The oft-cited explanation for band breakups, memorialized in the rockstar mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” is “artistic differences.”
Canada’s Born Ruffians, however, interpret these sorts of conflicts as more of a benefit than a problem.
Their diverging tastes extend beyond music and, in fact, can be best exemplified by their film tastes.
“We each have our own thing,” Steve Hamelin, the group’s drummer, said. “The other guys are into artsy films. They’re into Godard and stuff, but I’m more of a Wesley Snipes guy.”
Hamelin and those “other guys” ““ guitarist and singer Luke Lalonde and bassist Mitch DeRosier ““ will perform in Los Angeles for the fourth time Wednesday night, bringing their amalgamations of songs and interests to the Echo.
While it’s a question of Snipes or Godard in film, when it comes to music, some members enjoy Animal Collective and Beirut, while others like ’60s psychedelia and Brazilian music.
These are conflicts that have been developing since the band first formed in a high school music class.
“Growing up, we were exposed to a lot of ’60s and ’70s rock and stuff,” Hamelin said.
“In high school we branched out though. We took our pop roots and expanded them with what we’ve heard. I bring in a lot of hip-hop, Luke is really into Brazilian guitar and stuff, and we’re all really into Animal Collective and groups like them.”
Citing the band members’ interests can help triangulate something similar to what the final product will sound like, but really the space between hip-hop and Animal Collective is too wide to understand this way.
If one had to describe their sound directly, one might compare it to a strangely ebullient White Stripes cover of the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack: some odd combination of folk, bluegrass, pop and unconventional song structures. The only thing to rely on is that the results are unplanned.
“We never really say we’ll write a certain type of song,” Hamelin said.
Their stage show is a bit more premeditated, but it also seeks to capture diversity, albeit in a more straightforward way.
The group is currently touring with Canadian electro-hip-hop DJ Cadence Weapon.
While hip-hop and glossy pop folk aren’t normally thrown together, audiences seem to appreciate the choices.
“(The shows) have a great dynamic,” Hamelin said. “We’re giving the audience variety. Some people may come for us and not for Cadence, and some come for him and not for us, but either way they get a chance to hear something new. I think it worked: at our Northampton show, they chanted for a double encore, so us and Cadence both got out there again.”
Their emphasis on independence extends beyond their record label.
The group chooses to work with people with the same “for-the-right-reasons” ideology that they themselves hold.
Though they have been attracting attention, just like everyone’s favorite Latin diva they’re not forgetting where they came from.
“We met the guy who did our album art through a mutual friend,” Hamelin said.
“We knew we’d want to work with him right away because he’s an artist. He does his own thing, like us.”
In every aspect of their life as a band, they emphasize working for the love of art, not compensation.
“What’s important to us is that we keep making the music we want to make,” Hamelin said. “Sure, money is an issue ““ everyone wants to make money ““ but we’re still making the music we like.”
The disagreements at the video store continue, but one thing the Born Ruffians can all agree on is that their success was unexpected.
“It’s hard to believe sometimes,” Hamelin said. “We’ll be on a flight from Paris to Berlin, and we’ll be like, “˜How the hell did we get here?’ But it’s nice; being in Paris gave us a chance to practice our makeshift Canadian-French.”