EP REVIEW: Ruts DC – Bound In Blood (Sosumi Recordings)
Ruts DC are back with their first new music in a couple of years with this four-track EP, and it’s a most welcome return.
The West London trio have revisited Bound In Blood, a song which first appeared in acoustic form on 2024’s Electracoustic Vol 3 (reviewed here).
Here it takes on new life as it’s given the full electric treatment, and keeping it company on the A-side of the vinyl is a dub version of Born Innocent, from their most recent album of original songs, 2022’s Counterculture?
Subtitled Mitt’s Immortal Mix, it features harmonica from Mitt Gamon, who collaborated on their Rhythm Collision album way back in 1982, and poignantly it’s one of the last things he played on before his death in 2022, aged 67.
The third track is Wear The Crown, another new song, whose lyrics were inspired by the coronation of King Charles III. It’s an absolute banger which pours scorn on the idea of swearing allegiance to a monarch.
Completing the release is Dub The Crown, a dubbed-up version of the song which works just as well, and reminds me enormously of the sort of experimental stuff Ruts DC and the likes of Generation X turned me on to dub with when I was a teenager!
Segs, Ruffy and Heggarty are joined by Gamon and Boz Boorer on extra guitars to make this a very special one-off release. As Segs puts it: “One song about forgiveness, one about equality and one about autonomy – it’s a must have.”
- Bound In Blood is available on CD or green and black smoke 10in vinyl from good record stores near you, or direct from the band HERE.
