My Ruin Interview

With their latest effort, "The Brutal Language", My Ruin have returned, this time with a batch of songs almost solely realized by the band's principal songcrafter, Mick Murphy. Well known for the presence of the band's magnetic frontwoman, Tairrie B, My Ruin have steadily developed a solid fanbase that will only grow with the release of this new, much more rock oriented outing. The Gauntlet took the time to chat with Murphy about "The Brutal Langauge", a dark album filled with many traditional rock elements and highlighted by excellent tracks like "Silverlake", it is one that fans interested in roots oriented heavy metal would do well to seek out.


The Gauntlet: Right now, the band has a lot going on; tell us about the brand new CD, "The Brutal Language".

Mick Murphy: Well, it came out on the 27th of September on our own imprint, Rovena Recordings. For North America, it's on our own imprint, distributed through Bayside Entertainment Distribution and 33rd Street Records. We just did a deal for the UK and Europe with Undergoove, so we're going to be getting back over there too, I'm really excited about that. Were on tour for the shit and things are going really well, man. We went through a lot of turmoil to get the record out. Our rhythm section quit the band in the middle of tracking so I pretty much erased their parts and started over. I played the bass guitar and drums myself on the record Tairrie and I just wanted to make sure that this band kept going, you know?


The Gauntlet: Mick, how difficult was it for you to work through all of that? It must be a really tough situation when you have half of the band leave in the middle of the recording.

Mick Murphy: Well luckily, I am the principal songwriter in the band. I demoed a lot of the songs so I pretty much knew them from top to bottom. I was pretty anxious about going in and tracking nine songs of drums, having not practiced the drums in about a year, but it actually worked really well and I had a lot of fun doing it. It was satisfying to rise to that challenge.


The Gauntlet: Anyone who is going to undertake that type of thing obviously is a very creative person. Where does all of this creativity come from?

Mick Murphy: Ever since I started playing guitar, I have always been into writing songs, demoing songs, I've always been into being in bands and just working at it. I think about it a lot and it's just something that's a part of me now. You know, I have been playing guitar for twenty-two years and I have been pretty much playing drums for fifteen years, so it just happened.


The Gauntlet: As the main songwriter in My Ruin, what is the principal thing that you are trying to get across with your music?

Mick Murphy: That rock's not dead. Metal's doing really well right now and there's a lot of really impressive, complicated bands out there that are doing some extreme stuff, but we kind of wanted to step away from that a bit and get into some rock 'n' roll, the guitar solos and the song structures, things like that. Tairrie wanted to get back into a metaphorical approach instead of being so direct, so people can draw their own conclusions about the meaning of each song, things like that. We just want to get it out there that you can do this yourself if work hard. It's not just about getting signed and it's not just about making videos and playing rock star. There's a lot more involved and I think that the more involved you are, the more satisfying it is at the end of the day.


The Gauntlet: Which tracks on the album have the fans been connecting with the most thus far?

Mick Murphy: Well, so far, we have been getting really good feedback for "The Devil Walks" and "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" and "Vince Vaughn" and I guess it's those three and "Silverlake" that get the best responses. For me personally, I really like "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" a lot. It's really fun to play, I think it's probably the heaviest track on the record and it's got one of these climatic builds in the middle and I like "The Devil Walks" too. As far as the album goes, I don't think that there's any filler on it. The material is really fun to do live and I think it comes across that way.


The Gauntlet: Did you drastically change anything from the way that the tracks that had already been laid down were played?

Mick Murphy: It's pretty similar to what was going on, but I pretty much wrote a lot of it anyway. Our old rhythm section was involved in the process of putting some of this stuff together, but I didn't study the parts that they played. I did it pretty much how I wanted to do it anyway. It's still based off the same song structure, the same riffs, etc. But it's my style instead of theirs. When I write a riff, I usually write a whole song around it. I write it and demo it and present it to the band. It's the blueprint for the song, so ninety percent of the song was written already. That's how I can go in and do this. The drums were done basically, in three and a half days and I did the guitar in a day and a half. So it was pretty fast, you know, man?


The Gauntlet: What is it like to be working with new members? Has it reinvigorated the group?



Mick Murphy: It's a nice, fresh start, man. I feel like the band is more powerful than it has ever been. It's fun again. These guys are happy to be playing in a band that's working and touring and has fans. Chris, our new bass player, he was suggested to us by a friend of ours in Soil and when his name came up, I was like "I know that guy." I had met him several times before, liked him, and knew he was a good guy. So I was like "Cool, man, let's call him." So we hooked up with him and saw that he was a hard working, smart, talented guy, so it was like "Cool, man, you're in." So as soon as we said that, he said "My friend, Jason, he played drums in my band." I said "Jason? I know him too". So it was two guys were good guys and good players that I knew that I could get along with, Tairrie could get along with and we basically brought them and rehearsed and after our first rehearsal, we knew we had our new lineup. We didn't want to have a big, official press release or big auditions or anything like that because, firstly, I don't enjoy that. I just wanted it to kind of fall into place, and it did.


The Gauntlet: What is it that you can tell me about the playing styles of the new members? Do they bring an element to My Ruin that was not present before?

Mick Murphy: Well, I think that Chris, the bassist is very tight. He plays very well with Jason and myself. He's got great tone, a great attitude, a total pro. If something goes wrong, he handles it like a professional. He's rock-solid, man. He learned the stuff really quick and he is very low maintenance. Jason is a full-on basher, he brings energy, and these big drum sounds. I think we have a bigger sound now, it's got a deeper impact than it used to. I think it's a little more aggressive, instead of flashy.


The Gauntlet: It certainly changes the visual dynamic of the group. How do you feel the band's overall stage presence has been affected with the change?

Mick Murphy: It's in your face. Tairrie is the best metal frontwoman out there, hands down. She really gets in your face. I have seen her convert tons of unfamiliar crowds; I've seen her rock fans. She get right up there with you, sing in your face, hold your hand, get down on the floor, I mean, she just rocks it, man. She is great at what she does and great at connecting with the fans. It's just going to be a full-on assault. There's no "You're lucky to be seeing our band", we're gonna put on a performance. It's going to be loud and it's going to rock and it's going to be fun.


The Gauntlet: What do you want fans that catch you in concert to get out of your music more than anything else?

Mick Murphy: I want them to get a feel of what rock used to be like, man. Before cheesy videos and digital editing and everything. I mean, we recorded in pro-tools, but it's not all digitally edited and perfected, it's just recorded. I think that there is a certain flair has been missing. I think we want a person to enjoy something that is rooted in maybe a little more of a classic kind of feel.


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Tags:  My Ruin  , Mick Murphy, interviews

EF    October 15, 2005