Preview: Australia’s The Rubens’ touring The U.S. To Support The Release Of Their Self-Titled Debut LP

My sister and I will never start a band together. We used to occasionally play violin and cello together as kiddos, but we will never garner international stardom from making music together. That just isn’t the fate slated for most siblings. So for ¾ of the Margin siblings (Sam on guitar and lead vocals, Elliott on keys and vocals, and Zaac on lead guitar) to start a band, along with childhood friend, drummer Scott Baldwin, is pretty impressive. Even more impressive than the band’s familial formation, however, is their quick and seamless rise to stardom – impressive, but not at all surprising. Talent, creativity, perseverance and a touch of luck have collided to tell the story of The Rubens.

The Australian quartet plays a unique blend of blues-drive and catchy rock that’s attracted attention from radio programmers to renowned American producer David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes). Since the band’s self-titled debut release in 2012 with Ivy League Records – an album that can boast Gold certification – the Rubens have signed on in the US with major label Warner Bros. Records.  Warners just released The Rubens in the US, almost a year after it debuted in Australia.

The band’s single, “My Gun,” has been accredited by the APRA Awards (Australasian Performing Right Association) as the 2013 Rock Work of the Year. With that and the support of a major label as Warner Bros., it won’t be long before The Rubens are just as much a household name in the US as they are back home. 

If all of those names, awards and labels weren’t big enough, when we caught up with The Rubens in March of this year, they were slated to play with Bruce Springsteen in Australia at the iconic Hanging Rock outdoor venue in Victoria. Their performance, as all of their performances have been, was obviously a hit as the group has already been invited to play again with Springsteen when he returns to Australia next February.

It’s not February yet, however, and the Rubens have some big plans before their exciting return home. This summer, they sampled the festival circuit hitting both SXSW and Bonnaroo; BestNewBand.com’s Kristen Blanton saw them at the latter and dubbed them “The One to Watch” so it’s not a show you’ll want to miss. The group is continuing its US stay and embarking on a major US tour with Grouplove, where they’ll be hitting most major US cities. Shows are selling out quickly, so be resourceful and do what you need to do to get in.