For album No. 4, Born Ruffians’ colorfully unpredictable brand of indie rock was inspired by the “circuitous motion of tidal mood swings.” It’s easy to spot the Canadian outfit’s fluctuating emotions in just the song names of RUFF alone: Titles like “Fuck Feelings” and “(Eat Shit) We Did It” juxtaposed with “Shade to Shade” and “We Made It” quickly evoke the mind of someone teetering between calm human and anxious beast (or perhaps I’m just describing myself?).
The tracks themselves don’t just appear out of thin air, either — for the most part, they’re drawn from actual experiences. According to frontman Luke Lalonde, one particularly frustrating incident involving a disgruntled fan eventually led to the rollicking, mercurial, and so very awesomely titled “When Things Get Pointless I Roll Away”.
“It’s a response to a disheartened/angry fan’s email about how he didn’t connect with our new stuff,” he tells Consequence of Sound. “It’s meant to take the piss out of myself, comment on a totally solipsistic kind of view that my songs really have any importance or objective truth/meaning/goodness. But also it’s the inability to grasp at even a meaning that simple. That while trying to write such a direct song to one specific person I am constantly struggling to get what I mean out and losing my point. So the title and refrain of the song is a nod to Harry Nilsson’s ‘The Point!'”
Lalonde continues, examining the idea of nostalgia and the role it plays in objective meaning:
“People have a real romance with the music they loved when they were 15-19 years old (or something around those ages) but you look back at those songs through rose-coloured glasses and confuse it for actual, objective good music. I find it very frustrating. It’s the old guy who can’t acknowledge anything new because it’s not what he liked when he was actually interested in music. It’s 30-year-olds complaining about the younger generation. It’s absolute insanity and so I had to address that error this kid was making but I couldn’t just write him back so I tried to put it into this song. But I fail and constantly lose the point I’m trying to make and in the end I wonder if it’s really so wrong to have an idea of what you think it truly good or bad, even if it’s based on hormones and memories of your golden years. The song is about the idea of objective meaning and truth in art and all of the translations and iterations it can go through from the farm to the plate.”
Listen in below.
RUFF, the follow-up to 2013’s Birthmarks, arrives on October 2nd via Yep Roc; pre-order a copy here. For more sounds from the LP, check out the explosive lead single “We Made It”.
RUFF Tracklist:
01. Don’t Live Up
02. Stupid Dream
03. Yawn Tears
04. When Things Get Pointless I Roll Away
05. & On & On & On
06. Fuck Feelings
07. (Eat Shit) We Did It
08. We Made It
09. Let Me Get It Out
10. Shade To Shade
Born Ruffians will support the new record with a lengthy fall tour across Europe and North America.
Born Ruffians 2015 Tour Dates:
09/12 – Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix
09/16 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
09/17 – Waterloo, ON @ Starlight
09/18 – St. Catharine’s, ON @ L3 Nightclub
09/19 – Hamilton, ON @ Casbah
09/24 – Burnstown, ON @ Neat
09/25 – Ottawa, ON @ Ritual
09/26 – Peterborough, ON @ The Red Dog
10/06 – Manchester, UK @ Gullivers
10/07 – London, UK @ 100 Club
10/08 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
10/10 – Metz, FR @ Les Trinitiatres
10/11 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique Witloof Bar
10/13 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown
10/14 – Paris, FR @ La Cigale
10/15 – Dusseldorf, DE @ FFT
10/16 – Munich, DE @ Milla
10/17 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain Kantine
10/27 – Burlington, VT @ Signal Kitchen
10/28 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
10/29 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
10/30 – Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street Nightclub
11/02 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
11/03 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
11/04 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Backroom
11/06 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5
11/07 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
11/08 – Houston, TX @ Studio at Warehouse Live
11/09 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
11/10 – Austin, TX @ The Sidewinder
11/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
11/13 – San Diego, CA @ San Diego Music Thing
11/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
11/15 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
11/17 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
11/18 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
11/19 – Nanaimo, BC @ The Cambie Pub
11/20 – Victoria, BC @ Sugar Nightclub
11/21 – Vancouver, BC @ The Imperial Theatre
11/23 – Nelson, BC @ Spiritbar
11/26 – Calgary, AB @ SAIT’s Gateway
11/27 – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
11/28 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s
11/29 – Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre
11/30 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
12/01 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
12/02 – Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch
