Born Ruffians
justin | June 22nd, 2010 | No Comments »Interview by: Mikey Lipka
Photography by: Justin Tyler Close (www.justintylerclose.com)
Video by: Jeremy Power Regimbal (www.jeremypowerregimbal.com)
Welcome back to Van-City, how did the San Francisco and LA shows go? Did you get crazy?
The shows prior to Vancouver were all really great. LA and San Francisco were excellent, yes.
How did three guys from Midland, Ontario get together and grab the attention of Steve Beckett and Robert Gordan of Warp records in the UK?
Warp is a great label to be on, we’re pleased to be a part of it. Our manager Leila handed Simon from Warp a demo one night. He subsequently flew to Toronto to see us play and signed us to the label.
You guys were hyped up pretty big to play South by Southwest this year. How was it? Milestone or Migraine?
It was fun! We played it in 2008 as well, so I suppose it was just an experiment to see if it would be as much fun the second time around. Our shows were all bigger and better attended this time around, so that was nice.
People are giving you guy’s appropriate positive feedback already for your new album “Say it”. Have your influences matched up to what people compare you to now? For example one review boasts about Luke’s singing and even compares him to David Byrne of Talking Heads.
I guess we get compared to a lot of contemporary bands, which I always find to be kind of funny. I tend to chalk it up to lazy journalism. I think if you go back to our prior releases you’ll find there are threads of comparing us to whatever is the flavor of the month at the time, but as more time goes by the music just settles into what it actually is, void of comparisons or anything, so limiting and trite. I don’t think much positive comes from reading our own reviews. I never read them for other bands anyhow, as I don’t take strangers opinions on any part of life.
How much of an impact does playing on a show like “Skins” [the UK version of the OC pretty much] have on your following?
I think we gained some new fans from doing it. We didn’t know anything about the show when we were offered the spot; it hadn’t come across the ocean yet. Our English friends all said it would be a good thing to do though, so we obliged. I’m not sure how anyone got a sense of our band from the short, chopped up clip of our song that was shoved into the episode, but I have heard from fans that they discovered us through “Skins”.
What are you doing differently with the release of your new album “Say it” to combat the rapidly decreasing CD sales?
I’m not sure, this would be better asked to the label. We just focus on making the music. I think fans find the business part quite boring and self-indulgent, so I try to keep it out of interviews when it’s not necessary. I’ve been downloading music half my life so to me it’s expected that people will get the record for free. Music will persevere; the business is still making money, just not as much as in the heyday.
How does playing back home in Canada relate to other parts of the world?
It’s really a city-to-city, night-to-night kind of thing. I can’t really say one country is better or more danceable than the next. We have good shows in parts of different cities around the world, which I think is something we’re proud of.
Velcro or Shoelaces?
Laces I guess. I learned to tie them when I was 4 or 5.
Vans or Chucks?
I don’t know? I just like shoes on my feet because of broken glass, sharp rocks and big dummies that don’t look where they’re stepping.
Who’s the “stinky guy” in the band?
I didn’t know we had a particularly “stinky” guy, is that rumor or something? We’re in a van together a lot right now, which involved a myriad of smells from everyone. You just get used to it after a little while.
FOR MORE BORN RUFFIANS GO TO – http://bornruffians.com/
