Born Ruffian(s)

I had been under the impression before I went to see Toronto-based Born Ruffians play at SoundFix that Born Ruffians was a band. You know, it's Born Ruffians, plural. But for some reason only lead singer Luke LaLonde played for the first few songs and the other two members of the band joined for two or three songs at the end. I have to say I liked it much better when the whole band was on stage.

Born Ruffians have a lot of potential, but they seemed a tad bit ill-prepared for last night's show. I kind of like it when artists mess up occasionally - it makes them seem more real. So their occasional mistakes or forgetting the lyrics didn't bother me. But they seemed like they had thrown together the show at the last minute and didn't really know what they were performing. They looked confused and inexperienced. I felt more like I was observing a rehearsal than a performance. However, that being said, I still enjoyed myself and they have good music. I think they will become a stellar band once they get a little more performance experience under their belts and they are definitely a band to watch. They did open for Vampire Weekend at Summerstage after all, a show I regret to say I did not attend because of the rain. And I can see why they would be a good fit with Vampire Weekend. They both lack pretentiousness and have a relaxed air about them. And they managed to pull in a decent-sized audience to the dimly lit, intimate SoundFix bar.

Hummingbird [mp3]
Purchase Born Ruffians' new album, "Red, Yellow & Blue" on iTunes

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