The Ruby Suns are an

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

group from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. They formed in 2004 when Californian Ryan McPhun moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and started playing in several bands such as

The Brunettes The Brunettes were an indie pop or twee pop group from New Zealand formed in 1998 to 2009. The band consists of core members Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield, with additional contributions from part-time members such as Ryan McPhun and Chel ...

, The Tokey Tones, and

The Reduction Agents The Reduction Agents are a New Zealand band fronted by James Milne, who also records under the name Lawrence Arabia. In 2006 the band released their debut album ''The Dance Reduction Agents''. In the same year, Milne released his debut solo albu ...

Biography

The Ruby Suns are signed to

Lil' Chief Records Lil' Chief Records is a New Zealand–based indie pop record label formed in 2002. Operating from the Auckland suburb of Mt. Eden, it was founded on releases by The Tokey Tones and The Brunettes. The label's roster now includes a collective of ...

in New Zealand and

Memphis Industries Memphis Industries is a British independent record label. Memphis Industries was established as a record label in 1998 by the brothers Ollie and Matt Jacob with the first release being Blue States' Forever EP. It is perhaps best known for The ...

in Britain. In early 2007, the band embarked on their first European tour in support of their self-titled debut album, and in addition to that they did a Take-Away Show video session shot by

Vincent Moon Vincent Moon (real name Mathieu Saura, born 25 August 1979) is an independent filmmaker, photographer, and sound artist from Paris. He was the main director of the Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, a web-based project recording field work music vide ...

. In the latter half of 2007, the band toured with

The Shins The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's cu ...

extensively throughout Australia. In 2007, The Ruby Suns signed to American record label

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

for the US and Asia. The band released their second album, ''

Sea Lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

'', in January 2008. Later that year, the band recorded the song "Don't Touch the Dusty Fruit" to the

Survival International Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969, a London based charity that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples. The organisation's campaigns generally focus on tribal peopl ...

charity album, ''

Songs for Survival Bruce Parry Presents ''Amazon - Tribe - Songs for Survival'' is a double album released by Kensaltown Records in support of a tribal peoples charity. Background The album was released in support of Survival International, the human rights organi ...

'', and the song "Oh, Mojave" was used in the Windows Vista commercial for the Mojave Experiment. In August 2008, The Ruby Suns contributed their track "There Are Birds" to an indie compilation album ''Indiecater Vol. 2''. The Ruby Suns' third album is titled ''Fight Softly'' and was released on 2 March 2010. The band's fourth album ''Christopher'' was released on 29 January 2013. The track "In Real Life" was featured on the updated soundtrack to

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

' re-released ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'', and can be heard on the in-game radio station Radio Mirror Park. McPhun had moved to Oslo, Norway by the time he recorded the band's fifth album, ''Sprite Fountain'', which was released on 9 June 2017.

Discography

Albums

* ''

The Ruby Suns The Ruby Suns are an indie pop group from New Zealand. They formed in 2004 when Californian Ryan McPhun moved to Auckland and started playing in several bands such as The Brunettes, The Tokey Tones, and The Reduction Agents. Biography The Rub ...

'' (2005)

* ''

'' (2008)

* '' Fight Softly'' (2010) * ''

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

'' (2013) * ''Sprite Fountain'' (2017)

EPs

* '' XFM Sessions'' (2007) * '' Lichen Ears EP'' (2007)

References

External links

The Ruby Suns' page at Lil' Chief Records website

The Ruby Suns on Sub Pop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby Suns, The New Zealand indie pop groups Lil' Chief Records artists Sub Pop artists Memphis Industries artists