HARMONY IN MY HEAD

BROADCAST #23
AIR DATE: 05-30-06

Hello Fanatics. Tonight, we listened to two bands. The Ruts from England and Suicide from New York City. We listened to singles and tracks from the amazing Ruts album, The Crack. After that, we listened to the first album by the two man band Suicide. As you know, I am out of town and am trying to keep the show interesting. Engineer X and I pre-taped some shows for when I was away and this is one of them.
     I know this is a different format than what we usually do with lots of different songs and bands. I like doing the show that way so we can get to a lot of different music and moods and keep the thing moving but I think now and then, this is pretty cool too. Anyway, we’re giving it a shot and I hope you like it, of course.
     The Ruts and Suicide are two groups that I am sure you Fanatics are quite familiar with, not only hearing them on this show but from your own musical interests. I am sure many of you have these records and none of tonight’s material comes as any surprise but it’s like a good mix tape, you might know all the songs but it’s still a good time to listen. There’s no way this station is giving Suicide the airplay that this show does!
     In a way, this kind of format may be some of our most Fanatic formatting ever. I hope you liked it. Thanks for listening. Henry
     For you Europeans, Australians and New Zealand Fanatics, there is a re-broadcast time of Friday mornings, 0200 – 0400 hrs. West coast time so you all can check out the show and not have to set your alarms to too rude an hour. If you want to download this show, http://www.rollins-archive.com/ is the place to go for that.

So Fanatics, first up, an hour with The Ruts. The Ruts were Malcom Owen on vocals, Dave Ruffy on drums, John “Segs” Jennings on bass and Paul Fox on guitar. All I know of the history of the band is from what I have been able to grab off the internet. Past that, I have never seen all that much about them and between the different short histories, there seems to be some discrepancies. I will try to take up as little room with the band’s history and keep it simple as possible to avoid error.

     The band were from a small town called Hayes. At one point, inspired by the exploding Punk scene, Malcom contacted old friend Paul Fox and suggested they make a band. They formed and started writing and playing out. Some of the early material, practices and demo sessions can be found on compilation CDs now. In A Can and Bustin’ Out are two to check out.
     The demos are pretty great but nothing as monumental as what was to come from this band. That’s the one single thing that stands out the most with The Ruts in my opinion. These guys were ridiculous players. When you listen to what Ruffy is doing on drums and the level of sophistication of what Fox is doing on guitar, also the combination of Jennings and Ruffy on the Reggae material. These guys could really do it. I am not trying to leave out the great vocals of Malcom Owen but if you listen to the demos, then the first single and then the album, see that it all took place in several months and then listen to the post album tracks, what few there are and realize the band was over and done with by summer 1980 with the passing of Malcom Owen, it is fairly astonishing how much they achieved and how the band grew as players and writers. I don’t know what other bands thought of The Ruts at the time but they must have felt the heat when The Crack came out. It’s as solid an album as anything that called itself Punk Rock in those days. For those of you Fanatics who already have the album and the singles, you know what I mean. For those of you who yet to go through the all too brief Ruts catalog, you are in for a treat.
     Anyway, the band formed, they played and were quickly picked up by Virgin Records either in late 1978 or early 1979 and by the 2nd half of 1979, started dropping singles. Here’s a basic discography:
     In A Rut / H-Eyes – People Unite 01-24-79
     Babylon's Burning / Society – Virgin 06/79
     Something that I Said / Give Youth a Chance – Virgin 08/79
     The Crack (Album) 10/79
     Jah War / I Ain't Sophisticated – Virgin (UK) (11/79
     Staring at the Rude Boys / Love in Vain – Virgin 4/80
     West One / The Crack – Virgin 8/80
It was strength to strength it seemed. The band had strong allies in the music world in the form of the Damned. They toured together and were friends. The singles kept coming and the band was picking up fans wherever they went. The few live shows I have heard of the band are quite good. Like I said, the band could really play and the songs were great so there wasn’t anything not to like. Also, there was a believability to the Ruts. Malcom out in front looked like one of the audience and sung from experience.
     The beginning of the end started in 1980 when the band announced their “Back To Blighty” tour, coinciding with the release of the Staring At The Rudeboys / Love in Vain single and a John Peel session. The tour never really went very far as Malcom was not doing well. He had a heroin problem he was wrestling with and it was getting the better of him. The band went back to the home base to wait it out as Malcom got himself together. Malcom died of a heroin overdose on 06-14-80. He was 26.
     A single and album came out after he was gone. Both are great. The album, Grin And Bear It give you a hint at what the next album may have sounded like. It would have been a great one. If you go to your server, you can check out some short histories of the band but like I said, they don’t offer a great deal of detail. Thankfully, the music is all in print and it does all the talking. Below is a more expanded and Fanatic discography of the singles and the different territories they were released in as best as I could find. Also, there’s a list of the three Peel Sessions. After all that, the songs we heard tonight.

