NZ Musician
2007 (Vol: 13, No: 5)

By Gareth Shute

The Ruby Suns have had a fairly busy time since dropping the Ryan McPhun name to help speed things up. In September they signed a two-album deal with British label Memphis Industries, and V2 for the rest of Europe. This year they've headed back to the UK to promote their self-titled debut which was released there in December. Bass player Gareth Shute shares the experience with NZM...

February 21: Radio interviews
Our first engagement was an interview on the BBC6 Breakfast Show, hosted by comedian Phil Jupitus. Ryan (vocals/guitar) and Amee (keyboards) had come in a day earlier than me and Eddie (drums) so they did the interview. Phil found it hilarious that there was so much musician swapping amongst the Lil' Chief Records camp, especially when Ryan admitted to having spent time in five of the bands. They played three Ruby Suns' songs and we managed to get in a Lawrence Arabia one as well - a nice touch since Lawrence (James Milne) was playing guitar with us for the Field Music supports.
After that we headed back to James' flat and found Connan recording a demo in the lounge. We borrowed some drums off Matt Eccles and a symbol case off Moccasins' drummer Seamus - thanks guys - and had a quick practice in Liam's room upstairs, before heading off to do a live-to-air for a little radio station called Resonance FM. They told us they had backline so we just turned up with our guitars and keyboard, but the drums were a bit patchy and I spent the entire session with my foot on the bass drum to keep it from moving.
 
February 23 - 27: Support slots with Field Music in England and Ireland.
Our first show with Field Music was at Arts Centre, the ICA, in London. The other support band was Xan Pan - an entertaining '70s-style rock group led by a fast-talking guy who also does solo work as the Squire of Somerton. By the time they'd finished, the venue was near its 400 capacity and we went on. The crowd were very reserved, but their loud applause was enough to show that they were into appreciating the music rather than dancing to it - and it was reassuring to see that they remained similarly unmoved for the main band.
The next day we left for Dublin where we'd arranged to stay with our friend Buck. That night Ireland beat the English at rugby and the whole town was partying. Our hosts were no different and we had to sneak off to sleep on their bedroom floor since our jetlag still meant there was no way we'd be drinking until 6am with them! The show in Dublin was much more relaxed and we managed to sell just as many CDs as in London, even though the crowd was half the size.
Next stop was Leeds where our accommodation turned out to be 100 metres from the venue. Throughout the tour we only booked a room for three so had to sneak the other two bands members into the room later! Luckily the hotel staff weren't very observant.
At that night's show Ryan bashed his Jazz-master against the ride symbol on the drums in a moment of enthusiasm. Unfortunately the guitar already had some damage from being in a fire during the band's US trip last year and the top of the head broke off, removing the tuning heads for the top two strings! The next morning we hurriedly bought the cheapest guitar we could find - a £90, no-brand guitar. It looked cool enough but struggled to hold tune through a song.
Our next drama was trying to drive into Birmingham, where the roads are a total a nightmare. The venue was odd as well - the Glee Club, which usually has theatre and comedy events - so the audience was seated. Nonetheless they were very enthusiastic and many of them came to talk to us afterwards. It was time then to say goodbye to the guys from Field Music - we'd become good friends with those chaps and were sad to leave them. Their music seemed to take on new dimensions every night, despite the fact that there were only three of them for most shows (though the drummer from Maximo Park played percussion in London and they sometimes had a second guitarist).
 
 
 
February 28: Headlining in Newcastle
We arrived to find that we had been booked with a odd German band called Moog Riots and a Woman of No Significance - a very popular local band who were playing their last show. The result was that all their fans turned out to watch an emotional last performance from the band. This was a mixed blessing, since it meant the venue was packed, though a fair few people left before we played. Nonetheless, we met one guy who had bought our album over the Internet before it had even been released on Memphis Industries.
 
March 3-10: Support Slots with the Holloways in England and Wales.
From the moment we arrived in Hull for our first show with The Holloways, we could see that we were entering the real world of UK rock music. Their bus was parked alongside the venue and it was hard to work out who was in the band at first since they had an entourage of helpers and friends along for the ride. It also turned out that I wasn't actually meant to be using the bass player's amp, but fortunately one of the other support acts, Loose Caboose, were a great bunch and helped us out by letting use their stuff for a number of the shows.
In the dressing room before we played one of the local chaps running the show came in to see if we wanted him to pick us up any cocaine. We laughed and told him we'd pass. The show in Hull was in front of a drunken bunch of students who had no real interest in us and afterward we found that our hotel was miles out of town and the main motorway that led there was closed! A late night was followed by an early morning, as we crossed back down half the country to play in Reading. Fortunately that show was far more enjoyable and also in front of a sold-out crowd of around 350 (as many of The Holloways shows would be). The rest of The Holloways tour was quite wearying, but we covered a number of large cities (Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, and Lancaster) and even played a show in Wales (Wrexham). The Holloways themselves were a friendly bunch and we came to enjoy hanging out with them, despite our band being of quite a different ilk.
 
March 14-19: Headlining shows in Europe.
A good day off in Copenhagen was followed by a show at a nice venue, Loppen, run by a collective in the bohemian part of town. The underground have been a bit under threat here recently and there were riots when a hive of local arts and music, the Ungdomshuset, was torn down a week before. Nonetheless, we had a nice crowd and found our music was on the local alternative chart here, as was the latest tune by our support band, A Choir of Young Believers.
Oslo was more of a wild outpost, though we were made to feel at home by support group the Southern Alps, who were led by an New Zealander and sounded like The Muttonbirds - their last track was a Bats' cover.
Our biggest show in Europe was in Stockholm - a stronghold for indie pop. Hampus from V2 picked us up at the airport and took us to the label's offices for a radio interview. We were also gifted a great range of new Swedish music! The gig that night had been written about in the local free metro newspapers and this resulted in a large crowd of 200. There were even autograph hunters waiting when we arrived for soundcheck. Local band Days were well-matched to us and provided a nice grounding to a very well-received show.
Next was Paris, where we had a similarly large crowd - one guy had driven 300 miles just to see us! Holy Hail, the other band, were a cool electro-clash outfit from New York. Ironically, the best venue we played on the tour was at our smallest show - at Botanique in Brussels on a Monday night. The venue was a very tall, circular room and outside was a garden with a hedge-maze. 
 
March 21: Headlining show with Lawrence Arabia at The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch, London
The last show of the tour was a loud, drunken event in a crammed but cosy bar. It was great to see Lawrence playing with an amazing line-up which included Rodney Fisher (Goodshirt/Breaks Co-Op) and Chris Garland (Betchadupa). I wouldn't be surprised if they were the next local outfit to gain some attention over here, since they'd played another packed show two weeks earlier with Connan and the Moccasins, who are also on their way up here. We played a raucous show to a very supportive crowd and ended the tour on a real high. It was amazing to think that we'd managed to cover such a great distance in just a single month!