UN: Things seemed to have come together pretty quickly for Rue. Do you think a lot of it had to do with your previous experiences from past bands? Do you feel like things came together quickly?

RUE: Actually it all started in the summer of 2002 it took us damn near a year to find the rite drummer. What we didn't realize (Corey and I) that the drummer was there the whole time, it was Corey he was a drummer but it had been a while, but when he got behind the kit it was like peanut butter and jelly, in other words at that point it was the total connection to make this band work. From there we asked Bahb to play bass, Jeff to do vox before you know it bam, the birth of Rue. So yea after the line up was set, it flew from there. I definitely think a huge part of it was previous experiences from past bands.

UN: How did Shifty come into the picture? I‘ve never even heard of the label before receiving your new cd. How are things working out with the label?

RUE: Shifty's been around for a while, I like the music he put's out and I consider him to be a faithful friend. Sofa King Killer used to do some stuff with him and he's released all the fistula albums. Immediately after tracking the Rue album I knew I wanted Shifty to put it out, we had been telling him about Rue. Finally after getting the record done we gave him a copy to check out, and he agreed to put it out. So far things are working out way better than planed with Shifty being such an underground label and all. I think I can speak for the whole Shifty family when I say that Shifty is becoming way more than what we ever expected it to be.

UN: The self-titled album has been for a bit now, so I’m sure you guys have heard a lot of opinions already. Has the response been favorable? I’m definitely happy to see another band from North America leaving trends alone and playing heavy music without any of the cliches.

RUE: The press for this release is in the very begining stages,but we have herad a lot of opinions thus far and I'm confident to say that every single review we've gotten has been favorable.

UN: The album was recorded 7 months before it was released. Has the band progressed at all in the mean time? Are you guys still trying to figure out exactly what you want Rue to sound like?

RUE: I think that every time we get together we progress as a band. As far as trying to figure out exactly what Rue is to sound like, well that's the thing there are no boundaries with Rue what ever comes out is what it is.

UN: Was it intentional to try and produce a very live sounding album? It sounds amazing but still sounds like a band just jamming. It’s tight, but isn’t suffocated by overproduction.

RUE: Yes, it was very intentional. I would say the main inspiration behind this actual recording (not musically) was the Black Sabbath Black Sabbath album. We recorded this entire record in about seven and a half hours. We definitely wanted a raw sound, cause to us raw recordings define the underground sound it not always about the production of the album that matter's. There's certain bands in the underground scene that no matter how good the production is,you still can't grasp the power unless you see it live. In my opinion that's where you here the real production.

UN: Do you guys have a lot of touring planned now that you have the cd out? I’m sure it would be the best way to get the name known throughout the scene?

RUE: Directly after the release of the album we did an east coast/mid west tour. Some of the shows were with Bongzilla and the rest with Weedeater. The response's to us were great. We are trying to put something together for spring. A full U.S. tour is what we plan to do but nothing is scheduled as of now. We want to tour as much as possible but right now we don't have a booking agent, so for now the main objective is trying to find someone to represent us.

UN: I‘m assuming you guys wouldn’t be insulted if I compared Rue to Acid Bath. I think you guys could fill the void left by them calling it a day!

RUE: I take that one as a huge compliment. Acid Bath has been a huge influence in everyone that is in Rue. Me personally especially, when i herd the riff's Acid Bath were putting out at the time it changed my whole perspective on writing music. As far as us "filling the void" that's a pretty bold statement if you ask me.

UN: Would you say that there is a big scene for this kind of music? Some people may not even know it exists. It’s always been there, but some people don’t pay attention if there is no gore or ridiculous evil imagery.

RUE: I would say yes, there is a huge scene for thid kind of music. It depends on how your record is promoted look at Clutch or Mastodon for example. Some people just don't know what's really going on.

UN: What does the near future hold for Rue? Any new releases planned? It hasn’t been that long since the release, but I’m assuming you guys have new material written.

RUE: To definitely find a booking agent, then tour as much as we can. We all love to be on the road. We do have new material ready to record for our upcoming 7" entitled Robert Christian Stevens. Were not sure if Shifty is going to release it or not. We plan on shopping it around to see the results.

UN: I was wondering if you could give us a little insight into how the lyrics were written. Some seem drug related, while others seem like streaming thoughts. They also don’t seem to follow the verse/chorus/verse formula. Oh, and by the way, Stonersauraus is an awesome song title!

RUE: Most of Jeff's lyrics are a written stream of consciousness. Occasionally topical, but mostly interpretational.

UN: Do you think it’s important to ride more on feeling and groove over how many notes you’re playing? Some stuff these days just gets too complicated for it’s own good.

RUE: To Rue it's all about the feeling, that's what makes it work. If we can't feel what were trying to play it's out of there.

UN: How does the songwriting work within the band? Do you guys write a riff and see where it goes? Is everyone in the band involved in the songwriting process?

RUE: Well for this release i would say me and Corey wrote about 90%of the music then Jeff came in and added his lyrics. For our newer material it has been more of a group effort for sure.

UN: It‘s a bit of an odd question to end with, but I was curious to ask why you guys chose the band name Rue? I’m always curious to ask and see if there is an interesting story behind it.

RUE: We chose the name Rue simply because we liked the way it sounded. There's no crazy story or anything like that. that's just the way it turned out.