Ruts D.C ElectrAcoustic Tour July 2024

Ruts D.C are on tour this month. That's good.

This is a tour with a difference for us, as it's our first ElectrAcoustic Tour. Since last we spoke - and yes, it has been a while hasn't it? - we've recorded the third album in this format, featuring stripped-down versions of Ruts and Ruts D.C. material. In my not-so-humble opinion this is the best of the bunch, and if that wasn't exciting enough this album also features a brand new song - Segs bought the idea in, we all worked on it and 'Bound In Blood' was the result. No doubt we'll work it up as an electric number sometime soon, but to begin a song in this way was really interesting - thankfully it's turned out well (it wouldn't be on the album if it hadn't!) so it should feature in these live shows alongside material from the other two albums. We've played acoustic shows at The Rebellion Festival for the last few years, and played a couple of shows during lockdown (ooh - remember that?) in a sit-down format, but this is the first time we're presenting a show of this type on tour. Tickets are apparently going well, and I for one am really looking forward to it.

Before that we play an electric show - I hesitate to use the word 'normal' at the best of times, although I nearly used it here - at The Cryer Arts Centre in Carshalton. I think I've only played in Carshalton once before, way back in 2012 with the mighty T.V. Smith at The Water Tower which if I remember rightly is a local historical landmark. The Arts Centre looks like it's a splendid venue, and I believe that the show is sold out, which can only be a good thing if you think about it. And after the tour we return to the afore-mentioned Rebellion Festival in Blackpool which is more good news. Onwards and upwards, as they (whoever 'they' are) say...

'Fly into the rising sun...'

So there you have it - around 30,000 miles (and what feels like around 30 hours sleep) later and we're back in Blighty. And it's cold. Bloomin' cold. I don't usually mind winter weather - in fact if I'm honest I often think that I prefer it to the summer in a way - but having recently spent the best part of two weeks in temperatures approaching and in some cases exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit I don't mind admitting that I'm considering reconsidering my stance on such things. But what a time we've had - the first ever Ruts D.C. shows in Japan and Hong Kong followed by two shows in New Zealand and five shows in Australia supporting The Stranglers - well it's hardly the worst start to the year ever isn't it? 

Incidentally I spent the two weeks before we left to go on tour looking after my Dad who caught 'flu which turned to pneumonia - hopefully he's on the mend now but there were more than a few harrowing moments. Get yourselves a 'flu jab kids! 

I managed to update my Facebook page at regular intervals throughout our jaunt, and the Ruts D.C. page includes a few live streams (I haven't worked out how to do that yet!) alongside Segs and Dave's observations on proceedings - if you'd like to see footage of me in an English pub in the middle of Tokyo eating chips with chopsticks there here's your chance... somewhat inevitably I've got the usual interminable pages of scribbly notes (Godzilla, lost passports and more) along with any number of photographs, some or all of which may one day find their way into these hallowed pages - but suffice to say that the whole experience really was unforgettable, and I for one hope that we return to all four locations before too long.

In the meantime since returning home I've seen The Damned at Koko (great stuff as usual) The Urban Voodoo Machine in Southampton (where I joined them for their encore - video evidence here, I'll learn the song better next time... if they let me have a next time!) and witnessed Terry from The Upper Cut playing bass with Zoot Money in Barnes (first set good, second set marred by not-at-all special 'special guests' and amateurish directionless hippie jamming - absolutely appalling and an insult to people who had paid to see it) as well as playing with Big Al and the boys and working in Balcony Shirts - business as usual, as usual... until next time...

The Stranglers / Ruts DC tour 2017

We're on at 7.45 pm each night - see you down the front!

Early morning cold taxi

Another busy few days in mad-guitar-land - good! I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's also been a rather tiring few days, but it's better than having nothing to do...

In the wake of the Vive Le Rock article and album review there were two Ruts D.C. shows late last week. Thursday night saw the band visit The Brook in Southampton. Support came from Miss Jewels who sounded good to me although I did spend much of their set behind the merchandise stall and so didn't hear as much as them as I might have liked. I do remember them playing 'Heat Wave' though which is never a bad song to hear. For our show I used a Marshall Vintage Modern combo courtesy of my great friend Paul Cope (there were amplifiers supplied at the next night's show so I'd decided to travel light) which sounded absolutely fabulous to such an extent that I'm going to keep my eye out for a second hand one should I ever make any money (there's not much point in keeping an eye out then!) There's a review of the show on the excellent Aural Sculptors blog which also includes some video clips from the gig - overall it was a boisterous performance that saw the first appearance in the set for 'Something That I Said' (oh yes!) and a great reaction from the audience. 

But if that was a boisterous performance then the next night's show at The Great British Alternative Music Festival at Butlins in Minehead took us to new heights of, er, boisterousness. (Is that a word?!?) We were on Centre Stage at 10 o'clock (which sadly meant that I missed Eddie And The Hot Rods who were on at Reds at the same time - bugger!) and played to what looked to me to be a capacity crowd of around 3,000. An extraordinary incident took place about halfway through our 60 minute set when a couple of girls decided to shout something (I'm still not sure what!) at Molara who reacted by putting them down in no uncertain terms. It seemed to spur the band on, and our set (which had already been going well) finished to scenes of audience hysteria that wouldn't have been out of place in 'A Hard Day's Night'. I went out to watch The Members (who featured the irrepressible Rat Scabies on drums) play after us and must have shaken hands with 100 people. Great stuff all round, only tempered by the fact that we had to leave at 7.30am on Saturday to get the van back to London in time for us to avoid paying for an entire weekend's hire...

I woke up just after 5pm. I'd got home sometime before midday, had a shower and then fell asleep. Rock 'n' roll eh? Still no time to worry about that now, as The Upper Cut are playing in Colnbrook at Ye Old George Inn and I've got to get my things (and indeed myself) together - except, er, we're not. I was just getting changed for the show when I received a text message from Terry the bass telling me that the gig was cancelled. I called him straight away - apparently someone who likes our band (don't laugh, there are a few of them around!) had called the venue for directions and no one there knew anything about the show. Bah! Oh well, at least we found out before we got there - that's fortunately only happened to me a couple of times and is rather depressing. The gig has already been rescheduled for Sunday 12th May (unusually we're on at 5pm) so it does look like a genuine mistake was made. Oh well!

Sunday saw the final Back To Zero rehearsal before this week's gigs - Sam, Andy, Squirrel and myself were joined by Craig on vocals (he's one of the singers from the first time around and is singing lead on three songs at Saturday's show) and Stuart on keyboards for a session at RnR Studios in Uxbridge. Things were sounding so good that we finished the session early - now that's something that doesn't happen very often! After dropping my gear back at home I made my way down to The Crown And Treaty for the latest open mic / jam night. Such was the general jollity of the occasion that I found myself at a similar gathering last night at The Three Wishes in Edgware. It's interesting - not that long ago I'd never attended such an event but I must admit that I've enjoyed the ones that I have been to. That said they almost always have the odd peculiar moment - but perhaps they're the best bits? Hmm... maybe more about that another time...