The
latest notch on the hype-o-meter this year is one of Canada’s
folk-pop rockers, Born Ruffians. They yelp a bit like a whining dog
and they howl in unison over the oddest beats.
Their forthcoming single ‘Hummingbird’ is full of insect-scuttling,
rim-tapping on the drum kit while joint vocals bark ahead in jabbering
‘ohs’ and ‘heys’.
Singer and guitarist Luke LaLonde and his bass-snapping cousin Mitch
DeRosier met their drummer Steve Hamelin in high school when they were
all learning to play the trombone and listening to Puff Daddy (“he
was amazing, I still have those records”) and Weird Al Yankovic
(“he’s a parody song writer and he’s really bad”).
Originally named Mornington Drive, after Luke’s Dad’s band,
they changed their name before they got too attached to it, to Born
Ruffians.
They’ve already recorded an appearance for a forthcoming episode
of Skins and they’re set to release their debut album Red, Yellow
& Blue at the end of May. That’s a pretty hefty score for
a bunch of freshers.
Except they released an EP in 2006, so why is it that 2008 is becoming
the year for them? “Sincere is one word for it,” says Mitch,
juggling a tortilla wrap and a cup of tea. “Genuine. We keep it
simple but still try and write complex pop songs.” Or perhaps
it’s how accessible their music is for everyone.
“We’ve just tried to put out a record we would want to hear
instead of anticipating what the trend is gonna be. Luckily people caught
on,” smiles Steve.
“Obviously there are a hundred bands to watch for the year but
it’s nice to be one of those hundred.”
For their forthcoming album, which varies in old and new songs, the
band worked with Animal Collective producer, Rusty Santos, in order
to bring out a certain style within the music that he manages to draw
from all the records he produces. “The EP came out in October
2006 and we wrote ‘Hedonistic Me’ in 2005, so a song as
old as three years will be making it onto a 2008 record. It’s
a pretty big gap,” says Mitch as Luke leans back into the sofa,
happy to let Mitch and Steve do all the talking.
“He [Rusty] re-recorded the song and he did such a nice original
mix to it that it felt like a brand new song,” says Steve.
“It fits in with all the other songs on the album. It’s
his style. A lot of the effects and production techniques were Rusty’s
idea. We had demoed the album so the songs themselves didn’t really
change that much, but all the effects and quirky things on the record
is Rusty, and that’s what we wanted.”
Starting off as a rockier Strokes or White Stripes, Born Ruffians have
taken on a hillbilly tint, with lots of layered harmonies and raw drums
in the style of Mystery Jets. They now draw influences from bands such
as the Animal Collective and the Beach Boys.
“I think that’s why our music started shifting,” Steve
recalls, visibly thinking back to the first days of the band.
“Instead of listening to a streamlined genre, we started listening
to lots of different kinds of music and it started to show, obviously
through osmosis.” Their choice of pairing Pixies-esque riffs and
yelps with a sped up marching band has worked out to be a winning formula
for them, but is it just on their merits that they’re becoming
so hyped?
“I think any band today can credit the internet to boosting their
success. It’s just changed the way entirely that any band can
get popular,” says Mitch, cradling a cup of English Breakfast.
“Especially bands that don’t get played on the radio or
MTV often. Even major websites like MTV will cater more to independent
acts. It levels the playing field a bit,” states Steve, before
opening a packet of Lemsip flu tablets and asking around the table how
many he should take.
“I’ve got a bit of a cold,” he sniffs.
“The internet is almost like a big word of mouth,” Mitch
cuts in. “It’s word of mouth but on a massive scale. And
people with blogs that’s exactly the same as telling your friend
‘Hey I saw this band and they’re great’. A blog on
the internet is like saying “Hey I saw this band and they’re
great’ but ten fold.”
Since signing to Warp the band have started on some extensive touring,
visiting France and Germany for the first time, not to mention a tour
with British beat masters Hot Chip.
“Touring with Hot Chip was really fun,” beams Mitch.
“We played with them before we toured with them and that’s
how we got to know them.” But were Hot Chip fans responsive?
“The reactions can really go either way. We never got a terrible
reaction but we got some of those cold reactions…” he says
while glancing towards the table. “Just [people] waiting for Hot
Chip,” says Steve.
“But you can get that a lot when you’re playing on different
bills like that. We’re gonna be touring with Cadence Weapon too,
who’s a rapper in Canada. You just play through it. If you get
pissed off [and] you show it, it’s even worse because they’re
going to see you’re pissed off and think ‘Why are they being
babies about it? We just don’t like you’,” Steve quips.
“When you’re supporting, they didn’t come to see you
so you can’t expect them to like you. But yeah we’ve had
some bad shows, we had some ice thrown at us once,” he laughs,
despite the fact that it probably hurt at the time. “Oh, I don’t
know it hit Luke.” Then they all laugh and Luke finally sits up
with a knowing grin on his face.
“It just hurt emotionally,” he says sincerely, trying to
act serious and suppress his laughter.
For Born Ruffians, a band at the onset of success, it’s not always
as exciting as they’d like it to be, and sometimes there are doubts
over whether to throw the towel in. Luke mentions the stress of touring
getting “a little overwhelming” and Mitch jokes about, “Jared
from the Subway ads came to one of our shows.”
But Steve points out that the truly awful times are playing individual
shows in the early hours of the morning to two people, with broken equipment.
“Those are my biggest lowlights,” he states.
“We even put a hole in our gas tank on tour and were leaking gas
and that didn’t seem as bad as this one show we played in New
York at 3:30 in the morning with one microphone instead of three, no
bass amp and a half assed drum kit and no sound guy. Sometimes shows
like that, where the crowd are really crazy, you think ‘Oh wow
that was a really punk show’ but this was not that. There were
like 10 people sitting down, passing out.”
Born Ruffians will be heading back to tour the US and Canada until April,
but be sure to catch them on the festival circuit this summer.
“Actually,” says Mitch, bringing up a highlight of the tour
before leaving the comfy confines of the sofa.
“This trip over, we played Berlin and we’ve never been to
Germany, never been to Europe even, just to the UK. We showed up at
the venue and when doors opened we saw two people sitting inside and
they recognised us because they came to see us because they were super
fans almost and they knew our names and were really excited, which is
crazy for us to think about because I don’t think our record came
out in Germany,” he says, almost exhausted with excitement.
“I’ve never been there, so to see two people who were really
excited to see us and knew the songs. That’s one of my favourite
things.”
by Danielle Goldstein
