Interview: Rival Sons

Supporting Black Stone Cherry, Los Angeles’ classic rockers Rival Sons are gaining great exposure to legions of rock fans, young and old. With much excitement surrounding their debut album, Pressure and Time, I caught up with bassist Robin Everhart to discuss the album and life on the road.

Gaining a lot of comparisons to Led Zeppelin, although a massive compliment, can be a bit frustrating for new bands trying to achieve that classic sound. I asked Robin if he thought people will take Rival Sons for themselves: “I think people will take it as something unique. People need to categorise things – it’d be a lot cooler if they didn’t but we are flattered of course”.

Taking just 20 days to record and mix their debut record, I wondered if this was an intentional choice, and if so, why? “It’s off the cuff, not over thought out. That’s always the death of a lot of albums. They just take way too long and putting us under that time constraint really forced us to go with the gut. We came in right off a tour and only had a month to record before another tour.” Robin continues about current approaches to recording: “It’s like bedroom music now – everyone can make records in their bedroom today and take as long as they want. But when you want to mix it up on the road, how does that relate? We like to keep it exciting”.

With such honed musicians I wondered if there was ever a temptation to indulge in those Zep style solos? “It was a conscious decision to keep the songs bitesize and with our live shows we can do whatever we want. We probably will experiment with the next record. The next one holds a lot of different stuff”.

Touring with Black Stone Cherry till June, I thoroughly recommend turning up to catch these guys. If I’m completely honest, I thought they outplayed their tour buddies. Rival Sons could well be the future of classic Rock n Roll – hardly fresh but they are refreshingly vintage.

Rival Sons – Pressure and Time