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Evoking the riffy, bluesy rock of bands like
Led Zeppelin and
the Black Crowes, California's
Rival Sons emerged in the early 2010s as hard rock classicists with a modern edge thanks to their breakout second album,
Pressure & Time. Establishing a strong collaborative bond with Nashville producer
Dave Cobb to helm each of their albums, the group enjoyed modest success at home in the U.S. while becoming perennial chart staples throughout much of Europe thanks to releases like 2012's
Head Down and 2014's
Great Western Valkyrie. With Europe still on their side, 2016's
Hollow Bones finally helped
Rival Sons gain significant traction at home, topping the Heatseekers chart and hitting 115 on the Billboard 200. They made the jump to Elektra for 2019's acclaimed
Feral Roots and were rewarded with two Grammy nominations.
Rival Sons formed in Long Beach in 2008 around the quartet of guitarist
Scott Holiday, bassist
Robin Everhart, drummer Mike Miley, and vocalist
Jay Buchanan. All were veteran musicians who had found some small measure of success with previous projects. The band established their creative relationship with producer
Dave Cobb from the very beginning, resulting in their self-released 2009 debut album,
Before the Fire. They received some exposure when their song "Tell Me Something" was used in an ad campaign for Indy car racing, and the following year, they opened for some high-profile acts, including hard rock legends
Alice Cooper and
AC/DC. In 2010
Rival Sons made the unlikely jump to extreme metal label Earache, which quickly issued a self-titled EP that the band had recorded in 2010.
This paved the way for their follow-up album,
Pressure & Time, which was again produced by
Cobb and featured artwork by rock legend Storm Thorgerson. While it made a modest impression in the U.S., the record found its way onto a handful of charts around Europe, where the band toured with
Judas Priest and
Queensrÿche before heading back Stateside to join up with
Evanescence. They stuck with the classic rock riffs and blues-influenced sound on their third record,
Head Down, which was released in 2012 to widespread critical acclaim and even greater chart success in Europe; in Scandinavia the LP hit the Top 20 in three countries, including a number six chart position in Sweden.
Rival Sons toured heavily in support, playing the Download Festival and supporting
Kiss and
Sammy Hagar.
Exhausted from years of hard touring,
Everhart bowed out in late 2013 and was replaced on bass by
Dave Beste. Heading back to Nashville,
Rival Sons teamed up with
Cobb for
Great Western Valkyrie, their fourth full-length. Released in June 2014, it became their first legitimate American success, topping Billboard's Heatseekers chart and cracking the Billboard 200 at number 125, while making a typically strong showing around Europe.
Rival Sons' ascent continued with their fifth LP,
Hollow Bones, which again featured Thorgerson's artwork on the cover. Released in June 2016, it became their biggest domestic success to date, hitting 115 on the Billboard 200 and again topping the Heatseekers chart. Along with eight originals, it included a cover version of "Black Coffee," written by
Ike & Tina Turner and immortalized by
Humble Pie. Maintaining the European stronghold, the group headed overseas to support
Deep Purple before joining
Black Sabbath as main opener for their high-profile The End Tour.
In 2018, after four increasingly successful albums on the Earache imprint,
Rival Sons announced that they'd signed a deal with
Cobb's Elektra imprint, Low Country Sound. Their first single for the label, "Do Your Worst," appeared that September. Along with the blazing "Back in the Woods," it later appeared on the band's sixth studio long-player,
Feral Roots, which was released in January 2019. Their third consecutive effort to top Billboard's Heatseekers chart, it received Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance for the single "Too Bad." In 2020, the group offered up an acoustic reworking of the
Feral Roots track "Shooting Stars." ~ Gregory Heaney