Rival Sons have announced their long-awaited return to the UK & EUROPE this autumn taking their two forthcoming new albums, DARKFIGHTER and LIGHTBRINGER on the road, across Europe for a 30-date run.
DARKFIGHTER, is set to arrive worldwide June 2nd 2023 and is available for pre-order / pre-save now [album art / track-listing below].
The 2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated band, known for their electrifying, well-honed live shows, will be kicking the tour off in Camden, London at the Roundhouse on Friday 13th October, just across the road from where they played their first ever European show, 12 years ago. The tour then runs through the UK, including a date at the infamous Barrowlands in Glasgow, then continuing with multiple dates in France, Germany, Poland, and Scandinavia.
Scott Holiday (guitarist) comments: “Dear friends on the other side of the pond, DARKFIGHTER is coming for you! AND LIGHTBRINGER is coming for you too!
We’re finally able to come back to you and bring you NEW music! Music that has been firmly situated in our hearts. Nothing makes me happier than to think about experiencing these albums together and making them into something entirely new and different every night. Let’s make something symbiotic, alive, that we’ll want to remember forever!”
The tour dates will go on public sale here on Friday 14th April and will be accompanied by Meet & Greets where possible (available through the Rival Sons app https://www.rivalsonsapp.com/ ) With pre-sale available Thursday 13th April.
Full UK/ European tour dates below.
Bird In The Hand
Last week, Rival Sons released the third visual instalment in their narrative series of videos that have accompanied new music from the forthcoming DARKFIGHTER album. The series tells the story of a double-cross and a heist gone wrong and stars the band themselves as a gang of crooks. It’s a caper that results in explosive consequences.
Jay Buchanan as Preacher throws dynamite verse in the Nobody Wants To Die video, the first single from DARKFIGHTER, from their own vintage cars; (Scott’s own 1956 Pontiac Chieftain and Jay’s 1982 Mercedes 300SD) while stunt-driving across the California dessert. In the latest video for new hit single Bird In The Hand the explosive consequences are contextualised with the video adding another vignette to the trilogy.
With a large dose of humour and a devil-may-care attitude Bird In The Hand, directed by Kurt Kubicek, and written by Jay Buchanan and Scott Holiday, is a prequel for the deadly single, “Nobody Wants To Die“ (dir. Eli Sokhn) and “Rapture“ (dir. Kurt Kubicek), both streaming now at the official Rival Sons YouTube channel HERE.
Jay Buchanan comments: “It’s been a great time writing and producing these videos along with great directors and crew. With video production we’re really at that sweet spot where we don’t know the rules so we’re not afraid of breaking them. We’ll see where it goes from here.”
“Nobody Wants To Die” was hailed by Rolling Stone as “hard-charging,” adding “The video has Kill Bill grindhouse vibes for days and is a literal blast.” “It would be cliché to say it’s been worth the wait,” wrote Guitar World, “but the phrase applies: ‘Nobody Wants to Die’ has enough high-gain riffage and classic rock fretboard throwdowns to more than make up for Rival Sons’ absence.“
Rival Sons and The Smashing Pumpkins
Rival Sons forthcoming new album DARKFIGHTER will be released June 2nd via Elektra/Low Country Sound (Parlophone in UK/Warner across Europe). Rival Sons will mark the arrival of DARKFIGHTER with a truly epic live schedule, embarking on their own extensive North American headline run, “The DARKFIGHTER Tour,” beginning May 11 at Oklahoma City, OK’s Diamond Ballroom and then traveling through mid-June. Special guests throughout include The Black Angels and The Record Company, with Starcrawler also appearing on select dates.
The band will then play a special guest run on Smashing Pumpkins’ “The World Is a Vampire” Summer 2023 North American Tour, also featuring Stone Temple Pilots and Interpol, getting underway August 1 at Salt Lake City, UT’s USANA Amphitheatre and then continuing through early September. Tickets for all announced dates are on sale now. For compete details and ticket information, please visit www.rivalsons.com.
DARKFIGHTER and LIGHTBRINGER
DARKFIGHTER (out June 2nd) will be accompanied by companion volume, LIGHTBRINGER, arriving later this year. Both produced by long-time collaborator and 8x GRAMMY® Award-winner Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell). The two new LPs marks the first new music from Rival Sons in more than four years, following 2019’s critically acclaimed, GRAMMY® Award-nominated sixth studio album, FERAL ROOTS.
“In comparison to our previous records, we certainly took our time both writing and recording this collection,” says Rival Sons vocalist Jay Buchanan. “When we set out, the intention was mostly to dig as deep as possible. Even in the beginning before the body had formed, we agreed to throw the map away and chop our way through the woods to make a new path.
Then lockdown hit and it felt like the whole damn country decided to throw the map away too. For myself, 2022 was like an eight-stage rocket of life changing events, so every time I thought I was finished writing, a new bull would come tearing through the clothesline and I’d have to illustrate it in some way.
By the end, there were really two different sides to the same story being told. On one side, you’re fighting the darkness and, on the other, you’re bringing your own light to where there is none. One side in a corner, on the ropes, and the other advancing, cleaning the ring. Without an intermission, a refractory period, the collection would be too big a bite, so splitting it in two was the only way to do it.
Rival Sons play rock ‘n’ roll in its purest form without apology or pretence. Instead, they simply plug in, turn up, and rip on a path of their own. Along the way, they’ve architected a critically acclaimed catalogue, including PRESSURE & TIME (2011), HEAD DOWN (2012), GREAT WESTERN VALKYRIE (2014), HOLLOW BONES (2016), and FERAL ROOTS (2019).
Highlighted by the chart-topping lead single, “Do Your Worst,” the latter album stands tall as a creative and critical high watermark for Rival Sons, scoring a GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Rock Album,” with the standout track, “Too Bad” receiving a nod in the “Best Rock Performance” category. In addition, the album’s lead single, “Do Your Worst,” proved the band’s biggest hit to date, ascending to #1 at Rock radio outlets nationwide while tallying north of 60M streams and counting.
Hailed as an electrifying, well-honed live act, Rival Sons have played countless headline shows, shared stages with everyone from Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, and AC/DC to Guns N’ Roses and Lenny Kravitz and made high-profile late-night TV appearances including CBS’ The Late Late Show with James Corden. In 2021, the band launched their own label, Sacred Tongue Recordings distributed by Thirty Tigers.
That same year saw Rival Sons celebrate the 10th anniversary of 2011’s PRESSURE AND TIME, by performing the landmark LP live in its entirety for the first time ever on the sold out “Pressure and Time Tour.” The band also presented a very special two-night livestream event, Pair Of Aces, which saw them performing 2009’s debut album, BEFORE THE FIRE, and 2010’s self-titled RIVAL SONS EP in their entirety live from the historic Catalina Casino on Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California.
Rival Sons is: Jay Buchanan (vocals, harmonica, rhythm guitar), Scott Holiday (lead guitar), Mike Miley (drums), and Dave Beste (bass).
Tracklist:
Mirrors
Nobody Wants To Die
Bird In The Hand
Bright Light
Rapture
Guillotine
Horses Breath
Darkside
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