The early bird catches the worm

Rival Sons rockin’ London

(Para ler este post em Português: O pássaro madrugador é o que come a minhoca)

April 09th, 2013. Wow, for me this was not just ‘one more rock’n’roll night’ – this was the night I went to see Rival Sons playing live!! For those who have never heard about them, Rival Sons is a band from Long Beach, California, and although they count with less than 5 years of existence they have already attracted a lot of attention from critics and audiences, and they have even been quoted as ‘the new Led Zeppelin’. In order to verify if there was some exaggeration in this statement I decided to check out the band personally… What a tough life…!! 😛

As usual… I arrived the venue 5min before the doors opened, got my double scotch as soon as I entered the hall, and went to the front of the stage. I got a spot in the front line, holding the fence that separates the stage from the audience – the early bird catches the worm!

The first opening band was The Graveltones, and OMG what a devastating surprise!!! The band consists of only two guys: Jimmy O who is the vocalist and guitar player and Mikey Sorbello, the drummer. And that’s it. But from the second they entered the stage to the moment they left it was totally ravishing, with Jimmy slipping on the stage like a freaking crazy, gushing personality. They’re noisy, raw and straight. Remarkable.

The 2nd opening band was Ulysses. I understand that after such an electrifying act as the one performed by The Graveltones  it’s not an easy job to stand out to the public. But these guys started so slowly and dejected that the audience began to get dismayed. I could see that they’re good musicians, but apparently they weren’t feeling comfortable on stage… Thankfully they recovered during the act and their two last songs were a little more captivating and rousing. As Scott Holiday (guitar player of Rival Sons) explained to me later that night, this was their first time opening for Rival Sons – so maybe they got scared about playing in a sold-out gig… (Also in my opinion Ulysses is not a good name for a band. It was really hard to find information about these guys on the web… too many personalities/ bands with the same name!).

And then… Finally… the moment I was waiting for… They entered the stage…

Rival Sons concert was smashing. Jay Buchanan (the vocalist) gazes the open space while he sings, like if he was begging the skies for salvation, a fallen angel longing to be rescued…  Both his voice and style are impressive. Definitely there is something different about him… And he dances in such a sexy way… Scott Holiday is also very stylish and has an interesting appearance. His riffs are creative and expressive with a ton of feeling that we rarely hear nowadays. If you are into Led Zeppelin, Black Stone Cherry, The Black Crowes, chances are great that you gonna like these guys, look for them!

After the gig I met Jay and Scott and talked to them briefly. They said they’d love to play in Brazil but ‘it’s complicated… And it’ll take some time‘.  Scott had styled his mustache to the pirate mode and was carrying a few vinyl records. I asked him if he was a collector and he answered that the records were part of a deal with one of the opening bands: they have to bring a gift to them for each gig. He mentioned that once there was another band which had to bring fresh berry pies… hahaha this was crafty!

I told Jay I was very happy to meet them cause I believe that in a few years they will become so famous that probably I’ll never have this opportunity again. He just said: ‘you never know…‘ – and he spoke that in a mystical way…. Then he stared at me as if he was trying to find something nice to say about that poor fat girl in front of him (that’s me, cause I was wearing a leather waistcoat, a fluffy feather black coat over it and a wood scarf on top – take a look at my pic and you’ll see!!! haha), I felt he was kind of sorrow for me and said ‘you have the most beautiful brown eyes I’ve ever seen‘. What a pleasant liar! haha I truly appreciated that!

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