At first, the major label feeding frenzy wrought by Nirvana’s breakthrough in the 1990s seemed like a boon for the bands who suddenly got signed and found themselves on MTV. But what really happened is that the vast majority of those seemingly lucky acts were chewed up and spat out by the industry almost as quickly as they were picked up, leaving the rock ’n’ roll highway littered with enough burnt wreckage to fill a dozen Mad Max movies. One such story is that of the pop punk band Ruth Ruth, an outfit fronted by Warwick resident Chris Kennedy that recently reunited and will perform at New York’s Grammercy Theater next Tuesday.
Ruth Ruth appeared on soundtracks and MTV and released records on American Recordings subsidiary Ventrue, RCA, and Epitaph before lax promotion, red tape, poor handling, and the inability to accrue sustainable radio play and record sales led to their demise at the dawn of the 2000s. This is actually the second Ruth Ruth reunion: The band reformed in 2004 to record the indie release Right About Now and a live album. “The idea behind getting back together to play is completely based on friendship and fun, which is a bit unusual for me,” says Kennedy. “Usually, there’s some big agenda or something.”
This is the group’s best-known song, “Uninvited,” from their 1995 debut, Laughing Gallery:
Ruth Ruth will open for Eve 6 at the Grammercy Theater in New York on June 14 at 7pm. Tickets are $37-$178. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/Ruth-Ruth-139318842758264/.
