to your influences – a fluff gig, but in Glasgow, it
was immense, a real visceral feeling. We didn't expect to sell out
MM
- What are your influences?
RS - The range –
Blues, Jazz, R N' B, Motown. We love all of them, no one really
specific stands out but we pull from many different genres. We love
music.
MM
- Your music appears more relaxing – is this intentional to allow it
to appeal to more people?
RS - It's not intended to be
relaxing but may appear so to those not used to the mix of blues and
rock. We've not had it called relaxing before.
MM
- Pleasant Return and it's Indian influence, how accidental was it?
RS - Definitely on purpose.
MM
- What would you do if you weren't in a band?
Scott – I'd
probably go back to my old profession as Rogue Ninja, more of a Kung Fu
Panda of the Ninja world.
Jay – A rocket
scientist for NASA. I love the mathematics.
Robin – The
ice cream truck driver.
MM
- The band toured recently with Evanescence, what were they like?
RS - As people? We made really good friends with them. Amy is a
sweetheart, she came out on stage and at the end of the last song on the
last night.
MM
- What was it like to play the same stage as Judas Priest?
RS - Fantastic – it was really far out to play with them.
Rob is fantastic still, absolutely mind-blowing.
MM
- What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever done?
RS - There's
some pretty weird stuff going on out there! Throwing underwear is
normal. People get tattoos of your signature, it seems weird but really,
what is weird?
Miley threw his shirt
into the audience, it was soaking wet and it hits this guy square in the
face. Right before he was bouncing and fist pumping, this skinny little
thing and this tee hit him square in the face!
We'd
like to thank Rival Sons for taking the time out to chat with us this
evening and for the fantastic show that followed.
Interview by: Kerry
H
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