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Interview RUFFIANS
A Talk With LUKE BOWMAN
METAL TO INFINITY
Hail Luke, welcome to my site and thanx for your precious time in the first place! It's my intention to speak about your early days as musician and of course about the things that keeps you busy nowadays. Who was the leader of the Ruffians gang back then and where does it all started?
Thank you for having me!
I had been in a few bands with Chris Atchison, & also played with Craig Behrhorst in some other bands, ( I was the original drummer in Laaz Rockit, only for a short time though, never did any recordings or gigs with them...) Anyway... the three of us decided to get together & see what sort of noise we could make, I guess we liked the noise, & decide to look for a bassist & singer, that was 1983...
Was it hard to find the right musicians those days?
It was difficult. After several months searching for a bass player, we setteled on Devin Lacey. It took even longer to find a singer, we auditioned many, & setteled on Rob Bonston. We did several gigs with that lineup, and built a pretty good following in the local clubs. Rob & Devin eventually decided to move on to other things, so our old friend Dan Moura took over on Bass, & the long search for a singer started all over again. I don't remember how many singers we auditioned this time around, I do remember it took what seemed like an eternity. Great things do come to those who wait !!! Carl Albert appeared out of the blue !
Line up was complete, you guys went to the studios for the recordings of that magnificent, unforgettable, self-titled EP and we were all shocked with such a great product. Ruffians took the world of Heavy Metal by surprise! You probably won?t forget these periods, don't you?
Well, some of it's a little blurry, we partied a lot, & it was 20 years ago. I do know we had a lot of fun...
I suppose you guys did a lot of touring back then. Can you name a few unforgettable gigs you did and give me some names of bands you've played with the early days.
Yeah, we did get to play with a lot of great bands, Death Angel, Loudness, Alcatraz, Lizzy Borden, Laaz Rockit, Dokken, Exodus, Testament, Y&T, Vicious Rumours, Villain, & City Kid, who later became Tesla. I'm sure there are several others, but that blur is coming back to haunt me at the moment.
Ruffians was successful both national and international right? How did you handle all these forms of greatful recognition or dignity as a young man?
We did have some success, just enough to keep us humble. I think we handled it all pretty well, many of our friends achieved greater success, so that helped keep us in check.
You'll definitely agree with me when I call on a man, a real legendary singer and frontman of Ruffians those days, Mr Carl Albert. What kind of a guy was Cartl actually Luke?
With Carl, what you see is what you get. He was a genuinely good person, never had to "put on a show" to get people to like him. He loved life, & everyone who knew Carl loved him. He had a wonderful sense of humor, you could be having the worst day of your life, 10 seconds with Carl you'd forget all that & be rolling on the floor laughing!
CARL ALBERT (One of the best singers ever but unfortunately died many years ago...a true brother of Metal gone but surely NOT forgotten...forever in our hearts!!!)
He left Ruffians and played later on with bands as Villain and Vicious Rumors, two fantastic US Metal bands, but unfortunately, Carl died in a car accident on April 22, 1995. How did you heard the tragic news Luke?
I got a phone call from Craig, that was not a good day..... I'll leave it at that...
We all do miss such great singer but Carl will be forever in our hearts, that's for sure? Some final, words from the heart for your alltime brother of Metal?
Truely a great man, a brilliant singer, and an even greater friend. There will never be another like him!
Carl left Ruffians but who was the guy that replaced him?
That would be the amazing Rich Wilde.
Must be pretty hard founding a replacer with the same qualities, isn't it?
It took a really long time to replace Carl, I was beginning to think we'd never find another singer. It's difficult enough to find someone with any ability to sing, finding someone who can belt it out like Carl, well, that's damn near impossible!! Rich is definately the right man for the job!!!
CHRIS WILDE
You guys still keeps on practising but we kept on waiting for a follow up which never came actually. An explanation please?
At that time, Thrash Metal & Glam were the big sellers in the U.S. Ruffians was stuck somewhere in between. I guess the record companies didn't think anyone would want to hear it. We did some demo recordings with Rich, but by that time interest in Ruffians had died down. I left the band shortly after that...in 1987. Steve Patterson took over on drums, & the band continued for a few more years.
Meanwhile, the EP was world wide released through different companies until you met J. Hegewald from Hellion Records Germany. One led to another I suppose, tell me about it please.
Yeah, the E.P. had been released on SPV. in Europe, & on the F.E.M.S. (Far East Metal Syndicate) label in Japan. Unfortunately, neither release led to any tours outside of the U.S. until our good friend Juergen Tshamler contacted Craig about possibly playing the 2004 Bang Yor Head Festival in Balingen, Germany.
