Photo: Thanira Rates
Not even the repeated lines of his own vocal ad-libbing on ‘Torture’ rising from the euphoric Kentish Town crowd could make Jay Buchanan crack a smile. Instead, he takes a bow, holds a finger to his lips and shushes them, as if to say “not now, I'm working”.
Rival Sons do come off a bit humourless in the flesh. In fact, there likely isn't a description of Jay Buchanan’s personality put to paper without the word ‘brooding’ cropping up in it. They had probably been playing for around an hour before an unsung syllable was uttered from the stage. But for these Long Beach natives, a serious stage presence is backed up with serious talent.
It’s hard to believe that Buchanan was once hesitant to drop his guitar and embrace being a frontman as, watching him on stage today, he oozes charisma, letting the noise wash over him, eyes closed and shuffling across the stage in manner that wouldn’t be out of place at Wigan Casino circa ’75.
But the star is that voice. It’s one unmatched in the genre today, especially live, where each burst of power sees him reel backwards as if recoiling from a shotgun blast. Yet, with enviable control and the perfect amount of grit, he’s the master of combining the soft caress with sweaty soul muscle into a supreme one-two punch – a skill he exercises to maximum effect during ‘Where I've Been’. He also has his perfect axe man in Scott Holiday, whose enormous guitar sound corrals the heavy riffage and soaring solos in equal measure. Combine that with the unshakable foundation that is Mike Miley (drummer) and Dave Beste's (bass) rhythm section and you have the best hard rock band of the last decade, easy.
From the opening lines of ‘You Want To’ to the last crunch of ‘Keep on Swinging’, theirs is a show with variety, power and not a touch of filler – single-handedly proving that, despite appearances to the contrary, rock’n’roll is still in the black.
