A Conversation with The Rubens’ Sam Margin – HuffPost 10.25.13

Mike Ragogna: Sam, what’s up and how the heck are you?

Sam Margin: Not much and I’m good!

MR: So this isn’t your first American tour, but it might be your most important one, huh?

SM: Yeah, I think it is because of the record that’s out now. We’ve done a bit of American touring, not proper cross-the-country touring like we are now, but we did Bonnaroo and a couple of festivals, South-By, and stuff like that, which was good, a good lead-up to the record being released but I guess this is the most important so far.

MR: Your band is pretty new to this country.

SM: Yeah, definitely. We are new to the US. We spent a bit of time here, we recorded our album in New York for a few months, but yeah, in regards to the public and anyone really knowing who we are, we’re really new.

MR: Who’s going to be the opening act when you tour with Bruce Springsteen back in Australia? You guys or Bruce Springsteen?

SM: [laughs] I’m not sure, actually, I think we’re fighting for it. It’s up in the air right now.

MR: [laughs] How does that feel? You know how much of an icon Bruce Springsteen is here. How does that feel being paired up with him?

SM: We actually supported him about four or five months ago as the opening act and now we’re the main support, so it’s cool. The first time our parents all came down and watched, obviously. It’s Springsteen, it’s an honor. But it’s kind of more fun finishing, grabbing a beer and watching Springsteen play.

MR: Let’s talk about the new one. It’s a huge record for you right now in Australia. How does it feel to be a hit act?

SM: It’s great. It’s been such a long time waiting for it to come out in the States. The album came out a year ago in Australia and we spent a lot of time setting it up. We got signed at Warner Brothers over here, so that hadn’t happened by the time it was getting released in Australia. We were still waiting to get record deals over here. It’s taken a long time to get this record out. It feels really good.

MR: You’re in this band with a certain Elliott and a certain Zaac who seem to be related to you, as well Scott Baldwin. So why aren’t you “The Margins”?

SM: Because that would just be terrible. That would be too obvious. It doesn’t sound like a bad band name but there’s no way. I think someone brought it up once but it was never going to happen. The Rubens actually came from a nickname from our younger brother.

MR: You guys were just goofing around and it came out? Then is was, “That’s it, we’re The Rubens”?

SM: Yeah, actually, that was exactly how it happened. It was kind of a joke and then we started to play gigs and that was our band name.

MR: What’s the history of you guys playing music together?

SM: It’s very short. We actually hadn’t played together at all in our family. We played in separate bands but we’d never taken that seriously. The first time that we ever played music together was when we started the band. We spent twenty years of our lives not playing music together but being interested in it. Then suddenly, things all work out. “Why don’t we just do it together? We live together. It’s much more convenient. Why don’t we just make a band in our home?”

MR: Are you guys close or is it like Oasis and The Kinks?

SM: [laughs] No, it’s nothing like that, thank God. Yet. We get along absolutely fine. That question gets asked a lot, about sibling rivalry. There’s nothing at all. If anything, Mike, it makes the whole process of writing, recording and being the band in general a little bit easier because when you’re writing songs, you have to be pretty honest with each other about how it’s sounding and the way you want it to go. If you write something that doesn’t sound good, you’ve really got to be told and being told by someone that you’ve grown up with and know really, really well is pretty easy. It makes it much more efficient I think.

MR: Nice. All right, you start out the album with “The Best We Got.” Why that’s pretty presumptuous, wouldn’t you agree? That’s a joke, it’s an awesome opener.

SM: You spend months and months making a record and throughout those months, different songs become your favorites and you think different songs are going to be the hit single. You really can’t tell what’s going to happen. Even now, whether it’s the record or playing the songs live, we have different favorites, so I’m not sure if that song is the strongest. I think there are songs that are probably stronger, but I think in the commercial sense, I guess, yeah, it probably is the best.

MR: And you put a different spin on the concept of “The Best We’ve Got,” which I thought was clever.

SM: Yeah, I mean the whole concept is that when you’re young and in high school, you’ll be whining about exams and you’ll always have an older sibling or cousin or parent saying, “You know, you shouldn’t be whining about these days because they’re the best you’ve got.” It’s all kind of downhill from here. I thought that was a depressing way of looking at it.

MR: Let’s go over a couple more titles and the concepts behind them. There’s “Elvis,” though the song isn’t about The King.

SM: A producer at our label didn’t want us to call that song “Elvis,” but we sort of put our foot down with that. It came from when we were doing pre-production back in Australia and we were demo-ing songs and we demoed that song and a friend of ours, Dean, who was helping with pre-production stuff, said it sounded like Elvis or something else old school, I don’t know why. But when you’re demo-ing tracks on the computer, you have to save it as something, so we saved it as “Elvis” and it just stuck. I don’t think we wanted to call it anything else because it’d been called “Elvis” for six months by the time we got to record it properly.

