Rue Snider

Americana, folk, punk, and a drop of country: Each are genres that could describe Brooklyn singer-songwriter Rue Snider. The New Yorker’s newest effort, Broken Window, is out today (independent, 2016) and without parading a mile long line of fanciful preparatory speak in front, this album is filled with references to drinking, drunkenness, bad decisions, and irrational forms of coping with personal difficulty.

Before anyone cries “overused tropes” and moves onto something else, hear this out. Yes, Broken Window is an album by an Americana/folk (punk) style artist and yes, Snider centers much of his thematic premises around the glass and the bottle. However, the choice to do so is hardly one based in apathetic sub-cultural default. No one who has heard even the slightest of modern pop country would recoil in surprise at the mention of whiskey, or drinking away a break up. Such scenarios are so commonplace for mental imagery in the modern Americana vein that any drama meant to be felt from taking such action has gotten severely lost.

What though, if it’s not a trope, or a box one has to stand in because it’s “what the genre does?” Once listeners look up and realize that Snider is actually describing true to life extreme emotions, and has lived through the moment to moment disasters of unnecessary blackouts (I like to to go to North Brooklyn bars / getting fucked up on weekday nights / I like to sing my songs alone under the stars), and substance-fueled blind stubbornness, (I don’t want to be told to stop blaming / I don’t want to be told to stop taking drugs), the gravity of the choices he outlines throughout Broken Window’s 12 tracks hits hard – almost as hard as the hangovers Snider likely faced before reaching the end of a three-year road to recovery from his drinking. (As an aside to anything else in this review, all the power in the world to Snider for getting to that incredibly hard earned point in his life.)

“This record gets into a lot of the grittiness of alcoholism and becoming sober. The songs take a serious look at death and embracing the fact that life is finite as inspiration to live better.”

Recognizing the reality based place this album comes from is so key because, on the outside, the musical and artistic framing of Rue Snider’s style makes seeing his work “like every other drinking song,” all too easy. The production and instrumental choices of Broken Window, (primarily jangly guitar, fiddle, organ and piano) mixed with Snider’s individual voice, strongly evoke the melodic but painfully shaky character of Conor Oberst, along with the jangling, chime-like guitar melodies of Alt-Americana group, Those Poor Serfs. There’s no questioning the record’s quality of construction or Snider’s consistently emotive performance. The album was recorded and mixed with care and thoughtfulness to be sure. Decisions concerning choices like panning and filtering, both of which shape the way the songs are delivered to the listener, are amply exercised on tracks like “You’ll Be Fine.” Effects like tone bending on standard elements like guitar parts, for tracks like “Denial,” enhance the allusion to an alcohol-induced haze.

Again, without full context and a tie-in to Snider’s life experiences, the foundation of some songs come across as fundamental. “Loneliness is Better Than Heartbreak” looks on the outside, like a formulaic composition with a symmetry and balance in its lyrics and chord progressions that borders on too perfect – especially when considering the unpredictable nature of Snider’s emotional subject matter. Yet then, when singing lines like, “Heartbreak will get you to do things you shouldn’t do,” an overt crack in Snider’s vocal illuminates a moment of extra vulnerable authenticity and humanity, despite musical commonality. It’s here that the gentle see-sawing movement present in the undercurrent of Broken Window becomes more visible. Sometimes it’s the individuals parts that create the tension. Sometimes it’s the lyrics, and sometimes it’s a seemingly non-sequitur placement of material that turns out to be the most eye-opening song on the record, as is the case with the very stark, “73 Seconds of Truth.”

This song unfolds like a stream of consciousness. Snider’s recollection of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger stands in as the utterly specific, real-life anchor tethered to what is an otherwise overall musing on the impermanence of human life and the perpetual weight of mortality (Lives are made of minutes, made of seconds / One day will be the last for me, for you.).

There’s something that feels almost somewhat guilt inducing about deciding that this very conceptually heavy, very crudely honest, and ultimately sad song, is a standout “must-listen” kind of track for Broken Window. Nevertheless, there it is. Having most everything else around it prior, be very similar melodically, instrumentally, thematically and even narratively (no metaphors for getting drunk here – just straight up getting sh-tfaced), “73 Seconds of Change” is a serious breath of fresh air that hears Snider, yes, still embracing sadness. However, he does so grounded in a factually relatable event that can be explored on one’s own, as opposed to a generalized scenario that needs to have details extracted and subsequently compared to others in order to form an analogous but not identical connection.

It’s also a refreshing change for the unique reason that this song, and this song alone, is a bench mark for anyone who listens to it. Depending on one’s generation, absent hearing the introductory date, it’s possible the first thing people might think the actual disaster Snider is alluding to varies, depending on what one remembers as the notably negative event of their generation. Perhaps World War II, perhaps 9/11. In this case, both are wrong and the truth being something that exists in between the two, as well as something not rooted in terrorism, almost makes one step back and reflect on the nature of our core mindsets with regard to great world turmoil in this day and age.

The potential for feeling emotionally and mentally drained by this point in Broken Window is most likely high but the winding down of its last trio of songs actually keeps the refreshing surprises going. Broken Window closes on a syncopated, uptempo note, once again, more positive in tone and word. (I want to be there for you like you’ve been there for me…You’re the reason I’ve been thinking / Life might not be a series of disasters.) While a little more push on the poetic and metaphorical side might be an appreciated touch here, after so much downtrodden foot-dragging, it’s great to hear this musical outing take a revived turn in its last 25% and not ultimately pull the rug out from under listeners, as though this happiness hasn’t been earned by both Snider and everyone who made it to the end of the record. The rounding out of the music’s instrumental sound as well – upbeat and major key-centered fiddle, harp, and piano, all reappearing like a cast member reprising on the last number in a Broadway production – really ties Broken Window together, leaving people to take away a sense of hope, joy, and genuine enjoyment that ideally will match that of Snider’s fully realized inner motivation.

I want to be a man, don’t want to be a boy
I want to put away foolishness and seek real joy
I want to know your heart like a child knows his toys
I want to love you everyday until we’re soil - Throw the Dice and Play Nice

Brooklyn singer/songwriter Rue Snider just released his second solo album "Broken Window". Rue Snider, it is this perfect balance of folk, americana and rock. In his music, he simply shines with his signature vocals and his seemingly effortless way of sharing his stories. In this album, referenced as "a chronicle of getting sober in the city", Rue shares his personal battles with his demons. However, the whole record is also tinted with light. Throughout this album, there is a brilliant dichotomy between the lyrics that can be quite dark and the eclectic arrangements (piano, electric guitar) that convey that, no matter how dark things can get, it is going to be alright. Thus, after listening to this very personal record, I felt hopeful. And that is one of the many reasons why I find this album mind blowing.

Musically, if you like folk/americana, this record will be right up your alley. It is a coherent and cohesive collection of songs. There is no weak track. Rue got me at the very first line of the opening track "Broken Window" ("The more I try to love, the less I love myself"). "Blackout" is one of the many highlights of this album. It has some of the most brutally honest lyrics, but the instrumentals balance the words out. What could have been one of the most somber songs become almost an anthem of self-awareness and self-acceptance. There are, honestly, so many beautiful moments in this record. "You'll Be Fine", a more stripped back track, is one of my favourite. I loved the organ coming in at the end. "Crowd Into Trains" is a beautiful melancholic ballad with a mesmerising melody. The way Rue's voice breaks in "Loneliness Is Better Than Heartbreak" blew me away. Everything about this album feels heartfelt, raw and authentic. The last song "Dead Man Shoes" is an upbeat track that is the perfect epilogue.

This album is strong, honest, somber and hopeful. From the first track onward, you listen to this record the way you would read a great book. You find out about the struggles, low points but also all the moments the hero sees that there is a way out. Rue Snider is at his most vulnerable.This record is profoundly human, which makes it very relatable. Listening to "Broken Window" is a beautiful, touching and thought-provoking experience. A very special album that I cannot recommend enough! - Sway and Breathe

“Is there anyone among us who’s never lost it?” ponders Rue Snider on the title track of his latest album Broken Window. It’s a question that Snider answers frankly on his deeply personal second solo album which chronicles the singer-songwriter’s alcoholism and journey into sobriety with songs that are both brutally honest and completely human. Via a Folk/Punk/Americana hybrid of melodies featuring fiddle, electric guitar, and organ, the twelve-song collection takes you on Snider’s journey as he is transformed from a man in darkness – destructive and depressed - to one in light, who is self-aware and hopeful.

Recalling the disenchantment of Morrissey, Snider sings in the melodious opening track “Broken Window”: “All you need is love til your heart ends up deadened” while on “Blue Skies and Telephone Polls” he employs some delightful jangly pop to convey his complex struggles. A feisty fiddle with a punk attitude appears on “Blackout” where he acknowledges “Sober only knows what the whiskey couldn’t kill/I don’t know why I always have to drink my fill?”; Snider continues to visit those dark places and indulge in women and drink on the shuffling “Denial” and “Loneliness Is Better Than Heartbreak” where the bluesy guitar and Snider’s vocals make the desolation palpable.

The haunting “You’ll Be Fine” speaks to being broken, codependent...and thirsty, while the sweeping piano accented melody on “Crowd Into Trains” is celestial - almost as if his pain is finally being lifted away. And perhaps it is, as there’s a turn to gratefulness on “Valentines Wish From A Friend”, and an acceptance of love on both the gorgeous ballad “Dive In” and fan favorite “Stories.”

Broken Window closes with the anthemic “Dead Man's Shoes” which portrays a changed man, one who wants to try harder to do better, live every moment, seek joy and die happy. It’s an uplifting ending to the lived experiences of someone who was once broken and is now putting the pieces together and seeing a bright future through the clarity of the shattered glass. - The Daily Country

RUE SNIDER – BROKEN WIND (SELF-RELEASED)

Solid singer-songwriter fare from Brooklyn’s Rue Snider with the right amounts of country-folk rock ’n’ roll that evokes equal parts of Willie Nelson and Neil Young – which is great company to keep! Broken Window was written in the midst of Snider’s transition from being a full time drinker to living as a sober person. And yes, that’s a country & western journey of redemption if we’ve ever heard one! Songs like “Blackout” and “Denial” sets out the premise well whereas by album’s end, “Stories” and “Dead Man’s Shoes” wraps things up with a positive resolution of sorts. http://www.musicbyrue.com/ - Power of Pop

Rue Snider - Stories.

Background - Folk-punk/Americana singer songwriter Rue Snider will release his second solo album, Broken Window, October 7, 2016. Three singles preceded the album; “Blackout,” “Blue Skies and Telephone Poles,” and “Stories.” “Stories,” a fan favourite, was a featured new release on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter homepage.

Broken Window was written in the midst of Rue’s transition from being a full time drinker to living as a sober person. The album moves from nihilism to hope over the course of its 36 hook-filled minutes. The songs’ instrumentation including jangly electric guitars, fiddle, and organ help to offset some of the darker lyrical content. Light overcoming dark is central to the album’s theme both in subject matter and tone.

"I try to be transparent in songs about a lot of the dark corners and trying moments in my life in an effort to encourage people to move past fear,” says Rue. “This record gets into a lot of the grittiness of alcoholism and becoming sober. The songs take a serious look at death and embracing the fact that life is finite as inspiration to live better."

