There’s no “Love in Vain”in the Liquid Rooms tonight. Everyone present is here to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the release of Ruts 1st album “The Crack”. There may only be two Ruts remaining, after the untimely death of their singer Malcolm Owen who died in 1980 aged 26 and Paul Fox who sadly passed away in 2007 but they came to terms with this a long time ago and Leigh Heggarty, a good friend of the band has been a long-standing member and an incredible addition to Ruts DC as they celebrate with this UK wide 15 date tour.
The Professionals have joined them on this tour and have no doubt brought their own following to this tantalising tour. To hear the album played in its entirety is a rarity, waiting 40yrs for it to happen has resulted in some of the dates being either a sell-out or very close to capacity. Tonight is no different, the room is packed.
The Professionals
Originally formed by 2 ex-members of The Sex Pistols, namely Steve Jonesand Paul Cook, it’s an apt name for the band. Paul Cook has a no-nonsense air about him as he takes his seat behind the kit, with some purpose, and clicks in the first song with his sticks. “Join the Professionals” gets the band off to a great start and although there’s no Steve Jones,Chris McCormack’s sledge hammer chords and blinding lead guitar solos prove there’s no loss of purpose with this band even without the iconic original. “Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” is the first track we hear from the 2017 “What in the World”album of the year as voted by Vive Le Rock magazine.
After a cracking version of “Payola” we hear Tom Spencer for the first time this evening as the banter with the crowd starts. He doesn’t speak “Scottish” but he loves the square sausage he had at breakfast and aptly it’s “Going Going Gone” as the next track off the 2017 album is played.
For all the ‘pistols fans in the audience, we get “Silly Thing”. A faithful version but certainly never played any better than by this band. Tom thanks everyone for turning out early to hear their set as it’s an early curfew tonight so the 7pm slot is incredibly well attended.
We get another track from the last album “Rewind” before one of the early tunes from 1980“Just Another Dream”. Paul Cookasks the crowd for the Chelsea score and it’s not good news but the band’s dream at least is still alive. As the band play on we’re treated to another couple of tracks “Bad Baby” and “Hats Off” before we get the run down to the end of the set with“Kick the Doors Down” and “Let’s Go”. So it’s “1-2-3” that brings the evening to a close for a band that are relishing playing to these packed venues up and down the country. They leave the stage with their heads held high, like the true professionals they are.
THE PROFESSIONALS-: // WEBSITE//FACEBOOK// TWITTER// YOUTUBE//INSTAGRAM//
Ruts DC
“It’s a very small world in the middle of a crowd.
The room gets dark when the music gets loud.
Treble cuts through’ when the rhythm takes the bite,
But there’s no room to move ’cause the floor is packed tight.
A voice shouts loud “We’ll never surrender”
A voice in the crowd “Never surrender””
Who would have thought after all these years, Ruts DC could have so fittingly wrote their own destiny with the lyrics from “Staring at the Rude Boys”.
As the lights dim, we hear a very clever pre-recorded audio introduction. Using the song titles and lyrics of their songs, it’s an engaging piece to focus the crowd on what’s about to take place. We are treated to the entire album, played as it would have been in 1979 on your record player. Starting with the unmistakable police sirens,“Babylon’s Burning” brings those hypnotic chords.
There’s no loss of energy from the band, even after all these years,Dave Ruffy is an incredible drummer who along with Segs on bass, are the backbone of the original band. With Leigh Heggarty faithfully re-producing Paul Fox’s guitar licks but with his own flair, this three piece definitely do justice to the iconic album.
The audience is either captivated or trying to capture these golden moments on an array of media devices. There’s a lot of love and appreciation in the room, as Ruts epitomised a great deal of the punk scene back then. Songs of politics, drugs and unity as they crossed genre’s between punk and reggae so exquisitely. The first part of the evening finishes with Malcolm’s voice, cleverly introducing “Human Punk”, the final “live” track from the 1979 album.
THE RUTS DC:// WEBSITE// FACEBOOK// TWITTER// SOUNDCLOUD// INSTAGRAM//MERCH STORE//
After the indulgence of “The Crack”we get Ruffyout from behind the drums to thank each and every person who has come along tonight and show their appreciation. There’s, of course, some touching sentiment for his long lost friends but tonight’s celebration means there’s no time for remorse, only joy as well are treated to yet more great tunes.
2016 saw the released of new Ruts DC material and we are treated to three songs from the “Music Must Destroy”album. “Music Must Destroy”, “Kill The Pain”and “PsychicAttack”are split by two seminal Ruts songs. “West One”(one of my favourites of the night) and“In A Rut”received rapturous applause as the old guard still love the original songs but there’s plenty love in the room for the last album which demonstrates the trio can still write some incredible songs.
The final three songs, two of which ironically sing of what resulted in Malcom’s early death. “H-eyes”and “Love in Vain”bring out the empathy from the crowd before a rousing version of the ever popular single from 1980, “Staring at the Rude Boys”. As these men put down their instruments and bow at the front of the stage, the crowd stare at these rude boys in amazement as they have witnessed the finest exponents of punk from 1979 brings us bang up to date and see that they never surrendered after the adversity of those early years.