BORN RUFFIANS
On June 6, Born Ruffians will release their anticipated new album, Beauty’s Pride via Yep Roc Records. In anticipation of the upcoming release, the band is excited to share their new single "Mean Time," which is available now on all streaming platforms for any playlist shares.
On the single, Luke Lalonde, the band’s singer/guitarist, shares:
"Nabokov says, ‘…that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.’ Mean Time is sort of autobiographical/speculative non-fiction inspired by Nabokov’s beautiful autobiography Speak, Memory. It’s about those two black voids, the before and the after, and all of the extraordinary moments in between. I had a lot of extra verses that had to be pared down to make this song work. It came out musically and lyrically in a big rush, and I initially did not envision it for the band because the instrumentation was so different from what we normally do. I built everything around synth and drum samples. I showed it to the band, and they loved it. It became the thesis statement for Beauty’s Pride, summing up a lot of the lyrical themes I was going through at the time, especially with my wife pregnant with our first child."
Lalonde, who's been the band's principal songwriter for over 20 years, says, “Whenever we finish a record, I usually don’t want to hear it again, but this time, I actually like it!”
Formed in 2004 in Midland, Ontario, Born Ruffians have long been known for their dynamic evolution, shifting from their scrappy indie-rock beginnings to the polished indie-pop of Birthmarks (2013), the Richard Swift-produced Uncle, Duke & The Chief (2018) and the anthemic, E Street-inspired tracks of JUICE (2020). Beauty’s Pride represents another bold leap forward.
Produced by Roger Leavens and mixed by Gus Van Go (Metric, The Beaches), Beauty’s Pride blends the band’s alt-rock roots with electronic and experimental elements. The album opens with the unexpected, synth-driven anthem “Mean Time,” a euphoric, danceable track that Lalonde never thought would fit into the Born Ruffians catalog. “I wasn’t writing it as a Born Ruffians song at all,” he says. “I just wanted to create something completely out of the mold.”
The album’s title, Beauty’s Pride, might hint at the bond between parents and children—reinforced by a cameo from Lalonde’s child on the closing track—but the phrase actually comes from a trip Lalonde took to India. There, he borrowed a friend’s child-sized bike that was emblazoned with the words "Beauty’s Pride." The mix-up that followed planted the seed for the album’s title, which Lalonde sees as a reflection of both personal and creative rebirth.
For the first time in the band’s history, Beauty’s Pride also features a song written and sung by Maddy Wilde, who joined the band in 2022. Her involvement adds another layer of creative diversity to Born Ruffians' musical palette. “Her fingerprints are all over this album,” says Lalonde, emphasizing the ways Wilde’s influence expanded the band’s creative possibilities.
Beauty’s Pride represents a new chapter for Born Ruffians, not just musically, but also as a band that refuses to settle into nostalgia or complacency. In an era where many of their peers from the mid-2000s indie scene have long since disbanded, Born Ruffians continue to surprise, showing that after 20 years, they’re still evolving and capable of making music that feels as exciting and unpredictable as ever.