Rue Snider has toured America extensively for three years in support of his debut full length album Leaving To Returning and single releases, The New New Colossus and Never Met A Girl I Didn’t Love. He has made appearances at SXSW and Folk Alliance International, and shared the stage with Tom Maxwell (Squirrel Nut Zippers), Tropic of Pisces, Superhuman Happiness, Benjamin Scheuer ("The Lion"), Blue Healer, Donna Missal, and Walter Salas-Humara (the Silos). He is currently on the road in support of Broken Window. Website here.

Rue Snider has distinct and engaging vocals as 'Stories' demonstrates. Not surprising the track is something of a story, which has an Americana feel running throughout. It's typical of the overall quality of the three singles released so far, and the forthcoming album. It's definitely worth checking all his material out. - Beehive Candy

On October 7, Rue Snider, a brilliant singer/songwriter from North Brooklyn, will release his second solo album "Broken Window". In his first solo album "Leaving To Returning", he already shone with his signature voice and the strong storytelling element present in each of his songs. Rue Snider, it is a mix of folk, americana, rock and folk-punk. It is a voice that feels raw and earnest. And it is, more than anything, a singer/songwriter who has that ability to write songs that, no matter how personal, remain relatable and become instantly part of your life.

"Stories" is the third single from his upcoming album. It is a beautiful and melancholic folk song with just the right hint of americana. There is something dreamlike and slightly magical about it. For 2 minutes, Rue Snider, like a modern troubadour, draws you another universe in which the world around simply fades away. His voice is a powerful vector of emotions that makes every word resonate even more. "Stories" sounds like a modern waltz that makes time disappear. When you play it, you'll find it difficult not to sway along. If the three singles (that you can stream on Soundcloud) are any indication, "Broken Window" will be without a doubt a very strong record. While waiting for a few more days for the new album, let's play this new single on repeat (and the first solo album too!). - Sway and Breathe

Austin, Texas - For six days in March, thousands of musicians and bands crowd clubs, concert venues, car parks and streets in the US state of Texas's capital, Austin, for South by Southwest.

It is one of the largest music festivals in the world.

What started out in 1986 as a local music celebration has transformed into a sprawling, crowded group of festivals on music, film and technology.

The festival is most famous for its music, attracting both American and international artists.

While some of the musicians who played the festival are already big names signed to major labels, such as Iggy Pop and Ryan Adams, this year's line-up includes hundreds of artists who haven't yet had that commercial success - they come to the festival for an opportunity to collaborate and be inspired.

For independent musicians such as Rue Snider and Anthony Watkins II, who performs as Mobley, the festival is a chance to network and meet other musicians.

Snider, who is based in New York, says touring and playing in front of crowds is a big part of his music.

For the past two years, he has played 100 shows a year. This year, he hopes to play 250 dates.

Even though Snider feels that making record deals at South by Southwest is a thing of the past, the festival is still important.

"Any time you can get together with lots of other people who are doing something similar to you, is a good thing," he says.

"For me, it's primarily a networking opportunity ... It's great when everyone in your industry is in one place."

Austin-based Mobley creates music that mixes indie rock, R&B and electronic music.

For Snider, "foremost always is just getting time with and in front of new audiences to try to spread the music that way. But then also secondarily I think it's a time when a lot of people in the industry converge on the city and ... it can be a timely opportunity to meet up with various people in the industry and play in front of them and try to make connections that way".

He is investing in trying to make those connections.

This is the first year Mobley has hired a public relations person this year to publicise his shows.

As a musician who releases his work independently of a music label, he says the current bar for what income his music career brings in is pretty low, that he wants "... basically to not be losing money on the endeavour."

To support his music, he works in film and doing coding.

'Emotional connection'

Snider grew up playing music. His father was an elementary school music teacher, and Snider learned how to trumpet, piano and cello. He started seriously playing guitar four years ago.

But music, Snider says, "was always a big part of my life. Music was my emotional connection to the world".

That link drives Snider's songs.

His latest release features a song about some of the hatred that shaped the American reaction to the global refugee crisis last year.

Snider was on tour in San Antonio, Texas, sitting in his hotel room, feeling powerless about the hatred he was seeing towards Syrian refugees from Americans.

That included statements from governors that they wouldn't let refugees into their states, even though governors in the US don't have the power to prevent refugees from settling in their states.

In November, the mayor of the Virginia city of Roanoke put out a statement suggesting that his city reject Syrian refugees just as the Japanese were interned in the US during World War II.

That sort of language was not uncommon.

Snider says: "My newsfeed was littered with people using language that I didn't realise people actually uttered ... For me the refugee thing is pretty simple because we're a country of immigrants and, for chrissake, what are we doing if we're not taking care of people who are being raped and murdered and driven out of their country?"

After spending time feeling powerless and angry, Snider realised his music could be a voice.

"For me I thought maybe if I co-opt some of this awful language that people are using to talk about other human beings and I say it out loud on recording and then I say it in rooms in front of people when I sing these songs, maybe it will, saying these things that people are doing in the dark, bringing them to the light will sort of diffuse them a little bit," he said.

"People will be shocked and offended, which is my hope, and that they will consider the language they are using. It's not just the ethnic slurs ... it's the fact that people have become casual and cavalier about using these racial slurs and slurs for groups of people in America currently as this presidential race rolls on."

The New New Colossus

The result was the song The New New Colossus, a song he wrote based on comments he was reading on his Facebook timeline and the political debate.

Every line in it is something he read from someone he knew.

The lyrics are inflammatory, including epithets such as "sandni**er" that people were comfortable posting online.

But Snider says singing them was necessary and intended to shock. "People have become cavalier," he says.

He hopes the song makes people consider the language they are using.

Compassion is part of Mobley's music too. His new EP is released in April but is already available for pre-sale.

He is donating 10 percent of sales to relief efforts in Flint, Michigan, a city struggling with a water-contamination crisis that started two years ago when state officials switched the water supply from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River.

The water was not tested for possible corrosive effects on the pipes carrying it into homes and businesses, and lead from pipes and fixtures leached into the water supply, creating long-term health effects in the community.

The donations follow a pattern of Mobley's contributions to causes he cares about.

"It's something that I've done since the first time I put out music ... I'll do a pre-sale that's about a month long or so and give 10 percent or so to whatever cause is most heavy on my mind at the time.

"The first time it was relief efforts related to the genocide in Sudan, in Darfur, and then on another occasion it was shortly after the storms in Haiti and contributing to that relief effort."

Meagre compensation

Even with success, Mobley notes, compensation is meagre and he spends money to sustain his music career, which is not atypical.

"I'm constantly playing shows. I've been on big festivals. I've had placements in television and film. It's just the compensation of artists is so meagre you have to supplement your income until you reach the relatively tiny middle class of artists."

But even licensing, which once was seen as a way for artists to earn money just as the sale of music on the internet was starting, doesn't yield the profits it once did.

When the singer-songwriter Moby licensed every track off his 1999 album Play - he was the first musician to license every song on an album - it was seen as a way for musicians to boost sales and make money.

Mobley has licensed music to television shows on American networks HBO, Fox and NBC, but he says licensing is not a sure way to make money, and that sometimes music supervisors on films approach musicians and ask them to pay to have song placement in films.

And while some shows at South by Southwest pay, the financial outlook for musicians working on their own can be bleak.

However, Mobley and Snider say they feel they have to play music. Mobley says he shares other musicians' "sense of compulsion".

Even though he went to college thinking he would be an attorney, he become a musician.

For Snider, his travels on tour around the US provide inspiration and feed his desire to make music.

"The more I see of the world and the more I drink in this country ... the more I feel like I have other things to say," he says. - Al Jazeera

Rue Snider plays music on the road full time. Most of the shows are solo featuring acoustic and electric guitar. People have said he reminds them of Social Distortion, R.E.M, Bright Eyes, and Billy Bragg. He lives in Brooklyn, NY between tours.

Broken Window releases October 7, 2016. The first single “Blackout” saw the light July 15. The second single “Blue Skies and Telephone Poles” is available for pre-order now.

Rue has shared the stage with Tom Maxwell (Squirrel Nut Zippers), Tropic of Pisces (members of Rubblebucket and Oberhofer), Superhuman Happiness (Stuart Bogie – Antibalas, Arcade Fire), Benjamin Scheuer (writer and star of The Lion), Walter Salas-Humara (the Silos), and many other wonderful bands and songwriters in cities and towns all over America.

In this interview, we speak with Rue about his new project, his history, and more.

Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?

I write songs on an acoustic guitar that are driven by the words and melody. The arrangements on the records are designed to keep the focus on the vocals. I tour solo and the shape of the rock songs changes so I’m conscious of making records that are intentionally melody forward. Hopefully people attach to that and come along with me as I present various permutations of the songs.

I grew up listening to a lot of punk rock as well as a lot of protest music from the 60s. So I play and write songs on an acoustic guitar but I really love a lot of music that doesn’t sound like modern acoustic music. When I connect with something in that genre it’s usually old and is speaking to power. So I call the live show folk punk. It’s largely acoustic but it’s got a lot of attitude. I’m trying to dig deep lyrically.

How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?

My first EP Losing Her was released March 26, 2012 days after returning to the United States from two months of travel in South East Asia. The five songs set the tone for a career characterized by earnest, specific, personal songwriting full of big hooks. The traveling and wanderlust that led to the overseas exploration set the stage for what would shortly become my life on the road.

My full length solo debut Leaving To Returning released August 25, 2015 accompanied by the three track single Never Met a Girl I Didn’t Love. All the songs were recorded by Brandon Wilde at Studio 76 in Brooklyn and featured David Cole (Rubblebucket) on drums.

In November of 2015, I wrote “The New New Colossus” in a motel room in San Antonio, TX responding to inflammatory language about Syrian refugees on social media. It became a three song single that was recorded in the back of my Dodge Grand Caravan in a parking lot near Clearwater Beach, FL and was released on December 22, 2015. The political lyrics drew the attention of Al Jazeera English who did a profile on me early the following year. It also caught the ear of Infintesmal Records from Jacksonville, FL who released a limited edition cassette on March 2, 2016.

Recording for the follow up LP began while I was still on the road. Acoustic guitars were tracked at The Headlamp in Jacksonville, FL and in the Dodge Grand Caravan at a mall in Tennessee. Other performances were recorded across the country by generous friends. Drums in Jacksonville, FL. Fiddle in Salt Lake City, UT. Keyboards in Norman, OK. Electric guitar solos in Brooklyn, NY. These pieces as well as vocals and harmonies recorded in my childhood bedroom in Butler, PA were assembled by Brandon Wilde (who added bass, organ, electric guitars, and percussion) in his Brighton Beach studio during a short tour break in May.

Broken Window releases October 7, 2016.

Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?

Punk rock from the 80s. Anyone who speaks to power. Anyone who tells an honest story or a well crafted story. It doesn’t have to be true to be honest and human. I love Flannery O’Conner and Charles Bukowski. I love the French New Wave, especially the stuff Francois Truffaut made. I love Bergman’s films. I am huge fan of hair metal and power ballads. I like things with melody; HUGE melody. Also Bob Dylan. And New York City.

I got my work ethic from my dad. It took me a long time to figure out what I want out of life and now that I’m on my path there is no stopping me. I’m attracted to people with ambition. We only get one shot at this so I put one foot in front of the other and don’t look back.

Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?

The single we put out “Blackout” sounds like a fun, summertime party song. But lyrically it’s really dark. It’s about a guy who is constantly getting blackout drunk and spinning into the depths of alcohol abuse. The music is intentionally subversive. The record it’s on that comes out October 7 everywhere, Broken Window, is influenced by my recovery from alcohol. The lyrics move from nihilism to hope in 12 tracks. My goal is for it to connect with some folks who haven’t turned the corner out of the darkness that addiction can be.

What was the last song you listened to?

“Trouble with Boys” by David Bazan. It’s the best song of the year.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

I spend all of my time driving around from city to city playing shows so the only way I listen to music is on Spotify. I’ve been a music collector since I was very young and I have acquired thousands of cds and records over the years. I haven’t touched one of them in a long time though.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

I’m excited by all the ways digital distribution gets my music in front of folks. The money I make from streaming is important and helps keep me afloat.

Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?

I don’t have the machine of the record industry behind me telling people that they should listen. Often I feel like a voice shouting into the wind or screaming in a vacuum. There is so much noise out there it’s difficult to cut through. But when people hear the songs they get excited. The challenge is in making partners out of those who enjoy the tunes. “Rue Snider” is literally a two person cottage industry. There is me and my manager and we do everything.

I’m always grateful when someone comes up and tells me she liked the show. What I really need from her though is to add me on Instagram, like me on Facebook, and Tweet my Spotify page or the website, www.musicbyrue.com, to her followers. Then I need her to buy something, maybe one of the brand new Broken Window tour tee shirts, and listen to the music online. I also need her to put my music on playlists and share it with her friends. It’s a big hurdle between “I really enjoyed your set” and “I’m following you on social media and tweeting at my friends about you. Can I buy a tee shirt?”

There’s an obstacle getting the message out that folks need to interact and actively support independent artists that they believe in and enjoy. There isn’t any money supporting this. It’s 100% grassroots. Everyone’s tweets, likes, and streams matter. A lot.

Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?

I’ll finish this year with around 170 shows. I spend all of my time driving around America and playing. Keep your eye on http://www.musicbyrue.com/tour/ We announce the first Broken Window tour dates September 15.

Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?

www.musicbyrue.com is the best place.

Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?

Death is coming for us all and she will win. LIVE life. Don’t look back. - Middle Tennessee Music

Revealing Yet Elusive

I’m fascinated with Brooklyn cause I’ve never been. Yes, I’m that guy. How long am I gonna tread water before I make the push up North? I know, I’m being impatient. I’ll make it up there one of these days. But let’s get real here.

I haven’t had that many relationships in my life and I’ve failed miserably with the ones I’ve had. Being candid about that shit is a load off but I’m not usually that straightforward about it with people, so regret tends to build up. But I’m also a bit of a dick so I don’t dwell on it.

Some days it weighs heavy and most days it doesn’t. Of course the further I get away from it the lighter the weight becomes with time.

“What the fuck are you talking about,” you ask?

I’m talking about Rue Snider’s super-honest album Alone Again Relax. When I heard this guy would be touring through from Brooklyn, I tuned in and discovered a songwriter who’s not afraid to wallow in the darkness and write about it.

Sure it’s not uncommon for singer/songwriters to go there but this guy is punk, baby! He’s got an edge that puts things in a straightforward and specifically sharp way, that sends the occasional shiver up and down my spine bones.

That’s why there’s a lot of range to uncover on this album that isn’t just rage specific. Anyone who’s had a successful relationship can appreciate the construction of the well-placed hooks and melodies all over this thing. Snider’s film-making chops is also important in having influence with the stories he tells.

While Rue gets ready to travel, I figured this would be a good time to find out what this dude is all about.

The Bottle With Me And Snider Makes Three

Zoe Dune: I love whiskey so much that I don’t have a preference. It’s like maple syrup to me, I feel like a fucking bear every time I’m near it, so I can totally relate when you applied “whiskey cry” as a genre or style for your music. Tell me that is or was a scene somewhere?

Rue Snider: Maple syrup, huh? Are you implying you put it on pancakes and toast? I love whiskey too although I try to limit how much of it I consume these days. I’m pretty crazy about Few Rye and Templeton Rye. They’re both out of the Chicago area I think. I drink bourbon most of the time though if I’m drinking whiskey. Usually something cheap but passable. Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, even Evan Williams. Bars in Brooklyn have dozens of whiskeys. Nobody drinks anything clear here. It’s strange.

Whiskey Slur (not whiskey cry) is a term I listed as a genre on our facebook page to be tongue in cheek. I don’t hide the fact that I’m a drinker (it’s all through the tunes) but I take the writing process very seriously and I don’t really produce anything of consequence under the influence. Recreational activities tend to seep in when you’re working on a song though, even if you’re stone cold sober when you create it.

As far as I know Whiskey Slur isn’t a scene anywhere. Although when you get a bunch of people from bands in Brooklyn together the spirits tend to flow pretty liberally, so I suppose we could create a sub genre of indie folk or something. I imagine most scenes across the country delve pretty heavily into the brown spirits so that probably would work a lot of places. I guess we’ll find out on this tour!

Zoe Dune: I would have gone all the way to whiskey sob, but I stand corrected. Whiskey slur reads better and doesn’t look completely pathetic. I mean, it was the breakfast of champions (H.S. Thompson), and if not completely on the mark, it was at least somewhere in the range of whiskey/bourbon/scotch. Whiskey snobs will correct me for sure!At a certain point in your album, I was kind of like, “Get it together man, she’s gone!” And while it looked weird to my roommate for me to be yelling at a bandcamp page, I do wonder if to get through your breakup, you might have blown off Aunt Jemima for a bottle of rye on your pancakes, during those regret-filled mornings?

Rue Snider: Ha! So you at least made it to the chorus of the first track. Yeah, the record has a theme. Here’s the thing Zoe, there wasn’t any regret on my part. I don’t think anyone should ever regret loving someone even though your time together will inevitably come to an end. I mean everything dies. I wrote the record in order to avoid pouring whiskey on my pancakes, to continue with your idea.

