Since hitting the ground running in 2012 with their self-titled certified Platinum LP, Menangle five-piece The Rubens — Margin brothers, Zaac, Sam and Elliott, and friends Scott Baldwin and William Zeglis — have been on an upwards trajectory. Raising the bar, their certified Gold sophomore record ‘Hoops’ landed a gold medal in the Triple J Hottest 100 with its title track, and The Rubens’ third record is currently bookending their sonic trifecta, already debuting at number three on the ARIA Album Chart.
Venturing into more RnB and soul-influenced territory, in part due to the production fingerprints of Run the Jewels collaborators, brothers Torbitt and Wilder Schwarz, ‘LO LA RU’ was recorded between New York and Camden in NSW; the result is an intricately imagined blend of sounds and rhythms.
In between a huge regional headline tour and hitting the road with P!nk for her Australian and New Zealand tour dates, we had Elliot take time out to fill us in on linking up with Grammy Award-winning songwriter Sarah Aarons on their new single, the new album, and how the band they ended up with Brooklynite producers in an old bunker in rural NSW.
Best Before: You’ve just finished up your regional tour. How did that go?
Elliot: Yeah, really well! It was so fun. We played a whole bunch of shows, got to meet a heap of new people, and got to play in some far out places. We all had a lot of fun.
Do you find it a different crowd at a rural show compared to a crowd in a major city?
Yeah, for sure. I think there’s always going to be the potential for those shows to be more wild than the city-based shows, just because there’s not bands rolling through those towns too often. Generally, the fans are always so excited and happy that you actually came to their town, which is always really nice to hear.
That would be nice to hear! So you guys have your album ‘LO LA RU’ coming out soon. How are you all feeling in the lead up to its release?
Really good. I mean, all the work on the record is done; it was done ages ago so it almost feels surreal now. We’ve been sitting on this album for so long, and now it’s almost about to be released and we can start talking about it more and more, so that’s a bit of a bizarre feeling. But we’re all so excited.
“Okay, people think we’re a rock band now, so that’s what we’re going to be from now on.”
How long ago did you actually get the album finished up?
We finished the main recording of it late last year, then there was a late edition with “Never Ever” that we recorded earlier this year just so we could squeeze it on in time. So we’ve been sitting on it for quite a few months now.
You’ve said you didn’t have the confidence to incorporate an RnB influence into your sound until this record. In what sense do you think you had the confidence to do it on this album?
I think, just confidence within ourselves, and not really knowing what you’re allowed to do as a band at the start. When you start out as a band you put out your first few songs or whatever, and people will categorise you as x or y. Then, you kind of get the feeling that that’s what you are, so you’ll think, “Okay, people think we’re a rock band now, so that’s what we’re going to be from now on.” But then once you sort of get the hang of it all ,you realise there’s no rules in music, and that you can branch out and try new things. It’s all a learning process, and as the years go on we’re happy to try new things and experiment, which is what crept onto this record.
Did you intentionally add in the RnB influence, or is that how it panned out while you were writing?
Yeah that sound just came out in the demos; it just seemed to be what we were coming up with at that particular time. I don’t think we ever really sit down and say ,“This is what we want.” We never really have a particular sound in mind, or a certain type of record in mind. It will just be whatever flows when we start writing which, a lot of the time, is influenced by other records that we’re listening to.
“It was super fun to see how excited they got by things like lamingtons.”
Were there any particular albums that you were listening to that really influenced the album?
There were quite a few; it’s hard to think because it was so long ago, but I think one of the main records we were listening to was Chance The Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’. We had that on repeat a lot. But, once we go into the studio, we stop listening to other music and it’s almost as though you’re in your own little bubble of creating your own music. It’s very easy to get lost in that little world then, once it’s done, you come out and try to see what albums you’ve missed out on, and have to do a bit of a catch up.
You recorded the album in an old war bunker. How did you come across that?
So, it’s in Camden, our hometown, and Will (bassist) has been jamming there for ages. It’s actually owned by a mate of ours, Tim, so they’ve had that set up for years. It used to be a big, empty, cavernous space where they used to have parties and jam a little, but over the years they’ve managed to turn it into a proper recording studio. Will is super into recording and all the gear that is used to record, so we’re lucky to have all of that so close to home.
And the producers that you worked on the album with actually flew over from New York and spent some time with the band in Camden, didn’t they?
Yeah! Wilder and Torbitt came over — it was hilarious to have these American dudes come over and hang out in Camden and see that world. They loved it though, like going to the pub and having barbecues and being able to meet all our friends and family. It was super fun to see how excited they got by things like lamingtons.
I guess New York and Camden are completely opposite so that would have been a really cool experience to be able to share with them. And you guys also spent a bit of time over in Brooklyn working with them to finish off the album, how was that?
Elliot: It was really fun. So we initially went over and worked in Torbitt’s studio at the beginning of the process too, just to record a few tracks and see if we gelled. After that, we came back and did the majority of the album in Camden, then we went back over to Brooklyn to finish it all off in his basement.
I did notice the album is quite sonically varied. Do you think that working with Wilder and Torbitt influenced that, or does that more so come from you guys?
Elliot: I think it’s just the way that we are. The demos for all those songs on the record were all in that direction of being quite different. When we write for a record, we write a bunch of songs and slowly whittle it down to 11 or 12 that we will actually use. Before you do that, you have to actually plan out how you want the record to sound, and how much variety you actually want on there. That’s generally how we work. And then, hopefully, once we’ve chosen the songs, they are all cohesive and complement each other.
“Never Ever” feels like totally new territory for the band. Whose idea was it to have Sarah Allens sing on it as well?
Elliot: We actually got an email from Sarah’s management just before we were about to go to New York to finish off the record, saying that she just wanted to write with us, and we kind of thought it sounded fun, but we were heading overseas and the album would be finished by the time we got back. So, we just said, “Let’s meet up and write something together, and see what happens.” Sam and I got back from America, thinking we had the record all done, but then we met Sarah and hung out with her in the studio for about five hours, and we ended up with this track. I think it happened very naturally. I had this piano melody that I’d been playing around with for a while, so we laid that down and started throwing ideas around and we just thought, Sarah has an amazing voice and so does Sam — we figured we’d try out a duet and see how it sounded.
At that stage too, we thought the record was finished, so there was no pressure to necessarily make it a Rubens track or to get it finished by a certain time; we were just writing and playing around with ideas. But by the end of writing that song, we all realised we loved it and we felt like it could potentially be one of our favourite tracks, so we quickly squeezed it on there.
Sarah actually taught Sam and I a lot, too. We’re both quite shy when we’re writing songs; we don’t even write together. We do it all separately then we’ll come together and show each other. So then, being in the studio with her was a complete different experience, she is very open and shares all her ideas, so that was really cool for us.
It definitely paid off putting the song on the album — it’s one of my favourite tracks on there! You guys have a massive tour coming up supporting P!nk. Do you have any other plans for the rest of the year?
Elliot: Yeah, there will definitely be more shows and tours announced for us very soon. But, at the moment, the P!nk tour is the main thing we have going on. Then, after that, there will be a bunch of stuff we’re going to do that we’ll be sharing details for pretty soon which is super exciting.
The Rubens | AU & NZ 2019 Tour Dates
Friday 16 February – Galatos — Auckland (18+)
Saturday 17 February – San Fran — Wellington (18+)
Saturday 24 February – The Tivoli — Brisbane (18+)
Thursday 1 March – Forum Theatre — Melbourne (18+)
Saturday 3 March – Sydney Opera House — Sydney (All Ages)
Listen to ‘LO LA RU’ here:
Photo by Ali Lander-Shindler.