Needle - Single
After teasing “With Her Shadow” on New Year’s Day, Born Ruffians launch “Needle” from the quartet’s upcoming (3rd) album, Birthmarks. ‘The track’ premiered on Pitchfork and is now available for digital download on iTunes. Supporting this release, the Ruffians have announced a series of US dates to continue their Canadian tour that kicks off in March. Sort of Weezer meets Fleet Foxes with a Maritime twist.
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Born Ruffians from Toronto, Canada here. We’re writing to tell you we’ve just finished our third album – Birthmarks. When we wrote our first album, Red, Yellow & Blue, we all lived in a house in downtown Toronto. We jammed in the basement, which meant whenever we had an idea we could work it out right there that moment. Our second album, Say It, was different. We’d moved out of the house to separate apartments and wrote the record in a rehearsal space over a 6 month period.
This time, we had no interest in going back to the rehearsal space. Instead we went back to the roots of our debut and lived together again. The three of us plus Andy, our fourth member now with us to fill out our live show, spent a spring and a fall isolated at a haunted farmhouse in rural Ontario.
Living together and not relying on a shitty rehearsal space was important to us. We wanted to be able to write when the idea was fresh, stop when we got stuck, and pick everything back up whenever we wanted. Being on a farm where we were isolated and could turn up as loud as we could was important.
These songs – Birthmarks – came out of a dusty living room in an old house, in between chopping wood and build- ing bonfires, playing crokinole at the kitchen table, cooking family dinners and shooting beer cans with a bow and arrow. We’d wake up, head downstairs from our rooms, and write.
While some of Birthmarks was born on the farm, many of the songs were conceived long before. Luke would write and demo constantly on his laptop, at home, on tour, in Toronto, Montreal, Midland, Australia, France, Germany, everywhere. Several songs were realized during the recording process in the studio.
After we felt we had a strong group of songs we booked ourselves into Boombox Sound and spent most of 2012 moving in, out and around there with producer Roger Leavens and engineer Marcel Ramagnano tracking some 15 songs and figuring out the sound of the album. Luke had just finished doing an album of his own at Boombox so the environment was warmed up and ready for the band to come in. Luke worked closely with Roger on the produc- tion of the record, bringing sounds and parts of demos in from his laptop and dropping them into the studio, often building from there. The sound of the record was largely shaped by freedom of time and the new ability to manipu- late a song over the course of several days or weeks until it was ready.
We don’t want to tell you about what we think we sound like. We can tell you that this record will sound different. These songs lived with us, toured with us, got drunk with us and made our ears ring. Now, we get to hit the road and start making your ears ring. It took us almost three years writing all over the world, several months of farm life in the country, and a calendar year at Boombox Sound to finally finish Birthmarks. We think it’s time to show you what Born Ruffians birthed.
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@tesladrianne hey! Email alan@travelledmusic.co.uk for details. Early show tonight at Barboza. -
Okay Seattle. Steve picked a random number. That number was @tesladrianne! Two tickets for you tonight at Barboza! -
@derickjthompson quiet you! -
Also it's 21+ tonight. BAH -
Wanna come see us at Barboza tonight in Seattle? Show's sold out. But I'll give two tickets to someone at random who RTs this right here. -
SEATTLE! LAST SHOW OF TOUR TONIGHT! SOLD OUT! Come help us end it right. We're climbing the Space Needle after. Bring everyone you know. -
RT @theBarboza: Our @BornRuffians show tonight will sell out before doors open at 7pm... scoop tix now if you're planning to go! >> http://… -
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Thanks @kexp! For having us on. And tolerating our lateness. And for giving us beer. And letting us sweat in your building. Thanks. -
About to go live on KEXP! @kexp -
@mapleleafs I certainly erupted and scared the ever-loving dog crap out of everyone near me. Beauty goal. -
RT @StarTheaterPDX: BORN RUFFIANS with Moon King starts in a few hours! Get your tix while they last at http://t.co/Osv0ayXkZH. -
PORTLAND! We're at the @StarTheaterPDX tonight! ALL AGES. YEAAAAHHHFFF -
The most interesting man in the world pooped at this gas station. http://t.co/5PhQ9P8byX -
RT @Noelsterson: Lux loves the cube, too. She is queen of the cats. @BornRuffians http://t.co/M5vK1zxE48 -
“@pandora_radio: @BornRuffians Thank you so much for coming in today! It was a” thanks for having us! We had a -
RT @pandora_radio: Thanks to Luke from @BornRuffians for singing to Pandora Oakland today! http://t.co/34dCGpAGHQ -
Sweet BR art at Pandora today! @pandora_radio http://t.co/T2geHSNRNJ -
RT @kexp: Today's Song of the Day is "Needle" by @BornRuffians, out now on @YepRoc! 5/11 at @TheBarboza! Download FREE: http://t.co/RwmGt5f… -
ALSO. You can vote for Needle at The Drive 98.9. Last time I posted a voting thing I think you guys broke the site: http://t.co/1bAB8zdGOi
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SEATTLE! LAST SHOW OF TOUR TONIGHT! SOLD OUT! Come help us end this thing right. We're climbing the Space Needle after. Bring everyone you know.
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PORTLAND! We're at the Star Theater tonight! ALL AGES. YEAAAAAHHHFFFF>>>
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HEYO. You can vote for Needle at The Drive 98.9. Last time I posted a voting thing I think you guys broke the site: http://www.989thedrive.com/

98.9 THE DRIVE - Essential Alternative
www.989thedrive.com
98.9 THE DRIVE is Kingston's Essential Alternative radio station. You can also listen online now at 989THEDRIVE.com or download our free mobile app now to get THE DRIVE on your smartphone. -
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SAN FRANCISCO! We're at Slims tonight. LET'S GET CRAZY. I'm giving away TWO TICKETS right here right now.
How to win: Like this post, AND comment on it saying you want to come (you should obviously be from the area, so if you win, you can come) and I'll message one winner randomly. GOGOGOGOGO -
US FANS! Amazon MP3 picked us as their Artist on the Rise for May. That means you can get BIRTHMARKS for SIX DOLLAR BUCKS: http://amzn.to/15QqIQ7

Birthmarks
www.amazon.com
Birthmarks -
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LA! TROUBADOUR! TONIGHT! HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS.
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COSTA MESA! CINCO DE MAYO! Come get sweaty at Detroit Bar tonight.
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SAN DIEGO! We're at The Casbah tonight. Come party while we blast our songs in your face.
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PHOENIX! TEMPE! I'M NOT EXACTLY SURE WHICH ONE! We're playing The Sail Inn tonight. Come teach me about your fine city.
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Amazon MP3 wants to date our song Needle. Just so you know, Needle isn't slutty, she's a classy broad, so don't get any funny ideas, k? http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=tsm_1_fb_s_dm_mm6t54?ie=UTF8&docId=1001104331

Amazon.com MP3 Downloads: Hot Singles
www.amazon.com
Finding new music can be hard. Thankfully, we listen to a lot of new music so you don't have to. Here are 20 songs, hand picked by our editors, that will make your life better right now. Read more about these songs below and sample them here. Check back soon to discover more new music. -
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EL PASO! We're playing our first show ever in you tonight at Lowbrow Palace. YEAAAHHHFF
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AUSTIN! RED 7! TONIGHT! AGHRHGFFDSFDSFAFDSFAFDSFDX
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OH, and we're at Fitzgerald's tonight in Houston! We're going to apply what we learned at NASA in order to rock even harder.
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