Rival Sons In-Studio Interview with Meltdown
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00:00Thank you so much for watching Rift TV. Now this interview is obviously with video, but I don't interview everybody on Zoom.
00:07That's why I put it on my Talkin' Rock with Meltdown podcast. We talk to rock artists from all over the genre.
00:13So check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown wherever you get your podcasts. And now, to today's video interview.
00:20Well, this is a new experience. I've never used this studio before, so thank you guys so much for coming in.
00:25We're glad to be part of the inaugural journey.
00:27Yeah, this is cool. I've never had a band there. I've done a couple interviews in here, but it is a little bit unusual to do this.
00:34But I appreciate it. Scott Holiday, Jay Buchanan as well from the Rival Sons.
00:37Man, you guys are really pounding the pavement here, getting ready for the new record to drop, or I should say Records.
00:42Yeah, we've got two records coming out this year. First one's dropping June 2nd, and that's Dark Fighter.
00:49Second album is going to be dropping sometime in the fall. We haven't determined exactly when yet.
00:54There are a lot of moving parts, you know, to an album release.
00:57Yeah, both are finished?
00:59Yeah. Yeah, they're both done.
01:00Then we're going to release two more right after it, Dark Bringer and Light Fighter.
01:06So tune in for those two.
01:07So, I mean, the obvious question is, you've got your dark and you've got your light,
01:10and these records are obviously connected in some sort of way, shape, or form. Is that right?
01:14Sure, yeah.
01:16Jay, you can expand on that.
01:17I think, you know, throughout the pandemic, you know, we started recording it in early 20,
01:24and we couldn't go anywhere.
01:26Obviously, we couldn't tour, just like everybody else.
01:29So I think that, you know, there was so much going on on a national level,
01:35international, personal level for everyone.
01:38You know, all of the loss, the isolation, the cultural division, the political division,
01:43and the politicalization of a virus, all of it, BLM, you know, happening.
01:50And there was so much going on that there was a lot to write about.
01:55And I think that the isolation and the ideas, you know, for much of Dark Fighter,
02:02it was much more about keeping the darkness at bay, you know, because that was a hard time.
02:07But for those of us who had, like, kids, you know, that were isolated and stuck at home,
02:15having their entire social life and their education, put on pause and just all of that atrophy.
02:21That's big, too, because I have kids just like you do, and the kids, they still, that's a big deal.
02:28Those kids are becoming our young adults, and there's a residual effect on them from this, you know.
02:34Kids have dealt with anxiety and depression, like, more than ever.
02:38Rates for that stuff is through the roof right now.
02:41Right.
02:41And that moment had a lot to do with it.
02:43You isolate their social activity and stuff, and everyone's already stuck on the phone.
02:48Everyone's already stuck in video game land.
02:51This just took it to a new level.
02:53You have a, real quick, for that, you know, as it is pre-pandemic,
02:57you have a culture that's sitting on a very, very small fulcrum, you know,
03:03that could tip over into the harder points of social media as it's affecting children and all of us.
03:12And then, so you pile on the pandemic in social media and your, you know,
03:17your smartphone or your computer or your tablet.
03:19That ends up becoming a child's window to the outside world,
03:24and that's a very difficult thing to wrestle with.
03:26Well, I was going to say, like, you know, when we were kids growing up,
03:29I mean, I wonder if we could have dealt with the pandemic better
03:31because there wasn't all this social media and this outside interference.
03:34Of course we would have.
03:36We were just a better generation.
03:38Come on.
03:38That's right.
03:40That's not what I was saying.
03:41But, you know, I've asked this question about a lot of artists in the last year or so.
03:45This is your pandemic album or pandemic albums.
03:48Yeah.
03:49And that's really it.
03:50You know, what I was getting to there is Dark Fighter was really about keeping the darkness at bay,
03:55keeping the wolf on the other side of the door and not letting it come in
03:59because there was such a heavy theme of self-preservation and for me wanting to preserve myself,
04:05preserve the emotional health of my family, you know, and the band.
04:11And Scott and I writing back and forth and sending files.
04:15You know, I was living out in Tennessee for most of the pre-production on the record.
04:20So we're having to work remotely with each other, and he's going through his stuff at home.
04:25So with Dark Fighter, it was really about fighting the darkness off,
04:31whereas with Lightbringer, it's a little bit more about illuminating, you know, as opposed to defending.
