Sydney rockers The Ruminaters run pretty crazy day to day, and we’re not talking about their personalities. These dudes have just released a killer new single, Bad Bad Things, on top of running an emerging record label, jumping around the world and running events back home.
Soon enough, they’ll be playing at the prestigious BIGSOUND (catch them on September 8, at The Flying Cock in Brisbane), and shortly thereafter they’re set to release their next LP I Used To Hate The Ruminaters, Now I Like Them.
Somewhere inside the restrictions of this heavy schedule, The Ruminaters have managed to share an exclusive track with Happy.
The Ruminaters are gearing up for big things in the future. I Don’t Want To Be Like You is a taste of what’s to come, and you’ll only hear it here.
I Don’t Want To Be Like You is a demo from The Ruminaters’ own studio, the result of a high-energy jam the fellas smashed out one day. It’s a fun track, with simple lyrics sure to worm their way into your head.
We caught up with the band to chat about the track, and the long list of things they’re all up to at the moment.
HAPPY: When did you guys record this demo?
TEDDY: We recorded it probably a year ago? One day we were all muckin around in the studio and Pencil came up with the idea for the song. I started banging on the drums really loudly and playing along with him. It wasn’t long before Jake and Jarleth put down their guitars and walked out of the studio hahaha.
I don’t think they were that into it?
HAPPY: How come it never made it to a record?
TEDDY: It’s never really felt like an option to be honest. It was more of a muck around thing at first. It came around the same time we were writing a whole lot of other new stuff that we were more pumped on.
HAPPY: What’s the story behind the track itself?
PENCIL: The story is about a kid who is a bit of a deadbeat and how I felt I had to help him through his deadbeat life. I also reference my girlfriend Petie in the song too. There’s a line about missing her when she was in America.
HAPPY: Where do you guys record? Tell us about the space.
TEDDY: We built our own studio underneath Jake’s house in Avalon. It’s this old white house that sits up on this hill overlooking the rest of the town. It took us about a year or so to build and that’s where we write all of our songs. It’s bloody awesome. We are there most nights and for a while it was mainly just a rehearsal space but we have been demoing a new album there for a while now.
HAPPY: Have you guys always recorded yourselves or do you like working with a producer or in a different studio space for the final product?
TEDDY: We usually write and record demo versions of the songs in our studio. For us it’s always been the best way to capture the vibe and get the sound we want.
When we were in Europe we were able to spend a day recording at RAK Studios in London. That was probably the best day we have ever had in a studio. That place is amazing and it’s where we recorded the rest of I Used To Hate The Ruminaters, Now I Like Them. We worked with our really good friend Rob Brinkmann at RAK who’s recently finished recording new records for The Pixies and Royal Blood.
In the past we’ve had trouble finding the write producer to capture our sound but we really loved working with Rob. We are actually planning on heading back to London to record our next album!
HAPPY: In terms of production, who are your influences? I hear a bit of Connan Mockasin in some tracks, then more garagey influences in others.
PENCIL: Conan’s the man. I’m not much of a production kid. I’ve just been setting mics up in front of stuff and playing around with sounds. I really love Conan’s style of recording. I read that for his Caramel album he was trying to make it sound as much like caramel as he could. I like that. So when it comes to our softer songs, I try to make it sound as soft and squishy as I can. More like a marshmallow then caramel. Caramel’s a bit too sticky…
HAPPY: Can you tell me a bit about your record label – how it started, how it’s run, where you got name from, and plans for the future?
TEDDY: The Sunball Machine has two sides. Side A is a record label and side B is events. The first release for the label will be The Ruminaters upcoming record I Used To Hate The Ruminaters, Now I Like Them. We have been quietly working with a number of other artists and are super excited to release their records later in the year.
On the events side of things, we have a party coming up on September 16th at The Lord Gladstone in Sydney. Got a bunch of rad artists showing work on drum skins, free booze and The Rumies are providing the tunes!
Also working on a new venue for Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs as well! Stay tuned!
HAPPY: You guys seem to be taking a bit more of a chilled road on tracks like Mr Bubbles and your new single Bad Bad Things – does this vibe continue on your new record?
TEDDY: Yeah Mr Bubbles was definitely pretty easy going and chilled. We have lots of stuff in the works. We don’t try and write a specific type of song. We have some slow burners as well as rockin’ ones in the bag too. We are really excited to get all of these new tunes out!
HAPPY: Can you tell us a bit about recording Bad Bad Things (and Mr. Bubbles) – how did it differ from the first album?
TEDDY: Well the first album was recorded in a farm near Byron Bay. We recorded in a tractor shed with our friend Rohin Brown (Angus Stone/The Walking Who). It was really cool waking up every morning on the farm and going surfing before getting stuck in.
This new release was quite different as it was recorded all over the place. Sydney, Mullumbimby and London. It’s five tracks in length and is almost like a bridging record between our debut and the next full length.
HAPPY: Is I Used To Hate The Ruminaters, Now I Like Them close to being done? What can we expect from you guys in the following months?
TEDDY: Sure is! We have a seriously crazy 360 degree Virtual Reality video dropping next week for Bad Bad Things with the rest of the record to follow…We are already working on the follow up which we are planning to record in London. Plus more tours!
