Rival Sons’ Facebook page notes the band’s interests include juicing, karate and skydiving. A strong trio of activities, indeed, for what might be one of Long Beach, Calif.’s greatest pop music outfits — impressive when you consider the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Snoop Dog, Sublime, The Mars Volta and War all hail from the same city. On the geography theme, can we start calling Rival Sons one of ours? The band has worked with renowned Nashville-based producer Dave Cobb on its past four albums, and in February they signed with Low Country Sound, an Elektra imprint that Cobb oversees. Rivals Sons last released an album (the underrated Hollow Bones) in June 2016, and there has been no official announcement as to the date this year that the next effort (with Cobb running the show at Music Row’s historic RCA Studio A, no less) will be released. Still, we must hope the band will offer a taste of the new music when it shakes the walls of 3rd & Lindsley on Saturday. Nowadays, it’s not easy finding huge success with an electric-guitar-driven hard rock sound rooted in the blues and offering the sweet scent of gospel and soul. Still, Rival Sons forge ahead, undeterred. And to that we say to the band, “Keep on swinging.” Psych rocker Welles will open. WILLIAM WILLIAMS
Rival Sons
