Man's Ruin Music

Manhatton Castle

Calum — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:53:01 +0000

Last week we were lucky enough to be allowed to run amok in Hatton Castle, Newtyle. The laird of the estate, Mike Lean, surrendered the castle to us (thank you Mike!!!!) and what followed was 5 days of music, eating, drinking and merriment. From all corners of the world we came to amass in Newtyle – Dundee, Arbroath, Elgin and New York. Calum and James, having just landed in Glasgow from their stint at NY Tartan Week, hopped in the car and drove through the night and the snow to be welcomed by a roaring fire, a cold beer and the promise of a week of folk/funk/fusion experimentation (this journey has been dubbed ‘New York to New Tyle’).

Much new music was to be had and our follow up album to Health and Safety is coming together very nicely. However, before we get there we are going to be releasing an EP OF BRAND NEW MUSIC for the Summer. In a couple of weeks we go into Gran’s House studio with the fantastic Angus Lyon at the helm to lay down the tracks and then looking at an early June release. This will also be accompanied by some shiny new LIVE video footage shot by Graeme Macdonald. Keep your ears to the ground on this one, more information soon!

All the best

Remember to follow us on twitter @mansruinmusic & Facebook

Celtic Connections 2013…

Calum — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:46:48 +0000

What a mighty time has been had by all at the best winter festival around. Individually we had a really busy time with Breabach, Treacherous Orchestra, Ross & Jarlath, Andy Thorburn, Laki Mera, Bella Hardy and others as well as having some impromptu rocking tunes throughout the festival. As well as this Calum fronted the underground-unofficial-festival-fringe ‘FOLKY TOWN’ which was a storming success – featuring acts such as Babelfish, DJ Dolphin Boy, Angus Binnie, Laura-Beth Salter & ourselves. There was also some lovely tunes, tasty drinks and some fantastic Haggis provided by celebrity-folky-chef Ross Ainslie! Kudos to the Flying Duck for putting up with a load of drunk folkies three times a week thoughout January! See what Jennie Macfie from STV thought about the night – http://entertainment.stv.tv/music/celtic-connections/212262-folkytown-provides-fringe-alternative-to-celtic-connections/

Man’s Ruin managed to fit in a couple of performances throughout the festival in additional to Folky Town. We hit up the festival club on the last Thursday then swooped straight into the Jury’s Inn to play an acoustic set until 2am (stay tuned for more acousticness to follow, remember this phrase – ‘liquid groove’). The next day we set up shop at the Showcase Scotland Trade Fair to punt our wares (as well as some pink and yellow Man’s Ruin themed cocktails). It was great to meet and chat with delegates from all over the globe and hopefully some nice things will come out of it. Stay Tuned!

And now, we reckon theres time for one more tune at the Flying Duck before the festival finishes tonight. It’s been great, but a bit of rest will be welcomed. We get stuck into some more rehearsing this week, new material is on the way. Can’t wait!!

All the best

Remember to follow us on twitter @mansruinmusic & Facebook

Into 2013 & Folky Town…

Calum — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:09:06 +0000

THANK YOU to everyone that came and partied with us towards the end of 2012. We had an amazing time in December, at the trad awards, the Old Bridge Inn Aviemore, Dukes Corner in Dundee and then topping it all off with the big ne’erday gig in Ullapool at the Ceilidh Place. We are thoroughly hyped up about your response and we can’t wait to bring you more this year!!

First off we are making an underground appearance during Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival at the unofficial fringe ‘Folky Town’ – we play on the 22nd in the Flying duck alongside DJ Dolphin Boy. See you down there!

Mans Ruin Performing at Trad Awards 2012

Calum — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 14:45:15 +0000

Mans Ruin will be the closing act for the Trad Awards on 8th December up in the mighty Fort William! The awards ceremony will be going out live on BBC Alba so you can either book a ticket or behold the excitement and music from yer ain hooses this year. It should be a lot of fun whatever the case. We will be playing at the late night club too. It sounds like carnage of the highest possible order. Hope to see some of you there. Whoop!

New Album Review

Calum — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 07:22:32 +0000

Here is a lovely review of our Health and Safety album from Mark Dishman of Bright Young Folk: ——————————————————–

‘the bright young folk review’

Piping prodigy Calum MacCrimmon and his merry band of funk folksters Man’s Ruin have assembled a modern-sounding album, packed with genres and invention.

Opener Frantic Funk sets the tone. As you might expect from its title, it’s a dancey, vivacious affair, with appropriately funky bass and Hamish Napier’s flute deployed as an essential building block of the music, rather than as a mellifluous embellishment – although he’s capable of that, as he proves later on.

