You can feel it before you even hear a note. That shift. No polish. Just amps humming in a small room. Sounds like that’s where Rival Sons might be heading next.
Frontman Jay Buchanan was recently interviewed on the U.K.’s The Sound Lab and says the next record is already taking shape, at least partially. Songs exist. Ideas are there. But nothing’s locked until the band gets face-to-face.
“We’ve written some music, but once we’re in the room, that energy takes over,” he explains. “That’s what really shapes it. When we’re together, it becomes something bigger… and that’s going to guide where this record goes.”
And after pushing themselves hard across 2023’s Darkfighter and Lightbringer, Buchanan sounds ready to pivot.
“I’m proud of those records… we stretched creatively,” he says. “But I feel a pull back to something more immediate. A small club, sweaty, high-energy sound. I want some of that back.”
That instinct gets even clearer when he talks about what’s been on his mind lately:
“I just want to make a black T-shirt record. Something rough, unrefined, right to the bone… like The Black Crowes’ The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion. That kind of raw.”
“It’s a collaboration,” Buchanan says. “So we’ll see where it lands. We used to write everything on the floor… which is panic-inducing. Now we come in with material, take our time, and still leave space to create in the studio.”
Recording was supposed to be underway already. Instead, Buchanan is at home after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2025.
“I’m gonna take care of my wife and get her through this,” he says. “That’s where I belong right now.”
The timeline has shifted. The priority hasn’t.
“Hopefully we can get the record out this year… but it’s a little up in the air right now. We’re learning the ropes in real time.”
When the band does return to the studio, longtime collaborator Dave Cobb is likely back in the fold.
“I love working with Dave… we’ve made nine records together,” Buchanan says. “He’s so damn good at what he does. He’s like that when we’re making records. But who we are as a band goes beyond that. The live show, the ethos… that’s bigger than the studio.”
Clearly Rival Sons isn’t chasing a sound. They’re circling back to a familiar feeling.
So when they finally step back into that room… amps up, sweat on the walls… do they come out with their rawest record yet?
