Singled Out: The Ruddy Ruckus' Bloodbath

Keavin Wiggins | 08-30-2022

Single art

Hamilton, ON rockers The Ruddy Ruckus recently released their new single "Bloodbath", and to celebrate we asked frontman Rob Brown to tell us about the song. Here is the story:

"Bloodbath" is an angry song disguised as a stadium rock banger. A lot of changes and loss have happened to the band over the last few years. In 2019, we were approached by our friend and mentor, Steve Parton, to manage the band. Steve had been fighting cancer for a number of years but it seemed that he had got a handle on it and was ready to begin a new career as an artist manager after selling his music school which he had spent years building into an important cornerstone of the Dundas music community. He started planning a tour for the band that would take us to Montreal and back to act as stepping stone to another tour of the North Eastern United States. Our first dates were booked for June 2020, and by that time all of the venues that we had booked were still closed as the first lockdowns and COVID restrictions remained in place. Our tour was cancelled and we were left wondering what to do.

Instead of waiting around, we decided to double down and record our first studio album, Wentworth And Main. We figured that we might as well do something that will help us when venues reopen and the tour could be rescheduled. As we weighed our options, Steve asked Luke Bentham (The Dirty Nil) if he would be interested in producing the album for us. Luke graciously said yes and brought aboard Vince Soliveri who recorded us at Boxcar Studios and his own basement studio at the Hamilton Dream Centre. We asked Dave Schiffman to mix for us and to our surprise he was enthusiastic about the project and introduced us to Harry Hess who mastered the tracks. Shortly after receiving the masters, Steve's cancer returned. After many brave years, he passed away in 2021.

On top of losing Steve, we've come to find that living ain't exactly easy these days. Jackson, Pat and I live in Hamilton while G lives in Kitchener. These cities are some of the most unaffordable places on the continent. Working people are really feeling the squeeze these days and there are times that feel pretty bleak. I came up with the chorus just because I thought it would be cathartic just to kind of scream into oblivion. Some days you gotta wonder how long you can just white knuckle through it all. Rehearsing and playing live again has allowed us to feel the temporary bliss that comes with turning the amps to ten and praying you don't blow a breaker. Otherwise, life is a bloodbath but what can you really do about it? It's not all bad and sometimes poking fun at what life does to you makes it feel a little more meaningful.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the band here