(Photographer Christelle Duvenage)
It’s going to be a big year for South African Sludge n Rollers Ruff Majik! The band are very happy to announce their signing to Dutch Label Lay Bare Recordings for new album Tårn, set for release on the 3rd May 2019. Désirée Hanssen from Lay Bare Recordings is excited about the partnership, “YOU WANT MAGIC? WE’LL GIVE YOU MAJIK! Lay Bare Recordings is ecstatic to expand the LAY BARE FAMILY with the power trio RUFF MAJIK! And let us tell you, their music will excite all your senses! PURE, UNSTOPPABLE POWER!”
Guitarist and vocalist Johni Holiday adds, “Ruff Majik are extremely proud and excited to announce that we will be joining the Lay Bare family for the release of our new album, “Tårn”! Lay Bare have been putting out exciting high-quality records for the last few years and we’re very happy to finally join in on the action!
To celebrate the signing and new album the band have released a video for Schizophrenic, the 1st single taken from the album. The video is a combination of Sabbath-styled green screen video (circa 1970, think Iron Man and Paranoid) and a loving interpretation and homage to the greatest black metal video ever made (yes, Call of the Wintermoon), with boat-loads of psychedelic colours.
Johni explains, “This video was inspired by our love for Immortal, classic black metal videos, and the psychedelic look and feel of the pioneers and current tastemakers in the stoner rock and doom metal scene.”
The song itself is a fuzz drenched speed metal frenzy, ending in a riff of pure, bleak doom - stuffed full of lyrics about madness and paranoia.An ode to Venom as much as it is to Sabbath.”
Watch the video for Schizophrenic HERE
Schizophrenic is available on all digital platforms including:
Deezer iTunes Apple Music Bandcamp
About Ruff Majik
In a small, secluded mining town in rural South Africa, three friends heard the call of the void, and spat fuzz back at it. Thus, Ruff Majik was formed, and the boys decided it was time to move to the city to spread their gospel of riff worship and sound sorcery.
Ruff Majik moved out to Pretoria, South Africa, where they’ve become infamous for their lively shows and aggressive on-stage persona. With their brand of what they call “sludge ‘n roll”, they move between slow grooves and breakneck speeds in the blink of an eye, with live shows being described as 'whiplash inducing'.
The members are Johni Holiday (guitar/vocals), Jimmy Glass (bass guitar) and Ben Manchino (drums).
The band surfaced in 2015 with the release of their first 6 track, The Bear. This got them lots of attention from reviewers all over the world. They quickly followed up with The Fox in 2016, that got them into Classic Rock Magazine with the song 'Sodoom and Gomorrah' as well as 104 000 views on the YouTube stream of the full album. In 2017, Ruff Majik rounded off the animal trilogy with "The Swan", which introduced a heavier side to their sound previously unheard but very much welcomed by fans. Swiftly, after this release, they got to work on the follow up album "Seasons", which was released in four segments (The Hare and the Hollow, A Finch in a cherry tree, A Dragon and his hoard, The Stag in the leaves) one per season, over the stretch of a year.
Now there's more coming your way, and it's going to be heavier than ever before.
Ruff Majik is a power trio, a stoner juggernaut, and they bring good times with them wherever they go.
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