In A Rut / H-Eyes (Released 01-24-79) People Unite

Babylon's Burning / Society (Released 06-79) Virgin
Babylon's Burning / Society – (UK)
Babylon's Burning / Society – (Germany)
Babylon's Burning / Society – (France)

Something That I Said / Give Youth A Chance (Released 08-31-79) Virgin
Something that I Said / Give Youth a Chance – (UK)
Something that I Said / Give Youth a Chance – (Germany)
Something that I Said / Give Youth a Chance – (Portugal)

The Crack (Released 10-79) Virgin
     The Crack – (UK)
     The Crack – (UK, omits line in live cut)
     The Crack – (Germany)
     The Crack – (France)
     The Crack – (Greece)
     The Crack – (Japan)
     The Crack – (Australia)
          The Crack – (New Zealand)
     The Crack – (USA)

Jah War / I Ain't Sofisticated (Released 11-02-79) Virgin
Jah War / I Ain't Sofisticated – (UK)
Jah War / I Ain't Sofisticated – (France)
Jah War / I Ain't Sofisticated – (Australia no sleeve)

Staring At The Rude Boys / Love In Vain (Released 04-80) Virgin
     Staring At The Rude Boys / Love In Vain – (UK)
     Staring At The Rude Boys / Love In Vain – (Germany)
     Staring At The Rude Boys / Love In Vain – (Portugal)
     Staring At The Rude Boys / Love In Vain – (Australia no sleeve)

West One / The Crack (Released 08-22-80) Virgin
     West One / The Crack – (UK)
     West One / The Crack – (Australia no sleeve)

Grin & Bear It (Released 1980)
     Grin & Bear It (UK) (I don’t know what other territories this was released in.)

John Peel Sessions
01-29-79
Savage Circle
Babylon's Burning
Dope For Guns
Black Man’s Pinch (Give Youth A Chance)
Criminal Mind

05-21-79
SUS
Society
You're Just A...
It Was Cold
Something That I Said

02-18-80
Staring At The Rude Boys
Demolition Dancing
In A Rut
Secret Soldiers

So, now that we’re done with my favorite part of tonight’s notes, onto the important stuff—the music!

In A Rut / H-Eyes: These two songs make up the first ever Ruts single. Released without a picture sleeve on the People Unite label in 1978. The first 1000 of the single can be distinguished by having a black ring on the outer part of the label with “The Ruts” in white lettering. Later pressings had a white label with the band’s name in black lettering. Also, the first run is of a heavier gram count vinyl. You don’t see this one around all that often. Sometimes on Ebay. Not bad for a debut single! I remember hearing this, when I don’t remember exactly. I bought it at Yesterday and Today Records at some point and I still have my copy. It wasn’t one of the originals. I remember hearing it and thinking that they were incredible. At that time, they had some other singles out so I was a little late to the game on that one. I didn’t have a lot of information on any Punk Rock bands. I just went to the record stores, most of the time with Ian MacKaye, and we would get singles we had heard, heard of and sometimes we got them just because they looked interesting. It was always a gamble as an import single was worth about an hour’s wage so you hoped for the best. The Ruts never disappointed.

