A man can only try to con his metal-loving friends into playing for his pop band for so long. Faced with a lifetime of speedy pentatonic runs and black T-Shirts, Ryan McPhun, the man behind The Ruby Suns, made the brave move away from Los Angeles to tackle the land of the Haka, the landscape of The Lord Of The Rings, the nation of female Prime Ministers: New Zealand.

“It's hard for me to say if this influenced the music,” McPhun says. “As soon as I moved to New Zealand, I hooked up with people who were into all the ‘60s stuff that I was into, and they enlightened me with other, similar music. But when I'd go on camping trips or something in New Zealand, I'd be influenced by things I saw or did. So in that respect, the music may be more New Zealand-biased.”

After settling in his new home, McPhun took up a role as drummer for The Brunettes, travelling back to the US as the band supported The Shins. Despite his overseas journeys and the success of The Brunettes, McPhun held onto his own pop vision, and upon returning to New Zealand, went straight to the basement to begin work on his debut album, The Ruby Suns.

When out of the basement McPhun rose, in his hand he held a magnificent lo-fi slab of glorious pop melody and quirky but catchy songwriting (for the WB review of the album click here).

Early praise flooded in, and McPhun return to America leading his own band and playing at the 2006 South-by-Southwest. The tour, like the album, was well received and as the band rolled along the highway in their communal RV (motorhome), all seemed to be travelling splendidly for The Ruby Suns...

“We were driving along and someone passed us, mouthing the word ‘fire’ and pointing towards the back of our RV.  We pulled off the motorway, freaked out, and watched it burn to the ground in no more than 10 minutes. When the fire department finally arrived, all that was left was the chassis, with the tyres still intact.” McPhun explains.
“We lost everything, bar my badly burnt Jazzmaster guitar, which still works. I've been using it up until our recent show in Leeds, when I accidentally snapped the headstock off by hitting it against a cymbal.”

For a guy that left the chaos of Los Angeles to abandon the metal scene, the reality of The Ruby Suns has been quite destructive. Did this experience teach you anything?

“I learnt that it's really worth forking out for travel insurance when you’re touring, because weird shit can happen,” McPhun reflects. “It was also a great feeling getting rid of all the possessions I had. All of a sudden we had no 'things' to worry about; very liberating. I've definitely tried to remember that feeling from time to time.”

You would assume that the threat of impending crisping would turn The Ruby Suns off touring. However, the band continues to tour throughout the US, the UK, wider Europe and New Zealand. Each gig gradually building their profile; every new town exposing more people to their harmony-rich, warm pop sound. When we catch up with McPhun he is just finishing the European leg of the tour.

“Tonight is the last show. It's at a small club in Shoreditch London called the Old Blue Last. It’s our own show and we're playing with friends from New Zealand, a band called Lawrence Arabia,” McPhun says.

“The tour has been great. We were kind of thrown into the deep end when we did a seven-date support tour with a young trendy band from London called The Holloways.  They're almost the opposite of us; very commercial, although they still call themselves an ‘indie band’. They kind of sound like a cross between The Libertines, The Kooks and The Clash.”

How did the dates with the Holloways go?

“These were big shows, and we felt like the audiences didn't know what to make of us. The kids are obsessed with British music in England, and we sound like the opposite of that. So we had a lot of blank stares coming back at us, but I know we broke through to some people. Before that, we did a small tour with Field Music from Northern England. We all love their music and the responses were better from their audience.”

Have there been major differences between the crowd reception internationally compared to that of New Zealand?

“Well, the UK audiences have definitely been the most subdued, which is quite strange for us. At home a lot of people have a bit of a boogie when we play, because a lot of songs suggest a party-like vibe. Even the few people that came to our US shows last year were more lively than the four or 500 hundred kids who were at all The Holloways shows. Hopefully we can change that reaction over time.”

