Billy Ruffian (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Billy Ruffian
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Manchester, England
Genre = Alternative rock
Indie rock
Years_active = 2005-present
Label = Filthy Little Angels
URL = [http://www.billyruffian.co.uk BillyRuffian.co.uk]
Current_members = Stephen Ruffian
Thom Cuell
Ben Paul

Billy Ruffian are an English indie rock band. Their debut album, "My Secret Life", was released on May 28, 2007, with its accompanying single “Music vs. Money” following the next month.

Biography

The band began to take formation in July 2005 and, with a settled line-up, played their first gig in November that year. A steady stream of gigs followed from January 2006 and, following the release of a low-budget split EP entitled “Late Arrivals” in February, the band headed to a recording studio in March to record their first four tracks. The tracks – “Death of a Band”, “Preensters”, “Leaving Soon” and “(My Girlfriend Is Like A) Trojan Horse” were self-released by the band in April, with a second issue (omitting “Leaving Soon”) following a couple of months later.

Some drastic line-up changes followed the re-release of ‘Death of a Band’, and by August the band was floundering, due to the departure of their drummer. It wasn’t until October when, following an invitation to play at Chris Chinchilla’s farewell party, the band took the decision to carry on as a three piece (with drum machine). After a few shaky gigs, Billy Ruffian came to embrace the new technology and ‘Death of a Band’ finally found an official release on Filthy Little Angels’ Christmas compilation “Hark! The Filthy Angels Sing”.

Having already recorded a few new tracks for another self-released EP, Billy Ruffian soon found themselves having to write and record several more tracks when Filthy Little Angels signed them up to record an album in January 2007.

Recorded during the Spring, “My Secret Life” was released at the end of May to good reviews (including an ‘album of the week’ from Manchester Music). The “Spring Sampler EP” featuring five FLA acts preceded the album and coincided with the band’s first tour.

The next month, the songs “Music vs. Money” and “Whipping Boy” were taken from “My Secret Life” and released on an accompanying single along with the non-album cut “My Secret Life”. The single was a split single with the The Art Goblins as part of Filthy Little Angels’ Singles Club. The Billy Ruffian tracks were judged by many to be the best tracks in the package.

Following further good reviews, the band played a succession of well received gigs and set about recording their second album in the late Summer.

David Davis

Struck by the shock factor of former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis’ resignation on June 12th to fight the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, political enthusiast and BR vocalist Stephen Ruffian began writing lyrics on the subject the next day, from Davis’ own point of view. After finishing the lyrics with help from guitarist Thom, the band recorded the song on the 17th with their bassist/producer Ben Paul and, with a video compiled in a lengthy all-night session by Stephen, unleashed both song and video to the world via Youtube on Monday 23rd June. An eleven day turnaround from event to result.

Upon sending links to various blogs, interest in the song and video, “The Most Unlikely Civil Liberties Defender Of All” snowballed. Political blogs throughout the land featured it, including that of Guido Fawkes, the most read political blogger in the UK. People began discussing both the song (as well as the politics of the authors!) in earnest. Interest culminated in a mention by John Humphreys on the Radio 4 Today Show on the 27th June.

Members

* Stephen Ruffian (lead vocals)
* Thom Cuell (guitar)
* Ben Paul (bass guitar, drum machine)

Discography

Albums

* "My Secret Life" (Angel 013) May 28 2007

ingles & EPs

* "Late Arrivals" EP (self released split EP with Midland Railway) February 2006
* "Death of a Band" EP (self released) April 2006
* "Death of a Band" single (self released) June 2006
* "Spring Sampler EP" also featuring Dirtblonde, Colt.45s, Leatherettes (Little 009) 14th May 2007
* "Music vs. Money" split single with The Art Goblins (Filthy 010) June 2007
* "The Most Unlikely Civil Liberties Defender of All!" (Self released YouTube Video) 23rd June 2008
* "Masterminding My Downfall" (Little 033) TBC 2008

Compilations

* Manchester University Indie Society Compilation from September 2006 (more detail needed)
* "Hark! The Filthy Angels Sing" (Filthy Little Angels - Little 007) includes ‘Death of a Band’ December 2006
* "NineteenEightySeven" (Filthy Little Angels - Little 015) includes ‘Hip to be Square’ 16th July 2007
* "Manchester: City of Filth" (Filthy Little Angels - Little 018) includes ‘Leaving Soon’ 22nd September 2007
* "The Filthy Horror Show" (Filthy Little Angels - Little 019) includes ‘Hot Patootie (Bless my Soul)’ 31st October 2007
* "A Very Cherry Christmas vol. 3" (Cherryade Records - CHY014) includes ‘It's a Long, Lonely Christmas without Jimmy Greenhoff’ 3rd December 2007
* "Tis the Season To Be Filthy" (Filthy Little Angels - Little 020) includes ‘Feliz Navidad’ 17th December 2007
* "Just A Minute 7"" (Filthy Little Angels - Catalogue Number TBC) includes ‘The Windsor Uplift’ Release Date TBC

External references

* [http://www.billyruffian.co.uk/ Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/billyruffianmusic Official MySpace]
* [http://www.music-dash.co.uk/releases/archiverelease.asp?item=4405 Manchester Music ‘My Secret Life’ review]
* [http://www.sandmanmagazine.co.uk/sandman/issues/133/NR/NR133.html Sandman Magazine ‘My Secret Life’ review]
* [http://www.highvoltage.org.uk/displaydemoreview.asp?num=2710&band=1774 High Voltage ‘My Secret Life’ review]
* [http://www.musictowers.com/news/reviews/albums/billy-ruffian-my-secret-life/ Music Towers ‘My Secret Life’ review]
* [http://stopme.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/filthy-little-angels-singles-club-part-2-5x-7-set/ Stop Me Blog review of the FLA Singles Club]