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BACK
MY
RUIN
Strength In Numbers
By Alex Ristic
The entity known as Tairrie B has done a lot in her 38 years. The
first female, white, rapper to reach any kind of recognition (check
out her MCA debut The Power of a Woman), a pioneer for women in
the new age of metal, with Manhole/Tura Satana pre-dating the Lacuna
Coils, Theatre of Tragedies and Arch Enemies of the world, and holding
a boatload of awards, including some from such tomes as Kerrang!
A lot of her accomplishments she did on her own. Sure, there was
always some help along the way—a publicist, roadies, and so
on—but the drive, the will, and desire were all her own. Case
in point, climbing to the top of the hip-hop heap.
"First of all, being a white blonde-haired female in rap, and
being surrounded by the boys I was surrounded by—like Above
the Law, NWA, Eazy-E, Ice-T—those kind of people? Oh my god.
It was a full-on misogynistic, sexist, racist community to me,"
the candid, and yet amiable B says. "I didn’t just have
the sexist card, I had the racist card because I’m white—the
white, blonde haired devil. It was very much in that world that
I had to learn from day one—and this is going to sound kind
of ghetto and weird, so don’t think I’m being weird—but
you either walk in like a punk bitch, or walk in with your head
up. Either you walk in and these guys are going to have you in bed
in a week, or you walk in and let them know that you stand your
ground, and stand away from me and respect me. If that means it’s
going to get into fisticuffs, or going to get to words, it’s
going to get that way; and it did, a few times."
Which brings us to today and her group My Ruin, an aggro-metal outfit,
very much about attitude, with gruff vocals, and a rough and raunchy
rock-paced sound. Far from being a solo project, or solo effort
for that matter, perhaps for the first time in her career, B has
some players that can take the ball and run with it.
"Mick [Murphy, guitar] is very old school. He’s very Randy
Rhoads. He’s not one of these Korn guys, or nu-metal dudes.
His ethic, style, writing, is old school, like ’70s vibe, and
that’s where his influences come from. I think Meghan [Matrox,
bass] and Yael [drums] are kind of the same way about their playing.
Meghan is awesome, and she’s not a flashy bass player, but
she’s very technical, knows her shit, and she’s on it
up there, not like some little bass player chick in the band who
just looks cute and pretty. Yael, man, she’s really tiny. When
she came into the audition, we were like ‘Okay, tiny little
girl, and what’s she going to do?’ She got behind the
kit and was a mixture of Shannon Larkin, who used to be in Amen,
then Godsmack, Ray Mayorga from Soulfly, and Tommy Lee, with a little
John Bonham in there. She’s definitely not in the back of the
show; she’s up front with me. She’s like a frontwoman
on drums. She’s fucking powerful up there, and I think a lot
of people are taken with her; not just because she looks good, but
she rocks."
B is so confident in her band members that when it came time to
write and record My Ruin’s latest offering, The Horror of Beauty,
she had the whole team calling plays. And that’s not just for
the creative process, but for the promotional as well, as she insisted
that Murphy jump into the tête-à-tête so that
the other members could be represented.
"‘Burn the Witch’ was a very collaborative effort
from everybody," says Murphy with a slight Southern drawl.
"We kind of worked that one up in the rehearsal room, and was
done differently than some of the other tracks. It’s got a
vibe that’s a different vibe, and we had one version of it
first then totally changed it one day. It became the music for ‘Burn
the Witch’ as it is now, and we were all there doing that;
it was a band song. And ‘Made to Measure,’ I wanted to
do a rock and roll song and I demoed it, [B] wrote the lyrics, and
then the band all contributed. I put together songs on my little
home studio a lot, and bring them to the band. And Tairrie writes
over them, and the band, we all arrange the songs and add parts,
and everybody does their thing."
The group endeavor can be deemed successful, as the music on The
Horror of Beauty is a gut-churning, slamfest smorgasbord, resplendent
with catchy arrangements, head-banging percussive mantras, and ultra-personal
yet provocative lyrics. Just don’t fuck with B and her posse,
yo!
"I think people just want to believe the hype, when I’ve
done an interview or done something, or spoken out about something
that was important to me, or against a label or someone who’s
fucked us over, I speak out about it instead of cowering in a corner.
I don’t give a fuck. Everyone calls me a bitch because I don’t
give a fuck. If you want to talk about my attitude, that’s
fine, but if you want to talk about my ass or my make-up, how much
I weigh, or my skin, that has nothing to do with my music. My attitude
does."
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