In the run-up to the release of Rival Sons new record DARKFIGHTER (out next Friday June 2nd), Jay Buchanan and Scott Holiday from Rival Sons stopped by The Crypt Studio in North London and filmed a cover of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" from the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is a special choice for Jay Buchanan, he states: “This Dylan track was one my Pops would sing in the living room when I was really young. He’s real shy and didn’t sing a lot, so whenever he did it stuck with me. It’s strange to think that as a kid, through song, you grow up very aware of heartbreak long before you’ll ever experience it.”
Speaking about the imminent release of new album DARKFIGHTER Scott Holiday states: “We could not be more excited to finally release this record and deliver you DARKFIGHTER, the first of our two releases coming this year. For a band who have been used to putting out albums every other year, it’s been a long wait, but we promise you it will be worth it”
The band have been playing new material on the road in the States where they are on an extensive North America DARKFIGHTER tour.
DARKFIGHTER 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.
Expanding on the two-album set, Buchanan commented, “In comparison to our previous records, we certainly took our time both writing and recording this collection, 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.”
Buchanan continues “For myself, 2022 was like an eight-stage rocket of life changing events. 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 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.”
DARKFIGHTER consists of eight tracks of new material. The tracklist is below.
Mirrors
Nobody Wants to Die
Bird in the Hand
Bright Light
Rapture
Guillotine
Horses Breath
Darkside
Rival Sons forthcoming new album DARKFIGHTER will be released June 2nd via Elektra/Low Country Sound (Parlophone in UK/Warner across Europe). Rival Sons are marking the arrival of DARKFIGHTER with a truly epic live schedule, embarking on their own extensive North American headline run, “The DARKFIGHTER Tour,” then 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.
The band will then kick off their UK & European DARKFIGHTER tour at The Roundhouse, London 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, with shows already sold out in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, it is sure to be an electrifying run of shows. Scott Holiday comments: “Nothing makes me happier than to think about experiencing these new records together and transforming them into something living and different every night. Let’s make something symbiotic that we’ll want to remember forever!”
Tickets for all announced dates are on sale now. For compete details and ticket information, please see below.
Rival Sons DARKFIGHTER / LIGHTBRINGER UK/EU TOUR:
October 13, 2023 - London Roundhouse, UK
October 14, 2023 - NX - Newcastle, UK
October 16, 2023 – Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom, UK
October 17, 2023 - O2 Academy - Birmingham, UK
October 18, 2023 - Manchester Academy - Manchester, UK
October 20, 2023 - Cambridge Corn Exchange - Cambridge, UK
October 21, 2023 - O2 Academy - Bristol, UK
October 22, 2023 - O2 Guildhall - Southampton, UK
October 24, 2023 - La Carrière - Nantes, France
October 25, 2023 - Le Radiant - Lyon, France
October 27, 2023 – L’Olympia - Paris, France
October 28, 2023 - Les Docks - Lausanne, Switzerland
October 29, 2023 - Alcatraz - Milan, Italy
October 31, 2023 – Gasometer - Vienna, Austria
November 1, 2023 - X-TRA - Zurich, Switzerland
November 2, 2023 - Theaterfabrik - Munich, Germany
November 4, 2023 - Lucerna Music Bar - Prague, Czech Republic
November 5, 2023 - Klub Stodola - Warsaw, Poland
November 6, 2023 - Music Club B17 - Poznan, Poland
November 8, 2023 - Huxleys - Berlin, Germany
November 9, 2023 – Melkweg Max - Amsterdam, Netherlands [SOLD OUT]
November 10, 2023 - Kantine - Cologne, Germany [SOLD OUT]
November 12, 2023 - Ancienne Belgique - Brussels, Belgium [SOLD OUT]
November 13, 2023 - Grosse Freiheit 36 - Hamburg, Germany
November 14, 2023 - The Grey Hall - Copenhagen, Denmark
November 16, 2023 – Forum Scene - Bergen, Norway
November 17, 2023 - Sentrum Scene - Oslo, Norway
November 18, 2023 - B-K - Stockholm, Sweden
November 20, 2023 - House of Culture - Helsinki, Finland
November 21, 2023 - Tampere Hall - Tampere, Finland
