RIVAL SONS - Untamed and apolitical

31. January 2019

Rival Sons

RIVAL SONS - Ungezähmt und unpolitisch

The wild animal on the cover of their latest album "Feral Roots" is shot. Will the Rival Sons - until now hungry saviours of the retro wave - now jump through the music world with friendly little deer eyes? No, luckily not, even if Scott Holiday doesn't want the wildness of reality to spread in the world of his band. No politics!

Scott Holiday is lolling on the freshly moved double bed as we enter his hotel room. "I'm gonna lie here, okay? Come here to me," he whispers. Uh, okay. But the guitarist has no sensual ulterior motives, he is just tired because of a cancelled flight. All right, let's just talk lying down..

eclipsed: Since the first album you have been working with producer Dave Cobb. Recently you've also been signed to his label. What makes the collaboration so special is that you kept it up and even deepened it for so long instead of changing producers more often like other bands?

Scott Holiday: When we started, in my opinion, there wasn't another producer who worked like Dave. People hardly noticed it, but he pushed the band enormously. The main reason we stay loyal to him is because we like the results. We stand behind our albums, and we owe that in part to him. Besides, I'm still learning from him. If I felt I couldn't learn anything from him, I'd probably leave.

eclipsed: If you go up from Dave Cobbs Low Country Sounds in the label chain, Atlantic Records appears. There you were already signed with the band Human Lab at the beginning of the 2000s - long before Rival Sons..

Holiday: That's right. By the way, Atlantic still has the same president, Craig Kallman. So long seldom someone stays in such a position. I don't know if he's already checked that I'm back. (laughs)

eclipsed: As part of the contract you recorded an album that was never released. With "Feral Roots" do you have the feeling that you have fulfilled your mission after all?

Holiday: (laughs) Nah, I didn't have the feeling to finally have her on my wrap. To be honest, at first I found it somewhat disturbing to return. Don't get me wrong, that was a good experience back then. We were contracted for a seven-figure sum. But then the business fell apart, Napster had just happened. Everyone lost lots of money, had to restructure and fired whole floors full of people. But I don't think of this time with bitterness. In the meantime I am on the road with a band that is much better prepared for the label. And the Atlantic team is better equipped to work with the band. We are now going to join them with our sixth album and will also produce the seventh one for them. It's a whole different world, and that's a good thing. However, I would like to have my album back from that time. (laughs)

Rival Sons - Feral Roots (Official Visualizer)

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