Melbourne rock and rollers Dead City Ruins return to Australia for their Homecoming Tour.
Since bursting onto the scene in 2007, Dead City Ruins have supported bands such as Skid Row, Ugly Kid Joe, Mastodon and many more, as well as touring the world with their own headline shows. The band has spent the last year bringing their working class hard rock to audiences around Europe, but they're set to return with a bang when they embark upon a 17-date national tour in December, ready to blast Australian audiences with rock and roll riffs and an in-your-face attitude.
You guys have been based in Europe for most of 2015, what's been happening over there?
We started with a six-week headline tour through England and Scotland then a two-month headline tour through Europe. It was pretty gruelling but it payed off. We were asked to join a tour supporting Norway's Audrey Horne and Sweden's Dead Lord. That was our first night-liner bus tour which was absolutely killer. In between those tours we have been playing as many festivals and pub shows we can get on and sleeping on people's couches. Europe is where rock and roll bands have to be; the industry here is massive and the fan base incomparable.
You've done a few headline tours of Europe now, are there any standout places you've played?
Switzerland has to be the most beautiful place I have ever seen and the Alps leading into northern Italy is breathtaking. We have been fortunate to play a lot of countries and we have been stupid enough to drive our selves and sleep mostly in tents or in our van. That really gives you the chance to see the best and worst parts of both humanity and this amazing planet we inhabit.
You did a tour diary for Scenestr of your Indonesian tour last year. How is it looking back on those shows, and how do your recent European ones compare?
Man it's crazy, that was a year ago now!! Indonesia was fucking intense. Those kids have nothing but they get their arses to the shows and they go nuts. The differences between those shows and Europe is like chalk and cheese: incomparable. Europeans have a long history of rock music, the support you get here is mind blowing, we always sell out of merch and CDs over here, we even have people turn up to shows with bags of food and beer for us. Any money we made in Indonesia we just gave back to our tour manager, Anca, he's a dude who lives for music and tours bands virtually for free, so we hooked him up.
Read Part One of Dead City Ruins' Indonesian 2014 Tour Diary here.
What's your favourite thing about being in a touring rock band?
The people you meet. I'm a pretty pessimistic person in the 'real world' but out on the road you can't help but see the good in humanity. I mean fuck, some girls we met bought our bass player new jeans 'cause we are dirt poor and his arse was hanging out. People take us into their homes and feed us, it's amazing.
What do you guys stand for as a band; what's Dead City Ruins all about?
We are just a band, we're not looking for a grandstand to force our political views on people. We just wanna play music so I guess that's what we are about, just playing music.
Read Part Two of Dead City Ruins' Indonesian 2014 Tour Diary here.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences? Sabbath and Zeppelin seem to be the stand outs, are there any we might not expect?
I can only speak for myself but there are a lot of different influences between members. I have always been stoked on bands like Iron Maiden, The Ramones, Blind Guardian, Megadeth, Skid Row, Motörhead, Saxon, Helloween and, of course, Black Sabbath. I dig a lot of blues like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Cray and Son House as well. What's really got me stoked lately is how many great new bands are around now, it's a fucking exciting time. Currently inspiring me are bands like: Rival Sons, Graveyard, Child Crobot, My Left Boot, The Shrine, Dead Lord and Audrey Horne.
You were personally invited to support Skid Row and Ugly Kid Joe on tour; what was that like?
Mate I moved to London when I was 19. I got a leather jacket and some cowboy boots and fucking thought I was Rachel Bolan! Ten years later I'm on tour with him and he's bringing me beers and making sure I've got enough to eat. It was crazy. That European tour was amazing, I still don't know how we did it. Forty-plus shows playing to 1,000-2,000 people every night, sleeping in our van and driving all night. Then to be asked to do the Australian leg was amazing. Those guys are all legends, they really saved our arses.
You're returning to Australia for a huge headline tour, are you looking forward to your homecoming?
We have not toured Australia on our own, so it's gonna be an eye opener. I love the Australian east coast. I did a lot of travelling when I first got my driver's license. Just sleeping in my car and hitting all the skateparks up and down the coast. I really can't voice how psyched on the Aussie tour we all are. It's going to be insanity!
What are the plans after this tour, heading back to Europe?
We have to head straight into the studio and wrap up our next album then the next touring cycle begins. We can't announce anything yet, but I can say there will be more Aussie shows and plenty more tours overseas.
You're working on a new album now as well, what can we expect from that?
Well we have finally got a solid line-up. We have had a bit of a revolving door on our rhythm section the past few years. I think we have finally got the line-up we have needed and the band has never sounded better. We have been trialling some new songs in Europe and they have been getting a massive response. I think the growth of our sound will be obvious to our fans. Like I said earlier, we have a lot of influences and this next album, so far, has a lot of great styles blended in. I can't wait to get it all down on tape and get back out on the road.
Written by Brendan MacLean
Dead City Ruins Homecoming Tour Dates
Sat 26 Dec - Boxing Day Slam (Geelong)Sun 27 Dec - Frankie's Pizza (Sydney)
Thu 7 Jan - The Cambridge (Newcastle)
Fri 8 Jan - Captain Cook Hotel (Sydney)
Sat 9 Jan - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)
Sun 10 Jan - The Bended Elbow (Albury)
Wed 13 Jan - The Brightside (Brisbane)
Thu 14 Jan - Coolangatta Hotel (Gold Coast)
Fri 15 Jan - The Helm (Sunshine Coast)
Fri 22 Jan - Saloon Bar (Gippsland)
Sat 30 Jan - Barwon Club (Geelong)
