Rival Sons
Rival Sons on stage, April 2013
Background information
Origin	Long Beach, California, United States
Genres	Blues rock, hard rock, rock, rock and roll
Years active	2008 (2008)–present
Labels	Earache
Website	www.rivalsons.com
Members	Jay Buchanan Robin Everhart Scott Holiday Mike Miley

Rival Sons is an American rock band from Long Beach, California.

History [edit]

In 2008 guitarist Scott Holiday, drummer Michael Miley and bassist Robin Everhart formed the band. Miley had heard of singer Jay Buchanan before. They contacted him through MySpace and after a failed attempt, they were able to convince him to join the band.

The band quickly signed with Atlantic Records, although they left shortly afterwards. Being without a label, they digitally self-released their first album Before the Fire in 2009. Jack Rivera of Huffington Post declared them the “Rock Band to Watch” in November 2009.^[1]

In 2010 Rival Sons made a name for themselves by supporting acts such as AC/DC, Alice Cooper and Kid Rock^[2] and by performing a televised show at The Indianapolis 500.^[3] The British metal label Earache Records showed interest in the band. Liking the idea of “bending the rules” by signing to a traditionally death metal label, they signed with them in Autumn 2010.

In February 2011 they released their self-titled EP on iTunes, soon to be followed by the full-length album Pressure & Time in June 2011. The cover of Pressure & Time was designed by renowned cover artist Storm Thorgerson (the man behind Pink Floyd’s famous Dark Side Of The Moon prism design). The album was written, recorded and mixed within 20 days in Los Angeles, California, immediately after a tour. According to the band, Before The Fire was written and produced in the same way.

Jay Buchanan on stage at the Cambridge Junction, 2013

With Pressure & Time on international turntables, the band went on to play festivals like Sonisphere, T in the Park, Rock Werchter and Arras. They also supported Judas Priest in July 2011.^[4] This was followed in November by their first full-length European tour, during which they sold out every UK show, as well as several shows across Europe. The year also saw live TV appearances in Germany (‘Die Harald Schmidt Show’ and ‘neoParadise’) and America. At the annual Classic Rock Awards the band played an acoustic set. They rounded off the year by being voted ‘Best New Band’ by listeners of Planet Rock radio, while Pressure & Time was voted the No. 2 Album of the Year by Classic Rock Magazine.

In February 2012 they went into Honey Pye studios in Nashville, Tennessee, again for only 20 days, to record their next album with Dave Cobb and Vance Powell, before heading to Europe on another mostly sold-out tour. The album Head Down was released in September, gaining many positive reviews from renowned magazines,^[5] such as Classic Rock Magazine. Another tour, this time completely sold-out, followed in September and October. Rival Sons finished the year by winning the ‘Breakthrough Act of the Year’ award at the Classic Rock Awards^[6] and the ‘Best New Band’ award in Planet Rock’s user poll.

They began 2013 with a short tour of the USA and Canada, before moving on to Europe for another tour across the UK and the continent.

Discography [edit]

Studio albums [edit]

EPs [edit]

• Rival Sons - EP (2011)

Singles [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website