2016 is shaping up to be RÜFÜS’ biggest year yet; with BLOOM topping the ARIA charts with a #1 debut in Jan, booting Adele from the top spot that she'd held for months. The album’s two lead singles landed in triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown (You Were Right#12 and Like An Animal #28) and the fellas are currently in the middle of their mostly sold out European/UK/US/CAN tour, which is set to see them play on the coveted Coachella line up later this month..
And now the band have added a national tour on home turf to the mix. They’ll be stepping up the venue sizes for this one and are excited to perform their new material for fans. “When we approach the live show I think a really exciting thing for us is to re-imagine the songs and try to bring a new dimension and new journey to our music. A big part of what we do whether it be writing a record or performing it live, is that sense of progression and that sense of tension and release,”drummer James Hunt explains. “We’ve been absorbing so much live music lately so there are a million little things we want to try.” Canadian duo Bob Moses will be supporting nationally, as well as Byron Bay electronic outfit, Tora.
We got to interview James from ARIA winner, RÜFÜS, about their upcoming album Bloom!
1. We are loving what we have heard of Bloom – congratulations on such a great album! Tell us a little about what we can expect from Bloom?
I guess there are a range of sounds we were exploring, but I think in the end we put together a body of work that is pretty cohesive. Some of the sounds that we were loving listening to came through, it was really great to see that come off the page and how it all worked together.
2. What is your writing process and do you think it has changed much from Atlas to Bloom?
Yeh I think it definitely changed and we are learning constantly every day that we write. We learn subconsciously and all three of us do a bit of everything, we all produce, play instruments. We all sit around and one person might jam on the piano, one might write a beat on the computer and we kind of go from there. There isn’t one particular way that we go about it, it’s pretty varied.
3. How has touring and testing your songs with audiences around the world influenced your sound?
It has definitely influenced us in that it has shown us what people respond to in different places, which in turn helps us make creative decisions. When we’re writing a song, it helps us with a knowing in our gut why we’re doing something or what the end result might be.
4. Congratulations on winning the ARIA for best dance release with You Were Right, tell us about that:
We were in London at the time and we found out the day before, so we had to keep it really tight, we couldn’t even tell our friends and family. We were just jumping around the hotel room, shouting at the top of our lungs, it was pretty exhilarating.
5. How did You Were Right come about?:
We started the writing process overseas, so we were in London for a little bit and Berlin for a little. We came home at the start of 2015 and we wrote that song in the studio in Sydney late one night. We were writing a song the whole day and not getting anywhere, so we decided just to scrap it. Then we started this one and it came out in 15 minutes with all the little parts, the lead line, chorus, chorus pattern, the beat. It was a pretty organic one, it just happened out of nowhere and we knew it was pretty special.
6. Personally, what is your favourite track on Bloom?:
That feels like choosing between your children and it always changes. At the moment, I’ve been listening to Inner Bloom a lot. I’m still trying to get my head around the whole album, we only finished it a month and a half ago.
Favourite to perform?:
Again, Inner Bloom. And I would have to say ‘Say a Prayer for Me’, even though it was only released yesterday, it seems to be getting a great response. When you see that the audience really responds to something, even if they don’t know it, that’s a pretty cool feeling.
7. We hear you are set to play Coachella in April, how do you feel about that?:
Really excited, it’s a huge festival and we have some days around it, so we can go see some other acts and go on a little adventure, not having to worry about jetting straight out and going to another show.
8. There is no doubt you guys will do well in the Triple J Hottest 100, what are you predictions for the countdown?:
I definitely think Major Lazer Lean on, Tame Impala’s Let It Happen, will do really well. I love that song and think it’s really deserving. Me and the other guys are in agreement on Lean On.
9. What programs do you use to write and edit your songs while you’re on the road?:
Ableton Labs, it’s a program we find really quick to work in and really versatile and we all run it on our laptops
10. How did you guys meet?:
I actually went to school with Tyrone the singer and one of his friends knew John and we kind of fell into the band that way.
11. What is your favourite city to play in?:
Maybe I have to say Sydney because the home town crowd is always good.