RUDER THAN YOU was founded in 1989 at Penn State University and relocated to Philadelphia in 1991. Long known as Philly’s top ska band, Ruder Than You’s identity has never fit too neatly into any of the generic ska categorizations. While ska and reggae stylings have always provided the common musical thread, over the past 20 years they've been mixing in dancehall reggae, hip-hop, rocksteady, and rub-a-dub, funk, jazz, and punk. The consistent factor however is the band’s energy and enthusiasm, which inevitably pulls people out onto the dance floor.
Independent ska label Moon Records put out the band’s debut album, Big Step in 1992 and its follow-up Horny for Ska in 1996. By the mid 90s the group had morphed from a five-piece into a nine-piece outfit and captured a passionate, loyal following in the Philly and New York areas, selling out shows regularly. The group toured nationally, regularly opening up for groups like the Skatalites, Steel Pulse, 311, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Blink 182, Desmond Dekker, Ziggy Marley, English Beat, Bouncing Souls, Bad Manners, Fishbone, Yellowman, Eek a Mouse, No Doubt and countless others. Ruder CDs were released in Japan and England, and songs can be found on dozens of compilation CDs far and wide.
In 2005 the band self-released their long-awaited third album, Philly Stylee on their own God's Ghetto label. Philly Stylee was recorded in spurts during the Third Wave ska heyday between 1996 and 1999 with final vocal overdubs and mixes completed in 2004. The CD was excruciatingly long in the making for many reasons, not the least of which included the demise of the band’s label Moon, a 3-year incarceration of lead singer and toaster Freddie 3D Weaver, and the death of bari-sax player Trish Johnson.
The band’s first truly fresh studio endeavor of the decade, is the 5-song EP entitled GOD’S GHETTO (2008). The group is recording their next full-length CD which features their contemporary ska and rocksteady sounds to be released in 2009 to sync with the band’s 20th anniversary.
www.ruderthanyou.net
www.myspace.com/rtystylee
