Your favourite big kids The Ruminaters are back and making a statement bolder than ever, with two new tracks that are sure to knock your socks off and straight out of the universe.
Leaving their paradise on the Northern Beaches to travel all the way to RAK Studio’s in London, The Ruminaters returned with I Wanna Fight taking the form of a double A-side 7″ vinyl release, with none other than Hot Chocolate’s You Sexy Thing alongside it.
Known for being humble rock weirdos that have top marks in dribbling shit, The Ruminaters continue to exceed expectations with a brand new noise-soaked single and classic cover, set to be release as a 7-inch double A-side.
Continuing to dance across of genres with a obscure combination of songs set alongside each other on releases, I Wanna Fight explores the familiar fuzzed-out rock and roll Ruminaters vibe we all know and love.
With catchy lyrics that preach rebellion, an explosion of drum bashing and catastrophic guitar riffs, it’s not hard to predict a live performance of I Wanna Fight will be a mayhem-filled mosh pit.
You Sexy Thing also takes on a more chaotic vibe than the original, with Pencil’s vocals making sure their version delves deeper in disobedience than the original, whilst still maintaining that essential element of funk. We chatted to Pencil and Moss from the band to find out a bit more about the new tracks and what else The Rumies have planned for 2017.
Walking down what I’m told is approximately 90 stairs from the house to the studio door, Pencil lets us in. Inside, a well designed room lies before us revealing guitars of many kinds hanging from the walls, with one in particular in the shape of a ‘V’.
Pencil explains this was a $600 guitar he got as a joke, but he’s grown to like it. The room has a white interior that is sound proofed with black foam, a floor covered with cables and a shimmering, silver drum set that sits near the far wall. With more than a few empty VB cans scattered about, this front yard studio hidden within a jungle-style the garden is where The Ruminaters magic happens…
HAPPY: Hey guys, hows it going? What have you guys been up to?
PENCIL: We just did the new 7 inch single. We recorded it in February but that’s coming out now.
MOSS: It’s already out…
PENCIL: We’ve got 2 songs, 2 hits. One wasn’t ours, one was.
HAPPY: Talk us through the key ideas or intentions behind I Wanna Fight. Is this a connotation to the drunken fuelled violence that has come part of today’s youth?
MOSS: Well, you wrote that song…
PENCIL: I Wanna Fight was about my youth with the lads. When we got drunk we’d fight all the time and wrestle and bash each other. It wasn’t so much about fighting today, and it’s not even about wanting to be a fighter, it’s about a kid who wants to be one of them punks and get in a brawl, and piss in public. It’s coming from a weakling, nerdy kid who’s wanting to be a punk kid. It’s also about expressing yourself in ways that you want, just the same with drag, because you wanna be a pretty girl sometimes as well.
HAPPY: It keeps your audiences guessing, that’s for sure. I Wanna Fight and You Sexy Thing seem to be polar opposites in terms of themes and genre. What was the reason behind placing these tracks back to back on vinyl?
MOSS: That actually just accidentally happened. We did the whole record and we gave the people who were organising the singles club a few options to pick alongside it. RAK Singles Club, that is. And yeah, they chose I Wanna Fight.
PENCIL: They have a thing where they’ll get a band in to cover a song from their back catalogue of music that they have rights to and will release one of our songs too. So it wasn’t really intentional.
MOSS: It makes sense because a lot of our music is really contradicting; like we’ve got slow pace and a fast pace, so that combination isn’t actually that weird for us.
HAPPY: A bit of variety is always good. What did it feel like knowing you were recording in a studio where the likes of Bowie, MJ and Pink Floyd had recorded before you?
PENCIL: Well you know what’s cool about that? For starters I was loving it and freaking out because Hot Chocolate recorded You Sexy Thing in the same room as us, which was awesome. And I’m pretty sure Radiohead recorded in there too. And it’s not a big room…
MOSS: It’s probably ten metres by five metres.
PENCIL: They had about nine musicians in there and recorded it live and then we did it part by part. We cut and looped things which we never do and copied and pasted it all. So we recorded it completely different to how Hot Chocolate would have done it…
HAPPY: What can we expect from the upcoming album? Does it fit into the usual garage, beach punk vibe of The Ruminters or does it draw from a new platform?
