First of all I just want to congratulate you on your new album.  To new fans could you please fill us in on the history behind it all?
Ruins - Thanks. Ruins have been slowly evolving over a few years now. We are primarily a two-piece; I and Dave Haley are the two members of Ruins thus far in our writing and recording efforts. We have however begun rehearsing with a couple of others to comprise a live band. Our first release was the “Atom and Time” Mini-CD through Blacktalon media, released in 2004, and now “Spun Forth as Dark Nets” our debut album has been released by Neurotic records. 

How did you get your name RUINS?
Ruins - I always wanted something to the point and sharp, probably a single word… the sort of word that will be uttered constantly regardless of referring to our band. Now it always makes me smile anytime someone says the word RUINS, or RUINed, or RUINing. This music comes from the RUINS of my mind. Its development began on RUINS of past bands. It is made of my experiences, the RUINS of my life. And on the other hand, out of the creation, the construction… there is of course the destructive intent….The ghastly and haunting, meditative place that we try to touch with our music that should indeed RUIN everything!  

How would you describe your music for an outsider?
Ruins - I try to refrain from doing so. I usually avoid a situation where I must deal in categorization to explain myself, so I guess to be descriptive of the atmosphere alone and not just go calling it some kind of heavy metal or another…I don’t know, I guess it also depends what you mean by outsider? You mean someone who hasn’t heard…I am lead to thinking of those who do hear, and do not understand. I would tell this outsider; well actually this outsider might more likely tell me that my music is dark, insane, haunting, eerie and cold with the meaning that these are not natural harmonious qualities, in some attempt to criticize. And I say thank you very much, that is just what I was after. Some people really are afraid of the dark.  

When I listen to, “Spun Forth as Dark Nets”, it sends chills down my spine… how did you manage to create such a dark and very cold atmosphere, and who and what inspires you when you write a song?
Ruins - Ha-ha, thank you very much! The influences I channel into RUINS are many and varied. Out of the melancholy comes the depression, out of the depression comes the disgust or resentment, out of this bitterness comes some feeling of invulnerability, or something like a hardening, we have swung back to order and control again over the chaos always looming, here we have recognized so soon the eternal chaos, do you feel the melancholy now….full circle, perpetual, all these primal feelings. I really don’t know what to say to this question, except perhaps that there is these places in my mind that… well I am in the transient, or these darker places when the music is coming into me or out of me. Again the darkness is of course perfectly naturally occurring in all and everything, we are just talking about shifting balance and so on, to be balanced is to have this wheel turning at some comfortable and constant speed. And I am only describing the reality of this dimension; I am hugely influenced by out of body experiences.  When you do such things as summon certain states of mind to command a feeling, or also linger and wallow in destructive feelings to maximize their creative potential through the next cycle, well this is to be quite unbalanced for times. For there to be no danger in this, one must be relatively resilient… or let’s say very self-aware perhaps… beyond this we really are talking about magic, this is exactly where this should be too, the black metal is so called because it is and should be the dark arts. I believe this is what we have most in common with real black metal, as opposed to any other stylistic influences.

If you should suggest one single song to understand the full RUINS music potential, which title would you choose and why?
Ruins - This is difficult. I think one way to answer this would be for me to point out that “Spun Forth as Dark Nets” can and perhaps should be listened to in it’s entirety start to finish like one long piece with eight small movements, this really does flow as intended, this was very important to me in my processes of construction. The songs should and do stand alone, but in relation to one another, that is their sequence and they belong together in that order. I think from “Atom and Time”, the song “Winter” quite clearly illustrates many different directions within our sound… pretty well rounded out in the one song; for early material that is, you can see many ways we can go. But this is old news compared to what we are up to at the moment. The new stuff it is still Ruins no doubt, but construction has evolved further.  

Do you feel that your sound will evolve in some different direction in the future, or you will still follow the same path?
Ruins - I guess I just answered this, but to elaborate… the answer is yes to both parts of the question if this makes any sense. We are still wandering the same path; we are just further along... It doesn’t look entirely the same the whole way, but it is still the same path.  

Who has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have a great cover?
Ruins - Lorenzo Mariani did the cover for us, whose work we had seen with Dark Throne recently amongst others. We were very impressed with his work for us… just what we had envisaged. I feel it is important to complete the package to give more of a picture of what it is you wish to convey, to give the listener something more with which to interpret your ideas. And also, just to make it all as an engaging experience as possible.

