It has been a long while since I have posted on this blog. Primarily because I have had very little to say for a while now. But RUINED just got home from a tour to the East Coast and back and it seems like a decent topic to break the ice with again. I won't go over every intimate detail of the journey, but if anyone gives a shit about this kind of shit, then this shit might be up your shit alley.
May 26th Grand Rapids, MI - Better turn out than I expected. I spent most of the tour talking about how much of a shit-shack GR is but it is my shit-shack nonetheless.
May 27th Detroit, MI - Played at the Trumbullplex. It was a last minute show and only two bands ended up playing. We played with a band called Catmom who are the two piece version of a band called Social Work. Both members were fun to talk to. We ate vegan mac and cheese and it was fucking delicious. This was a review we got before the show. “Billowing distortion, muffled vocals, and a meditative pace. Ruined have mastered all the elements of shoegaze. But where much shoegaze frolics in the summer twilight, this Grand Rapids duo plods through the cold night. With just bass and drums, they're able to cover a lot of dark ground. Sometimes their sound is delicate and lovely, sometimes harsh and heavy, but always bleak and dejected. There's something strangely invigorating about such a sustained look into the shadows.”
May 28th Berea, OH - Loaded our gear out in the pouring rain and drove to Ohio. Played to about 4 high school kids and a girl with a Slipknot shirt who doesn't listen to Slipknot. As a first sergeant in the Maggot Army this offended me greatly.
May 29th Buffalo, NY - This was probably the best show of tour. Every band was insanely good. The first band was a bunch of high school kids playing shoegaze influenced almost metalcore. It was weird to hear at first but it was kind of cool in the end. Unfortunately I was actually sleeping in the car during their set. I needed a quick 15 minute nap and I felt way better the rest of the night. But everyone really dug them. Then a drum and bass band played and they had a very post-punk quality to them and they were good and fun to listen to. Before the show I met a guy named Dan who complimented my Mournful Congregation shirt and we talked about funeral doom and Wolves in The Throne Room for a while. He played a bleak metal noise set after the post-punk band and it was incredible. Easily the best noise set I have ever seen. It was really great to meet him and be able to relate about music. We played our set after his and it went really well. Everyone really liked us and Sky was on fire. The energy in the room was potent and visceral. The only downside was I was losing my wind on the vocals a little. But otherwise our set went really well and everyone received us in a great way. The last band was a father son funk drum and bass band. They were astoundingly talented and I of course love slap bass. But the analogy I used after the show was "Watching their set was like watching someone jerk off. It's fun at first but after the first 10 minutes I just wanna go to fucking sleep." They were pretty much a jam band, so I was really into them for the first 4 songs of their set, but the next 7 were rough to get through. I appreciate virtuosity for what it is: a building block to creating actual music. That was the stuff I was into my teen years but eventually I realized that you have to take what you learn from the theory, precision and obsessive practice and actually write music that will change your life and possibly others. Don't get me wrong, it was fun watching their set but I lose momentum after 10 or 15 minutes with that shit. This coming from the boring ass gloomgaze musician who has 10 minute long songs.
May 30th The Road - Drove from Buffalo to Boston. Went to bed.
May 31st Boston, MA - Hopped onto a punk show at the venue we were going to playing the next night. This show went better than our actual show.
June 1st Boston, MA - Played our gig. The screw came out of my bass and our set fell apart. Everyone rejoiced.
June 2nd Boston, MA - Jerked off stalefish and watched Rocky.
June 3rd Brooklyn, NY - This show sucked shit. We played really well and had
fun but no one came out. And during our set the sound guy kept telling me to
turn down and even had an Ipad with an app that read decibels and was waving it
around to get a reading. I fucking hate bars I don't know why I ever play them.
No one ever gives a shit. Everyone there is just trying to get laid and is
pissed that the bands are playing too loud so they can't talk. Why do people
always have to fucking talk? Fuck talking. Needless to say, apparently we were
loud enough that the beer glasses were shaking on the bar and they got pissed.
We didn't get paid and I sold one tape to a guy in the first band who was
really cool called Junkyard. Otherwise I did have the best falafel of my life
after the show at a place called "Oasis" in Williamsburg. Then we had
to unload all of our shit again after we got to Graham's so we didn't get
ripped off. Needless to say I was fucking wiped out by the end of the night.
June 4th Brooklyn, NY - Philadelphia fell through. So we jerked off stalefish and watched Bob's Burgers.
June 5th Pittsburgh, PA - This show also went really well. We were pretty ornery after our 7 hour drive especially since the car was acting fucking stupid. But we arrived after a long journey through the mountains of Pennsylvania. We had pretty low expectations when the opening act was a man in a gold dress banging a gong that had a contact mic on it. But the second band was a really cool hip hop R&B band that used a lot of samples and electronic beats. It was really fun to listen to even though Sky and I were in the basement groaning because we had to set up basically in a closet. But we played our set and everyone seemed to like us and they donated really well which I was very grateful for. I have never played a bad show in Pittsburgh, it is easily my favorite city I have been to. We ate at a place called "Spak Brothers" and I had the best vegan hoagie of my life.