04:40It's more about illuminating, you know, the light from within
04:44and just letting that be the thing that illuminates your life, you know.
04:48When you started recording or started writing, did you have two albums in mind?
04:53I think that we had thrown around the idea of making two separate records many, many times.
04:59But I think that for us, the main objective was just to get a good, just get good content,
05:07just write music that was beyond what we had done before.
05:11That was like, that was the main thing, is to push the boundaries of who we were.
05:15We had a song, we had a song that we worked on before the pandemic, before Feral Roots,
05:21you know, as we were going into Feral Roots, that's called Dark Fighter.
05:25That was kind of this, it's a big song.
05:29It's a big song musically and a big song.
05:31An epic type song?
05:32It's an epic type song.
05:33So we had this song, and we had already worked on this song.
05:36Is it an opus, Scott?
05:37I don't throw these words around an epic and opus.
05:42It's, you know, it's a big song for us.
05:44It means a lot to us.
05:45We put a lot of heart.
05:47You're talking about the title track?
05:50It's technically the title track.
05:51You're just going to have to see what I mean.
05:53Okay.
05:53This has never been talked about.
05:55You're getting some fresh news right now.
05:56You're going to dig in a little bit.
05:57Do we just say it right now?
05:59Yeah, go ahead.
05:59So, well, we haven't released any track listing, but we're just going to say it one time here.
06:03And if everybody wants to follow the breadcrumbs, they can find out.
06:06But the title track, there is no Dark Fighter on the album Dark Fighter.
06:11But the next record, Lightbringer, will start with the title track, Dark Fighter.
06:16Yeah, is that right?
06:17It opens the record just so immediately.
06:20And honestly, as we're doing this right now, I think I'm never going to talk about this again.
06:23So this is it right here.
06:25Well, the decision to have that song start Lightbringer was to immediately give context to Dark Fighter.
06:35The connection to Bridge.
06:36Exactly.
06:37It hits the trailer.
06:37Yeah, it immediately puts it in frame and contextualizes it.
06:41We old school like that.
06:43You know, when records had weight and took you places and you wanted to listen to the record from the first note to the end.
06:51And that was a big intent, too, when we decided to, like, break these up instead of making it one long, two-part kind of epic that came out together.
07:00It was like, you know, it's hard when you're listening to a record for an hour plus.
07:06You start to lose context.
07:08You start to lose what's happening a lot with those kinds of records.
07:11It's rare that you want to sit through the wall.
07:16Like nowadays.
07:18Yeah, yeah, with the attention span thing.
07:20Well, and very much, like, it's the subject matter that you hear the protagonist moving through in Dark Fighter and Lightbringer.
07:29If you put those all together, it's just too much.
07:32You know, it's like reading the entire Border Trilogy of Cormac McCarthy all in one sitting.
07:37It's going to be too much for you.
07:38You're going to be, you know, you're going to be emotional.
07:40And it's hard to appreciate any of it.
07:41It just gets kind of like.
07:43Maybe lost.
07:44It gets lost, man.
07:45Yeah, so these are much more digestible sides.
07:51Moose-boose, if you will.
07:52Yeah.
07:54So let's talk about, like, you just talked about it.
07:57Like, you know, you think this record will bring you guys to the next level.
08:01I mean, what does that mean?
08:05Well, all throughout your career, it's funny because I was thinking about this on the way in today.
08:07It's like I've seen you guys play at different places.
08:09And you guys are playing this year at Sonic Temple.
08:12The last time I saw you guys play there was, I don't know, six, seven years ago.
08:14You were playing on a side stage.
08:15And now I'm thinking you'll be playing on a bigger stage.
08:17So it continues to go up and up.
08:19So you're talking directly about butts and seats.
08:22I'm just talking about just taking this band where you want to go musically to that next level.
08:26Definitely musically is one thing, like creatively.
08:29Yeah.
08:29Like definitely we're pushing as hard as we can, right?
08:33But is it going to put more people in a venue?
08:37I mean, certainly.
08:38We're really not.
08:40We don't know.
08:41We hope so.
08:41I don't know.
08:42I don't know what's going to happen.
08:44Everybody here should know that we want to be doing Shea Stadium and arenas nightly and Madison Square Gardens.
08:52That would be lovely for us.
08:54Certainly we're writing music that we feel fits in those venues and those arenas, you know?
08:59That would be fun.
