Vancouver Canada’s new grindviolence act rue debuted In June with their album “sprig of rue”. The band shares members with many other Vancouver previous acts including nettle, blood ties, munifex, oaf, crumb and we spoke with their shared band member Jens Ulrich, from the emoviolence starlets in the soon to be infamous, “Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead” who are set out to play at this years upcoming New Friends Fest for the kickoff day of the weekend long festival on August 1st.

Sonically bleeding out of a similar vein to that of the legendary acts in the genre such as Closet Witch, Fluoride & Combat Wounded Veteran, rue have combined the aggression of powerviolence, grind, noise, and anti-music while solidifying their name amongst easy comparisons to those who pioneered the styles they continue to push the limits of.

“sprig of rue” is a traditional folk charm used for warding off evil, this album seems to be welcoming it however. It may be “sprig of rue” but truly it is the summer of rue and they may only be here for a limited time as their guitarist and vocalist Jen Ulrich tells of the bands origins and plans for the summer of rue I’m devastated to hear that Jens and Charlie are moving to Ontario for September, “so we are truly just celebrating a summer of rue and then tying a bow on things.”

“From the beginning, we didn't envision the band to be a long-term thing. Mostly this has been an excuse to hang out together and have fun making music. We’ve all played in bands together or around each other for the past decade or so. It was great to come together again through this project and the process of writing / recording this album.

“Over the summer we'll focus on playing a bunch of local shows in Vancouver. We also talked about writing & recording a short split with another local powerviolence band over the summer. We're going to do our best to make that happen!”

“MOSTLY I WANTED TO MAKE THE MUSIC THAT I MOST ENJOY SEEING LIVE - GENERALLY STUFF THAT IS LOUD, FAST AND CHAOTIC. I TRIED TO CHANNEL THAT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE WHILE WRITING A LOT OF THE SONG PARTS.

WITH THIS ALBUM IT WAS FUN TO WRITE SONGS THAT ARE MORE HEAVILY ROOTED IN GRINDCORE AND POWERVIOLENCE GENRES, WHILE STILL MAINTAINING THAT SCREAMO SOUND AND FEEL THROUGHOUT”.

- JENS ULRICH, @RUE.GRIND

If you’re considering extending a tour or playing some shows in British Columbia, now is a great time to do it! “At the moment, there are a lot of really good bands playing screamo and adjacent hardcore genres in Vancouver (Emma Goldman, Drive Your Plow, Filigree Silver God, Terrifying Girls’ High School, Jisei, Luella, Lord Wrought, Mal Criado) as well as in Victoria (Coup D’etat, Mourn Recif, Hospice)”.

Their debut album was mixed by Zach Miller at Noise War and mastered by the iconic Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios. Coming up on August 8th rue will be playing with victoria BC acts Extentsive Slaighter, Bathtub Autopsy, and others. rue have a couple of other local shows lined up over the summer as well. Cassettes for “sprig of rue” are available through No Funeral Records (while supplies last).

Do not sleep on this band or miss out on the lighting storm in a bottle they’re serving up (for a limited time only) and grab your copy of their debut album '“sprig of rue” as you never know when the fabled rue a.k.a. “The McRib of Grindviolence” will be gone, and if, or when, it will ever return. (I’m so sorry but I had to).