After the pandemic deprived our eyes and ears of live music shows, The Rubens are itching to get to Echuca to perform a stellar show.
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The Australian alternative rock band’s fans will be thrilled to know the performance will be going ahead on Sunday, April 3, at the Paramount Cinemas and Performing Arts Centre.
Songwriter, keyboard player and back-up singer Elliott Margin said not having access to live music throughout the pandemic had made the audience more vigorous than ever.
“We're a couple of shows in and it's been very high energy, not just from us, but from the crowd as well, and I think this is because people have been starved of live music for a while,” Margin said.
“The vibes have been well and truly up there. Even when it’s been at a smaller venue or a seated venue, people are still keen to get up, dance, sing and have a party.”
This is the 10th year the band has played together.
The Rubens’ most notable track is Hoops, which won the number one spot on triple j’s Hottest 100 in 2015.
Margin said although the song was one of the highlights of their career, their style and sound had evolved since then.
“When you look at each record, there are differences between them and there's definitely a progression, but there's still a sound that links each Rubens record,” he said.
“There is an overarching theme and sound to all of our records.”
The Rubens will be playing tracks from all four of their albums but will predominantly be picking and performing songs from their latest album, 0202.
“It’s great because we do have four records that we can go through and pick from to craft the perfect set, but we will mostly be focusing on 0202 because these are the fresh songs that we are really excited to play,” Margin said.
He said the band was incredibly proud of the latest album.
“It's the first record where we've taken on most of the production ourselves. We did the initial production with some outside help, but most of the initial production was just the band members in the studio,” he said.
“Will, who plays bass for us, we did it in his studio and he engineered the record.
“We're 10 years into our career this year and it's a bit statement for us to be able to take on a lot of these responsibilities now.
“It's invigorating to know that we've learnt enough now at this point in our career to have control over the production side of things.”
This will be the first time the band has played in Echuca.
“We’re just staying the one day,” Margin said.
“The downside about this tour or any tour for us is that we're visiting a lot of places that we've never been to before and we literally roll in and roll out the next day, because we've got another show somewhere else.
“It can be exhausting at times, but we're very lucky and glad to be back on the road doing our thing.”
The tour, which was supposed to go ahead in 2021, was split due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This tour, The Rubens will visit regional towns in NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
“All the lockdowns meant that it had to get cut off last year,” Margin said.
“We've now added extra dates to the dates that got left over from the last tour but it's all really hodge-podge.
“If you look at our scheduling, it's kind of hilarious how much back and forth we're doing.”
Making the effort to visit regional towns is important to the band members, who say country towns are often forgotten about in the Australian music scene.
“There are so many places that are viable as live music spots throughout our country,” Margin said.
“People from regional Australia want the opportunity to see live music.”
Margin said it was also important to show young musicians it was possible to have a career as a famous musician.
“Young kids who are bedroom guitar heroes might think that they'll only ever get to play guitar in their bedrooms. They need to see that it is achievable to get out on your own, play music and travel as a job,” he said.
“It's cool to be able to show people that it's not just some silly, unreachable dream.”
As to how The Rubens coped without being able to perform throughout the pandemic, Margin said they struggled.
“For us as a band, if we could never play live, we probably wouldn't be musicians, because it's our favourite part of being a band,” he said.
“Writing music and being in the studio is fun, but the real reason we do it is to be out on the road. Not being able to do that for nearly two years was really hard.
“Being back on the road and doing the thing that we love the most is very special.”
To keep themselves busy during the pandemic, band members decided to use the opportunity to write new songs and organise a festival called Valley Ways, which will go ahead later in the year.
“We have focused on organising and putting together line-ups for that event,” Margin said.
Margin said The Rubens were always working towards the next song or album.
They are also planning to set up some more tour dates throughout the year.
“It’s looking like it will be a very busy year and that is something that excites us,” Margin said.