Let’s tear it up.’ I remember seeing Jimmy over there, freaking out.” The studio audience responded with a standing ovation. “But by the time we got onstage, I wasn’t thinking about playing to millions of people,” Rateliff says. During the taping, the host “kept putting the record on his desk,” the singer recalls, “cutting off his guests: ‘You gotta check this out.'” Backstage, getting his makeup, Rateliff worried about living up to Fallon’s enthusiasm. On August 5th, 2015, Rateliff and the Night Sweats played “S.O.B.” on The Tonight Show – two weeks before their debut album, including that song, was released. “That was,” Fallon says, “the last thing that sold me: ‘This has to be on television.'” At one point, the singer, a barrel-chested man with a thick brown beard, does a nimble James Brown-like swivel on the tips of his shoes. He belts the chorus – “Son of a bitch, gimme a drink!” – like an enraged Van Morrison armed with a wall of horns, atop a Ray Charles-style charge. That clip, still on YouTube, was shot on an iPhone from the side of the stage in November 2013 at one of Rateliff’s early gigs with the Night Sweats. Nevertheless, he watched the video: a live performance of an explosive R&B song called “S.O.B.,” short for “Son of a Bitch.” Fallon’s immediate reaction: “This dude is insane. “Everybody has an idea of how to make the show better, who I should have on,” Fallon says, laughing. “He should be on the show.” There was a link to a YouTube clip by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, an eight-piece band unknown outside Denver. That's why Tearing at the Seams works, even if it doesn't have a song as undeniable as "S.O.B.": listening to it, it's evident that Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats are in it for the long haul.One day in the summer of 2015, Jimmy Fallon, the host of The Tonight Show, received an e-mail from a close friend, Corbin Day. At times, he can push his influences a little hard - "Hey Mama" is essentially a mash note to Van Morrison - but the impressive thing about Tearing at the Seams is how he and his band seem to be synthesizing their clear influences into their own voice. Swift occasionally gives the record a bit of a high-gloss sheen - "You Worry Me" features echoing guitars that wouldn't be out of place on a new wave record - but he usually shines a light on the hard-working band, who are there to support Rateliff. The Night Sweats know how to re-create classic soul sounds - they're very heavily indebted to Stax and Muscle Shoals - but they can also slyly update the sounds, a tendency Richard Swift accentuates with his smooth, seamless production. Often, the vibe trumps the songs, which is actually not much of a problem. It's filled with high-octane grooves and gritty vamps, punctuated by the occasional moment of acoustic reflection. Released two and years after their debut, Tearing at the Seams feels very much like a record worked out on the road. He scored a hit - "S.O.B." climbed up the rock charts and stayed there - and the group toured hard, eventually finding the time to write and record material for a second album. Who can blame Nathaniel Rateliff for not wanting to mess with success? After chipping away as a singer/songwriter, he decided to make himself into a 21st century answer to Van Morrison for the 2015 album where he unveiled his soul revue, the Night Sweats. Photographers: Rett Rogers Richard Swift. Recording information: National Freedom, Cottage Grove, OR The Desert, New Mexico. Personnel: Nathaniel Rateliff (vocals, guitar, piano, percussion, background vocals) Luke Mossman (guitar, background vocals) Andreas Wild (clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, background vocals) Jeff Dazey (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, congas) Scott Frock (trumpet, flugelhorn) Patrick Meese (piano, keyboards, drums, congas, percussion, background vocals) Richard Swift (piano, keyboards, background vocals) Mark Shusterman (Wurlitzer organ, background vocals) Joseph Pope III (bass guitar, background vocals) Holly Laessig, Jess Wolfe (background vocals).
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