Despite the lack of dancers, The Ruby Suns needn’t worry; live reviews of the band have been overwhelmingly positive. The critics who have caught The Ruby Suns live have expressed surprise at the band’s ability to reproduce their intricate arrangements and vocal harmonies live. Was this a difficult task?

“Some of the members of the band are very good singers, and when we play live, I think we sing really well together. We do practise quite a bit before we tour and we really focus on replicating as many parts as possible.


“It’s nice to play as a big band at home, but it can be too shambolic. We’ve found we can be more dynamic when playing as a smaller band. The quiet parts are quieter, and the loud louder.  It also makes it easier to manage touring. At this stage we self-manage, which would be difficult with a larger band.”

What does the band listen to on tour?

“Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer? has officially become the tour album. We’ve been listening to it heaps and we even met people in Oslo who know Kevin Barnes [The Of Montreal lead singer]. He lives there every now and then.  Other than that, a little bit of the new Midlake and The Microphones Song Islands album. I recently got the new Apples In Stereo album, but was disappointed.”

McPhun has not mentioned any New Zealand bands. Seeing that the majority of Australia’s music scene is largely washed over by an international perception of Australia as a breeding ground for rock acts like Jet, Wolfmother and AC/DC, I imagine that the problems of exposure are even more difficult when your country is considered by some to be Australia’s little brother. Are there quality New Zealand bands that don’t get the coverage they deserve?

“Yes!” McPhun answers emphatically. “The Tokey Tones, Lawrence Arabia, The Sneaks, The Reduction Agents, The Brunettes, The Nudie Suits, The Mysterious Tape Man, Signer, Skallander and many more.”

Sadly, only about half of these band names are familiar, and for those outside of Australia/New Zealand none of these names may be known. Although the history of Australian acts conquering foreign markets is less than illustrious, compared to New Zealand our hit rate looks phenomenal (besides if a band from New Zealand is talented/fortunate enough to become internationally successful then Australia will simply claim them as their own – see Crowded House, Split Enz and Russell Crowe the actor, not the front man of The Ordinary Fear of God; He’s a Kiwi.)

While The Ruby Suns are yet to ‘break through’ internationally, they have made in-roads largely on the back of frequent touring and the continual praise of reviews. The majority of this critical comment on the band has focused on the ‘60’s influence of The Ruby Suns and particularly the similarities between McPhun’s arrangements and those of The Beach Boys. McPhun both appreciates the compliment and is wary of being tagged as a ‘Brian Wilson clone’.

“It does get a bit annoying, especially because some of the songs on the first album sound nothing like The Beach Boys. Why can’t reviewers focus on those? But of course, most people take the easy way out and don’t want to think of new things to say. I’d say about 70 per cent of all the reviews have been almost exactly the same.

“At the same time, I think that those comparisons have gotten the attention of a lot of ‘60s music fans who may not have heard of us otherwise.” McPhun concedes.

While it is true that many new found fans first became interested in The Ruby Suns because of the countless comparisons to the sounds of The Beach Boys, these converts, both fans and critics alike, are now waiting to hear the evolution of The Ruby Suns.

“The evolution will be in the songs, as the new ones sound very different. I’m still writing, recording and playing everything, except for a couple songs, one that Amee [Robinson – keyboards, saxophone, melodica, vocals] wrote and then one that me, Amee and Gareth [Shute – guitar, glockenspiel, keyboard] wrote together,” McPhun informs. “Touring as a four-piece has been much easier. So we’re going to focus on doing as much as possible with just four people playing in the band.”

When can the converts expect the new album?

“It should be finished in about a month. We’re working on a Europe/UK and US release around September.  Hopefully we will have sorted out an Australian label by then.

“A lot of sounds on it are very different to the debut.  It does sound just as lo-fi, but in different ways. I used a lot more acoustic instruments this time, but recorded them louder than you're ‘supposed to,’ so they sometimes sound like they're distorting, but that's how it's meant to be. I like the sound of home recordings because those sounds can only be made by you.  No two bedrooms sound alike, so Do-It-Yourself recordings are always interesting and exciting.”