Rubens Interview

Forty Shades Of Noise



Hailing from Scotland 'Rubens' are the latest addition to the electronic scene. However, before you turn away with images of nu-wave indie kids or techno house lords, these guys subscribe to no such religion. In fact, Rubens are not the type of musicians to get caught up in any of the current fads, preferring instead to experiment with sounds with the same passion a chef extends to food. Their music is a beautiful blend of emotions and moods that has the ability to transport you along a road where sound becomes the signposts for your ears.

Mark Millar caught up with Rubens prior to the release of their debut album 'Carnivalesque'

What were the motivations for getting together and forming Rubens

G: It just kind of happened really. We moved into a flat together in the summer of 2004. At that time we were both discovering the wonders of Ableton Live. One of us may have been working on a project and passed it to the other to see what they could do with it. We ended up with a track that sounded pretty fresh and have been working together ever since.

M: I’d been working solo for a few years on the ~ism project, putting out more downtempo stuff via netlabels, but not doing much more than playing around with ideas and getting familiar with various production methods and software. While sharing a flat with Gordon, I decided to give Ableton Live a sniff, after being recommended to it. It was at that point that Gordon became more involved in production and we naturally started to work on ideas as a unit. In terms of motivation, it was more of a creative outlet born out of boredom with our surroundings at the time.

Would you say that your music was something for people to dance to, or is it more for the chill out room?

G: I think our music has a bit of something for everyone to be honest, sure you could dance to some of the tracks but others, like ‘Giraffe’ for example, are more for listening to from the comfort of a good couch – something to get lost in.

M: Absolutely, there is a cross-over there for sure, between more uptempo stuff and our more sombre material. To be honest, it’s more head music than body-popping repetitive beat stuff. There’s enough of that about anyway. If you want to dance, stick some techno on. Our sound is more about getting your head dancing.

Don’t you think a lot of instrumental electronic, because of the fact that it has no lyrics, has to go a lot further when trying to convey ideas or emotions?


G: Maybe, it depends on how you look at it. I personally don’t think music needs lyrics to grab your attention. I think if it has lyrics then people concentrate too much on trying to work out what they are rather than just listening to the music. If there’s no lyrics then it’s more of a mystery as to what the track is about or where it is coming from and I like that.

M: I’d probably agree, there needs to be a lot more depth to the music, both in terms of sounds and in arrangement, if there’s no vocal to carry what might be an otherwise blan backing track. The whole focus is on music, rather than more obvious ideas and emotions conveyed by lyrics. The key for me, when it comes to electronic music, is in capturing some element of emotion, mood or feeling without necessarily spelling it out to the listener.

The beats on your album seem to have a really free, natural sound, a ‘real’ sound even, quite different from a lot of other electronic music?


G: Yea. We both like the idea of using acoustic drums with electronic music. They give the music that little something different. We use a drummer when we play live, again to add something different to the show. Having someone banging away on the drums brings something to the music that programmed beats just can’t offer.

M: It’s probably one of the most important elements to the Rubens sound in my mind, the fact that we both find ourselves more moved by a fusion of acoustic and electronic sounds, much more than just pure electronics. We’re both big fans of experimental electronic music, and take the view that there’s no point trying to reinvent the wheel or copy that sort of deep, complex material. May as well pop an Autechre album and listen to masters of their trade. The Rubens project is more about taking some elements of what we like about electronica and making it more accessible to the casual listener – maybe more ‘pop’ in a way…?

Slam, Boards of Canada, Christ., Dextro?…Scotland seems to have a healthy electronic pedigree, don’t you think? What do you think inspires that?


G: For me I think it is our surroundings, everything from the urban jungles of Glasgow and Edinburgh to the stunning scenery of our relatively untouched countryside. In a word I would say that ‘Scotland’ inspires the sound that comes from these acts.

M: It’s a complicated thing. Scotland has always had a special degree of creativity when it comes to music and the spoken word. In the world of electronic music, the tools that modern musicians use are all by and large the same, so it’s important to bring something personal to the resulting music…I think that particular something is deeply ingrained in Scottish musicians – of all genres maybe, not just electronic. I think it comes from the fact that the population by and large all live closely together in a relatively small area, surrounded by the wild landscape of rural Scotland…something about the relationship between a hard urban working life against the wistful nature of being Scottish comes out in the music. It’s like the ideas in Scottish music haven’t really changed all that much in hundreds of years, only the methods used to make it.


Does it ever bother you that there’s a whole network of artists who support each other, a whole scene like yours, which although popular in specialized press, never seems to get the same recognition as the next indie rock band in the mainstream press?


G: This doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I don’t want to be the ‘next big thing’ I just want to get on with my normal life and not have any pressure on me to deliver time and time again. Too much pressure can affect the music sometimes.

M: Totally agree. Not interested in the whole hype engine that artificially propels what to my mind is a stagnant and repetitive music industry these days. I’ve never felt so negative towards the commercial music industry than I do now, I think it’s really sad. There’s been next to nothing new or exciting in music since the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when the whole rave scene exploded. Since then, genuine musical boundary-breaking has become a thing of rarity…other than, as you say, in very specialised press and ‘in the right scenes’. Anything that ‘makes it’ or gets recognition in the mainstream press is, for me, probably a safe miss by default. It’s just so rare that you hear something these days on the radio that’s of genuinely original and fresh calibre. If the NME think that ‘nu-rave’ and the Klaxons are where this countries music buyers should be spending their hard earned, then fair play to them. Personally, I think it’s a shocking state of affairs.

Are you boring tech heads or are you a pair of rock and roll animals?


G: I would have to say we mostly listen to electronic music but at the same time we both like a bit of everything. From Boards of Canada to David Bowie or Modest Mouse I appreciate anything that is well made.

M: It would be a lie to say we’re both not tech heads, certainly more than rock’n’rollers. I love music gear, knobs, faders, anything that can be tweaked, programmed, fucked around with, and manipulated by other machines just to get a particular sound. That said, I spent my youth wearing out Iron Maiden tapes and jumping about to G’n’R and Motorhead, so it’s probably got more to do with just never learning to play guitar! Musically now, I’d say tastes have diversified a lot in recent years… a lot of electronic stuff, but today that doesn’t mean much as almost all music involves some form of ‘electronic’ production. Anything that sounds new and bends some musical boundaries gets my fire going. That and a good bit of ol’ Bowie of course!


Will we see you on the front page of the sun, bowling out of an Ibiza club off your nut with a half empty bottle of Cristal?


G: No. Fortunately those days are gone for me. I have been there and done that, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it but I am happier on my couch with my slippers on these days.

M: He’s lying, the G-man is a raging Blooter McNab with a penchant for the Tonic Wine (that’s the wine.) I’m fairly burnt out these days, but just waiting for a second wind to come along. Ibiza is probably the last place on Earth you’d have me set foot in though. Hell-hole as far as I’m concerned.

Can you remember what bands or artists turned you onto music in the first place, was there a defining moment or memory, and how have your tastes evolved since then?


G: I have to say that AC/DC were my first love and then Guns and Roses but around the time of The Happy Mondays and New Order I started to make the transition to listening electronic based music and I have never looked back really. I think this is why I have such a wide taste in music.

M: Metal was my first love, then got caught up in the whole indie/brit pop thing when it came along in the ‘90s with the likes of Inspirals and Stone Roses, etc Before finally developing a love for all things electronic – very late in the day it has to be said. These days, my taste in music has certainly developed beyond all recognition. Would not know how to describe it to be honest.

Do you start with beats, or sounds, or maybe an idea and work from there?


G: We don’t really have any particular method in the way we make our music. I suppose we normally start off with a few drinks and a session in our studio, just finding sounds we like. Some of these may end up going together nicely so we work some beats in and the beginning of a track is maybe born. We then spend a lot of time on the track and more often than not it changes a great deal throughout that process. A lot of the time we work separately, so I may find some sounds that I like and then send them over to Mark, he will add some things and send them back. A track can change hands a good few times before we get together and really work at finishing it.

M: Yeah, that’s pretty much how it goes. We want to get more hands-on and jam more real-time for our next material, which will hopefully translate better into live performance.

How do you see your place in the UK electronic scene, and where would you like to see yourself?


G: We are just getting going to be honest. Branching out from the studio and into the live arena. I would like to play live a lot more and hopefully be able to play a festival of some sort in the near future.

M: Want to be on Top of the Pops. With Andi Peters. If it was still about… Failing that, closing the Pyramid Stage at Glasto on the Sunday night would be something we’d be aiming for in the next 12 months. Oh, and being interviewed and/or insulted by that curly haired guy, Simon whatsisname, off Buzzcocks.


Black Dog, Dextro and Kirk Degiorgio remixed your track ‘Breaking Into Smile’ for your recent EP. What was it like having three artists like that, all leading names in different genres, produce the mixes, and what did you think of the results?


G: I have been blown away by it all. When we contacted these artists we were not sure whether or not they would want to work with us. They all seemed to like the idea though and we have been delighted by the results. The idea behind the EP was to cover a few genres and have a something on the record for people with different tastes. The result is amazing. It’s going to make a fantastic record and I can’t wait for it to be released.

M: For me, having the opportunity to have The Black Dog take a bite at one of our tracks has been a special experience. I’ve great respect for them and would even cite early Black Dog releases as an influence on our sound. So yeah – was great to hear their response. Also, Dextro is a good personal friend, who actually did the mastering on our album–as a favour – add that to the fact that he’s one of the best Scottish musical talents around at the moment, for my money. It’s been great to have these guys work with us on the record.

Your debut, Carnivalesque... talk about it's inception/conception.

Joint answer: It wasn’t until we did the deal with Herb that we seriously started to look at producing an album from what material we had at the time (2 or 3 tracks) and with a view to getting writing. Right from the outset, the themes that were apparent in our work, including the stuff that never made it onto the album as such, were of positivity and a sense of the upbeat about it. Which was in contrast to a lot of the music that we were both into – a lot of which was dark and often harsher stuff. It wasn’t until mid 2006 that the album came to have a name. It was actually lifted from a comment made by a good acquaintance and fellow musician (Fieldtriqp), when describing one of the tracks. I can’t remember which one now. But it all seemed to fit for us, and I think from that point on the remaining tracks came together in the sense of this funfair/carnival music idea – but always with a strong electronic ethic.