I didn’t start writing songs because I had “something to say.” I started writing songs to save myself, you know? After a while you get better at it and you learn the craft of songwriting. Now I can write songs about whatever. In fact the last two Januarys I participated in a song writing challenge with some other people where we wrote a song a day for 31 days based on a daily word that was picked randomly. You come up with some interesting stuff in those situations. This album that we’re touring now though, Alone Again Relax, is very much about self preservation.

There are other songs, lots and lots of other songs. I’m touring with another guy names James Margolis. He does the heavy lifting when it comes to the guitar playing. We have around 50 originals of mine that we’ll do over the course of this tour. There was another record written that we started to work on that got shelved for Alone Again Relax. I just couldn’t go on and I didn’t want to wake up every morning and get fucked up and hate myself and be sad. So I wrote a bunch of songs about this one girl and it was a way to get over it. Sometimes yoga doesn’t work. The whiskey wasn’t broken, but every morning I woke up to a new day alone. So I wrote about that shit. Interestingly, some people really connect with the tunes because they’re so personal and specific. I’m glad.

Zoe Dune: I never took the long-term deterioration of bitterness seriously until recently. I think it’s true you have to wrestle it somehow and turn it into energy. I can’t imagine with your background in film and now getting into the muck of songwriting, that you could have been under for very long. But you stuck to it on that song writing challenge, which takes a lot of focus. What kind of battles did you have on those days you might not have come through with a song?

Rue Snider: I was under for a long time. A LONG time. There’s always a song, even if you’re not the one who writes it. There has to be, or else you get into those marathon Netfkix sessions that go on and on. House of Cards in 4 days. Stuff like that. Also, I ate pizza every day for like four months straight. That was a little crazy.The long term deterioration of bitterness is an interesting topic. I’m not impressed when people get over things quickly, whether it’s a lost love or something else traumatic. I got a text from a woman today who was dumped by a guy a week ago that she was head over heels for. Her text said, “There’s no use crying about the wrong guy when the right one is out there.” She had internalized that shit already. It’s true I suppose, but Jesus Christ, their relationship just ended. I think things have to deteriorate at their own pace or it can weird later.

Zoe Dune: Well that’s an interesting thing because I’m on this thing these days about forgetting our past. You know, like short term memories. But some things take hold and our crazy brains won’t let those things go. But then again, they begin to mutate into something else and translate differently. For Alone Again Relax, how does that release translate to you now as opposed to when you first put it out? Like you said, you have a colonic unit of songs that aren’t on it so, it’s not like it’s constantly torturing you?

Rue Snider: You know at the end of the first Nightmare on Elm Street when Nancy realizes that all she has to do is stop being afraid of Freddy and he won’t have power over her anymore? It’s kinda like that. But then in the next scene Johnny Depp’s convertible turns into Freddy sorta and they all drive off into, I don’t know what. and then her mom gets sucked into that tiny window in the front door. never understood that last scene.

We made the record really quickly because I was afraid I would start to edit the songs if I had too much time to live with them. Most of them were recorded within a day or two of being written. The way I approach songwriting means I kind of preserve the past. But that doesn’t mean holding onto things too tightly. It comes back to the art as survival idea. I make stuff to survive and part of that is letting go and moving on.

I’m surprised to hear a writer say she’s interested in forgetting the past, since writing captures it. Even if you’re telling someone else’s story or just making things up. There’s still a piece of time that gets saved in whatever you’re doing. Right?

ZoeDune: Well, it’s more like that we can’t help but forget the past. Saying that, it’s weird because I can almost say that I can remember everything up to three years and then everything is slim pickins, you know? But the writing process, whether it’s music or words; the most you can hope for is to just be engaged with what you’re doing and then move on when you’re done.But to come back and revisit that is usually someone else’s job I’m sure. There have been moments when I’ve looked back at some things and be like, “was I even present for that at all?” But yes, I’m pretty manic about documenting everything I can but also try to put it together in some cohesive and somewhat accessible form. It looks like you might have made a similar move with the help of Robin Irene Moss and E.W. Harris, and the Brooklyn singer songwriter scene for it to all make sense?

Rue Snider: EW Harris is a NYC musician who also engineers and produces records. He is in a band called The Sky Captains of Industry. I wish the entire world knew their music. It’s awesome. So so awesome. He has a solo record too and is making another one. Everybody should look him up. He and I are going on tour in December with another Brooklyn songwriter, Don Paris Schlotman, through the south east for 3 weeks. We’re calling ourselves Brooklyn Drinkers Union. It’s kind of a songwriters in the round deal. Should be fun.
Robin Irene Moss toured as a member of No Strand for a year and contributed a lot of really valuable ideas to the music. She was a big part of Alone Again Relax. She’s focusing on her solo stuff right now. The new material with the band is moving in a decidedly more rock direction and she’s very planted in the folk world.

Brooklyn has a very supportive songwriter scene. It’s refreshing. The quality is very high and that pushes you to always be on your toes and never settle. I could do an entire interview and just talk about the amazing musicians I know in New York who inspire me. It’s great to have really talented friends. I mean even the people in New York whose music I don’t like at all are still really fucking good. It’s a positive place to call home.

ZoeDune: Oh yeah, I’ve listened to some of their stuff. To get to that level of quality song writing, takes patience, meaning to not rush the ideas and take time to flesh them out. You’ve mentioned before how Harris was able to help build one of your tracks, adding things to it. Now, I’ve often wondered what it takes to be a good producer and I can only imagine they would have to be free to contribute as well as take away or at the very least, understand where things should be going. You know, getting your hands dirty. And with open mics, you usually come across the same people. Parts of Dallas and many other cities have that Brooklyn melting pot thing that I like. I’ve never been up there, but look forward to hitting up some of those open mics myself. Is everyone always held together pretty well on the road? Have you toured down South before?

