On January 29th, 2013, Rival Sons came to Seattle. Which means Jay Buchanan came to Seattle. We bought tickets a couple of months in advance, and I had to skip a class for it, which my professor was not very happy about. Exchanging emails, he said that "going to a concert was not a valid excuse for missing class." I wasn't going to try to explain how this was so much more than a concert.
We've loved Jay's music since about 2004. Tyler got a free copy of Buchanan's album "All Understood" and fell in love with it, which he then shared with me, while he was falling in love with me. :) It was like the soundtrack to our love story. Really, we listened to it all the time in his dorm room at WSU. So to us it's more than just a fantastic album; it represents that time in our lives, in music.
So since then, here & there I've made comments on Jay's Myspace (ha) or Facebook page, saying how we'd love for Buchanan to come to Seattle. We bought "All Understood Advance" when it came out, and the the "True Love" EP, and shared his music with all of our friends. One friend, Jordan, ended up moving to LA and has seen Jay perform solo several times (which I kind of hate him for).
At some point, Buchanan broke up, I think Jay played solo for a while, which we still loved (we heard songs via YouTube) and then he joined Rival Sons. We didn't even buy their first album. It wasn't the same, this was ROCK & ROLL. Not that it wasn't good music, it's amazing, but it was totally different, and definitely not my kind of genre. I was honestly disappointed when I heard he had joined the band.
But as time went on it grew on me. I think Tyler liked it from the beginning, but even he didn't really get into it. So when we heard they were coming to Seattle, we bought a couple of albums and started to get really excited.
They were going to play at the Tractor Tavern, which I hadn't heard of, but our friend Stephanie, who loved Buchanan & wanted to go, said it was a small venue. I couldn't believe that we might actually meet Jay, 8 years later. This is different than meeting a celebrity (I'd imagine), because as amazing as that may be, with a famous actor, there's 1,000s of photos online and you can watch them in a movie for 2 hours. With Jay, we had listened to 1,000s of hours of his music, but really didn't know what he was like. For example, after we met him Tyler said, "he's not as tall as I imagined." ha! When Jay posted a Facebook status the day of saying "In Seattle," I wrote something like, "You have no idea how long I've waited to see this status Jay!" Since we're "friends" I had also tagged him in some posts leading up to the show, but I wasn't sure if he noticed or not (they didn't show up on his page).
So back to January 29th:
I dismissed my anxiety about missing class, put on fake eyelashes and 4 inch heels, and was ready to meet Jay. Trying too hard? Maybe haha. We picked up Steph and met Krisi there, who we introduced to Buchanan back in college and she really liked Rival Sons too. We had to fight a little for the front row, and at one point I really thought Tyler was going to fight a guy, which is not like him. But when we told him we'd been essentially waiting for this for almost a decade he suddenly became a nice guy and we chatted about our love for Rival Sons. I brought my "nice camera" so as not to depend on crappy iPhone photos, and here's what I captured:
Tyler had an awful time, as you can see:
So yeah, we had a good time. At one point Tyler even caught a drum stick that Mike threw into the crowd (which he had to fight for). We had brought along the original "All Understood" Buchanan album, and not knowing whether or not they would come out after the show, Tyler handed it to Jay while he was on stag when they had just a few songs left. Looking back, that was a little weird to have him sign it on stage, but we couldn't chance it! When he grabbed it he said, "wow." He signed it quick and went back to rocking for a few more songs. And we said to each other, "he said wow!" ha ha. I was so happy that Krisi asked to take a picture of me with it:
Of course, they did come out after the show, and were rushed by a bunch of big tattooed Rival Sons fans. We patiently waited, and when it was our turn he immediately hugged all three of us (Krisi had left by then). I think at the same time, Tyler & I just gushed about how much we loved his music and how much it meant to us. We told him the whole story, and to our surprise, he said that he was there at WSU when Tyler had picked up the free CD. I said, "no, you were in Pullman?!" and he said yeah, but I'm still wondering if he was. Anyway, we talked for a while, and I think it was probably nice for him to get to talk about more than just Rival Sons. At one point he stopped us and said, "wait, I knew you guys were coming, I have something for you. I've got a copy of my unreleased solo album coming out later this year, let me go get it. But don't burn it for anyone besides the three of you, and buy it when it comes out, ok?" He left to go backstage, and I'm kind of surprised I didn't faint or something. SERIOUSLY? Your unreleased album? It's like, GOLD. We've been limited to crappy recordings on YouTube for most of his solo stuff, or a little bit on Myspace, with only "Feel Better" available to buy on iTunes. Had we just got the Buchanan CD signed and his autograph on our Rival Sons album, and the chance to talk with him for 5 minutes, we would have left delighted. Instead we were getting this album that's not even out yet? I still can't believe it.
So he came back, handed it to me, and we took a few pictures. I was totally sober, but I still was so nervous that I'm not very happy with how they turned out. But whatever, it's Jay Buchanan!
This one's ok
Then he said, "let's get closer" and this is the face I make.
So after taking up his time, we move on to the other guys in the band and chat with them, getting their autographs as well (Steph got one of the set lists for them to sign). At some point Jay went backstage, and we were about to leave, but Tyler (who was a little intoxicated) couldn't just leave, so he walked backstage to say goodbye. He came back out and finished his beer, and we were going to go, but then Jay came back out and started talking to us more! He talked about making music, and how he does it to make people feel good. He was so cool, I couldn't ever have imagined. It sounds cheesy but he just has a beautiful soul, and it shows. He mentioned how he was homeless for a while, which made us feel pretty shitty because we had burned All Understood for ALL of our friends. In fact I think we even said that in front of him. Woops. So we all got hugs again, he thanked us for the love, and we went on our way. Well first we bought tee-shirts and Steph got a CD.
So since then, especially for the rest of that week, we've had our heads in the clouds. I had a test that Thursday and it was so hard to concentrate on it! They've continued to tour through Canada and are on their way overseas soon. I'm really hoping that we can plan a trip to Cali around one of his solo shows. As fantastic as the Rival Sons are, and as amazing as it was to meet him, I don't think I'll be complete until I can hear "Internal Dialogue," "Three Times Colleen" or "Corpse" live. Speaking of, the album he gave us "Locust & Wild Honey & others"is fantastic. We already knew quite a few of the songs, but the ones that are new are so amazing as well.
So that's the story. Yes, I'm obsessed. I'm glad when he signed our stuff he didn't write, "you guys are crazy!" That night was surreal. We couldn't have asked for more. Well I guess he could have played us some solo stuff backstage afterwards...
