Ruckus

I've been fan of Ruckus since their debut for BDHW Human Pollution and still consider them one of the most inventive and exciting, yet underrated hardcore bands of the moment. The split with Xibalba and World Of Pain is one the way so this and other topics are discussed in this interview.

I've been fan of Ruckus since their debut for BDHW Human Pollution and still consider them one of the most inventive and exciting, yet underrated hardcore bands of the moment. The split with Xibalba and World Of Pain is one the way so this and other topics are discussed in this interview.

First of all, could you tell us what’s been happening with Ruckus since The Human Pollution came out?

We've been playing tons of shows since then. We did two short tours. One with Rotting Out/Creatures/Expire and the other with the legendary Merauder. We'll also be playing SOUND AND FURY this summer. Also as far as new music, we released a two song demo since then, which was supposed to be a split with Life In Chains.

You’ve got split CD with Xibalba and World Of Pain in the works. Can you tell us something about it? How did you hook up with the rest of the bands on it?

It could be the heaviest split ever created. I've known all the guys in both bands for a while because of old bands we were in. It should be out by Sound and Fury. We're just waiting on the artwork.

How would you describe your part of the split? What people should expect from the new songs, both musically and lyrically?

Well the other two bands are a lot HEAVIER than we are, so we tried to match them a little bit to not sound out of place. 3 out of 4 of our tracks are easily our most metal-influenced songs. The lyrics are a bit more about real life than religion and social bullshit. For example; the song "Domesticated" has to do with hating the daily grind of life, and the song "Below My Law" deals with statutory rape.

One of the things I like about your band are lyrics. How do you go about writing them and how important are they to the complete song writing process?

When we originally started the band, it was just my brother and me. Half the lyrics for the Human Pollution record were already done before Jacob joined the band. Since then he has written 90% of it, and they have been more real and personal to him rather than me just trying to write "hard" lyrics.

You guys stick with the heavy side of hardcore. What is the response to your music from the metal crowd?

We haven't really played to a metal crowd, but we have played one or two metalcore shows, and we seem to do well with them.

Being in the hardcore band can be a grind! Do you find it hard to balance school or work with playing? What drives you to keep on doing what you do?

I took this semester off from school to juggle all my bands, so yeah it can be tough. Shows and tours ultimately make it worth it. We love playing live.

Doing my research I haven’t found much about the band in terms of history, reviews or interviews. Do you feel that the type of bands like yourself tend to get ignored by fanzines, webzines and media in general?

We haven't been asked to do interviews much. This may be our 3rd one if that. We do have an article in the upcoming INVASION MAGAZINE though, which is great. We're glad Ama takes the time to notice smaller bands. I see other bands our style getting lots of media attention too like Backtrack, Foundation, Harms Way and Creatures. It could just be that we don't really get noticed, which is ok. We're not here to impress anyone. If people notice us, cool... if they don't... fuck 'em.

What’s your perception of the hardcore scene nowadays?

I think its stronger than ever. Even the worst venue in our area is picking up and doing shows correctly. The bands our style are infinitely better too. In 2005 a "hard" band had to have 20 open-note breakdowns to get attention.

How often do you play shows and what is the crowd reaction that you’re most happy to see? Are there any shows that stand out as especially memorable?

Our songs are clearly built for pitting, so thats what we like to see. The first time we played Las Vegas, people were moshing with trash cans and bats. It was wild. Another memorable show was our Gilman show with Merauder. It was the only time we got a reaction to the Carnivore cover song that we play.

Before we finish, could you share some of your plans for the rest of 2010? What are the chances of you touring Europe?

We're playing Sound and Fury, and probably doing a short tour in the Fall to support the Earthquake Split. We will definitely tour Europe next year. It was supposed to happen this summer but it fell apart. Also we'll have a new 7" coming out before the end of 2010, as well as collections-type CD for Europe with all our newer stuff on it. We

Thank you for your time! Any last shout outs? Anything you would like to add?

Thanks for taking time to check us out. If anyone is interested, Colin and I have a side project called TWITCHING TONGUES. You can find us pretty easily by googling it. Everyone also needs to listen to Foundation, Harms Way, Creatures, Expire, Alpha & Omega, Xibalba, Expire, Rotting Out, Type O Negative, Only Living Witness and Carnivore.

Ruckus at Myspace