When Rival Sons released their fourth album, 2014’s Great Western Valkyrie, they had navigated past a crossroads as a group. Founding bassist Robin Everhart left the ranks the prior year, citing a need to get away from the “road warrior” lifestyle.
The California hard rockers decided to carry on and though singer Jay Buchanan admits there were feelings of uncertainty, they ultimately figured it out. “[Robin’s departure] caused us to look at it and go, “We’re going to keep going, but we’re going to change a little bit now,” he tells UCR. “I think we were really swinging for the fences to try and push ourselves in a new direction.”
Road work with Aerosmith, Deep Purple — and a stint as the sole opener on Black Sabbath’s final tour helped to strengthen the band’s resolve. A decade later, they’re heading out with Clutch and Fu Manchu for the Two Headed Beast tour, which begins tonight (Sept. 5) in Brooklyn, New York.
Buchanan joined Ultimate Classic Rock Nights host Matt Wardlaw to discuss the legacy of Great Western Valkyrie and more.
The band is marking the 10th anniversary of its fourth studio album, Great Western Valkyrie. How do you look back on that record now?
It’s interesting, because you don’t really tend to look back. But when you have an anniversary like this, it places it ten years behind you. All of these songs, they’re part of our dialogue. They’re part of our collection, when we’re making set lists. Most of these songs from the Great Western Valkyrie record, they’re very much part of the now that we’re living. We have nine records, right? So when we’re putting our set lists together, a lot of these songs from [that record] or any of the other albums too, they’re part of the current dialogue. Like, they never go, “Oh, that was way back when.” You know, a song’s got two different lives. It’s got the life that it lived very briefly when it was written and recorded. That’s just this tiny little flashpoint on its timeline. And then the real life is how that song lives on the road, night after night — and the legs that it grows. All of the improvisation and what it incites on a nightly basis.
So all of those songs have been living with us and that’s been part of my conversation every night. Looking back is introspection. But it’s great to look back and think about recording that record and where we were as a band. Our founding bass player, Robin Everhart, had just quit and we had to figure out what we were going to do. We got our buddy Dave Beste on bass, who is still in the band. But that was [Dave’s] first album and we weren’t exactly sure [how things were going to work out]. You know, losing a member when you’re a four-piece, especially a bass player and musician as formidable as Robin is, it caused us to look at it and go, “We’re going to keep going, but we’re going to change a little bit now.” Because when 25% of the band is fresh blood, I think we were really swinging for the fences to try and push ourselves in a new direction. I really think we achieved that. Great Western Valkyrie, I think, is a really healthy turning point for the band.
Listen to Rival Sons’ ‘Where I’ve Been’
I was revisiting the album today and “Where I’ve Been” is still stunning. What’s the history behind that song?
I had started that one as a country waltz that was a lot quicker. But it stuck with me for a couple of years. It was just the idea, “How could you love me/ When you know where I’ve been.” People that live by the code of forgiveness, they receive that gift in return. The gift of forgiveness when they dole it out, because they’re making it clear that they refuse to carry the bad blood. They refuse to carry the remnants of the wound or the trauma of an action. So there’s the forgiven and the forgiving. It’s equal parts. It’s a mutually beneficial thing, you know? I think that people can tend to think that they can’t dole out forgiveness. They can’t participate in that because they’re so wounded by something — or they’re just maybe filled with judgment and indignation.
But when you refuse to forgive people for whatever it is that they had to go through or whatever it is that they did…..what do they say, anger, it poisons the vessel. As much as you can let go of it, you’ve got to let go of it. So I’d held onto that for a little bit. While we were in the studio, I knew I wanted to [record] a ballad. I’d grabbed our producer, Dave Cobb’s 1976 Martin 00-18C. It’s like a gut-string [guitar], it’s nice and beat-up. I’ve written a lot of songs on that guitar. I wrote “Jordan” on that guitar and I’ve written quite a few [other ones]. I just picked that guitar up and started writing it and as soon as I had the chorus and the verse together, I brought it to Scott [Holiday] and said, “What do you think about this?” He said, “Hey, I’ve got this turnaround.” That really beautiful almost-music box motif that the song starts with, it just worked perfectly. I love the way that song turned out.
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There were two new Rival Sons albums last year, Darkfighter and Lightbringer. It must have been Interesting figuring out how to present those records.
The two albums began as one collection. It was a large undertaking for us, just to make those records. It was written and recorded through the pandemic and 2022 and we finally finished it. It was close to two years in the making and we’d never intended for it to be that long. With the lockdown and everything, we had that time. We dug really, really deep and by the time all of the dust was settling, we had entrenched ourselves so deeply that we couldn’t just exit. We couldn’t just jump off and be like, “Okay, the album is done.” It was more like, we got down in the mine deep enough where we wanted to mine all of the gold that was down there. We ended up making it a larger collection.
When we finished, the decision was pretty easy. Scott and I were discussing it and realized, “This is a larger collection.” We didn’t want to make a bloated album that was too terribly indulgent and long. It would have been an hour and a half or whatever. That’s just so taxing and so what we decided to do was to partition it into two records and release [them both] in one year. In hindsight, that’s also very bloated and self-indulgent. [Laughs] But releasing those two records, I think that really, they’re just companions. They’re two installments to one story and I think it’s some of the best work that we’ve done, like, far and above. It’s the most ambitious collection so far.
Listen to Rival Sons’ ‘Darkfighter’
What are some of the choice memories you have from touring with Aerosmith?
I’m friends with Brad [Whitford] and I’ve hung out with him quite a few times as well as his sons — including Graham. Graham’s band, Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown, that’s how I know Brad. He’s just a great dude. But going out on the road and playing shows with Aerosmith, I can’t get too far into it, but I remember the first time when I met Steven [Tyler]. Steven has one of the most iconic rock voices, period. I’m not talking about all of the reality television over the last 10 years or whatever. It’s not that. It’s just the man and his voice. It’s his voice that’s unmistakable. For me, when I was a little kid, I’d play in coffeeshops and things like hat. I’d play “Dream On,’ because it’s just a great song that you can sit and play on an acoustic guitar and everybody loves that song. I’d do that, being 14 and 15 years old.
Finally, the first time when we played with them, I think it was in Copenhagen, Denmark. Steven pulled me aside and talked to me for a couple of minutes. I don’t want to repeat what he said to me, because I don’t think it would be in good taste, but he gave me some of the highest praise I’ve ever received from anyone, about what I do artistically. It just melted me. For him to pull me aside and take the time and talk to me in this fashion, I’ll never forget it, the things that he said to me. That was so surreal to have that conversation with him. Later that night, after we had opened for them, I went out into the pit, right on the side of the big catwalk and everything that they had.
I was out there past security where their touring photographer, Zack Whitford was out there shooting. He was like, “Hey man, come out here.” So I was just below them and Steven was at the piano. They’re playing “Dream On” and I was just transported. I’d had that heavy conversation with Steven like three hours before then. Then, I went on stage and played to their audience and now here I am 10 feet from these guys. He’s singing the song that I played when I was a kid. It was so cathartic. I can speak to this. If he doesn’t feel comfortable singing and touring anymore, great. You’ve already given enough. Whatever comes now is one thing, but quality of life comes first. It’s tough to imagine not hearing Steven Tyler sing again, but you never know what the future holds. People do heal up and things change. But even if Aerosmith never did play [again], the legacy stands.
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