Right now you can catch a Detroit Doors Tribute Band in Canada, or in Detroit…. If you’re lucky…. And watch someone act like Jim Morrison and attempt to set the night on fire. That’s one option….. Or… You can also catch a band who will physically set themselves on fire…  I don’t know about you but option two sounds definitely more interesting.

That’s what Rick Ruiner of the Detroit rock extravaganza… The Ruiners is all about…..

But ah… let me start from the beginning. I am rocking out at this dilapidated rock club called Club 5452? It was off of Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. Don’t bother looking for it because I am pretty sure this place is all done by now. I remember watching my friends band, Empty Arms, play a show and I was wandering around the pub. I was wandering around the pub and we were in between sets.

I looked down at the floor and could literally see pavement through the floor. One wrong thump and you could literally fall through the freakin’ floor onto the ground below. Just about when I thought I was going to get bored out of my skull something amazing happened…..

They showed up…..

And by “they” I mean the Ruiners.  I saw Liz Ruiner walk in the back of the pub first and she was already plugged into an amp. She had this Cheshire cat grin like she popped out of a Tim Burton cartoon. She was confident and knew the capability of the band. Her confidence scared me…. She knew what was about to go down. And before I could put two and two together in comes Rick Ruiner. He was wearing a feather boa, sunglasses and tight leather pants. And I caught the can of lighter fluid in his hand. Good mercy what was he going to do with that stuff?

Light himself on freakin’ fire of course !!

He was wailing into the mic and lighting his own leg on fire. I have no idea if he could feel that heat but the flames were rising off his leg and nobody in the audience flinched !!  This guy was like an electrified Jim Morrison reborn for the modern age.  I was a fan… right there.. BOOM….  He leaned back and then poured more lighter fluid over his leg and the flames licked up high and he let out a guttural howl. I was a fan of this band. That’s what it took…..they had a fantastic stage presence and I was hooked. This band crawled out of the center of the Earth and were bringing the level of madness to the surface dwellers.

They ripped through their songs like an white hot knife slicing through butter. They had precision, they had purpose, and they came dressed to kill and they rocked the house. They were dripping with personality and charisma. How could you take your eyes off of this band? I mean seriously? I later followed them to some shows in Ann Arbor and had a chance to talk with them and hear some of their stories…. They have GREAT stories…..

Like the time Rick was playing some show and things were getting a little tired in the prop department. He puts on a gorilla mask and reaches into a brown paper sack and starts throwing hamburgers at the audience. He even pulled out a toy pistol. That is good clean fun. More to the point it is incredibly outrageous. There is nothing grey about this band because everything they do is outrageously loud.

I like the Ruiners…. And that is putting it mildly.  When you see Nina Friday hit those high notes and doing the shimmy you know all hell is going to break loose. But the best thing I can tell you about them is that their songs are original. They are loud. And they are what’s happening RIGHT NOW… at this very minute.

If you are looking for an original show, with original showmanship and original songs… this is for you. In the age of retro rock this band is a real kick in the leather chaps. They are vital and needed in the Motor City….. catch them soon and you will agree.

The Ruiners in Detroit Rock City, Creating Fun, Chaos, and Living The Punk - Thrash - Dream

Ted Cantu
May 2014  -- HOT METRO FINDS

Like what you see?

You can find the official Ruiners site here.....https://www.facebook.com/TheRuinersDetroit

Catch them on Reverbnation http://www.reverbnation.com/theruiners

The Ruiners On MySpace https://myspace.com/theruiners

“A VISUAL ASSAULT: REM Dissected Scene By Scene

The bottom video was shot in 1989 and is the closest thing I could find to what the original show opener was like in 1987. This was a departure for REM as much as it was for the audience. Just when you thought you knew the band they changed on you in a new and exciting way. It would take some time to recognize them once again. In the case of, “Document” the album had to grow on me. I noticed this sort of thing happening with the Smiths too.

There was one sequence in the video, not shown in this edition, when the words – “Want” and “Need” come on screen. The words flipped interchangeably and morphed into a strobe that said, “Need Weed” and I remember the crowd going a bit wild over that. This was Ann Arbor after all. There is some talk about the set list being accurate. I do not believe, “Orange Crush” or “Pop Song 89” was performed in 1987. Those songs were released after REM went to Warner Brothers. “Document” was the last album created under the I.R.S. Records label.

There is another version of, “The One I Love” done on the live tour. Stipe starts out with a slow intro and for a minute I thought the whole song would be done slow. It then kicks into the tempo we all know. The stage was also bathed in an eerie red light. How this song got perceived as a love song I’ll never know. It was about a sick love obsession.

Over the years I hear the young kids go, “Oh who cares about that stuff, REM was long before my time.” Trust me, you wish you were there. This show was nothing but historic.

REM: AND THE BIRTH OF ALTERNATIVE RADIO --- ANN ARBOR, MI 1987

Read about it here....