Do you have any touring plans?
Ruins - Yes we plan to tour, but no, we have no plans… something very soon I am sure!  

Let’s speculate – you have been granted a free slot on a tour of your own choice – who would be your ideal touring partners?
Ruins - I really have no idea about this one? Just being on tour with the guys I have gotten around me here to do RUINS… I’m thinking these guys are my ideal touring partners in the first place, which is very important if we are able to all travel and get along no problems. I don’t know about other bands? The bands that I might really like to see may well have their mystique ruined after 20 shows in as many days. This is difficult to know, it will remain to be seen. 

How do you feel about the co-operation with your label?
Ruins - All has been going well seemingly. I am more than impressed with the efforts that have been made on behalf of us. Neurotic seems to really do a good job of every facet from manufacture to market… things I don’t like to even think about, and could never handle to deal with, so the good work is greatly appreciated.  By the looks of it Ruud is a very busy man. Yeah so Ruud is great but regarding co-operation, I think I’m just barely meeting my end of the bargain ha-ha.

The internet is a very important source for many metal fans – how do you use the internet and how important is it for you and other bands?
Ruins - I must say my use until recently was very limited, but when one form of communication or another is needed…. This here is preferable to phone or regular post mail, just in terms of immediacy mail-wise, and of course international phone rates are ridiculous, so concerning a band organizing a tour or something… well I guess it is all heaps more convenient, but this is the age is it not? By the same measure we all got along fine without it not that long ago!

And how do you feel about the metal scene in general at the moment?
Ruins - I don’t know what to tell you? I like a bunch of bands that exist now in this time, too many to list really… so that is pretty good. I have found stuff in the last few years that really for me is just as important to me now as any of my musical influences have been since birth; but to find these I have waded through a lot of shit don’t worry. I cannot be bothered to have some sort of senile jaded rip on all the current things I am unimpressed with, once again more than you could imagine and where would I start? And it really would only serve to mention some drivel that does not warrant a mention.

Please name an album, person or event that has had a huge influence on your life…and why?
Ruins - This is really difficult to answer, simply because there are too many seriously significant people and events in my life, and albums… But actually, an album, a person, and an event…all in one, I guess this could be when I was in early high school, my friends older brother (person), played us all sorts of death, and grind, and doom… etc amidst it all I heard ‘Soulside Journey’ (album) and felt this one was special right away… I guess that was also (event), but perhaps more importantly, the person I am talking about is now the band Striborg, and it was way back then he was jamming with bands and so on, they were the older kids and we young pups would sit in and watch… this is when I first realized that I wanted to play my own stuff!  That was the thing, they were an original band, and then I knew that this could be done… I already played guitar since very young, but such an event as this helped me realize I could or should make my own music.

What are your favorite old and recent bands?
Ruins - These questions are not getting any easier to answer, this is again a really big one, I will have to be very ruthless and just say a few otherwise this will go on forever. When I was a very young kid Black Sabbath stood out more than anything in mother’s collection, definitely AC/DC, this is really young. Then not too much later a friend who was actually my neighbor, a fair bit older, he was like my older brother really… he helped me a little further along this same path with stuff like Iron Maiden, and then Metallica and Slayer. SLAYER!  It was at this point I sought further aggression in the music and became accustomed to this feeling of the search, and the evolution of it all, I found myself stuff like Kreator. Not much longer after this is the time I speak of previously, when the real self awareness is beginning to happen for me and so on, so, shit so many bands in the early 90’s, but out of all of them I will again list Dark Throne. More recent bands that have truly possessed me would include Weakling, Leviathan… and Lurker of Chalice, Craft, and Portal. This is barely even scraping the surface.

What are you doing besides RUINS, job wise as well as hobbies?
Ruins - I am chef and kitchen manager. Besides this RUINS takes much of my time… or at least me wasting away on a guitar takes most my time. I don’t know that I like to comment on my other pastimes really, but most of them in some way influence what RUINS concerns itself with.

Last question – do you have any famous last words for our readers?
Ruins - Become one with chaos.

- Thanks for your time, and I wish you all the best of luck in the future to come!

Album out on Neurotic Records.

Click on the album to see more info on Ruins.