Rival Sons at The Rust Belt

Rival Sons are an American rock band formed in Long Beach, California in 2009 and also affiliated with Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Jay Buchanan, Scott Holiday (guitar), Dave Beste and Michael Miley (drums). In their most recent tour they were joined by keyboard player Jesse Nason, and Todd Ögren accompanied them on previous tours. They are signed to Atlantic Records via Dave Cobb's label Low Country Sound, an imprint of Elektra.

Hailing from Windsor, Ontario, The Blue Stones duo provide an edgy blues rock sound with accompanying alternative rock accents. The duo have been featured at Canadian Music Week; NXNE; FAM Fest; Shores of Erie Winefest and Orangeville Blues & Jazz Fest. In the last year, they've opened for acts such as The Stone Foxes, Current Swell, Justin Nozuka, Fitz and The Tantrums, Joel Plaskett and more.

Growing up in Boulder, Demi Demitro rebelled through her guitar, practicing up to nine hours a day and neglecting schoolwork to develop a playing style that is heavy but agile, theatrical but nuanced, grounded in rock history but wholly idiosyncratic. With Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Fig playing on a conjoined set, the band developed a reputation for their rip-roaring performances. Clips of the band’s live shows and DIY videos made it back to Dan Auerbach, who invited them to his studio in Nashville to produce Nightmare Daydream. “I instantly dug them,” says Auerbach. “They’re amazing live, and their videos are so creative. And they just sound so powerful. Any time you doubletrack drums on a record, it’s going to sound so heavy. Then you put that together with this baritone guitar player who is so unique, and it’s so bombastic. There’s nothing like them.” Demitro recalls writing “Charmer And The Snake” with Auerbach and recording it in the first few takes: “It was sort of a synergy moment where we all got in the room together and just started playing.” Pottersmith adds: “It’s about certain types of older guys in music scenes who think they are charming and all that but are just lizards trying to take advantage of you. They think they can manipulate you to get what they want by saying a bunch of nonsense but all the while you are aware of their true intentions and just watch as they talk themselves deep into a ditch of delusions.” Nightmare Daydream finds The Velveteers stripping down rock and roll to its most primal elements, the riff, the rhythm, the snarl, and rebuilding it in their own image. “We don’t want to sound like a band from a different time,” says Demitro. “We want to sound like a band that’s right here right now. In this very moment.”