09:00It's fun to gather that many people and all get on the same wavelength at one time and kind of lift a room and let them lift us up.
09:08That's fun.
09:09We want to do that.
09:10That's what we're aiming for, of course.
09:11But to think that one record or one song is going to do that, I don't know.
09:18You always hear about that happening.
09:20So, you know, it's not that abstract to ask the question.
09:24I think that...
09:25Should it?
09:26Yes.
09:26Well, what happens now with this record, I think that the number one thing for us, we have an audience, we have a career, and we're thankful for our audience and for our career.
09:40But it lives and dies by how honest we can be about the art.
09:47It lives and dies by how much we can, how authentic we're capable of being in that creation.
09:55So, I do know for certain that that was achieved with this record, that we made music that we needed to make.
10:03And so, like, whatever happens as a result of that, it's going to be a correct step because we did something for the right reason and we did it in the right way.
10:11Yeah, there's no doubt you guys are artistically honest.
10:15No question about that.
10:17So...
10:18I'll ask you first, Scott.
10:19What is it like to drop a brand new record?
10:21The new record comes out in January...
10:22I'm sorry, June 2nd.
10:23What is it like to drop a record?
10:24I've never done it.
10:25It's great.
10:26It's wonderful because, especially with the pandemic for us this time specifically, we're sitting on our back catalog.
10:34Anytime we've had to go play, even we did a couple small tours based on a 10-year anniversary of Pressure and Time, which is digging back even further.
10:43And let me tell you, we played the...
10:45I don't want to say any expletives, but we played that record a lot.
10:49We toured nonstop.
10:50We never came off the road while Pressure and Time was out.
10:53And we've never come off the road this whole time, right up until the end of Feral Roots tour cycle.
10:58So, we've been sitting on the back catalog.
11:01As artists, that is just not healthy.
11:04It's not healthy, man.
11:06You need to move and create and make something new.
11:09And just every person, non-artists, are changing every five, six years into new people.
11:16We just know that.
11:17That's just how it is.
11:19So, artists, certainly, even more than in six years, we will make a record and be tired of it before it comes out.
11:24You know what I mean?
11:25So, putting a record out is finally us getting to share something that we've spent a lot of time, a lot of heart.
11:31And certainly, we're making it to play for people.
11:35If we were just making it for me and Jay, it would sound a little bit different.
11:38I promise you that.
11:40It would be something totally different, probably.
11:42But we know we're going to get to share this music.
11:45And we finally get to do it.
11:46And we have a wonderful team behind us that wants to pump it with management and the label.
11:50And we know we get to play it.
11:53And that's the most important thing.
11:55When we're in the studio, we make music because we get to play it live.
11:59So, you're thinking, like, this is going to be fun to make happen live in a big room, you know?
12:04Yeah.
12:04So, there is a little bit of an aspect where you guys are thinking about it.
12:07I've asked fans about this before.
12:08But, yeah, when you're writing a song and you're playing it, like, this is going to go over great.
12:11I can already see this on stage.
12:13Yeah.
12:13That happens sometimes.
12:14Absolutely.
12:14And I don't think there's a problem with that.
12:17That's our medium.
12:18It's like we perform music.
12:20We're not Beatles on post-White Album where we just decide we're not going to perform live anymore.
12:26We're performing live.
12:28That's where the music comes alive.
12:29That's where it takes on a new life.
12:32And we've seen pretty much all of our material become something different and, frankly, more special once it's shared and we're, like, working it out.
12:40You know, a lot of these songs we did on the floor.
12:43However, we didn't play these songs.
12:45These weren't songs that we, like, nurtured and then put on record.
12:48They were songs that we, like, quickly kind of, like.
12:51We wrote right there and then just hit record.
12:53Even the lyrics.
12:55Even thoughtful, like, super heady, heartfelt lyrics.
12:59Jay will just hear something we did.
13:01We'll kind of crystallize it for the moment.
13:03And he'll go pad and paper.
13:05Boop.
13:05Outside.
13:05And come back.
13:06This is what I got.
13:08And we'll put it down.
13:09So, we're discovering what is really good about the song on the stage with you guys, you know?
13:15So, Jay, what do you think?
13:17What's it like to wrap around?
13:19I'd agree with pretty much everything Scott just said.
13:22You know, as a performing artist this way, and anyone who's out there who's in the game knows, whatever songs you write, those songs are going to become your, for all intents and purposes, like, your life mantra for that next two years.
13:46And when I say life mantra, like, I got to get on stage, and I have to sing, and I have to put these words on my tongue in a new context every night to keep it fresh within myself and live within these lyrics.
14:02And the band is doing the same thing, just in a different way.
14:05But together, we're creating this message, and we're repeating it day after day.
14:10And we're putting it, and it's from my tongue onto people's ears and on their tongues as well.
14:16And so, I think that having a new, having a fresh blood transfusion, it equates to a new identity that you're able to wear and a new message that you're able to present, not just to the audience, but it's a new narrative that you allow yourself to live, you know?
14:35So, you're living this new narrative, and you're speaking this new mantra, and it's very, very important to have the opportunity to do that.
14:43So, for me, when I look at what's coming up with these next two records, I think there is some subject matter that may be a little bit difficult, because it was written in a time of crisis.
14:54But then, there are other songs that are much more of a transcendent nature that I'm really looking forward to, performing night after night.
15:04You never know what's going to happen.
15:07You know, there's no, there are no guarantees.
15:10But I know that we made, we made an album that Scott and I both identify with very deeply.
15:16And so, whatever happens from there, like I said, it's going to be a, it's going to be the right direction.
15:20Now, I heard, Scott, you were talking about this on the radio with Jay just a few minutes ago, but, you know, you're talking about the state of rock and roll.
15:27So, maybe for the people that were out here that weren't in Detroit to hear it live on the air, where is the state of rock and roll right now, in your opinion?
15:36It's very much in a backseat to popular music, and it's strange.
15:40It's maybe not in my backseat or your backseat or the listeners here, but in a popular world of music, we, we, I'm going to speak as I am rock and roll, we were at the top of the food chain.
15:55We were at the top of the pyramid.
15:57We were going to play all the Super Bowls.
15:59We were going to play all the arenas, and everything else didn't really do that.
16:03A pop act could not be really in an arena.
16:06It just, it wasn't that good.
16:08Rock and roll fit in the arena, and rock and roll brought people, and tours that were successful weren't K-pop.
16:15Tours that were successful were, like, Monsters of Rock with, like, Van Halen and, like, the Scorpions and Metallica and stuff like this.
16:23This is what brought people and put butts in seats and bought T-shirts and bought albums and re-bought albums because they played them so much they burnt out.
16:32That was the state of rock and roll.
16:34We're pretty young for that era.
16:37We were kids when that was happening, but certainly through my family and just being a young rock and roll hessian, like some rock and roll kid.
16:46As a young kid, I was connected to all of that, so I lived through it and watched it, and we watched grunge come in, and we watched, you know, rock and roll slowly kind of back away from the door,
16:57and then the doors get kind of slammed on everybody, like, whoa, it's nowhere.
17:03Has anybody in this room looked at the charts lately?
17:06It's a lot of, like, cymbals and, like, little somethings and, like, whoa, this is an all-Spanish song.
17:14This is the third most played song on Apple Music?
17:16No offense, but I'm just saying rock and roll is nowhere in sight.
17:19You go three pages down, and there's no rock and roll.
17:22So people for years have told us that we're, like, you know, the guardians of the light for rock and roll, the saviors of rock and roll or whatever.
17:30We're not.
17:31We're a rock band doing what we do with our heart as truthfully and honestly as we can.
17:36The people that are guarding the light are the people buying our records and listening to it, you know?
17:40The people that still want to do rock and roll and are there, you know?
17:45It's kind of funny because it's like, you know, as much as you're correct in a lot of what you say,
17:49it's almost kind of cool that we're in this world that, yeah, maybe not everyone.
17:52It's not their cup of tea, but it's our cup of tea, you know?
17:55And it's like we love what this music brings to us.
17:59Yeah, there's an organic nature to rock and roll, you know, like what Scott was just saying.
18:05And moving out of grunge, you know, moving through the late 90s, early 2000s, watching rock back away from the door, you know, from the grown-ups table, you know, the popular vernacular and that whole zeitgeist.
18:23Like, you also saw rock transform in various ways.
18:28You saw different acts come up that became part of the problem that I think that really diluted rock.
18:35And then you have other acts.
18:36Can you name a few acts for us?
18:37Oh, come on now, man.
18:38I don't need to do that.
18:40But you also saw other acts that were coming from a very genuine place, a place of invention, that propelled it forward and that kept a seat, you know, at the table.