We thought it would be a great opportunity to rerelease the E.P. as well as four un released demo recordings with Rich Wilde on vocals, & some live recordings with Carl. Juergen Tshamler put us in touch with Juergen Hegewald, & we struck a deal.
Meanwhile, Ruffians? '85 & Live is a fact and I'm goddamn satisfied with such a fantastic piece of Metal music. Something to be proud of it. How's the co-operation with Hellion Records at the moment?
Glad you like it!! Juergen Hegewald has been great to work with, he's done a lot of publicity to help get the Ruffians buzz going again, I'm looking forward to seeing him when we go back to Germany in October 2005.
A new Ruffians album is well under way and shall be released by Hellion Records once again, right or not?
We have completed recording the first 5 songs for the thus far untitled new album .
We've sent copies to a few labels,but have not yet signed a deal with anone, we'll have to wait & see what sort of offers we get.
I tend to think Juergen Hegewald will be involved in some way, our trip to Germany was a success largely because of Juergen H. & Juergen T.
There's no way Ruffians would have reunited without them giving us a push!
What can we expect Luke? Same style, same quality US Metal like in the good old eighties?
I think it is very much the same style,and quality. If you like our older recordings, you're gonna love the new one!
IT KICKS ASS!!!
Please, give me the current line up and a few words about each one of the guys would be great to know.
The current lineup is:
Chris Atchison: guitar & backing vocals (See Picture!)
Craig Behrhorst: guitar & backing vocals (See Picture!)
Rich Wilde: lead vocals (See Picture)
Tommy Sisco: Bass (No Picture available)
Luke Bowman: drums (See Picture)
Is there already a release date planned?
Unfortunately not, we still have to finish the recording, and of course, sign a deal. We will be playing several of the new songs on our next trip to Europe. We'll have a limited production single out soon, & the full album should be out early next year...
CHRIS ATCHINSON
A new album needs exposure and promotion, right? Ruffians definitely will hit the roads after the release. Where is the tour going to start Luke?
We have a short European tour planned for Oct. / Nov. 2005. We'll finish the new album after that & try to hit the European festivals in summer 2006.
October 28 - Lubeck, Germany - Sounds with Abgator
October 29 - Brande-Hornerkirchen, Germany -The Cantina with Not Fragile, Vortex, Carpediem & Hatred
October 30 - Leeuwarden, Holland - Mukkes with Forcefield
November 2 - Vorst-Laakdal, Belgium - Den Auwel with Slough Feg & The Guardian
November 3 - Zurich, Switzerland - Abart with Anvil & Phantom-X
November 4 - Bergamo, Italy- Club Keller with Jag Panzer
November 5 - Lauda-Konigshofen, Germany - Keep It True Festival
I know there is a Ruffians gig planned on November 5th at the Keep It True V festival in Germany. On the same bill bands like Raven, Intruder, Skullview, Virgin Steele, Ignitor,?Something to look forward to it, isn't it?
You bet!! It'll be my first time seeing all the bands on this bill, you find a show like this anywhere in the U.S.
CRAIG BEHRHORST
I'm sure Ruffians will play some early tunes too. What is your favourite early Ruffians songs Luke and why?
"Fight For Your Life" is one of my favorites, in your face power metal, a great show opener.
As a drummer I also really like the groove on Bad boys cut loose, I always have fun playing that one.
You're a musician since a very long time and experienced a few decades of Metal (like I do). What?s the most remarkable difference between then and now brother?
Back then in the San Francisco area there was always at least one kickass metal show every week at every club. It really was hard to choose which one to see. Not anymore though, the metal scene around here is basically dead, I keep hearing that's it's making a comeback, but I don't see it anywhere. I'm sure glad it's still alive and well in Europe!!!
Imagine, you've got the change to go back in time, would you do it right away?
Wow, that's a tough one, there definately are some things I wish I could do all over again, but for the most part, I'd have to say no.
Well, I'll support the eighties Metal scene as good as a can but still keeps my eyes open wide for some nowadays Metal giants too. One of those are the forthcoming album of my alltime favourite US Metal band Ruffians! All the best Luke, greets to the entire camp and if you wanna speak some last words to our readers, just go for it man. Thanx again!
Thanks to all who support Metal, wouldn't be worth playing it without you!! See ya soon!
RUFFIANS AT BANG YOUR HEAD FESTIVAL GERMANY 2004
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