RUTS D.C. // GLASGOW GARAGE, GLASGOW
RUTS DC rock into Glasgow to celebrate 40 years since the release of The Crack and take The Garage venue by storm.
RUTS D.C. PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S GARAGE - 22.02.2019
PICTURE BY: JOHN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY
★★★★☆
On a very unseasonably warm winter’s night in Glasgow the legendary Glasgow venue that is The Garage plays host to RUTS DC and their special guests The Professionals
There is a decent crowd in the venue as The Professionals take to the stage. They are billed as special guests instead of support and rightly so.
They have a pedigree that most warm up bands would love to boast of and, in drummer Paul Cook, they have someone from the top of the punk tree. Cook was the drummer of the World (in)famous Sex Pistols no less!
Cook can still pound the skins and kept solid time along with Toshi on bass. Tom Spencer and Chris McCormack provided the guitars and vocals in what was a rousing set and most definitely warmed up the crowd. If anyone in the crowd didn’t know of The Professionals; they do now.
The mixture of punk and New Wave music being played over the PA fades out to a cheer from the crowd. It’s time for the main attraction of the night and RUTS DC take the stage to much acclaim.
John ‘Segs’ Jennings, Leigh Heggarty and Dave Ruffy is the current day line up for the band once regarded as being best placed to take over from The Clash at the turn of the 1980’s but tragedy struck a cruel blow when singer Malcom Owen died of a drugs overdose in July 1980.
Further tragedy was visited upon the band when, in 2007, former guitarist Paul Fox died after a battle with lung cancer.
John ‘Segs’ Jennings and Dave Ruffy decide to continue writing and the RUTS were back only this time they were called RUTS DC. The addition of the suffix DC means ‘Da Capo’ which I’m lead to believe is Italian for ‘back to the beginning'
Segs and Ruffy were joined by Leigh Heggarty and set about putting together some new material as well as playing some live dates. The interest in the band was still there and fuelled their desire to produce an excellent new album called Music Must Destroy.
Music Must Destroy is closer to a rock sound than their only previous album, the outstanding reggae and punk flavoured The Crack.
The set is blasted off the start line with Babylon’s Burning and doesn’t let up until a brief bit of respite near the end of a whirlwind set. The energy from the stage was infectious and the crowd were on board right from the start. You could almost be forgiven for forgetting that RUTS DC are not in the first flushes of youth as they owned the stage.
The current day material worked well with and complimented the tracks of yesteryear and any aspiring musicians from guitar based genres could do worse than use the RUTS as an influence.
Stand out tracks for the evening were Something That I Said, Criminal Mind and Out of Order whilst the masterpiece that is Jah War stands the test of time in any genre or decade.
The last album didn’t miss out though... Kill the Pain and Psychic Attack went down a storm with the mostly older crowd members; although there was a respectable number in attendance who obviously weren’t born when the title of ‘heir apparent to The Clash’ was bestowed upon RUTS.
The band had a short period of deserved respite towards the end of the set and Ruffy came out from behind his drums to address the appreciative crowd and give thanks to all involved from band members to crew and, of course, the crowd.
Once enough rest and fluids had been had by the band it was time for the encore and some moshing in the crowd. The encore was as energetic as the main set and was topped off by the anthem that is Staring at the Rude Boys. Staring at the Rude Boys is another song which stands as a classic in any time in the history of contemporary music and has influenced so many other artists since it’s release.
With that the show was over and probably not too soon for the aging moshers!!
Tonight’s gig was a joyous affair but also demonstrated what the UK music scene had missed out on due to the untimely deaths brought upon former band members.
SETLIST: | RUTS D.C. : GLASGOW GARAGE, GLASGOW - 22.02.2019
Babylon’s Burning
Dope for Guns
SUS
Something That I Said
You’re Just A
It Was Cold
Savage Circle
Jah War
Criminal Mind
Backbiter
Out of Order
Human Punk
Music Must Destroy
West One (Shine On Me)
Kill The Pain
In a Rut
Psychic Attack
ENCORE:
H Eyes
Love In Vain / Police and Thieves
Staring at the Rude Boys
Society