18:55And I think that, you know, the more it gets diluted and moves further away from source, I think that becomes a problem with identification.
19:03And I think that it teaches the listener at large to settle for less.
19:11And I can look and there still are those acts that are popping up here and there that are really doing it in a very, very genuine way.
19:19And you know when you're not being sold something, when you're just being given someone's story and you identify with it, whereas in other, you know, other forms of rock music, you can feel the pitch.
19:36You can feel that you're being sold something.
19:38Right.
19:38Yeah.
19:39And it's funny you mentioned the Super Bowl and stuff because it's like they got all these pop acts playing the Super Bowl, but all the classic rock and the rock guys are doing the commercials.
19:47Yeah.
19:47We had one.
19:49Well, we weren't in the Super Bowl commercial, but yeah.
19:51You weren't in a commercial?
19:52We have a commercial out right now.
19:55That's not our commercial.
19:56We just have a song in a commercial.
19:57Which one is it?
19:58I don't know if I've heard that.
19:59Silverado.
20:00Yeah.
20:00By Chevy.
20:01Oh, really?
20:02They pay me every time I say that.
20:04Nice.
20:06Right here.
20:06You're in Chevy's backyard, right?
20:08Yeah, that's right.
20:08Exactly.
20:09Yeah.
20:10Well, the new record comes out on June 2nd.
20:12Lightbringer comes out in the fall.
20:14And I heard you guys mention, we don't want to talk too much about it, but there's something that's going to be dropping coming up here pretty soon, you guys said, huh?
20:20Yeah, you know, we've got dates to announce and what our plans are for touring and, you know, abroad and domestically.
20:27Do you guys have more festival dates besides Sonic Temple?
20:29Are you guys on the other ones, too?
20:31Yeah.
20:31Yeah, there's some more U.S. dates and there's some European festival dates.
20:36We have stuff.
20:37I don't know what we're allowed to talk about.
20:38Okay, well, that's no problem.
20:39You guys got some, your year is filled up.
20:42Yes.
20:43Yeah, we are filled up.
20:45And I think we've just started this week to book for right into the new year.
20:49Yeah.
20:49And the 24th.
20:50So, yeah.
20:50The dance card is full.
20:52Yeah.
20:52We will be here.
20:53Well, I'll tell you what, can't wait to hear the record.
20:54I was listening to Feral Roots all week.
20:57That record is so good.
20:58So, I can hardly wait for the new one here, Dark Fighter.
21:01It'll be on my turntable.
21:02Like, I listen to all my records.
21:03We're going to make sure and get you an early copy, man.
21:06All right.
21:06I appreciate that.
21:07Yeah, I can't wait to check it out for sure.
21:09Of course, Nobody Wants to Die is out.
21:11Rapture, you guys just played.
21:12By the way, Nobody Wants to Die.
21:13You know, that's a real slammer.
21:15But you guys just played the acoustic version.
21:17And, man, is it like it kind of breathes a different life into it.
21:20You know?
21:21Yeah, I think that the first time we played it for the first time, day before yesterday, ever.
21:27Acoustically.
21:27And Jay was sick.
21:28So, we didn't, before that, Jay had been a little under the weather.
21:31So, we were letting his voice rest.
21:32So, we didn't rehearse.
21:35So, he didn't sing.
21:36And we just got in there and started playing.
21:37So, we just kind of like tackled it.
21:39So, this was like the second time we've done it.
21:41But I was saying, as soon as we played it acoustically, it's like,
21:44I think I like it even better acoustically because of the story.
21:47You know?
21:47The story that you're able to tell in a different way.
21:50Yeah.
21:50I don't want to say I like it better.
21:52But, I mean, it did.
21:53It just sounded.
21:55There's something about it.
21:56I can't even put my finger on it.
21:57But I was like, you ever hear a song like you hear over and over and over again?
22:00Then you see it live in concert and it just kind of clicks.
22:03You know?
22:03That's kind of how it felt.
22:04Jay has an innate ability to turn any kind of rock song into like an Appalachian Mountain song.
22:12All right.
22:12I'll take that.
22:14All right.
22:15Jay and Scott from the Rival Sons.
22:17Thank you guys so much for christening our brand new studio here.
22:19We need a wine or something.
22:21Thanks, Mel.
22:21Thanks, Bob.
22:23I appreciate you guys.
22:24Thanks.
22:24See you, man.