CoolJunkie Interviews Home Video

June 9, 2009 5:53 PM
by Marcos Colón

While the majority of bands like to go about their music in the traditional way, there are definitely others out there that prefer having a custom way of going about producing. This is where bands like Brooklyn’s Home Video come in. Brought up on the dark sounds of the Smashing Pumpkins, Portishead and Massive Attack, Collin Ruffino and David Gross prefer to start things off on the computer, get the sounds right, then worry about the lyrics later, when they’ve truly decided what feelings are triggered from the music.

Originally from New Orleans, but transplanted to the brownstones of Brooklyn, Home Video have now released a highly touted debut album, No Certain Night or Morning, and a series of EPs. Now they look the conquer even more of the music world as the way that music is being released is in an evolutionary phase.

CoolJunkie recently caught up with Home Video’s Collin Ruffino about their recent work, how their sound has changed, and what irks him about music today.

CoolJunkie: So how’s everything been going for the band lately? I heard you guys are pretty busy.

Collin Ruffino: Lately we’ve been doing some remixes for some friends and some other bands. We’ve been recording some new stuff and we’ve been playing quite a bit in New York. We’re trying to figure out some touring right now for September, and we’re also doing videos. We just finished up a video for I Can Make You Feel It that went well.

CJ: Do you think that your sound is progressing, or do you think that it hasn’t changed much since the start of the band?

Collin Ruffino: We definitely think that our sound is morphing. We’ve learned stuff about newer equipment and playing live. We now have a drummer that plays with us live which adds a lot. With the first album it was mostly made pre-live drum.

CJ: Who’s the primary songwriter in the band?

Collin Ruffino: I write the lyrics and do the vocals mostly. But with the music it’s definitely 50/50. I don’t like to say that I’m the songwriter, I just say that I write the lyrics, because the building of a song is like a democratic process.

CJ: Can you go into that a little bit?

Collin Ruffino: Yea. One is tied to the other a little bit. I try to keep a notebook f idea running all the time, and then we’ll come up with a song and some sounds. I’ll literally sit there and listen to it over and over and I’ll have a feeling or an idea for lyrics. They’re definitely inspired by the music.

CJ: So you wouldn’t consider yourself a traditional songwriter then?

Collin Ruffino: Not really. More like a song constructor of some sort. I don’t really get the acoustic guitar and sit down and write a song. It’s more involves the computer and the organic back and forth. I wouldn’t really know how to write a song with an acoustic guitar.

CJ: When I first heard of you guys a few year ago I was intrigued by the name. How did it come about?

Collin Ruffino: Searching for a name is impossible. We had a few others in mind, but we wanted a name that was sort of like a blank space, that could be elevated into something through the music. It came from back in the day when Dave [Gross] and I used to hang out and I had this video camera and I’d shoot around and it was kind of nostalgia from high school days and college days.

CJ: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard of you before?

Collin Ruffino: I’d say it’s dark electronic with a rock tinge to it. Interesting pop I would say, with a darker edge.

CJ: What would you say irks you about music today the most?

Collin Ruffino: There are things that I like and there are things that I don’t like. I don’t really have much to say about mainstream popular music, because I don’t know it so well. I know hip hop better than I know rock when it comes to that. A lot of the hip hop does really interesting stuff, and pop really does some bad stuff that I’m not so down with. But I think there’s a lot of indie stuff that’s good that’s coming out. It’s so sad that people go through music so quickly. But it just seems that’s just how the world works. You get access to everything all the time and go through it quickly. I just wonder how it is for 13 and 14-year-olds now. For me it was all about Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead and Massive Attack, and I just consumed so much of that because I loved it. I just wonder if they use up bands like kleenex now.

CJ: People definitely seem to like to play it safe now a days.

Collin Ruffino: Yea, I definitely think so. But the media plays a big part in that.

CJ: What are some of the musical influences that you guys think have affected your sound?

Collin Ruffino: We were definitely influenced by the darker trip hop stuff like Massive Attack and Portishead. But we also have older influences like The Cure and Joy Division, definitely more of a live element. We’re also really interested in the old Warp Records stuff, like Boards of Canada.

CJ: What kind of band would you not like to be seen as?

Collin Ruffino: Definitely a non-successful one. (laughs) It would suck to be a hyped band suddenly. There are bands that get signed and have one song that’s amazing and everyone jumps all over it, but then it goes nowhere.

CJ: You guys are from Brooklyn, which has a reputation of producing some great bands. Would you say that it helps your situation or does it create more challenges?

Collin Ruffino: I think the reputation doesn’t work in our favor. We don’t live in the cool part of Brooklyn.(laughs) We’re not involved in much of a scene at all. We have a few friends that are, but I don’t think that for us writing and experiencing music it’s definitely helpful. New York has tons of inspirational and helpful places to be.

CJ: What do you guys have lined up for the rest of the year?

Collin Ruffino: We’re working on getting on a tour. We’re also trying to do as many remixes as we can, as well as recording and finishing up the next album. Right now we don’t have a label, but we just put out our EP by ourselves. We’re not sure how it’s going to work out, but right now everyone’s reassessing how music gets distributed.

Click here to hear more from Home Video.