It was only at the start of 2011 when Sydney three-piece RüFüS dropped their debut self-titled EP and put their stamp on the national indie-dance scene.
Eighteen months later the band has totalled 2 EPs, received regular airplay behind songs Paris Collides and We Left, bootleg remixed Elizabeth Rose’s Stars Ago and Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know, and put together an exclusive triple j mix-up.
Fresh off tour to promote their latest single This Summer from current EP Blue, RüFüS’s Jon George is revelling in every moment of the band’s continued momentum as he tries to pick a stand-out show.
“Sydney was one of my favourites, just coz’ of the home crowd and it was just absolutely packed,” George recalls.
“Canberra was definitely up there as well, and then Brisbane on Saturday was amazing. It was like a really good celebration of the whole thing. We did a shot on stage with Polographia that we’ve been touring with and got them all up for a percussion breakdown as a sort of encore…so it was really good fun.”
RüFüS was committed to keeping the good times rolling while out on the road, often following up a gig with an after-party DJ set.
“[In] Sydney we went to an FBI Social afterwards and did like the last set that was broadcast on radio… So it’s pretty fun doing that because you get to keep the party going and playing music you like.”
“It involves me and Tyrone (Lindqvist) basically jumping on the decks and we don’t play heaps of our own stuff, it’s more just the stuff that we’re digging at the moment. I suppose rather than just a normal party DJ set we like to try and make it all flow and put in some deep house to something a little more harder than that, a little bit more banging,” George explains.
‘Banging’ is RüFüS’s business. This Summer’s captivating beat and hypnotic lyrical mantra is a prime example of RüFüS’s ability to create tracks that are danceable from start to finish and build to the familiar crescendos that make electronic music so enjoyable.
“That’s what we’re in it for… I’ve always loved that tension and release… We really like to play on that eerie vibe…that darkness with lightness we draw on heaps. Then keeping like a dancey factor, having something a bit more somber, then all of a sudden it’s banging and really to be danced to. I think people really enjoy that part of it.”
“Sometimes (onstage) we…start singing or playing something that is a little bit different to what we’d usually do and we sort of just run with it from there. It really can amp things up for ourselves and get the energy really high. There’s a couple of points where we’re building to crescendo and sometimes we’re just having a cheeky laugh at each other onstage just seeing how big we can build it,” George happily reveals.
“There’s a lot more to manipulate I guess. I don’t know if I’d like to be in a band without any access to that sort of manipulation because there’s so much to do and so much to emote from people with the amount of sound that you can sort of draw off.”
With so much achieved in under two years, you may be wondering why RüFüS has still kept relatively secret. Part of the reason begins with the band’s ethos that places an emphasis on music rather than marketing.
“We’re always told you’ve got to have your image, you’ve got to have a marketing side to it and that’s how you’ll get people on side rather than just having a good sound. I suppose for us it wasn’t…really (about) having our faces plastered everywhere trying to show how cool we were. It was just about…our music and I think that’s really helped us grow fans,” George considers.
Now as the secret continues to get out, RüFüS look to capitalise on their grassroots-built notoriety. Tracks This Summer and Selena have been commissioned for remixes by ‘top secret’ artists, while RüFüS is currently holed up in-house tinkering away on their debut LP.
“We’re going down the coast for a month to start writing our album or piecing it all together from what we’ve got already. I haven’t been this excited about anything in awhile. It’s a pretty awesome feeling just locking yourself away and making tunes.”
RüFüS’s debut LP is tentatively slated for release late 2012/early 2013.
Watch: RüFüS – This Summer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Ji8fU2D_k
