 |
  
 
 |
|
The Ruts
|
FILE UNDER: Second-wave Reggae-influenced British punk YEARS OF EXISTENCE: 1978-1980 RECORD TO START WITH: The Crack (1979, VIRGIN) AFTER THAT, CHECK OUT: Something That I Said: The Best Of The Ruts (1995, CAROLINE) GO DOWNLOAD: "In A Rut," "Babylon's Burning," "Something That I Said," "It Was Cold," "Staring At The Rude Boys," "S.U.S.," "Love In Vain," "West One" THE MUSIC, THE MESSAGE: Like the U.K. Subs' Charlie Harper and the Clash's Joe Strummer, the Ruts came from a pub-rock background?in this case, Hit And Run, which featured Dave Ruffy on drums and Paul Fox on guitar. Once punk hit, however, the two, along with Paul Mattock, Malcolm Owen and Segs Jennings, began the Ruts. Their first foray into vinyl was the 1978 single "In A Rut" backed-ironically, when looking at the Ruts' demise via Owen's heroin overdose death-with "H Eyes," a song dealing with drugs. The band followed up with their first singles for Virgin: The angry and urgent and politically minded "Babylon's Burning" and "Something That I Said," before letting loose their explosive lone full-length, The Crack. Sure, the Ruts packed a ferocious punch with tunes drenched in high-octane, fast-paced punk ("You're Just A...," "Savage Circle" and the thrashers "Criminal Mind" and "Out Of Order"), but they also incorporated other sounds into their complex punk. The insanely poignant, moody "It Was Cold" is flat-out epic in both instrumentation and lyrics, as the narrative bespeaks of an almost-apocalyptic scenario ("The world we knew/In desolation!" are the final, reverberating lines). Meanwhile, "Dope For Guns" is ska-tinged and upbeat, and they expertly incorporate reggae and dub on songs including "Love In Vain" and the Southall, London, riots-influenced "Jah War." PUNK-ROCK RELEVANCE: A short-lived but immensely important band, the Ruts released the aforementioned records (plus three other singles after The Crack) that are absolutely crucial to the punk-rock pantheon. And if the music and political undertones already used aren't enough to show you how "punk" they were, the oft-Rock Against Racism-featured quartet managed to get themselves banned in Belgium and Yugoslavia. Oh, yeah, they're one of Henry Rollins' all-time favorites... CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: When Owen got heavily involved with heroin, the rest of the guys disbanded because his drug problem affected all aspects of the Ruts. When he was getting clean in 1980, he asked the three musicians to record some material, and they did: A three-track demo. However, by the Monday after the session, Owen was dead of an overdose (joining Ian Curtis and Darby Crash in a tragic year of punk-pioneer deaths). Ruffy, Jennings and Fox persevered, altering their moniker to Ruts DC, with Ruffy handling bass and vocal duties, but this incarnation was met with backlash and didn't endure. This past July, Rollins was tapped to lead the band in a reunion show?a benefit for the cancer-ridden Fox?in England. Janelle Jones |