Rue Snider: That’s a lot of questions. Okay, a producer has to contribute or else they’re just an engineer. EW Harris has a style and that’s why you hire him. It’s your record at the end of the day and you have to make the final decisions. But using a producer and tying their hands doesn’t make any sense to me.

There are a lot of people in New York City but as you pare things down and get involved in different activities the City gets smaller very quickly. It’s not that I saw the exact same people at every open mic all the time when I was doing that. You just kind of attach to certain groups and end up going to the same places. There’s a songwriter collective called BigCIty Folk run by a guy named Niall Connolly. You should check him out too. Everyone in No Strand and everyone who has played with us pretty much came out of that sort of umbrella. It’s good to have a community. Niall has worked very hard for years to really make something of BigCity Folk. I’m grateful for that. I kinda just plugged int to what was already happening.

Being on the road is really fun, but the most we’ve done at one time is 10 days. This tour is 5 weeks. I expect there will be new challenges. But this is what we want to do and you take the difficult stuff to have the satisfaction of playing for people every night. Or at least playing. At our level sometimes people don’t show up. I want to spend most of next year on the road really laying some solid groundwork and getting in front of lots of people. The internet is great for people having access to your music, but they’ve gotta know about it in the first place. And I don’t think anything replaces the excitement and energy of a live show. To answer your question though, no, everyone does not always hold it together on the road. But for the most part it’s cool.

This is our first time down south. We’ve toured a lot between Washington DC and Burlington, VT. We’re trying to expand our circle. After this tour I have a week off then go out for 3 weeks with Brooklyn Drinkers Union hitting a lot of the same towns in December. I don’t think we’re going to make it to Texas unfortunately. I’m excited to hit new places for the first time and then come through again really soon. Hopefully I can build some relationships that way.

ZoeDune: Since we are coming to the end of 2014, what does 2015 hold of Rue Snider?

Rue Snider: We’re working on a winter tour to Germany, then a trip to Austin for SXSW, then a big summer tour, a new record that’s about halfway done, more singles, a HUGE video that we shot for this song “Heaven,” and lots more songs. But mostly just meeting people and making music with my friends.

ZoeDune: Well that is damn swell Rue. Lots of luck with the tour, we’re definitely super stoked to hear that Brooklyn sound. Might even introduce you to a little Texas whiskey while you’re here! Oh hell, let’s do it!

Rue Snider: Thanks Zoe. See you in a few weeks! - Incendiary American

Brooklyn, NY’s Rue Snider and No Strand are an indie-folk/American band who write extremely catchy, earnest songs with lush harmonies and rich guitar solos. At their lead, Rue Snider relocated to NYC from Pittsburgh in the summer of 2005. Previously having experimented with short films, Rue pursued music in New York, cultivating his guitar playing and songwriting.

Currently the band is planning to release and tour in support of their first record, Alone Again Relax and Ghettoblaster caught up with him to chat about it. This is what he told us.

When did you begin writing the material for your most recent album?

I participated in a 31-day song challenge in January of 2013 where I wrote a song a day based on a list of words. Four tracks from Alone Again Relax came from that time. I wrote one song in April and I wrote four more between June 28 and July 4 of 2013 right after the relationship the album is about ended. After we were basically done recording I thought we needed something to complete the story arc so I wrote two more songs in October that ended up being the first and last tracks.

What was the most difficult song to take from the initial writing stage through recording and mixing? Why was it so troublesome?

The song “Carolyn”. It’s a mid-tempo rocker, which created a problem. We aren’t really a rock band at this point and it’s hard to do a song like that without drums and bass. We had a very difficult time capturing anything that sounded decent at all.

Then, our producer, had the idea to take it apart completely and put all kinds of effects on the vocal and on my acoustic guitar. He built a new beginning for it where he played Robin Irene’s harmony backward and added all kinds of train sounds, and wolfs howling, and a loud market in Delhi, among other stuff. Not only did it work, it became the highlight of the record. I think it’s the best thing we’ve done yet as a band. The producer gets the credit. It took a lot of work but now it’s amazing. His production on this track helped strip the record of some tired singer-songwriter conventions. I think the other songs, especially the two following it, sound different in light of what we did on “Carolyn”.

Also the lyrics on that one are really personal and specific. There’s always a danger when you write like that that certain people will be taken out of the song as a result. It’s kind of like seeing someone naked on stage and no longer being able to separate the character from the actor. We did a lot in mixing and producing that track to put our clothes back on if you will.

Which of the songs on the record is most different from your original concept for the song?

The answer is the same, “Carolyn”. It’s from the brain of our producer, E.W. Harris. He was the right guy to make this record with and I’m really glad he was there to push us and think outside of the box.

The thing that I think is more interesting is how E.W. was able to distil where we were trying to go with these songs and capture the sort of lo-fi vibe we wanted almost exactly. There’s a song called “You’re Gonna Miss Me More Than I’ll Miss You”, which sounds as close to what I heard in my head when I wrote it as anything possibly could. We recorded these songs really fast, like in a 12-hour day fast, and E.W. Harris was able to get the most out of us in a very compressed time frame.

Did you have any guest musicians play or sing on the record?

No Strand is James Margolis and Robin Irene Moss in addition to myself. They are both talented songwriters separate from the band and although they’re full time members, the songs I write are larger and more beautiful and all around better because of their contribution.

My friend Melinda May who is a wonderful songwriter that lives in Brooklyn, as well as E.W. Harris, our producer, sang harmonies on “You’re Gonna Miss Me More Than I’ll Miss You”.

What else did E.W. Harris contribute that changed the face of the record?

E.W. Harris is in a Brooklyn based band called The Sky Captains of Industry. We’re all fans of theirs and huge admirers of his solo work. He coached all of our performances and helped shape this record in ways we couldn’t have done on our own. He really listens in the studio and is an active participant in the process while still letting you make the choices you need to make.

