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Hamelin lays down the beat of Born Ruffians

January 20, 2012
By Jordan Pearson

 

Ontario-based quartet Born Ruffians are conquering the world with indie pop and recording their third full length record. Drummer Steve Hamelin sounds off on Pitchfork, SOPA, and writing pop music.

 

How does the songwriting process work with you guys? You actually retreated to a secluded farm to write the songs for the upcoming record —that seems like an odd place to write music as energetic as yours.

We wanted a place where the four of us could be around each other—the ideas kind of came. The last record was almost written on a schedule. Living in the house, we’d [write] Monday to Friday a lot of the time. So, during that week when we felt like we had something to do, we would do it, instead of sitting there and forcing it.

 

After two records in the same musical vein, was there any temptation to reinvent your sound?

Yeah, we’re always hoping that we’re going in a new direction. But more than anything, we wanted this to be a really serious pop record. Not so much serious in terms of content, but a polished recording. Though hopefully not in a lame way where you get one of those shitty, overproduced records. We’re trying to bring our songs up to a level that we think will compete with the other pop music that’s out there.

 

Some people might say this is a make-or-break moment for Born Ruffians. Pitchfork wrote a pretty scathing review of Say It. Did that pressure affect how you approached this record?

Yeah, I don’t want to give Pitchfork any more credit than they deserve. I wouldn’t say that we went into this record thinking, “Oh, what can get us that wicked Pitchfork review?” But, that being said, basically everything that’s happened with the previous record and even personal things up until now has influenced where our next record comes from. I’d be lying if I said reviews don’t come into play. But I think if you write songs with that one thing on your mind, you’re going to be disappointed with yourself in the end.

 

You run fairly active Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr accounts. Being an indie band, how do you feel social media affects your relationship with your fans?

SH: I think it’s the best thing we have going for us as a band at the bottom. It levels the playing field, to some extent. I think it allows you to get things out there to potentially as many people as someone with a major press campaign because the Internet, to some extent, is free and open for anyone to find anything. You don’t necessarily have to [have a major press campaign].

 

What about piracy? Are you worried that your new album will leak, for example?

I guess you should be worried about a leak. But for a band like us, if it leaked and people got it and wanted it, that’s almost like a victory. There was enough interest that people wanted your music ahead of time. If people are downloading it and they’re coming to your shows, that’s fine with me. If someone downloads a record and they become a fan of that band, go to a show, buy their old record, or do something that supports that band in the future, then that only helps.

 

Hearing things like that from independent musicians gives me hope for the music industry.

I agree. I think there are so many pluses that come with the Internet, and the things that are demonized and looked at as negatives—it’s kind of smoke and mirrors. There’s so many positives that you just have to adapt. You can’t fight it. This is on my mind because SOPA and Protect IP are all over the internet lately. Under that bill, our fan-made Tumblr could get shut down because she’s posting streams of a new song or pictures that we didn’t authorize—how stupid is that?

Born Ruffians perform at APK Live tonight. Doors open at 9 p.m., and tickets are $15.

 

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