June 6th The Road - The car kept acting fucky so we had to bail on Columbus and limp our way back to GR. We were not missed and everyone got more sleep without our presence. Everyone won.
So there it is, our first tour in the bag. We plan on taking a show hiatus until we can get a van and sort out our other logistically issues. Otherwise we will remain very much so active behind the scenes as we begin working on a full length record that we hope to start recording later this year. I am going to try and keep updating this blog with both RUINED updates and of course sporadic rants about my day to day life. God hates us all, stay gloomy you know the drill.
 |
| We called it the "Baja Blast Tour 2014." And it was glorious. |
May 27th Detroit, MI - Played at the Trumbullplex. It was a last minute show and only two bands ended up playing. We played with a band called Catmom who are the two piece version of a band called Social Work. Both members were fun to talk to. We ate vegan mac and cheese and it was fucking delicious. This was a review we got before the show. “Billowing distortion, muffled vocals, and a meditative pace. Ruined have mastered all the elements of shoegaze. But where much shoegaze frolics in the summer twilight, this Grand Rapids duo plods through the cold night. With just bass and drums, they're able to cover a lot of dark ground. Sometimes their sound is delicate and lovely, sometimes harsh and heavy, but always bleak and dejected. There's something strangely invigorating about such a sustained look into the shadows.”
May 28th Berea, OH - Loaded our gear out in the pouring rain and drove to Ohio. Played to about 4 high school kids and a girl with a Slipknot shirt who doesn't listen to Slipknot. As a first sergeant in the Maggot Army this offended me greatly.May 29th Buffalo, NY - This was probably the best show of tour. Every band was insanely good. The first band was a bunch of high school kids playing shoegaze influenced almost metalcore. It was weird to hear at first but it was kind of cool in the end. Unfortunately I was actually sleeping in the car during their set. I needed a quick 15 minute nap and I felt way better the rest of the night. But everyone really dug them. Then a drum and bass band played and they had a very post-punk quality to them and they were good and fun to listen to. Before the show I met a guy named Dan who complimented my Mournful Congregation shirt and we talked about funeral doom and Wolves in The Throne Room for a while. He played a bleak metal noise set after the post-punk band and it was incredible. Easily the best noise set I have ever seen. It was really great to meet him and be able to relate about music. We played our set after his and it went really well. Everyone really liked us and Sky was on fire. The energy in the room was potent and visceral. The only downside was I was losing my wind on the vocals a little. But otherwise our set went really well and everyone received us in a great way. The last band was a father son funk drum and bass band. They were astoundingly talented and I of course love slap bass. But the analogy I used after the show was "Watching their set was like watching someone jerk off. It's fun at first but after the first 10 minutes I just wanna go to fucking sleep." They were pretty much a jam band, so I was really into them for the first 4 songs of their set, but the next 7 were rough to get through. I appreciate virtuosity for what it is: a building block to creating actual music. That was the stuff I was into my teen years but eventually I realized that you have to take what you learn from the theory, precision and obsessive practice and actually write music that will change your life and possibly others. Don't get me wrong, it was fun watching their set but I lose momentum after 10 or 15 minutes with that shit. This coming from the boring ass gloomgaze musician who has 10 minute long songs.
 |
| Story of my life. |
May 30th The Road - Drove from Buffalo to Boston. Went to bed.
May 31st Boston, MA - Hopped onto a punk show at the venue we were going to playing the next night. This show went better than our actual show.
June 1st Boston, MA - Played our gig. The screw came out of my bass and our set fell apart. Everyone rejoiced.
June 2nd Boston, MA - Jerked off stalefish and watched Rocky.
 |
| Our goal. |
June 4th Brooklyn, NY - Philadelphia fell through. So we jerked off stalefish and watched Bob's Burgers. June 5th Pittsburgh, PA - This show also went really well. We were pretty ornery after our 7 hour drive especially since the car was acting fucking stupid. But we arrived after a long journey through the mountains of Pennsylvania. We had pretty low expectations when the opening act was a man in a gold dress banging a gong that had a contact mic on it. But the second band was a really cool hip hop R&B band that used a lot of samples and electronic beats. It was really fun to listen to even though Sky and I were in the basement groaning because we had to set up basically in a closet. But we played our set and everyone seemed to like us and they donated really well which I was very grateful for. I have never played a bad show in Pittsburgh, it is easily my favorite city I have been to. We ate at a place called "Spak Brothers" and I had the best vegan hoagie of my life.
June 6th The Road - The car kept acting fucky so we had to bail on Columbus and limp our way back to GR. We were not missed and everyone got more sleep without our presence. Everyone won.
So there it is, our first tour in the bag. We plan on taking a show hiatus until we can get a van and sort out our other logistically issues. Otherwise we will remain very much so active behind the scenes as we begin working on a full length record that we hope to start recording later this year. I am going to try and keep updating this blog with both RUINED updates and of course sporadic rants about my day to day life. God hates us all, stay gloomy you know the drill.
 |
| Ruined |
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