Voltage Band Spotlight #1: Ruby Isle

Ruby Isle, publicity photo

This is the first in a series of Voltage 2010 band spotlights we'll be running here on the HowWasTheShow blog, one each week up until the week of the show. Our first band profile is of Ruby Isle, who will be playing Voltage 2010 at First Avenue on Friday, April 16th.

Ruby Isle

Band Members: Mark Mallman (vocals, guitar), Dan Geller (bass, vocoder) and Aaron Lemay (drums)

Listen: http://www.myspace.com/rubyisle

Twin Cities/Athens, GA electro rock band Ruby Isle (who may or may not be named after a shopping center in Brookfield, Wisconsin) is at SXSW this week debuting their take on Guns ‘N Roses “Appetite for Destruction,” which they recently covered in its entirety.

Ruby Isle’s MySpace page claims they are a singing trio of brothers, though those in the know realize this is completely fictitious. Even those who don’t will begin to doubt that when they read on to hear that in 2008 the trio of brothers were asked to defend the Mexican village of Santo Poco from a bandit named El Guapo. Or who knows, maybe it's all true!

In any case, the band, who call themselves “the party band for the apocalypse” (if so, it almost makes you wish those four horsemen would gallop faster) come from three separate well-respected bands, Mark Mallman (Mark Mallman), I Am The World Trade Center (Dan Geller) and International Espionage (Aaron Lemay.)

Known for their electro dance covers of songs by bands like the Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Animal Collective and Bon Iver (see the videos for several of these on their MySpace), the band will bring some of their originals like “So Damn High” and “Night Shot” to Voltage 2010 and the result is bound to be an explosive set you won’t want to miss.

At Voltage, Ruby Isle will be outfitted by Anthem Heart, who will also be designing this year's limited edition t-shirts for the Voltage event (available at the show.)