MR: What about Elvis the man? The King! Any feelings about him?

SM: Nothing more than anybody else would. Lots of legend. Don’t really have anything else to say about him. Seemed like a cool guy.

MR: You have another great title on this album, “Look Good, Feel Good.” It’s almost like a gym anthem.

SM: [laughs] I don’t know, I’m trying to think about why I named it that. Why did we call it “Look Good, Feel Good?” I’m asking the boys in the band. Why is it called “Look Good, Feel Good?” [pauses for response] Yeah, I think that was another Dean influence, our friend who helped produce the record. I really don’t remember why we called it that. There’s no lyric in there that says “Look Good, Feel Good.” Oh, yeah, the original chorus, that’s right! There was an original chorus that went “Look Good, Feel Good.” I guess when we cut that chorus, the song still meant the same thing. We just took out those lyrics and I think we didn’t want to get rid of that title.

MR: One of my favorite songs on this project is “Lay It Down.”

SM: Me too.

MR: What’s the story behind that one?

SM: That song was like one of the first songs that we ever wrote. I wrote that one, it was one of the demos I did on my laptop. We just programmed the drums, put some guitar and vocals on there, put some keys on there and then put it on a website in Australia called Triple J Unearthed, which is linked to a radio station and one day, it got played on the radio station. That’s actually the song that got us discovered. That’s my favorite song on the record, I think. It’s funny because people have said on our Facebook page and Twitter that this is their wedding song or “this is me and my husband’s song,” but I don’t think they listen to the lyrics because it’s actually about a breakup. The lyrics are like “I’ve been searching for whoever made me feel this way, I’m not liking where it’s leading ’cause it’s you.” That’s why I like it, because it sounds like a beautiful love song, but actually, it’s quite dark in the lyrics.

MR: Hey, what advice do you have for new artists?

SM: I think what I would say would be to play live as much as you can. Get out there and play heaps. I know you don’t want to hear that when you’re younger and you’re not into doing any work, but you do have to really work hard on your live performances. Another thing I’ve worked out from being in the industry for just a couple of years now is that the record labels do know who the up-and-coming bands are. They’ve spent a lot of money on recruiting bands and if you’re out there playing clubs and are well-known in your city and getting a bit of a name for yourself even if it’s just a small fanbase, these record labels whether they’re major or indie, don’t think that no one cares. If you’re good enough or if you’ve got the right talent, then you’ll get a phone call.

MR: Interesting. Your press release reads, “There seems to be no limit to what possibilities lay ahead for The Rubens in the forseeable future. For now, they have the rest of the world within sights.” Where do you picture The Rubens in about five years?

SM: I’d say in five years, we’ll be looking at a third record, or there might already be three records. I don’t know. Obviously, America’s really, really important to us now. It was from the start because we went over to record in America and from that recording experience, we got signed and the whole thing is based in America, so I think we’ll be doing well over in the States and hopefully, we’ll have made ourselves a bit of a name. In five years, we should be able to.

MR: And you’re going to be on tour with Grouplove, right?

SM: Yeah, we actually started. We’re on tour now.

MR: Nice. How’s that going?

SM: Fantastic, yeah. I’d say it can be hit and miss when you’re touring with a band you’ve never met before, but if you can match up the style and the music and get that right, I think that really works. And we really love the people, too, which is really important because spending six weeks with one group of people and hanging out, yeah, it’s just fun. They’re lovely people.

MR: Not meaning to categorize you, but you’ve got a hint of an earlier Aussie pop sound like that of The Finn Brothers, Crowded House, Split Ends. Were they influential? Did you grow up on any of that music?

SM: Yeah, absolutely. That’s cool, I’m happy to hear that because it’s very common to try and categorize music. Whenever I hear someone, I think of who they sound like, that’s what you do to try to work out what a band is. But that’s a nice thing to hear, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that before. We hear The Black Keys and Kings Of Leon but it’s cool to hear something like that.

MR: Yeah, it’s the raw power of the pop hook that they all have in common, including the Kings and Keys. That’s why I’m comparing you.

SM: That’s right. I’m happy with that, then.

MR: Well, hopefully, I’ll get to talk to you again before Bruce Springsteen becomes your opening act.

SM: [laughs] That’ll be never, so hopefully, before never.

MR: [laughs] This has been a pleasure, I really appreciate your time, Sam. Thank you so much for the interview.

SM: Thank you!

MR: Sam, all the best.

SM: Cheers!

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne