Get ready for euphoria: The Rubens to tour Mackay

The Rubens have dropped a new album with a distinct flavour and they’re warning Mackay to prepare for live music euphoria

The Rubens by Cybele Malinowski

Elliott Margin wants to do something illegal and any lovers of live music will happily back him.

Margin, one-fifth of alt-rock outfit The Rubens, wants to tour Australia and deliver "absolute euphoria" to fans - including Mackay.

Like most the country, Margin - with brothers Zaac and Sam and bandmates Scott Baldwin and William Zeglis - endured the lockdown of 2020, a blessing of sorts as it allowed the band to do something they hadn't before.

The new album 0202 is a forward-thinking nod to a backwards year and is the band's first self-engineered and produced product with a strong track listing.

"It's really cool to prove to ourselves that we have come that far and being able to work together," Margin said.

"The fact that we did this record mostly ourselves for the first time in our own studio in Camden with Will (Zegliss, bass player) engineering … we'd go there and record all the tracks in there without a producer in the room.

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"It's just us, the band, and we'd turn these songs from demo versions to the versions they are on the record.

"We're four records in and we've learned a lot working with a lot of producers."

Those producers include Grammy-winning David Kahn who has also worked with Lana Del Rey and The Strokes, and brothers Wilder Zoby and Torbitt Schwartz.

 

Cover of album 0202 by The Rubens.

 

The new album which dropped on Friday features singles Live in Life, Heavy Weather, Time of My Life and the current single, Masterpiece.

By the time album opener and absolute belter Masterpiece comes to an end, it becomes very clear The Rubens have emerged inspired from all the twists and turns thrown at them in 2020 and injected a new energy into the record.

Margin is keen to hit the touring circuit with the new sound, album and zest for live crowds dearly lacking in 2020.

"We keep speaking about whatever our first show back is going to be, that it's going to be dangerous, so excited," he said.

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"We're just going to explode on stage in euphoria.

"We've got this new record which means new songs in the set and being four albums in, we can really craft the set a lot more and have a lot of ups and downs.

"The tour is Australia wide at the moment - a bit illegal at the moment - but for us, like everyone else, we're looking ahead and while it's a while away still, we're planning and getting excited about it."

The Rubens are slated to play the Seabreeze on Thursday, May 27.

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