The Rubens (28/08/2012)
On the eve of their biggest and most ambitious tour yet, 59th Sound caught up with Elliot from The Rubens to pose him about the bands rapid rise, their imminent debut album and working with renowned producer, David Kahne.
Your connection with audiences around the country has seemed almost effortless; can you put your finger on why this has been so?
“I think a lot of things just happened at the right time. Triple J picked up 'Lay It Down' and it snowballed from there. People started to connect with us and come to our shows. We didn't just sick back and watch it happen though. We worked really hard recording the album and promoting our shows, as well as just touring as much as we possibly could and it's pretty much consumed our lives for the past year. There are a lot of bands who work extremely hard and don't get to come as far as we have and we're really grateful for what we have because it simply doesn't happen for everyone.”
These days it seems that the power of social media can help bands explode virtually overnight. Do you think social media played a role in ‘The Rubens’ rising to the forefront of people’s conscience in such a short space of time?
I think definitely there was, but it wasn't a conscious effort by us, we're not at all savvy with social media. We were lucky that early on, a lot of our fans spread our music for us. Once we started to get radio play we noticed that music blogs started to share our songs and it's easy for it to go viral quite quickly from there.
Tell me about your soulful new single 'My Gun'… How did it come about?
'My Gun' was one of the first songs that we had written. Sam (Guitar/Vox) came up with the chord progression while he and Zaac (Lead Guitar) we're at home recording on a laptop. They’d found a really cool beat to add, then I came home from school and put my part on top of it and then, Scotty (Drums) got involved. It was just one of those songs that just worked from start to finish, we didn't labor over it or think too hard about where it needed to go. It just made sense from the start; it was one of those really easy songs.
The production of your debut album was safely in the hands of the renowned, David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Lana Del Ray, The Strokes). How did this association come about? Was there something that he’d worked on in particular that gravitated you towards him taking the reigns?
The whole New York thing and recording with Dave Kahne came about before we'd even been played on Triple J. A friend of ours was at a sound engineer seminar with Dave Kahne and showed him the demo we'd recorded of 'My Gun’. He really liked it and really wanted to record the album. We're certainly fans of a lot of the artists he's worked with, but I think we were just excited to work with him in general. We never really went in there thinking about certain parts of songs he'd done with other artists and asking to sound like this or that. We just went in fully appreciating the experience.
Your sound seems to be a blend of rock, blues and soul. What were some of the sounds and bands influencing you when you recorded your debut album? Anything you were referencing?
One of the obvious ones is probably 'The Black Keys', but we never set out to sound like them in particular. When we first sat down and started recording demos together things just started to happen that way. One of the other obvious influences is The Rolling Stones as well as other 1960s artist’s that we all love but there was never a conscious effort to sound like anyone or any era; that just kind of happened.
You guys have bucked the trend of recording an EP or two before working on an album, choosing to dive straight into your debut LP. What was it that drove you down the path less traveled? Was it due to the successes’ you’d already had and furthermore, were you confident that you had strong enough songs to do so?
Before the opportunity to record in New York came about, we already had all these songs under our belts. We never really wanted to do EP’s; we liked the idea of just coming out with an album. It’s kind of ballsy to do so and you have to really work at it and make sure it's sure of itself.
The response to your live shows has been completely overwhelming. Have you found the need to adapt yourselves to the size of your shows as they increase so rapidly? Does it play on your nerves?
I don't think its nerve racking; it's just really exciting. It’s all just been a novelty for us because it's happened so fast. We can't really afford to be nervous or scared, all we can do is put our best efforts in and try to make the shows as engaging and fun for people as possible.
The 'My Gun' single tour is colossal in regards to the number of dates, as well as the size of the venues for your shows. How are you going to top it when it comes time to release the album and hit the road again?
There is pressure, but we're on top of it and know how we want to amp it up each time. I think we've been doing it really well. On this next tour, we're going to amp up the production again and make it more of a spectacle and continue to make sure that the show is entertaining as possible.
Having conquered the hearts of Australian audiences, are there any plans to take the band overseas to explore new territories in the near future?
