The Wild And The Young
DEAD CITY RUINS
Interview by The Dedicated Rocker Society
Splicing the musicianship of 70's and 80's metal and the soul catching riffs of bluesy rock with the intensity and "f*ck ‘em all" attitude of punk rock, Melbourne Australia’s Dead City Ruins have been hard at work carving out a path of their very own.
Featuring Jake Wiffen (vocals), Tommy Teabag (guitar), Sean Blanchard (guitar), Andy Alkemade (drums) and Tony Alkemade (bass), Dead City Ruins is a working class hard rock band fueled by what life throws at them … good times, bad times, disappointments, achievements, and life in the cruel fuckin’ city!
On January 20th the band will release the follow-up to their 2011 debut album, 'Midnight Killer' with a new self-titled offering via Metalville Records.
The new album, which was engineered by James Lugo (Iron Maiden, Bruce Springsteen, Dokken), features ten tracks in total including standouts such as, “Happenzella”, “Til Death”, and a wholehearted tribute to the late Ronnie James Dio with an original track aptly titled, “DIO”.
In an appropriate finale, the band close with a bonus track and tribute to their Australian brethren AC/DC covering “Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation”, which includes a special guest appearance from vocalist Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe.
Following the recording of the album the members of Dead City Ruins immediately jumped back on the road for a thirteen country tour of the UK, Europe, and Scandinavia supporting American heavyweights Skid Row and Ugly Kid Joe to rave reviews! Dead City Ruins has also shared festival stages with the likes of Mastodon, Diamond Head, Orange Goblin, and Hardcore Superstar.
We had a chance to ask Dead City Ruins' singer, Jeff Wiffen about his band, their influences, Ronnie James Dio and more! Here's what he shared with us...
Q: How long have you guys been together as a band? How did you guys come up with the name for the band?
JW: DCR was formed in London during 2007, although that was a different line up To what we have now. The Current line up was formed in Melbourne during 2010, this is when we started to develop our real sound. There's not much of a story to the name really, I was drinking pretty heavily when I lived in London and I just thought the whole city was dead....... The name, Dead City Ruins just came to me whilst I was consuming a bottle of rum.
Q: How would you describe your band's musical approach? Who are some of your musical influences?
JW: Our sound has been quoted as sounding anywhere between Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains and Thin Lizzy. Our influences are pretty broad as individuals, from Meshuggah to Neil Young the list is pretty much endless, though as far as our musical sound I would say we lean on the following bands:
Sabbath
Thin Lizzy
Iron Maiden (killers era)
Judas Priest
Alice in Chains,
although lately we have been heavily into Crobot and The Rival Sons
Q: Memorable moment(s) in the making of your latest release, good or bad, that can share with us? Are you satisfied with how the album turned out?
JW: Haha the whole experience was out of control. It's the first time we have had a producer involved which was great but we were not used to it. we had just come off a 3 month European tour and we were struggling for cash and short on time. The other lads in the band pretty much partied the whole time, I blew my voice trying to get all the tracks done in a few days so we had to book more studio time, they wanted to kill me. Man we are true believers that it's never the perfect time to do anything as far as a band is concerned, you just roll with the cards your dealt and and do ya bloody best. We're stoked on how the record came out, high pressure no time....sometimes it just works.
Q: What is the song writing process for you as a band? Group or individual?
JW: We all write together, someone might have an idea, they bring it to rehearsal and we jam it out. Structures change over and over and we like to have a group input. You'll notice all our songs are credited to Dead City Ruins. No egos here, nobody is considered the band leader.
Q: Are there any plans for you guys coming to America to do some shows? If you do get to come over, who would like to tour with?
JW: In March we are relocating to Germany so we can be on tour all year, we have our eyes on the states aswell, we just need to find a booking agent.... If you know anyone? Our first tour of Europe we played 50 shows and slept in a tent, I'd love to do the same in the states. There's a ton of bands we would love to tour with, we supported Mastodon in Italy once, they are rad dudes, Motörhead of course. But realistically Crobot, Rival Sons or our good mates Airbourne.
JW: For myself, I'm a massive sabbath fan and when I first heard the album heaven and hell,I was pretty young and I thought what the hell happened to Ozzy!! But for me that is the greatest record Dio ever sung on. Every song brings back memory's of being a teenager sleeping in my car and just blasting that album.
Q: You guys do a killer cover of AC/DC' s "Rock N Roll Damnation", how did you get Whitefield Crane to come in a do vocals?
JW: Whit is an amazing person. We were lucky enough to tour Europe in 2013 and Australia in 2014 supporting Skid Row and Ugly Kid Joe, two of our favourite bands. We were just sleeping in our van, driving ourselves around and selling merch for gas money. Those dudes took us under their wing, they would bring us beers and breakfast, made sure we survived. So we became pretty good mates. After the tour Whit and Sonny spent some time chilling in Melbourne. Whit had mentioned that he wanted to cut and AC/DC song while he was in Australia (he's a massive fan of Bon) so we called around, booked some studio time and cut Rock n Roll Damnation. Whit does the best Bon!!
Q: Did you guys consider doing another classic? If so, which ones?
JW: We have messed around with a few other covers but I don't think we would attempt to record anything else.
JW: Future goals for DCR are pretty straight forward, keep touring and keep recording. We want to be on the European summer festival circuit by 2016 and we want to get our arses to America.
Q: What separates Dead City Ruins from the rock bands that are out right now?
JW: It's always hard to say what separates your band from the "pack", I would just say we bridge the gap between metal and rock n roll. You could throw us on before slayer and we'll leave with new fans or you could throw us on supporting Aerosmith and we'll leave with new fans.
Q: What can we expected from you guys in 2015?
You can expect 2015 to bring a new DCR record and a ton of touring. We will be kicking off our European tour in England on March 18th. We're relocating to Germany and we will be playing as many shows in as many countries as we can possibly fit into one year. Cheers Guys, like I said, we want to get our arses to America so spread the word brother.
Jake
Dead City Ruins
For more info on, DEAD CITY RUINS, please visit,
http://deadcityruins.bigcartel.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment