The Ruiins Debut Byron Bay Falls Festival - 30/12/17

Taking Byron Bay Falls Festival by storm, the Ruiins own the Jack Daniels Stage on the opening evening. With a humble entrance, the Forster two-piece took the barrel house, with its oak, whisky barrels, low lamps and musty atmosphere – not to mention the rest of the ingredients to an old, Aussie pub – to a rowdy crowd.

Adam Dooker, lead vocals and drums, rumbles the waiting patrons with a soft wash of the cymbals. The light rain is overrun by a slash of Patrick Sugden’s Epiphone and Adam follows suit to the opener. Drowning bounces through the room with a relevant symphony as the music overwhelms patrons, staff and passer-bys alike.

 The afternoon turns to night and the boys revel in the filling venue, with mosh fist-pumps, foot stomp wars and a chorus of voices singing to the up-beat tracks, Pat welcomes Falls Festival with a “how the fuck are ya!”

Following crowd favourites like It is You, Open Up Your Soul and Love Can Start a War (that had Gemma Pick fizzing on their Unearthed profile) the boys rock the pub like the man himself – Johnny Cash – with an upped Jailhouse Blues. The ecstasy doesn’t fade as the last riffs fades and Adam and Pat launch into their debut single Eventually, the track that had Dom Alessio saying he “can hear the beach within the rock blues.”

As the Ruiins close the roar of the Jack Daniels Barrel House demand more, all while the fellas of the Central Coast wake up to the surreal-ness of playing Falls Festival. 

Review - Jake Sandtner