Is there an overarching concept behind your new album that ties the record together?

“Alone Again Relax” is the definition of a concept record. It’s about an almost year long, tumultuous relationship I was in. Every song was written about one woman. When things ended with her I was in a very dark place. I’m grateful I had these songs to retreat into. They gave me a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to go to bed at night.

Have you begun playing these songs live and which songs have elicited the strongest reaction from your fans?

We’ve been playing the record live for several months. The song “Dead Man’s Shoes”, which is our first single, really gets people going. Our great friend Danny Feighery made a video for it that is pretty outstanding (http://youtu.be/s9gVxDnmG_A) and he gets all the credit for that.

There’s also a song called “Denouement” that ends the record. It’s interesting because Robin Irene doesn’t sing on the recording at all but she contributed a ton to the lyrics and melody. Her and James both did. It’s the one song where the writing is credited to the band and not just me. I’m excited about more opportunities to shape things like that in the future. Clearly “the sum of our parts is better than our limbs alone.” That’s me quoting myself. Why not.

(Visit the band here: http://ruesongs.bandcamp.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/musicbyrue. They perform their CD release show at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn on Saturday Feb. 22. Go!) - Ghettoblaster

Back at the beginning of the year there was some talk of maybe putting together a collaborative music blog. That never quite materialized, but in anticipation of it’s potential existence I wrote of piece of review-like music quasi-journalism. I would like to free it now from the folder on my laptop where it has been living in inhumane isolation. Some updates since this was written:

Rue has a new record coming out on October 7th called Broken Window. Hear some singles off that here: http://ruesongs.bandcamp.com.

Vic Thrill no longer plays a regular thing at Pete’s (you missed it!) But you can – and should – follow him on Twitter where he does seem to let people know where you can see his weird amazing shows.

The world continues to wait for a new Vic Thrill record.

Billy Campion aka Vic Thrill comes in about half an hour after his scheduled set time. My girlfriend is with me. I lured her here with promises of an interesting set and Oasis falafel sandwiches. She is already asking things like: “Do you think he remembers he has a set tonight?” Well, this is, as I understand, a weekly gig. So I imagine he does? But we wait.

It’s worth waiting for.

Campion flies in hot with a load of stuff in his arms. He comes on like a Krishna music caveman cosmopolitan genius. A swirl of deeply eclectic foot triggered backing tracks and spiritualism. Fiddles and accordions. Tabla and sitar. Sermons on music, love, and unity delivered in a voice that sounds like it’s been through some things, and inspires heavy belief in all the words coming out of it. It is mesmerizing. It is very strange. It is undeniably cool.

I’m not the first person to write about Campion. He’s been playing rock shows in NYC since I was a small child. And we could talk about his old band The Bogmen, and about the quintessential nineties rock n roll story that I’ve heard from everyone around back then. About the national exposure, the deal, the evaporation of label attention. The deflation. Disillusionment. Dissolution. That has been detailed elsewhere. And, for me, it’s a narrative that misses the most important point. Campion is not a figment of the past. He is currently, at 44, doing the most interesting work of his career.

I’ve been to two of Campion’s shows in the past few months and the experience both times feels a little like watching a weird experimental aircraft take off. There is not a lot of faith at first that this thing is going to fly. Campion shows up late, he yells at his guitar and struggles to tune it. Some of the guitars look like improbable DIY numbers. He looks older than his nearly 45 years. He rolls on the floor and screams. He fairly twitches with boil-over energy. He dances with abandon. His voice captivates, soars, and ultimately I am convinced that this man is the absolute truth. The real deal.

Please. Take a listen, download his offerings. Give him your money. Hopefully you can help inspire him to release his long promised new album, allegedly titled Bollywood Hula Bard. I really want that to be a thing. He is at Pete’s almost every Saturday evening at 6pm.

…
Oasis break. If you find yourself in this stretch of North Brooklyn, and you’re not willing to hoof it over in the rain for an Oasis sandwich, then you have given up, man.
…

I return to Pete’s, post-falafel, still buoyed by the love-optimism absorbed during the Vic Thrill show. I pop out to the backyard to try to type some quick words into my phone about what I’d seen so far. In the rainy backyard there is only me, and a couple making out. I give them their space. I can only assume the love-vibes Vic Thrill left floating about the place had overwhelmed their sense of public decency. I get it. I forgive them. I go back inside.

I am back at Pete’s because I have set for myself an ambitious mission. I wanted to catch Vic Thrill at 6:00, and stay for Rue Snider at 11:00. Several beers later, and mission accomplished.

Rue Snider’s path is the path of folk heroism. He started playing just a few years ago and has now spent the last couple of years touring nonstop. Playing over 100 shows a year. By the time of this Pete’s homecoming, Rue has been out for four months straight. It is a level of commitment I find terrifying. And it is paying off.

Rue is increasingly a commanding presence on the stage. His songs and banter are extremely direct and unafraid. At Pete’s he takes the stage with a pedal-operated slapback on his vocal, complemented by a fair amount of processing on his guitar. It gives Rue a forceful sound. It works as a kind of subliminal counterpoint to the bluntness of his lyrics, and the straightforward realness of his delivery.

His current relentless tour is in support of his newest record, Leaving to Returning. But he also has a new single, The New New Colossus, which is one of the ballsiest numbers I can imagine doing in the kinds of places Rue often plays. But he does it anyway. Because Rue Snider, that’s why. Getting murdered by a redneck in a North Florida saloon would just cement his run towards folk heroism anyway. Godspeed Rue. Check it out for yourself and feel his bravery:

Check out the man’s tour schedule, and look out for Rue Snider wherever you are. His tour sweeps onward in an ever-widening swath. If he hasn’t been to your town yet, he will be.

http://www.musicbyrue.com - Chris Michael