Born Ruffians

Event Description

Born Ruffians – Luke Lalonde, Mitch Derosier, and Steve Hamelin - rose to prominence in the aughts indie blog era, the same Toronto scene that produced Canadian indie icons like Broken Social Scene, Tokyo Police Club, and Metric. Since that time, they’ve become one of Canada’s biggest indie rock exports, releasing 8 albums and 3 EPs on some of the world’s most acclaimed record labels - Warp Records, XL Recordings, Yep Roc Records, Paper Bag Records, and their newly-minted Wavy Haze Records.

The group has toured internationally, supporting renowned artists like Caribou, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip, and The New Pornographers, while also headlining tours throughout North America, UK, Europe, and Australia. ‘Uncle, Duke & The Chief’ (2018), one of the final projects produced by the late, exceptionally-great producer Richard Swift (The Shins, Nathaniel Rateliff, Foxygen), brought the band into a new era: the album was lauded by NPR Music, Rolling Stone, and American Songwriter as a mature, confident evolution of the band’s hooky left-of-center pop sensibilities. Their follow-up COVID-era trilogy ‘JUICE’ (2020), ‘SQUEEZE’ (2020), and ‘PULP’ (2021), produced by Graham Walsh (Alvvays, Holy Fuck, METZ), charted on Billboard and US Alternative Radio Charts and garnered widespread acclaim from press outlets in North America and Europe.

In 2025 they return with “Beauty’s Pride”, with new band member Maddy Wilde in tow. Here, the band set out to create a record that sounds like it was made in 2025: it's a maximalist indie rock album that embraces hi-fi production techniques. It presents Born Ruffians as the rare veteran act that can still make you feel like you’re discovering your new favourite band.