Henry Rollins’ all-time favourite band, The Ruts (DC) are perhaps one of the more unlikely survivors of the first wave of punk. The death of original singer Malcolm Owen would have been enough to finish many bands in their position, but even in the first phase of their career, at the height of punk The Ruts were different: not only lyrically and politically articulate, but different stylistically, drawing on a broader musical palette that drew heavily on dub and reggae – but without being cheesy with it.
Having continued top operate as Ruts DC through the 80s, and remained active and having recorded new material in recent years, they’ve achieved the rare feat of balancing an element of nostalgia while being an active recording band. Contrast this with so many of their peers, who’ve plugged away on the gigging circuit playing old songs to told punks in ever smaller venues and to diminishing returns, or the likes of the Pistols who managed to annihilate their credibility in one fell money-grabbing swoop when they reformed to unashamedly milk the cash cow of nostalgia. Yes, The Ruts were different, and so if their latest offering does perhaps have a hint of the cash-in about it, it’s the context that counts. Besides, who doesn’t do an acoustic best-of these days?
Coming together for a benefit gig for founder Paul Fox in 2007 after the band had been on a 27-year hiatus, Ruts DC finally followed up the seminal ‘Rhythm Collision’ album (1982) with ‘Rhythm Collision Vol 2’in 2013, and then ‘Music Must Destroy’ in 2016, proving they’re still a force to be reckoned with, and that sometimes, the originals are still the best.
With core axis of Jennings and Ruffy still in place, they’ve retained their integrity and have a genuine claim on still featuring more founding members than most bands who’ve been going considerably less time.
It started out with a well-received acoustic show at Rebellion Festival in 2019, and while the extensive acoustic tour booked – and rebooked – for 2020 was reduced to just a brace of London shows at the end of the year, they’ve still managed to deliver what promises to be the first instalment of studio recordings of acoustic-ish renditions of songs spanning their career.
It’s telling – and significant – that a large portion of the album is actualy occupied by songs from ‘Music Must Destroy’, with the title track raising the curtain on this collection, showing that this is a band who are very much living and working in the present, and aren’t content to simply dine out on their past. The inclusion of ‘Kill the Pain’, Soft City Lights’ and ‘Psychic Attack’ are all evidence, and reaffirm the band’s songwriting prowess, and keep their sociopolitical stance to the fore, railing against corporations and the system.
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They revisit their first Ruts DC release, the criminally underrated ‘Animal Now’ from 1981 – a dark album born out of dark times – with ‘Dangerous Minds’ and ‘Walk or Run’. The former is dark and brooding, and stands out for its slower, more contemplative tone. The album’s post-punk style prefaced some of grunge’s more introspective moments, and that’s never more apparent here. Then again, ‘Walk or Run’ is a skiffly blues-oriented cut that highlights the band’s eclecticism that extends beyond dub / reggae. This is why The Ruts (DC) always stood apart from their peers, and pissed on the Pistols: they were infinitely better musicians, for a start, and while they could nail a sharp hook, they were also more lyrically articulate than simple spraypaint slogans, and this is never more apparent than when they delve – as they inevitably do – into the ‘vintage’ era of their back caralogue.
It perhaps goes without saying that the classics are still classic whether they’re played with a full, band, acoustically, or backwards, and ‘In a Rut’ isn’t only a definitive signature tune but probably one of the greatest songs to have emerged from the punk era. Quite simply, it’s impossible to go wrong with it, and of course, they don’t, and this version is proof that acoustic doesn’t have to mean wimpy, and it’s a gutsy rabble-rouser delivered with gusto – and some nice spacey atmospherics in the break. Similarly, ‘’Something That I Said’ is played so strong that it doesn’t feel like an acoustic version, and they certainly manage to fill out the sound even with the unplugged setup – the backing vocals certainly help in this respect, but the main thing is that they play pretty hard while retaining the detail of the original electric versions.
The album’s rounded off with ‘H-Eyes’ and ‘Babylon’s Burning’ back-to-back, and it just doesn’t get better than that.
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