LOS ANGELES, CA- I’ve been following Rival Sons since 2009, when Before the Fire introduced me to a band that sounded like it had somehow discovered a direct line back to the guts of rock and roll without simply trying to recreate the past.
And through all those years, one thing has remained remarkably consistent: Scott Holiday can absolutely rip.
I’ve seen Rival Sons live a handful of times, and there is practically a guaranteed moment at every show when I’ll turn to whichever friend I’m jamming with and say some variation of, “Dude, did you hear that guitar lick?”
If you know, you know.
And honestly, the whole Scott Holiday package has always been pretty unmistakable. The hats, the suits, that glorious pointy handlebar mustache and, most importantly, a guitar tone that can practically peel the paint off the walls. You see that silhouette walk onto a stage with a guitar in his hands, and you know somebody is about to make some noise.
Holiday has always been one of those guitarists for me. He doesn’t need to turn every song into a showcase to make his presence felt. There is a thickness to his tone and a swagger to his playing that immediately announces itself. He can get psychedelic, bluesy and downright nasty with it, but underneath everything is that pure, classic rock and roll sensibility that has been such an important part of the Rival Sons sound.
Which makes it a little surprising that it has taken this long for Holiday to make a record entirely his own.
That changes September 25 with Topology, the debut album from his solo project HOL1D4Y. Recorded and self-produced at his home studio, the nine-track record gives Holiday creative control over a musical world that expands beyond what we’ve come to expect from Rival Sons. Michael Miley, Holiday’s longtime Rival Sons bandmate, plays drums throughout the album, while Jesse Nason contributes synthesizers. Holiday handles guitar, bass and, for the first time on his own recordings, lead vocals.
“Autonomatic,” the second single from Topology, is my first real experience digging into Holiday’s solo repertoire.
And by God, it rocks pretty damn good.
The title is Holiday’s own combination of “autonomy” and “automatic,” and the song considers what might happen as our relationship with machines moves beyond simply using them as tools. Holiday’s premise is that if artificial intelligence eventually becomes capable of genuinely thinking and making decisions for itself, perhaps the desire for autonomy becomes inevitable.
That idea comes through in lyrics that are deliberately fragmented and economical. Holiday writes about a “fabricated life,” displacement, replacement and machines borrowing color, tracing lines and lifting melody from life. Rather than spelling out some grand warning about artificial intelligence, the words feel like flashes of observation as the boundary between human creation and machine imitation gets progressively harder to locate.
But I’m not going to pretend that the lyrics were the first thing that grabbed me.
It’s the guitar.
Good Lord, it’s the guitar.
There is plenty happening around it. Miley provides the kind of deep-pocketed rhythmic foundation you’d expect from someone who has spent years locking in with Holiday, while Nason’s synth work gives HOL1D4Y a more psychedelic and progressive atmosphere. That’s apparently going to be an important part of Topology, which Holiday has built around fuzz-soaked guitars, vintage synthesizers, shifting arrangements and an exploratory spirit indebted in part to ’70s progressive music.
Still, when Holiday lets that guitar loose on “Autonomatic,” I’m right back in that familiar place.
Dude, did you hear that lick?
And this time, hearing him play with that kind of fire carries a little more weight.
While Topology was taking shape, Holiday was struck by a car while riding his bicycle home after an evening with friends. He has no memory of the collision. The crash left him with six broken ribs, a shoulder injury and a head injury, followed by months of recovery. Unable to physically work the way he had before the accident, Holiday continued developing the unfinished compositions in his head. Some remained instrumental, while others began suggesting stories and lyrics to him. That process ultimately pushed Holiday into another first: becoming the singer on his own songs.
Knowing that history makes me especially thankful to hear Holiday shredding as hard as ever on “Autonomatic.”
There is something reassuring about hearing that unmistakable attack still intact. After following his playing for nearly two decades, I don’t necessarily need Holiday to reinvent himself as a guitarist. I’m much more interested in hearing what happens when that guitar is placed inside a musical universe where he gets to make all the rules.
He still plugs in.
He still turns it up.
And he still plays the hell out of that guitar.
For someone who has been waiting since Before the Fire for those Scott Holiday moments, that’s more than enough reason for me to see where HOL1D4Y goes next.
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