Jun. 09, 2010 - Issue #764: Hot Summer Guide 2010

Prevue

Full speed ahead

Born Ruffians are faster than a bus doing 50 mph

Born Ruffians' bassist Mitch Derosier sounds a little breathless on the phone—while walking home from another interview, his breathlessness is compounded, he apologetically notes, by a cold that he's trying to fend off. But there's an eagerness and energy in his speech that matches Ruffians' music in youthful vibrancy, and hearing him talk seems to suggest the band comes by its spastic tendencies honestly.

"With every show we play live, no matter how hard we try, it's always faster. All of the songs speed up," Derosier says. "We feel totally normal, but if someone's recorded it we'll watch it back and go, 'Holy crap, we just played that about twice as fast as we should've.'"

That reputation, for bombastic power on stages and records, helped the Born Ruffians garner momentum-inducing acclaim and cross the continents in promoting its first album, Red Yellow & Blue. But, as it often does, all the time spent on the road proved taxing on inter-band relationships: original drummer Steven Hamelin bowed out of touring after the rigorous agenda for the RY&B tour led to a serious disintegration of communication.

Derosier and vocalist Luke Lalonde replaced Hamelin, temporarily, but eventually managed to coax Hamelin back, further beefing up their roster with guitarist Andy Lloyd. And now that that turbulent spike's leveling out into the past, it's perhaps fitting that the Born Ruffians' second album, Say It, marks a slowdown, more of a thoughtful inhalation than breathless scream, placing its songwriting emphasis more on rhythm and soul-driven groove than pure adrenaline.

Say It, Derosier notes, was written and recorded without ever being played live, which might account for the band easing off the accelerator, at least on the record: he's already seeing some tracks alter themselves as they get performed for their first crowds.

"There's definitely changes in songs," Derosier says. "Even for 'What to Say,' we recorded it having only played it live maybe once, and we were really happy with the recording. But now, playing a full tour with it, we've discovered that we've added a couple drum parts or a couple different ways we play certain parts, and stuff like that, and we really like it. I think that just enhances the live show for when people come to see it." V vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus