Ruins pour l'album "Spun Forth As Dark Nets"

1. First, could you present your band and sum up your story so far?

Ruins is primarily a two-piece for the purposes of writing and recording, I (Alex) play guitars, bass and do vocals, Dave plays drums. We released our debut mcd "Atom and Time" in July 04 through Australia's Blacktalon media, and have just released our debut full-length 'Spun Forth as Dark Nets' through Dutch label Neurotic records. We also recently recruited another two members to join us for live shows.


2. How would you define your music? Were you influenced by any band?

We are influenced by many bands and other styles of music... but basically the inspiration comes from things within as opposed to just what is around me, or should I say it is really a balance of these elements that go into what can make our music. It is dark music, it is primal music yet it can be intricate, also a balance; it is how we may control these elements, that we may reference all sorts of great archetypes. Seriously, too much for me to start reeling off some ridiculous list, but anything from Wagner to Weakling.


3. "Spun Forth as Dark Nets" is your first album. How long does the writing process last and who composed the pieces of this album?

I think it is fair to say that the spark lay within me initially; and still the themes in which we deal, those ideas and where it subsequently all comes from... well these are mostly mine, however we have evolved now in the way in which we create together. We wrote this stuff over about the course of a year, however the way we write really is to draw from a great volume of ideas on my part and on Dave's part, and then just come together to see what we can create with it, so some riffs and cycles I do on guitar have been around in my head for years being played now and again until finally they find a home in some song or another. So too Dave's beat and rhythm ideas, he has a myriad of these going on in the back of his mind, he will just pull something out and polish it up a bit then begins even further evolution of the beat right there... he starts playing off of this seeing what sort of rhythms relate....this is how we end up with songs.


4. What can we expect from this first album and compared to your first EP "Atom and Time" for those who already know your music?

We are just a little further along the same path, we were pleased with both in different ways I suppose... I will say that regarding the music, but regarding production... we had a lot more time and control with making the album, the mcd was totally out of our hands, I don't know what more to say... I don't mind the results but I know we would have done differently if we had been able...it catches well this stage in our existence though, through precisely capturing that feeling in the performance of a certain frustration at the circumstances and the situation at the time; I can hear this edge in it and find it to be a quality so say no more than... they are different but the same.


5. Where do you find your inspiration for the lyrics and can you tell us more about them?

Lyrically I deal with varying themes, some are basically summaries of my studies, some are much more personal accounts of some circumstance or other, be they mine or someone else relayed through me. I deal with out of body experiences and dreams, the dimensional construct, time travel, curses, magic, life and death. The relationship between the life of the physical self, and those experiences of spirits or oneness.


6. Is there a tour planned to promote your album?

Just as soon as possible we plan to tour for sure, we look forward to it.


7. What are you listening to these days? Any good metal (or not metal) albums to recommend?

I am listening to all sorts of things, of course all the old favourites, but if you mean newer stuff Craft, Leviathan-Lurker of Chalice-Twilight, Krohm...


8. What is your position about downloading? Do you download music sometimes, to discover new bands for example?

I can't say I do, but this is because I am barely computer literate, this stuff like email and so on is about as far as it goes for me. I have been given stuff to check out that has been copied and so on, but hey this stuff goes back a long way... to me taping all my parents Sabbath vinyl when I first got into music. I guess the difference these days is the immediacy and quality, I mean you can have this shit done, replicated identical in less time than it takes to even listen to the thing through and through... that is an interesting factor. Surely real music fans are always going to get themselves the real package though, to be thoroughly engaged by the experience, to be absorbed into the package... it gives you something a little tangible, the experience can be more intimate... to only have the copy, well in this way of downloading is all a bit... sterile, copying ha ha cloning, that it is digital at all, let alone so far encrypted, entombed as mp3, perhaps it is robbed of its spirit ha ha, that's that analogue purist mentality that I obviously don't share regarding my own music but can appreciate for varying reasons. I also feel that the music should stand up on its own and sometimes it is good to just get into the guts of something by listening and ignoring its package. So no real answer for you, I don't know enough about this topic...
If I want to support a band or more to the point if I actually really like an album, I will hunt it down, that is how it works for me and has done since my youth.


9. What is your opinion concerning the metal webzines? Are you a reader of them?

To a certain degree, I may take interest more in a particular band, and then come across such zines through searching for info on these bands. All pretty new to me, really actually using a computer very efficiently, but I have begun entering this age, I had refrained for so long. I was seriously the last of the last to sneak through I think, regarding my education... I just managed to avoid all computer studies as they were becoming introduced to schooling in the last part of my education... Now practically every kid is sitting at one there in the classroom.


10. Thank you for your time. The last words are yours!

Thank you for the support. Ruins will come and ruin Europe as soon as possible. I never know what to offer with last words, this is a bit random but here's a palindrome for you ... satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas ...