Band Of Brothers

Before the interview “officially” begins, The Rubens frontman Sam Margin pinches something from his mouth before delicately sticking a nugget of well-chewed gum onto his belt. Sitting next to him is fellow Ruben, keyboardist Elliott Margin, who shakes his head and enquires, “Whaddya doing?” “For later,” smiles Sam.

It's okay. These guys are brothers. That's what they do.

The Rubens have been this country's “hottest new thing” for a while now. Formed in early 2011, they've already added a few strings to their fast-growing bow of accolades: their eponymous debut coming in at number three on the ARIA charts, number one on iTunes and certified gold last year. Mean feats not even the band dared dream of. “I don't think any band thinks they will be as big as they get,” says Sam. “Like, you can hope it's going to happen, but really deep down you're not gonna think that you'll break or anything like that. I mean, it's such a tough industry.”

But break they did – and boy, was it big. Their debut single from the album Lay It Down saw the lads (Sam and Elliott's brother Zaac and childhood friend Scott Baldwin make up the rest of the band) score triple j's Unearthed spot at Homebake in 2011, before the song hit the airwaves landing the number 57 spot in the station's Hottest 100 poll. “There are something like 40,000 bands out there on Unearthed,” says Sam, “so to think you're going to be the one that makes it is just ridiculous.”

For many of us (this writer included), the idea of working with your relatives is completely out of the question, full stop. But it's been so far, so good for the brothers who say that having each other around allows them to creatively feed off one another. “I think it's easier working with a family member in a band in a sense that we know what each other likes and what will work with us,” says Elliott. “But, it's also really hard because you take to heart when the other person doesn't like an idea that maybe you're really passionate about”.

“Yeah,” adds Sam. “I mean, I feel there's no point in arguing because I trust what Elliott and Zaac like; I trust their judgment in what style they think will work. Yeah, it hurts when you bring an idea to the table and they're like, 'Nah', but it's good in a way because at least you know that if they do say no, you can move onto the next idea and not waste time.”

But when it comes to milking those creative juices, the boys prefer to go it alone. “We don't jam,” Sam says. “Yeah,” agrees Elliott, “We've tried jamming and we don't really like it.” “Everyone just ends up playing over the top of one another and trying to sound like Led Zeppelin,” adds Sam. “It's too fun when you're jamming and too tempting to just go nuts and it sounds awesome, but that's just for fun. If we're trying to write a song then we've got to keep it real. Each of us has, you know, a laptop and I just sit at home and start writing a song and it gets built up from there. Then I bring the song to the band and we can all put our own spin on it.”

The boys pride themselves on the band's pre-production routine – from never coming to the group without a song 'already done', to spending one month in pre-production before heading over to New York to record their debut. “Every time we talk to anyone in the industry and they ask us how we recorded the album and we tell them we did a month of pre-production; they're all quite impressed,” says Sam.

The importance of the 'preparation makes perfect' motto was further drilled into them by producer David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes), who helped whip the boys into shape during the album. “He's a great guy,” smiles Sam, “a really awesome, nice guy who taught us a heap about the recording process, about writing and most importantly about making sure you do enough pre-production. When we make record number two, whether we make it with him or not, it will definitely involve lots of pre-production.”

Speaking of their second effort, Elliott hints that their next offering will be a little dirtier and grittier than the first. “We just love [English alt.rock outfit] Band Of Skulls. We love the production of all of their albums; it's like they've done this old school thing but it's still hi-fi. It's rock'n'roll, but it's still hi-fi. Now we just need to find the right producer that can make it sound gritty but still nice.”

Sam agrees, but there's one very strict condition come album numero deux: “On a beach somewhere. After recording in New York, which was freezing, it would be nice to record somewhere warm and at home this time. Over there it was so cold that there was nothing to do but stay at home and watch Family Guy. At least if we do it on a beach this time we can spend our spare time surfing. But then that can kind of become a problem too because we could end up just spending all our time surfing and not release anything, like the Klaxons,” says Sam, referring to the indie-rock band's infamous sojourn to France in 2008/'09. Legend has it the band used it as an 'excuse' to pen their second album. Eventually, after around a year overseas they did manage to dizzy up some new material for their label, only to have it rejected as being 'too experimental'. Ouch.

Despite the beach environment the boys are hoping to make their next album in, Sam reassures fans they'll make sure their sound doesn't get too touched by the sun. “Just because we're thinking of making it in a beach town, like say Byron Bay, doesn't mean we're gonna come out with a Jack Johnson-styled album. I mean, I'd hate to think that location can affect your music or end up changing it.”