Speed Date with The Ruckus

The Ruckus are from Sydney, Australia. They tell people they live in Newtown, even though they haven’t lived there for years. Rent’s too high and bands don’t get paid much. They love music and the connection they share with people through it, however, so being poor, living in Bexley and having to catch the train in to Newtown is still OK with them.

2.Keeping Busy

The Ruckus spent the last year in a reconstructing phase. They go away on trips to country towns with their producer, where they set up and blast the surrounding area with music from the crack of noon, dissecting the songs like science class frogs. They’ve been concentrating on being sober and eating more fruit and roughage. The new song ‘Fever’ is the first of around 30 songs they’ve written over the past year while reinventing themselves.

3.Best Gig Ever

They’ve played with some of Australia’s biggest bands over the past year in the dopest of venues. It’s awesome to see, but the best show I’ve seen them do over the past year has been on the street corner outside Beach Burrito in Newtown when a flash crowd of 200+ strangers turned the footpath into a discotheque and we all vibed out till the cops came. Which in Newtown, thankfully, is often reasonably late. That was my first experience of the band and I’ve been to every show since.

4.Current Playlist

Must-see Sydney artists include Colour Cage, Creo, Alphamama, The Dead Love, Lepers And Crooks, The Lazys, Bandintexas, Julia Why?, The Red Wine Roses, Reidemeister, Narla, The Mountains, Andy Golledge, Kieran Morris, Daniel D’Arcy, Kvlts Of Vice, Born Lion, P. Smurf, The Lockhearts, Wasters, The Persian Drugs… Sydney is a hive of talent that greatly outweighs the support it receives from ‘da biz’.

5.Your Ultimate Rider

I consider myself fortunate to be able to share in this experience with these guys. They seem genuinely stoked to be able to play their music and see more and more people showing up to share in it with them. Anything else is no doubt just gravy.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine