Rubblebucket are a 5 piece band from Brooklyn NY. Signed to Ben from Mumford and Sons’ label ‘Communion Records’ they have begun to really make waves with their nu wave, aftrobeatz style.
We caught up with Cal, Alex, Adam and Ian from the band at their first EVER European gig at Irish whiskey festival Bushmills Live…
This is your first time playing in Europe. Being from Brooklyn how different is it? Cal: It’s beautiful! It’s so refreshing to be somewhere new. We love our country but it’s so exciting to be in a new landscape, and to meet new people.
Adam: Brooklyn it’s pretty much the polar opposite. Cal and I met in Vermont, where she’s from, so it’s not entirely different to where she’s from.
Cal: Vermont and Ireland are pretty similar, there’s a lot of cows in Vermont…
How would you describe your sound?Cal: It’s hard to put into words, we don’t like to describe it. It’s sort of inspired by an update on nu wave, The Talking Heads or something like that. Kind of far out, craziness with pop and dance. There’s also some kind of afrobeatz influence.
American indie-dance band RUBBLEBUCKET entertain the crowd at Bushmills Live 2014, the festival of handcrafted whiskey and music that took place on Thursday 12th June at the Old Bushmills Distillery on Ireland’s north coast.
How did you all meet?Ian: We all met in Boston. Adam and I went to school there and Alex and Cal moved there after graduation. Adam, Alex and Cal actually met on a parade gig, you know, they all played horns.
We were trying to make money where. Cal was doing nude art modelling, I hustled these parade gig, where you just show up to a location and they hand you this black shirt and a hat and four American marching songs. You walk around on the pavemnet for six hours in different communities doing these Fourth of July marching gigs and that’s where I met Adam and we split a sixpack of Dogfish Head beer, got drunk and paraded around and I was like “Hey, you wanna join this Afrobeat band Cal and I are starting?”
Adam: I think there’s actually a strong band nerd thread going through Rubblebucket we’re the ones who did marching band in high school.
Where did the name Rubblebucket come from?Cal: In the northeast states of America, it’s a tool used by stonemasons and contractors to haul rubble from one place to another. Our old percussionist was a stonemason and he kind of brought the name to us. We’ve always tried to figure out a better name over the years, now it’s just too late!
You’ve been together since 2008 and this is your first time in the UK, are you hoping to see a little bit more and play some more shows?Alex: We have a new album coming out, and it’s our first album on Communion Records (Ben Lovett from Mumford and Sons record label). It started in the UK, and they’ve branched out to the US, so we’re one of the first bands to have an album out on the label in the US, but in the UK. We have an EP coming out in Europe on July 7th so it really has been a dream to come tour internationally.
Cal: You’re seeing our dreams come true!
So the UK will be seeing a lot more of Rubblebucket?Ian: Yeah if all goes well! We’ll be here for the next couple of weeks. We’re playing Bushstock, which is a festival put togther by Communion. Then we’ve got a few shows in London, Leeds and Manchester. Then we have Glastonbury…
Is that something you’re really excited about?Adam: Yeah! We have two days off there so we get to see everything. We get the chance to play for a great audience and see a bunch of amazing acts. Our really good friend plays saxophone in Arcade Fire, so we’re hoping to see them!
Rubblebucket’s new album ‘Survival Sounds’ comes out on August 26th on Communion Records.www.rubblebucket.comFacebook.com/rubblebucketTwitter.com/rubblebucketSoundcloud.com/rubblebucketBusmills Live is an intimate festival attended by 700 music and whiskey fans from around the globe and was headlined by breakthrough British band THE 1975 with artists including Gary Lightbody and Peter Buck’s supergroup TIRED PONY also on the bill. Bands more used to playing to crowds of thousands performed a series of small gigs in centuries-old buildings at the Old Bushmills Distillery where the art of whiskey-making, perfected over generations, is practised every day. Share Bushmills responsibly.
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