We don't have set plans just yet, but we're definitely looking at going over and doing some festivals and shows and try to spread our music where every we can. We just want as many people to hear our music as possible.
David Noordhoff
Your connection with audiences around the country has seemed almost effortless; can you put your finger on why this has been so?
“I think a lot of things just happened at the right time. Triple J picked up 'Lay It Down' and it snowballed from there. People started to connect with us and come to our shows. We didn't just sick back and watch it happen though. We worked really hard recording the album and promoting our shows, as well as just touring as much as we possibly could and it's pretty much consumed our lives for the past year. There are a lot of bands who work extremely hard and don't get to come as far as we have and we're really grateful for what we have because it simply doesn't happen for everyone.”
These days it seems that the power of social media can help bands explode virtually overnight. Do you think social media played a role in ‘The Rubens’ rising to the forefront of people’s conscience in such a short space of time?
I think definitely there was, but it wasn't a conscious effort by us, we're not at all savvy with social media. We were lucky that early on, a lot of our fans spread our music for us. Once we started to get radio play we noticed that music blogs started to share our songs and it's easy for it to go viral quite quickly from there.
Tell me about your soulful new single 'My Gun'… How did it come about?
'My Gun' was one of the first songs that we had written. Sam (Guitar/Vox) came up with the chord progression while he and Zaac (Lead Guitar) we're at home recording on a laptop. They’d found a really cool beat to add, then I came home from school and put my part on top of it and then, Scotty (Drums) got involved. It was just one of those songs that just worked from start to finish, we didn't labor over it or think too hard about where it needed to go. It just made sense from the start; it was one of those really easy songs.
The production of your debut album was safely in the hands of the renowned, David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Lana Del Ray, The Strokes). How did this association come about? Was there something that he’d worked on in particular that gravitated you towards him taking the reigns?
The whole New York thing and recording with Dave Kahne came about before we'd even been played on Triple J. A friend of ours was at a sound engineer seminar with Dave Kahne and showed him the demo we'd recorded of 'My Gun’. He really liked it and really wanted to record the album. We're certainly fans of a lot of the artists he's worked with, but I think we were just excited to work with him in general. We never really went in there thinking about certain parts of songs he'd done with other artists and asking to sound like this or that. We just went in fully appreciating the experience.
Your sound seems to be a blend of rock, blues and soul. What were some of the sounds and bands influencing you when you recorded your debut album? Anything you were referencing?
One of the obvious ones is probably 'The Black Keys', but we never set out to sound like them in particular. When we first sat down and started recording demos together things just started to happen that way. One of the other obvious influences is The Rolling Stones as well as other 1960s artist’s that we all love but there was never a conscious effort to sound like anyone or any era; that just kind of happened.
You guys have bucked the trend of recording an EP or two before working on an album, choosing to dive straight into your debut LP. What was it that drove you down the path less traveled? Was it due to the successes’ you’d already had and furthermore, were you confident that you had strong enough songs to do so?
Before the opportunity to record in New York came about, we already had all these songs under our belts. We never really wanted to do EP’s; we liked the idea of just coming out with an album. It’s kind of ballsy to do so and you have to really work at it and make sure it's sure of itself.
The response to your live shows has been completely overwhelming. Have you found the need to adapt yourselves to the size of your shows as they increase so rapidly? Does it play on your nerves?
I don't think its nerve racking; it's just really exciting. It’s all just been a novelty for us because it's happened so fast. We can't really afford to be nervous or scared, all we can do is put our best efforts in and try to make the shows as engaging and fun for people as possible.
The 'My Gun' single tour is colossal in regards to the number of dates, as well as the size of the venues for your shows. How are you going to top it when it comes time to release the album and hit the road again?
There is pressure, but we're on top of it and know how we want to amp it up each time. I think we've been doing it really well. On this next tour, we're going to amp up the production again and make it more of a spectacle and continue to make sure that the show is entertaining as possible.
Having conquered the hearts of Australian audiences, are there any plans to take the band overseas to explore new territories in the near future?
We don't have set plans just yet, but we're definitely looking at going over and doing some festivals and shows and try to spread our music where every we can. We just want as many people to hear our music as possible.
David Noordhoff