w/the Whip, the Bangs
Sat Jan 4, I-Spy, $7.
"The name comes from an alchemy term," says Jesse Roberts, bassist for the Ruby Doe, of his band's name. "There are three processes of alchemy. There's albeda, which is the white process; nigredo, which is a black process; and rubedo, which is a red process, and it's the last process a base metal goes through before it turns to gold. It's sort of like the fire process, where a base metal's purity is proved through fire. Ruby Doe is a play on the word 'rubedo.'"
As Roberts sits with his bandmates (guitarist Aaron Ellh and drummer Joshua Gabriel) on a recent afternoon at the Comet Tavern, it starts to feel like this randomly chosen name could actually take on new meaning for this Seattle rock act. Although they've been around for a decade (Roberts and Ellh have known each other since high school, and they met Gabriel at college in Ellensburg in 1992), things are starting to come together for the trio as their mettle, as it were, is put to the test of the right things happening at the right time.
The band is working with Michael Barber, the prominent local entertainment lawyer whose other clients include Vendetta Red, Blonde Redhead, and Kinski, and they're also working on their third recording. Production-wise, they've hooked up with John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Harvey Danger, Catheters, Unwound), who recorded their new, self-released three-song EP, and they're slated to go back in the studio with the producer later this year. The Ruby Doe have gotten praise from many members of the local music community, and yet they're still struggling to find a label to call home.
It's a tough spot for a band to be in--put in that much time together, and you want to have something big to show for it. But the Ruby Doe are patient. They're striving for longevity, and with two and a half releases under their belt, hopefully 2003 will be their year. Especially since it seems the media buzz is still fixated on underground rock, something these guys do very well. "We moved here [to the Northwest] when there was a void for rock," says Roberts. "In reaction to the 'grunge' explosion, it seemed like people were afraid to play rock--it was all pop bands everywhere, but people still wanted to rock. I think it's a good time for rock bands and it's getting even better."
Just as the public's taste for rock has been changing, the Ruby Doe have differed on how to make it. Their 1999 (out of print) CD, The Flame and the Fury, is agro hard rock, with lots of tonsil-wagging screams and mathy guitar maneuvers. At times the vocals dip into hearty hell calls, the kinds of demonic screams gothic hardcore bands often use to summon some unseen death knell. The disc has some great stingers--like one song calling for tattooing a spine on some weakling--and overall feels like frustration incarnate.
"The early band was really Helmety," says Gabriel. "We'd intentionally try to fuck with our audience, so our music was very hard for people to take. If you just wanted to groove, we were not the band to see. It was sort of the underlying premise. Like, 'Oh, this feels natural? Okay, I'll put one more beat in there.' It was ridiculous wanking."
Adds Ellh, "But we had to get that out. We wouldn't be where we are if we hadn't gone through that chaos."
The chaos has led to a tighter, more focused direction for the band, whose sound has smoothed out without releasing any of their intensity, landing them somewhere between early Heatmiser and the new Hot Snakes, both on 2001's Dream Engine Blue and in their newer recordings. Songs like "Red Letters" and "Euphobia," from their latest batch of work, balance strong rock melodies with their earlier, noisy drive--stretching out emotional outbursts into a matured vision seeded with plenty of hooks that continue to ring in your head long after the songs are over.
"We change a lot," says Roberts. "In some ways that's always been our curse, but another underlying premise has been not being limited to anything. Sometimes that's good, but sometimes people don't know what they're getting into with us."
Adds Gabriel, "I think John [Goodmanson] just helped us figure out what we're best at, though. Ever since we started working with him, I know better what we do well."
Hopefully the combined alchemy of Goodmanson's advice and the Ruby Doe's more streamlined focus will keep taking this band further into the rock spotlight as Roberts, Ellh, and Gabriel continue attempting to turn their talents into gold.
