Ruin – Fiat Lux (Meta Meta Records) 1986. Probably the most on-going request that I have seen over the years with Last Days is Fiat Lux by the Philly band Ruin. I wrote about them back in 2007. Few bands have inspired such rabid devotion amongst a fan-base as Ruin. Part of this is due to the fact that they were criminally overlooked. I mean, just a hundred miles over people were shitting themselves for a little Revolution Summer but Ruin who were doing the same damn thing at the same damn time, couldn’t get much love. They are not even on the Flex discography fer chrissakes (which by the way, looks super-good after the new makeover). Another reason why Ruin fans are super-fanatical is because Ruin were from Philly and Philly itself got no love. No local label like Dischord. No real national reputation despite its size and location and what was really annoying about this was that Philly had some amazing hardcore bands like YDI, FOD, McRad and Ruin. So you got this criminally under-rated band in this under-rated town. Finally, the third reason why Ruin fans are so rabid is because the band flat-out rocked. Their shows were transcendent experiences, they pushed the boundaries to the point where they were incorporating psychedelia, hard rock and raga while still maintaining the energy of the best hardcore punk and Fiat Lux my friends, was their masterpiece, the apex of what they were trying to do.
Hardcore Podcasts
September of 2010 I put together eight Hardcore Podcasts. You can check them out here if you are interested. For more insight into how I came up with the years 78-90 for the First Wave you can read about The Hardcore Superiorty Myth.
Yeah… this one just delivers on all fronts.
Glad you got around to posting it.
I’ll never really get why these guys were so overlooked.
Gotta love the penchant for Leonard Cohen covers!
There is one song by RUIN that belongs definitely in my “TOP 20 U.S.HardCore”
All-Time Favourite´s:
their song “Love Dogs” on the 1983-Philly H.C. compilation LP “Get Off My Back”! Just an amzing song that it is…
They never get old! Still the best from Philly!
Thanks a bunch for posting this, Joe! What a fantastic record and after only a few minutes I know that it’s indeed better than the previous LP (the one with the black cover and the only one I was ever able to find myself).
The only Ruin I’ve heard was on some 4 song compilation I have that I can’t even remember the name of (????). I’m excited to check this out.
These guys were awesome. We (76% Uncertain) played a show with them in Bensalem, PA. They wore all white and there we black lights on stage. Made an already wild set even better. 76% covers “Proof” more than occasionally.
Watch Ruin kick ass here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3WQ_CUlnM8
Dave76 – This Ruin video was great! Thanks man!
thank you so much! and thank you for putting it in a .zip file not a .rar file so i can open it. this is great! fuck yeah!
Man, Ruin was a great band. They rocked and scorched and lulled and ripped and scared the shit out of my girlfriend from Abington. But they were benign, were they not? Intelligent and obviously kind. Where are they now?
AW MAN… BEEN ACHING FOR THIS FOR YEARS. Some friends caught some amazing Ruin gigs in SF circa 85/86 before the rumored “acid casualty” phase and the legend was sealed. was in a band that covered Dig A Hole To China, and then I later knew the drummer Paul from time he spent in SF playing with bands including Helios Creed before moving to San Luis Obispo, but this record is impossible to find. I can’t wait to hear it…also thanx for the YouTube links up top…never knew i would get a chance to see em…shweeet…
These guys were great. I used to have their first album, with their cover of “Master Song”, but I never heard this before. It’s a good reminder of how brilliant Ruin were. I had the sense to snap some pictures of the band when they first came to San Francisco:
http://www.jneomarvin.com/scrapbook/pages/34A.htm
Thank you so much for putting all of Fiat Lux up for grabs. I had this on cassette back in the day and someone STOLE IT!! Have never been able to find a copy of it anywhere…guess i havent been looking in the right places. I cant even really blame the person that stole it from considering how great this album is!
Thanks again.
Link is broken!
@fagot – fixed!
I had the pleasure of doing sound for two of the three reunion shows (Ruba Club, Nick’s) that were done for the Blackhole Records CD which was a remix and remaster of most of their whole catalog (which I need to find a new copy of since mine literally wore out)… I’m still kicking myself for not even doing a board mix recording of those shows…
they were absolutely awesome even a full 15 years later…
@Scott – I have no doubt. One of the most transcendent bands ever…
One of the MANY bands from Philly which have been overlooked over the years. I was lucky enough to catch one of their shows at Grendel’s Lair in South Street when they toured in support of this record and I have the vinyl in my possession. They are revered indeed. There is no other hard core band like they were and , yes, they were buddhist and preached nonviolence, even when the assholes skinheads were trying to ruin it for the rest of us. Thanks for keeping their music alive. Long live RUIN!!
Wow, thanks for posting. In 1987, I was 15 and went to go see the Dead Milkmen at the Trocadero. It was the first punk/hardcore show I ever went to see. Ruin was one of the opening acts along with Electric Love Muffin and FOD. Prior to that show, I had never heard of Ruin, and they blew my mind. I bought Fiat Lux and listened to it constantly. I literally haven’t heard it in 15 years until right now and it sounds better than ever. One thing, where can I find Proof (the Fiat Lux version)?