PENCIL: All our music is super different, including our first album and the EP. So it’s different again. But were not writing electronic dance. It’s like a clock, you go from one point to the other and it goes back to the start. It starts off as garage and then it takes a turn to the new psych sound, and then a bit cleaner, quieter. It changes, not one song is similar and the songs all link back to the other songs that we’ve done. It’s better written and better recorded.
HAPPY: Do you have a title for the album?
PENCIL: Do we want to tell the title?
MOSS: I don’t know.
PENCIL: Well, we’ve got a concept for it. I’ll tell you the concept. So, each song on the album is a different character that’s taking flight in a vessel which is travelling back to the year 1991.
MOSS: Which is the year we were born.
PENCIL: We don’t know the title for sure yet, but each song is a different passenger on the flight.
HAPPY: Awesome. When’s it coming out?
MOSS: Probably February or March next year.
PENCIL: And if we haven’t done it by then, we might as well fuckin’ quit.
MOSS: We’ll be drip feeding singles in the lead up to that. We won’t go six months without releasing any new music…there’s music coming!
HAPPY: What was the writing process like for the new record? Were most of the tracks written on your tour throughout Europe last year?
MOSS: It was and it wasn’t rushed.
PENCIL: We changed our process of writing. Usually we always write as a band, all together at once. But with half the album, we had to go to London to do it. And the second half had to be recorded separately; drums, guitar and voice. We’ve never done it that way but we ended up liking it more.
MOSS: It’s more efficient writing it like that.
PENCIL: Usually we’re all sitting there, looking at each other and getting pissed off ’cause every person is trying to write their part. This time it was easier to do your own thing, it was written half all together and half separately. It wasn’t totally disjointed. It was good. I think it worked out to be some of the better songs on the album.
HAPPY: That answer is going to be a bitch to transcribe.
MOSS: I was just thinking “wrap it up son”.
PENCIL: What you should have done was put it up to my voice and got Siri to transcribe it.
MOSS: Could you imagine if you just slapped everything Siri said into the article?
PENCIL: Does Siri ask you questions? (Holds his phone up to his mouth) Siri, ask me a question…
SIRI: “You are a slippery little bitch that has no friends and eats out of pigs assholes” (Laughs)
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HAPPY: You guys played a pretty epic show at the Happy mag launch last month. How do you bring the energy each time and continue to connect with your audiences?
MOSS: Pencil’s got a really disjointed neck and head.
PENCIL: I had a six pack of beers. Nah I didn’t really drink, I don’ know. I think naturally it’s not like were trying to put it on, but when the music starts you just get groovin’.
HAPPY: Congrats on getting on the Lost Paradise lineup this year. Do you think you’ll commit to all three days?
MOSS: We’ll do all three. Free ticket, all access bitach.
HAPPY: Who are you guys most keen to see?
PENCIL: I can’t remember the full lineup. I’m keen to watch Skeggs and Little Dragon.
MOSS: Yeah, Skeggs. If the lineup was in front of me I’d probably rattle off some names.
PENCIL: I wouldn’t mind seeing DMA’s either. I’m going to explore a lot of new music.
HAPPY: What else have you guys got planned for the rest of the year?
PENCIL: Go to our show on October 12, everyone buy their ticket ’cause who knows how long they’ll be on Oztix for. We’ve got that and just finishing off the album, and we might be going up to Brisbane and Byron. We’re the most inactive band in Australia.
MOSS: We’re very selective, we don’t want to wear anyone out. We can only do a couple of gigs then we’ve gotta throw in the towel. Nah there’s gigs coming, don’t worry.
PENCIL: It won’t be a big finish, but it’ll be a huge beginning next year. Did you want to ask me about how I got my body?
HAPPY: …how did you get your body?
PENCIL: Actually, can you time my handstands? I’m getting good at handstands. Watch this…
(Pencil proceeds to do a handstand, and manages to hold it for 20 seconds before tumbling to the ground.)
HAPPY: That was 20 seconds almost, pretty impressive.
PENCIL: I reckon that was a little bit more than 20 seconds.
Be sure to catch The Ruminaters October 12th at The Landsdowne Hotel – get those tickets from Oztix here.
