The Rubens Move Front and Center at LA’s Troubadour

About midway through their opening set The Rubens’ lead singer, Sam Margin, looked out at the crowd and shared a story. In between sips of his Sierra Nevada Pale Ale he recalled the origin of the song, “Lay It Down.” “I recorded this song in my bedroom.” he says. A smile crept onto his face as he explained that one of the first times he heard their debut single on the radio was when his “mum” picked him up from a friend’s house. He was stupefied.

The Australian quintet featuring the brothers Margin with Sam on rhythm guitar and vocals, Zaac, lead guitar, and Elliott, keys and backing vocals, have been performing together since 2011, but their musicianship and stage presence are that of a band well beyond their limited years. Rounding out the group is childhood friend, Scott Baldwin on drums and Will Zeglis on bass.

Their self-titled debut album has been out for about a year in Australia, but just hit stateside earlier this month much to the delight of the band. Now on tour with Grouplove the band hopes to make an impact and if tonight’s performance is any indication they will be revered in the U.S. in due time.

Cruising through a nine-song set, The Rubens showcased their abilities to a full house. Despite openers typically being relegated to a disinterested crowd, the Aussies made fans of those who were unfamiliar to their soulful, bluesy brand of rock. The pumping Hammond organ on the group’s second song, “Be Gone,” filled The Troubadour as the audience quickly crammed into any available space on the floor.

The two-part harmonies on “Elvis” shined and the piercing guitar work on “Paddy” displayed Zaac’s ability to shred, but the highlight of the evening was easily their new song, “Cut Me Loose.” Speaking with Sam after the show they almost didn’t play the tune because Sam had blown out his voice while performing it three nights back, but figured to roll the dice anyway. The result was a booming song that showed the maturation of a young act developing its sound and finding its legs on foreign soil.

As their set wound down, they closed with perhaps their most polished track, “My Gun.” Sam prefaced the song by saying it was one about love and had nothing to do with guns or violence, well aware of the Navy Yard tragedy that happened in D.C. the day before. The song seems destined for American airwaves, but for tonight it served as an exclamation point from a band who will likely be headlining their next time through Los Angeles.

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Ian Joulain

Somewhere between Sublime’s 40oz. to Freedom and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic something clicked inside a young Ian Joulain’s mind. His love for music had taken root and the only way to satiate this newfound passion was mass consumption of any and all genres. While gravitating toward punk rock, hip-hop, and jazz he discovered his distaste for pop-country, but blames that mostly on the excess of tractor and NASCAR mentions in the genre’s lyrics. That said, Joulain has never met a drink that was too stiff or a beach that he didn't like. He hopes to one day hug a koala and would love to ask Greg Ginn why he’s such a dick.