The Ruts DC have announced a 17-date UK tour in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of their classic album ‘The Crack’. Thankfully the band are returning back to the Concorde 2 in Brighton on Tuesday 12th February 2019. The support act will be none other than The Professionals, which boasts the former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook as their co-founder.
The reggae influenced punk band Ruts DC, who as The Ruts are most remembered for their Top 10 single ‘Babylon’s Burning’ (which is the opening track on ‘The Crack’) as well as Top 30 hit ‘Something That I Said’ (which is also found on ‘The Crack’). Fans will also fondly recall their debut single ‘In A Rut’.
“Making ‘The Crack’ was a real game changer for us” stated the band. “The Ruts were a band that were greater than the sum of their parts and wrote music inspired by everything we had ever heard. It’s a piece of work that we are immensely proud to have been a part of. Now forty years on we will be playing the album in its entirety, it’s quite a challenge as some of the songs have not been played since 1980! Now seemed the perfect time to celebrate ‘The Crack’ and remember our greatly missed co-creators and friends Malcolm Owen and Paul Fox” they added.
The cover of ‘The Crack’ album is a product of its time, as was The Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s’ and it features a picture by artist John H. Howard. It shows the members of The Ruts at the time (from left to right: Malcolm Owen, Paul Fox, Dave Ruffy and Segs) seated on a large sofa. Around them are some of their contemporaries including Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible of The Damned (top right corner), Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69 (bottom right), while Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are standing behind Malcolm. The legendary groundbreaking DJ John Peel is on the left hand side, and Jimi Hendrix looks on from the right. The wives and girlfriends of the band members also appear in various poses, as does the band’s roadie Mannah (seen from the back) who assisted in writing The Ruts song ‘S.U.S’ which deals with the vagrancy act, widely used by London’s Metropolitan Police Service in the late 1970s. The astronomer Patrick Moore looks on somewhat disapprovingly from the left. The album sleeve contains a dedication to Jimmy O’Neal, one of the organizers of the Deeply Vale Free Festival, where the band had their beginnings.
The Ruts became Ruts DC after the sad and untimely death of their original singer Malcolm Owen in 1980, having recorded the classic ‘Grin & Bear It’ punk album. The guys initially continued on until 1983 and then called it a day.
They were drawn back into the music business ten years ago, in 2007, as a result of a benefit gig for band member Paul Fox who also passed away. It was a special event with support coming from The Damned, UK Subs, Tom Robinson, Misty In Roots, John Otway and Splodge to name just a few. This gave the guys the impetus to get together permanently and so here we are a decade later and they are winging their way to Sussex.
For more information about Ruts DC, click HERE.
As earlier stated, the support at the Concorde 2 gig will come from The Professionals.
Formed by Paul Cook and Steve Jones, The Professionals arrived on the scene in 1979 following the demise of the Sex Pistols, but split just 3 years later.
In celebration of the release of a three-disc set by the Universal Music Group, The Professionals reformed in October 2015 (minus Steve Jones and with the addition of Tom Spencer) for a critically acclaimed, sold out 100 Club show.
Fast-forward to 2017 and the new band spearheaded by Paul Cook, Paul Myers and Tom Spencer released their first material under the Professionals name in 35 years with the full blessing of founding member Steve Jones.
The campaign was through Pledgemusic and the band were obviously hoping to get to 100% in order to release the new 10-track album entitled ‘What In The World’. It proved an immense success as it got to an impressive 584% and it was released on 27th October 2017.
On the album The Professionals were joined by a stellar cast of guest guitar players including original member Steve Jones (who plays on three tracks), Duff McKagen (Guns ‘n’ Roses), Mick Jones (The Clash), Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Marco Pirroni (Adam & The Ants), Chris McCormack (3 Colours Red) and Billy Duffy (The Cult) also join the party.
For more information about The Professionals, click HERE.
Grab your tickets to see the Ruts DC and The Professionals live at the Concorde 2 on Tuesday 12th February 2019 HERE.