Babylon's Burning / It Was Cold / Savage Circle / Backbiter: All tracks from The Crack. Produced by Mick Glossop. I have never found much information on the actual making of the record. I have some press clippings coming in and hopefully there will be some articles that will give me more information and I will update this passage as Fanatically as I can. It Was Cold is my favorite Ruts song. I have many memories tied up in this record. This album is in print and readily available. I know most of you Fanatics have this one but if you don’t, either this broadcast will make you a believer or it won’t.

Something That I Said (single version) / Jah War (single version): Both these tracks were on The Crack album but not these versions. They are not alternate versions of the album tracks, just different edits as far as I can tell. They are on CD for the first time only recently thanks to the good folks at Captain Oi! Records who just released a CD of all The Ruts singles. They also released a CD of Grin And Bear It with extra tracks that is worth checking out.

Staring At The Rude Boys: To me, this should have been THE single for these guys. They could have toured America and ruled. If they hit major cities and played well, they would have been huge. It will always get to me that the band never really got a chance to break out and let the world see them. I know it would have been one of my all time favorite shows had I seen them. Recently, when we had Rat Scabies on the show, he told me some Malcom stories. He said at one point that they would take Malcom on tour with them to help keep him occupied. I wonder if that was the time when the band had come off the road right after the release of this single. I remember when this single came out, it was one of the best songs I had ever heard.

Demolition Dancing (Peel Session 02-18-80): I first heard this on the Grin And Bear It album. At the time, I didn’t know it was a Peel Session. I bet this song would have been on the next Ruts album. The Ruts Peel Sessions CD is out of print it seems. That’s why I play tracks from it all the time. I want to get the songs out to you all who might not have the record. I am hoping that either the BBC or Captain Oi! or some other label will put the CD back into print again or perhaps Virgin is planning a box set. It’s a shame that this collection of tracks is out of print.

West One (Shine On Me): This single was released after Malcolm’s passing. Another great track. Made Malcom Owens passing even more sad and frustrating. This would have been a great lead single off a new Ruts album.

I hope you enjoyed this hour of music. I hope that I have made a Ruts Fanatic out of at least one of you. If I have—mission accomplished!

Now, it’s onto the 2nd hour and onto to our featured album of the night: The first Suicide album.
     I think the year was 1979. I bought this album for a few reasons. The name of the band, the fact that the album cover graphic looked like it was done in blood and the picture of the band—all two of them made me really curious. That it cost three bucks helped. Like I said before, three bucks was a lot to me in those days.
     You Fanatics know this story by now. Ian and I got this record back to his attic bed room and listened to it and were fairly stunned. I didn’t know what to make of this album.
     The music was unlike anything my young ears had ever heard before. It was scary and strange. Also, the fact that it was so overwhelmingly intense yet so minimal. I didn’t even think in these terms at that point. The album just did my head in.
     One thing I keep bringing up, and I am sorry if I do; it was very difficult at least for me to get information on bands like Suicide at that time. No internet, no easy access to information. I didn’t know anyone who knew Suicide. I knew they were Alan Vega on vocals and Martin Rev on instrument. I didn’t know anyone who had seen the band play. So, they were one of those cool mysteries of my youthful exploration into alternative music.
     Years later, I finally learned more about Suicide. I actually met the men in the band and covered one of their songs. We had Ghost Rider in our set list for years.
     Speaking of years, it took years for the world to catch up with Suicide. They toured on this album right after it came out and had some serious reaction to their set, especially in Europe. Years after the fact, bands all over the world mention this album as being one of their favorites. They are now considered cool innovators. Mute Records have done a great re-issue of this album which now has extra tracks. I like Mute, they give bands respect.
     I have not included anything on the history of the band here. There is one. Vega and Rev were doing music in the early 70’s and only put the record out several years into their time together. Like the true innovators they are, they took a lot of flak for what they did and never backed off. If I get a chance, I will put in a few paragraphs on their history here at a later date. For now, you have the men and the music.

Featured album of the night: Suicide
Ghost Rider
Rocket USA
Cheree
Johnny
Girl
Frankie Teardrop
Che
Singles
I Remember
Keep Your Dreams