Trauma Magnet – Van Ruin (Crankinhaus Records)
It has been an explosive 12 months for Van Ruin, a band formed in Sydney only a year ago that almost immediately began recording their first mini album. Band leader Phil Van Rooyen had a batch of deeply personal songs he had written about his years of counselling substance abuse in the underbelly of the city's Northern Beaches.
Phil threw himself into a flurry of writing and recording, working with his decades-long mate and Al Creed, of local legendary bands like Dr Fruitworld and Panadolls, as well as the New Christs.
Enter Stuart Wilson (Lime Spiders, New Christs, Chris Masuak’s Dog Soldier and The Crisps) on drums. There were a couple of the raggedy, under-rehearsed gigs that were hanging by a thread at times, and as thrilling as they were they did not capture the brutal darkness and brilliance of what would the debut EP, “Jails, Death and Institutions”.
For the recording of “Trauma Magnet”, Andy Newman (ex-The Visitors, Deniz Tek, Decline of the Reptiles, Klondike’s North 40 and ME-262) joined the ranks and that made for one solid rhythm section. The recordings spanned a month with Newman, Creed and Wilson now all adding their own song-writing to the new line up.
The album’s release coincided with the band leaving for a tour in Europe and the few Australian shows that preceded departure showed that the live show had become much tighter.
“Better Now” opens the album with the roar of guitars and you can hear Al Creed pushing his Marshall stack into the red. Phil’s vocal delivers a tale of someone unwinding and falling. This is the first of the characters that Van Rooyen opens our doors to. These songs wind a chemical trail of tragedy, occasional affluence and self-pity.
You should have worked out by now that “Better Now” now is a rip- roaring rock song that’s fuelled by booze-laden imagery of youthful benders. Imagine if the Stooges, lyrically absorbed Bukowski and had evolved into a boozy bar room band. The song is actually a nod to Phil’s other band, The Chickenstones, as this song could fitted into their set as well.
“Acid Rain” a is blitz of garage psychedelica, evoking a band like Tamam Shud but with ten times the tonnage as the rhythm section chugs and pumps away. Phil’s vocal and Big Al Creed’s wild excursions and bluesy licks makes the song. The guitars are (again) in the red and it’s a wild ride. Creed’s Stratocaster runs the gamut, from wild surf sounds to Hendrix; Big Al has it all covered.
Then the album turns suddenly with “Breaks My Heart” sharply detouring into pure pop. The song is stunning. It oozes melody and hooky guitar lines. If it had been released in the 1980s, it would have drawn comparisons to the Sunnyboys. It’s pure power pop. The guitars chines and the harmonies shine. Such a well-crafted song.
“Jump Right” in is based on a Radio Birdman inspired riff and takes us into the surf. After lyrics that are darkly probing substance abuse, its sound becomes a celebration of sorts, the song rolling as if emerging out of the surf’s barrels and into the sunlight. It can lay claim to being a classic Australian song that wraps street level music around the same surf culture that spawned Little Pattie and The Hellmen. It’s a sound that has always made our music unique.
“Low” is another highlight where Andy Newman and Stuart Wilson show they are a powerfully tight rock powerhouse, but there’s more to it than that. Good drummers who are songwriters really know how to build drama and when pull back. Newman has been a complete asset to this line up. His playing is solid, powerful, melodic with his classic Fender Precision bottom end and he knows how lock in with Wilson.
“Trauma Magnet” ends with “The Road” and it’s a classic tale of a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that owes much to American hard rock twin guitar outfits like Alice Cooper and Aerosmith. It’s guitars being played loud with feedback and rawness.
As a songwriter, “Trauma Magnet” is the album where Phil Van Rooyen has really come into his own. He and Al Creed have put together a band with more than 2000 gigs between them.
“Trauma Magnet” is a Northern Beaches classic. I have always argued there is a sound that is unique to this strip across the Spit Bridge in Sydney. It dates back to the late ‘60s but whether it’s Tamam Shud, Midnight Oil on their debut , Celibate Rifles or Hellmen, It’s the guitars, a frantic rhythm section and the sound of surf.
The Northern Beaches are largely known for their affluence and spoilt rich kids, but like most places when you scratch the surface you’ll find substance abuse, losers and poets amongst the area’s sweat, surf, beauty and mire. It gives the album an edge with its blazing guitars and kick arse songs. Killer album. - Ed Garland
This is a searing debut album from a high-energy Sydney band with roots in the Northern Beaches. The influences are obvious but you’d be a mug to pigeonhole it as the work of another Radio Birdman rip-off (and let’s face it - Sydney’s had more than a few.) There’s depth to the songwriting on “Trauma Magnet”, a dash of pop and a fluid strength to the playing that belies the band being around for only about a year.
It would be a shock if there wasn’t a passing resemblance to the New Christs in songs like the full-throttle “Bury Me”, soaring video-single “Better Now” and ever-so country-tinged driving tune “Chrissie”. Big Al Creed was a member of one of that band’s most enduring line-ups and his distinctive tone and high-tensile guitar solos are all over “Trauma Magnet”. His clear-eyed production also scores a bullseye.
It’s the songwriting of the band’s namesake Phil Van Rooyen that really sets Van Ruin apart. A drug counsellor by day, his stories of death, addiction and (yes, despite the album title) redemption, deliver in spades.
Speaking of uplifting, “Breaks My Heart” (not the Birdman song) is the record’s ray of sunshine, rolling along on the back of a sunny melody. As well as some handy guitar interplay, Phil delivers some outstanding vocal, here and throughout, with able assists from Big Al and everywhere drummer Stu Wilson (New Christs, Lime Spiders, Chris Masuak’s Dog Soldier.)
The full-some basslines of Andy Newman (The Visitors, Deniz Tek Group, ME262. The Decline of the Reptiles) fill all the right spaces and he provides keyboard embellishments, most notably on the powerful “Jump Right In” and “Rubber Hits The Road”.
If the “Jails, Death & Institutions” EP was an attention-getting kick-off, “Trauma Magnet” ups the ante - on all fronts. Half-a-dozen plays in, it’s hard to nail favourites, but the expansive mid-tempo closer “Rubber Hits The Road” is one of them with its wistful sense of resignation.
The forthright “Bury Me” is another contender – especially when the singer summons the lead-break. The bluesy licks on “Acid Rain” hit just like a rainstorm and there’s a similar vibe to the guitars on “Subcutaneous Blues”.
If you grew up in the Sydney scene of the 1980s or you wish you did, this record is an essential listen.
The Detroit tag was always more an attitude than the name of a genre and Van Ruin shows as much. The band’s starting a French tour as these words are written, and anyone with an ear for Real Rock and Roll from that part of the world can consider themselves admonished if they don’t get out to see them. - The Barman
