December 23, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

Los Angeles Hard Rock Trio The Rift To Release New Single “Edge of Never”

Los Angeles hard rock trio The Rift will be releasing their highly anticipated new single “Edge of Never” on March 20th.  It will be premiered on Pure Grain Audio March 18th.


“Edge of Never” will mark the first of several releases for the band in 2020 with plans for a tour coming together in the summer months of 2020. The song was recorded at Validus studios in Los Angeles and produced by Scott Hallquist (Ten Foot Pole). It opens as a heavy in your face classic rock tune reminiscent of Black Sabbath and turns into a grooving progressive jam session towards its conclusion.  


Says the band, “The meaning of this song is pretty in your face. Music is like therapy for us and helps to deal with the storms life can throw at you. We wanted to make a song that really was gritty with rock and roll and chaos. ‘Edge of Never’ is very chaotic. You have this swerving guitar riff and crazy drumming. It’s intense, and it’s meant to be.”


The Rift recorded “Edge of Never” along with several other upcoming singles this past fall 2019 at Validus Recording Studios. Scott Hallquist was their producer and had some great ideas and dialed in the sound. Guitarist Aris Anagnos explains, “We had the song written musically earlier in 2019, but you know before you go into the studio you fine tune things, especially lyrically. We took 4 days I think to do all the songs at Validus, but there’s just something about hearing a song like ‘Edge of Never’ come to life through the speakers for the first time! Part of that process I think helped me finish writing the lyrics in the studio.”


Traditionally, a rift is an open space. That space can be a blank canvass of potential. Los Angeles hard rock trio The Rift lives up to its moniker! 
Aris Anagnos says, “The name is the best way to describe the band, what we do, and the experience we want portray live. We have a lot of different influences from metal to flamenco, reggae and classic rock, so we wanted the openness as a band to push those genre boundaries. Every song we shoot to make the best song no matter the style. That openness has solidified the group.”

The Rift is Aris Anagnos (vocals/guitar), Johnny Evil (bass, vocals) along with Ovais Malik (drums) – as one of Southern California’s most thrilling new rock upstarts. Since forming in 2009, the musicians have played alongside the likes of Exodus, Joan Jett, The Misfits, Motionless in White, Wage War, and many more as well as receiving nominations at the Hollywood Music Awards and Ventura County Music Awards. 2016’s full-length debut “Inventions” crystallized their hard rock hooks and generated a ton of buzz on Pure Volume, Jam in the Van, Screamer Magazine, Pure Grain Audio, and dozens of radio stations. The album also caught the attention of Grammy winning producer Brandon Friesen who worked famously with Alice in Chains and NickelBack, Papa Roach, and The Hu Band.


In 2017 The Rift released two singles “Rock Narcotic” and “Mysterious.” The band feels that with both songs they have reached a new level in song development and that they are onto something very special. “Rock Narcotic” is provocative and one can hear traces of Muse and System of a Down at times. The song is about losing yourself in the music and getting addicted to rock and roll. It has almost a reggae, flamenco vibe at times, but then hits hard with a chunky rock chorus. Aris Anagnos says it’s meant to be a tribute to the power of rock and roll. The song caught on in Los Angeles and helped propel the band to Vans Warped tour in 2018 where the band performed on several dates in the Midwest. After that they were welcomed home by 95.5 KLOS FM featuring Rock Narcotic as a part of the Next 2 Rock contest produced by Big Machine Records. The band placed as runner up at the Viper Room in the contest but kept the energy to push toward 2019. Much of 2019 was spent refining and writing their new material. 
“The Rift are an exciting and undeniably talented group of musicians, creating within the indie world exactly what their name suggests.” – StereoStickMan
Along with working on their next album, The Rift is planning a tour of the West Coast this summer. They will also be releasing 2 other singles at least this year with videos to accompany them. Everything should be out by August 2020.  


Songs will be available for purchase at:www.theriftofficial.comwww.theriftoffiicial.bandcamp.com
Streaming on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/artist/20XC0kNuHwNw2w2R0mDolP?si=HykSIWmyTK63hUF5tGu0ZQ
and Pandorahttps://www.pandora.com/artist/the-rift-rock/ARlVfgPgK6hcK9c
Socials:facebook.com/theriftmusic
instagram @theriftmusictwitter @theriftmusic