Although funk is a cornerstone of all the songs, there are elements of rock, prog, jazz and dance music in the album too. Time, composed by talented guitarist Innes Watson, combines inventive, Pixies-esque indie-rock guitar with an irresistible toe-tapping beat. Its rocking outro is a highlight.

MacCrimmon saves his bagpipes until the fourth track, Avaaz, which is a rather epic instrumental affair, big and bold. On their website the group suggest it acts as a “recovery piece” for those listening to the album all the way through, which, amusingly, they advise against. It shifts casually into the loungey blues of Days of the Week, which gradually turns up the tempo again, thanks largely to Scott Donald’s superb drumming.

The band continues to mix styles through the contemplative Wash that World Away and the unashamed fun of Midnight Train. The album’s title track is a deeply impressive melding of folk, jazz and rock – it’s a great calling card.

Lyrically, the songs aren’t the most engaging, but it’s easy to imagine a crowd joining in and enjoying themselves. And most will be too busy dancing to care. And while the album is shot through with the sense of fun you might expect from a group whose leader is also a member of the magnificently monikered RTK9000 and the Knobsquad, Man’s Ruin are serious musicians. You’re never quite sure where a song is going to go next, but you can be pretty sure you’re going to enjoy it.

Mark Dishman

Released in 2011 on Box of Chocolates Records

1. Frantic Funk
2. Days of the Week
3. Time
4. Avaaz
5. Living for the Day
6. Midnight Train
7. New
8. Health and Safety
9. Wash that World Away
10. Thirsty Morning
11. Silence of the Frogs

2 Festivals in the Diary

Calum — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:09:34 +0000

Mans Ruin are playing at the Big Tent Festival in Fife on 21st July. Whoop Whoop!!

We are also playing at Solfest in Cumbria on 24th August. Oh Yeah!

Hopefully we will see some of you there. Peace out.

Health and Safety on ITunes

Calum — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:54:36 +0000

Hey guys, the new album is now available on iTunes for download. Peace out!

Free Track Giveaway from Man’s Ruin

Calum — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:40:36 +0000

Hello, we are giving away an mp3 copy of Frantic Funk for the duration of our Health and Safety album tour. It’s FRREEEEEEEE! We are also delighted to announce that Red Stripe are sponsoring the tour, so come and have a beer!!

Just go to our home page www.mansruinmusic.com and scroll down to the mailing list form. Enter simple details. confirm your interest via the email we send you and then you get the track Frantic Funk sent to you for free. Check out where we are playing on the tour in post below. See you at the shows!

Health and Safety Tour 2011

Calum — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:29:07 +0000

Hello music lovers! Man’s Ruin are goin on tour this November and December. We are only doing 4 shows – Broughty Ferry, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and of course Glasgow. Hamish Napier has flown away on a wild adventure of music hunting in the USA. He’ll be studying for about a year in Boston so we have been reforming ranks for 2011/12 and reshuggling the sets in order to conduct the electricity of Adam Sutherland (croft no. 5 + Peatbog Faeries etc) on fiddle and vocals for the entire tour and dates next year (tba) which is AWESOME!

Each show will feature different supporting artists hand-picked by Man’s Ruin - It’s never the same twice! Check out the info below and decide which of these dates your are MOST keen on…

…p.s. for the duration of the tour (22nd November – 7th December) we will be allowing a free download of one of the new Man’s Ruin tracks from the website. Keep your eyes peeled for that update – Tour info below:

November 23rd – The Fort Hotel, Broughty Ferry

(support from Dave Webster + more)

FREE ENTRY! … Doors 7.30pm

Listen to the supporting artist:

Dave Webster – Pigeon Song (live)

Dave Webster – Little Brown Boy (demo)

November 25th – The Electric Circus, Edinburgh

(support from Adam Holmes and Dolphin Boy)

ENTRY £7/£6 … Doors 7pm

Adam Holmes – I Can\’t Be Right When I\’m Wrong (live)

DJ Dolphin Boy – Diddly Treats 3

December 4th – Slouch Bar, Glasgow

(support from Griogair Labhruidh and Angus Binnie)

ENTRY £5 … Doors 9pm

Griogair Labhruidh – Marbhrann do dh’Uilleam Labhruidh

Binnie and Hogg (dance sample)

December 6th – The Blue Lamp, Aberdeen

(support from Anderson, Mcginty, Webster, Ward and Fisher)

ENTRY £5/£3 … Doors 7.30pm

Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher – Hold Still (live)

Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher – Sally Brown (live)

Fly on the Wall Pics from the Studio

Calum — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:16:37 +0000

Check out our pics from this week in the studio. The studio is our hunting ground, we are hunting wild music and it is a very difficult beast to snare. Thankfully we are experienced hunters and should catch enough music to feed ourselves and our girlfriends for a couple of months anyway. Check it out!