Rival Sons Play Rock-N-Roll Like It’s Meant To Be (Flashback 2016)

RIVAL SONS

RIVAL SONS play The Forum Feb. 11 and The Observatory Feb. 12 photo: Ross Halfin

Flashback RIVAL SONS 2016 interview…

Long Beach rock-n-roll band, Rival Sons, on tour with Black Sabbath, will make a stop in Santa Ana to headline their own show on Feb. 12.

“I hope to see everybody there, it’s going to be a big show,” drummer Michael Miley said. “And, listen to local rock radio, call KLOS tell them you want the Long Beach band, Rival Sons played on their station.”

The opportunity to travel the world and play music may be many musicians’ ultimate goal, but having your local rock radio station embrace you is icing on the cake.

“Our roots are strong so it’s going to be a packed show, a beautiful show, and it’s going to be sponsored by KLOS, a station I grew up listening to,” Miley confirmed. “It’s pretty much a dream.”

Rival Sons success in Europe is light years ahead of their success in the U.S. Although they have toured with many well-known, classic bands such as Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Alice Cooper people in the U.S. have been slower to catch on.

“The music business here does not embrace rock-n-roll or support it or give money to it. And rock radio is an uphill battle for what we do,” Miley explained. “Most Americans need to be spoon fed what to like, unless you’re a person who likes to seek out new music.

“We’re basically an R & B band just like The Who or Zeppelin. All the British Invasion bands were white boys who tried to play black music and turned it up real loud. That’s originally what rock-n-roll was, right?

“People think Foo Fighters are rock-n-roll. I love the Foo Fighters but that’s not rock-n-roll. Rock-n-roll is music that has blues in it. When the blues left rock-n-roll it became rock.

“We’re definitely lone wolves in a densely packed forest of nothing.”

RIVAL SONS

Michael Miley photo: James Christopher

Currently on tour with Black Sabbath in the US and Canada, Rival Sons will have the opportunity to reach many new fans.

“We have this crazy opportunity to be personally invited by Ozzy to be on this tour,” Miley said. “It’s pretty nostalgic and I can’t really put it into words.

“When (Tony) Iommi walks out and plays “Iron Man” I get shivers thinking back to when I was a kid and my older brother used to scare me playing Black Sabbath. It was the scariest thing. Ozzy was like a monster. My earliest memories of Sabbath, not that they’re bad, Sabbath were doing their job, was scaring the shit out of me! So, it’s pretty nostalgic.”

It’s been a few years since the last album Great Western Valkyrie but their fifth album is due sometime around May, also on Earache and distributed through Warner Bros. Like their previous album, it was recorded in Nashville with producer, Dave Cobb.

“Yep, we have a new record coming out in 2016, baby! Not sure I can say the name of it, yet,” Miley teased. “We’re really excited. It took us 3 weeks like all of our other records.

“We like to go in and over three weeks force ourselves to write songs in the studio. Nothing is pre-rehearsed or anything. I’ve never heard the songs. It’s a good way to get a human element into your recording. Forced, non-rehearsed music.”

Whether you catch them opening for Black Sabbath at The Forum, or headlining The Observatory, the Rival Sons always play hard, treating every concert as if it was their last show on earth.

“When I talk about rock I mean rock-n-roll.”