Draft:Jay Buchanan

Jay Buchanan is the singer of the rock and roll band Rival Sons.

Early Life
Jay Buchanan was born on July 6, 1975 in California. According to Buchanan, he was already born into a family of musicians. The genres Buchanan listened to as a young child were blues, folk, funk, and soul. He believes this influenced his style of writing and singing.

Buchanan became interested in Red Road after learning of his Native American ancestry. He stated "I had to get lost to find my way back to it." after questioning his beliefs as a young man. Some lyrics by Buchanan, particularly on the 2012 album Head Down, reference his knowledge and interest in United States history, and the taking of Native American land. However, Buchanan stated in a Quietus interview in 2012 that, "not at all" is Manifest Destiny about his spiritual identity. "I love singing it and I love other people's songs but that's all these things are."

Musical Career
Prior to Rival Sons, Buchanan performed as a soloist. He released a solo album called "Violence" in 1999, including tracks like "Satan Is A Woman", "Paralyzed", and "The Sun Burns My Eyes". He managed to convince Todd Sanders (bassist) and Chris Powell (drummer). Buchanan had worked with Powell before in a few Inland Empire bands. A few years later, Buchanan came across the guitarist Ty Stewart, and formed his eponymous band "Buchanan" with Sanders, Powell, and Stewart. They released an album in 2004 called "All Understood" with some rerecorded tracks and new ones like "Three Times Colleen". This band later broke up, with the musicians going their own ways and Powell continuing to work as a session drummer. Later, Buchanan's future band-mates Scott Holiday and Mike Miley became aware of him through MySpace in 2008, and requested to work with him. Holiday already had a band with Miley, Robin Everhart (bassist), and Todd Flowers (singer), called The Black Summer Crush. All of the tracks on "Before the Fire" had already been recorded with Flowers for the vocals, and a different version of "Lucky Girl" can be found on YouTube with a music video as well. Once Thomas Flowers left the band to focus on Oleander, Jay Buchanan replaced him as the singer. Buchanan rerecorded the vocals for all the songs on the album, and those are the same versions we know today

Earlier Rival Sons lyrics by Buchanan explored topics of relationships, conflict, and general life struggles, not necessarily personal to Buchanan.

Many life struggle songs include Get Mine, Save Me, White Noise, The Heist, Good Things, among many others.

2011-2018
The 2011 song Young Love is in reference to a girlfriend's father that would not approve of Buchanan, not matter what he did.

After Pressure & Time, Buchanan wrote some lyrics with historical references. These include Manifest Destiny, from Head Down (2012), as well as Belle Starr (2014), about the "Great Western Valkyrie" rebel and criminal on the run in the west.

Some lyrics on the 2016 album, Hollow Bones, may be viewed as political, which somewhat contrasted previous lyrics, such as on Hollow Bones or Baby Boy.

2019-2020
Buchanan mentioned in a 2019 Polish interview that there is no reason for a public figure, especially a musician, to hide their beliefs. If he loses a few fans, so be it.

Feral Roots marked a new age of the Rival Sons, departing from Earache Records, and signing with Atlantic Records, which proved to be a good choice.

Buchanan says he does not regret his time with Earache, and values the bands time with them.

Lyrics on the 2019 album seemed to be more abstract, although the singles like Do You Worst and Too Bad explored the common themes from before.

2020-present
The pandemic hitting the United States in 2020 had a great impact on the style of Buchanan, as mentioned in track by track video in 2023. Buchanan states he was quite in shock when his wife requested that he return home, after just getting off of a plane in California. The time off from touring and long time spend on the Darkfighter/Lightbringer duo resulted in far more personal lyrics for Buchanan then before. In 2023, he stated "I know our fans hate to hear it, but I write for me." Nobody Wants To Die was about Buchanan's peculiar funeral job that changed the way he thought about death. Darkside is about a good friend lost due to addiction. Before the Fire is about how a huge event can change the way one thinks.

In addition to the lyrically changes by 2023, Buchanan also seemed to begin exploring wide note ranges, timbres, and amplitudes. Tracks like Mirrors, Darkfighter, or Sweet Life reach higher decibel amplitudes then ever before, with the exception of Secret (2014).

Live
According to Buchanan, playing live is one of his favorite things to do. He, with the band, chooses the setlists based partially on what the fans want to hear, and what they want to play.

Buchanan is not a fan of song requests, typically ignoring them or being confused by them. For example, in a 2023 interview, a British interviewer requested Wild Animal, with the result of a confused Buchanan. Shouts for songs that will be played often result in "maybe we'll have that in store for tonight".

Unlike other artists and bands, Buchanan and the band often dust off older tracks at random.

For difficult screams or high-frequency tones, Buchanan sometimes eases into the note by placing the microphone further away and bringing it in.

Until the Darkfighter tour, Buchanan mostly only sang, and sometimes used a tambourine.

Shooting Stars (2019), has historically been a Jay-solo track, in which he also plays the guitar.

Beginning in 2023, Buchanan also played guitar on Darkfighter and Lightbringer tracks, as an accompaniment to Holiday.

In the absence of a keyboardist, Buchanan sometimes used a horizontal strummer for tracks like Guillotine or Horses Breath.

Honors
Buchanan was nominated for a Grammy for the performance of Too Bad in 2019.

On January 4, 2020, Buchanan had the honor of singing the National Anthem at the New England Patriots vs. Tennessee Titans playoff game.