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Born Ruffians Avoid International Incarceration

I think I should make a few things clear, aside from my slightly misleading (but super eye-catching) headline, about this blog before I start. First, there may be some colorful language used at some points in this blog. I can promise at least one c-word. Also, when it comes to memory, I can barely describe what happened to me 45 minutes ago to my parents on the phone, so compiling a blog over a number of days is going to be a magic trick if I can pull it off.

I guess I should explain that headline. Interpol weren’t exactly looking to collect a bounty on our heads or anything, but we did dodge a pretty deadly bullet. After picking up Rollie and Erik (of Cadence Weapon), we pulled up to the American border and began pissing our jeans, because that’s what you do when faced with the most intense security check ever, even when you know you’ve done nothing wrong (or so we thought).

A couple of hours after we successfully crossed into the States, we got a call from the company that rented us our tour van to tell us that they gave us all of the wrong information. I’m talking the shit that you would kinda need when crossing a border, because had they asked to see the paperwork, it wouldn’t match up, and therefore it would appear that we stole it. I get the impression that the border guards wouldn’t take to kindly to grand theft auto. And I don’t want “grand theft auto” next to my name on their big supercomputer of official information. I feel like it’d be like a Facebook status message…

“Mitch DeRosier is smuggling balloons of heroin into America.” — 2 minutes ago.

Our first show was Northampton, which was shockingly awesome. I think Northampton has a thriving underground scene of musical comedy duos and Lilith Fair rock acts that always seem to play the early show before us at the Iron Horse, but our turnout was equally amazing. And a pretty wicked thing happened that I can’t really say has happened anywhere else, to my knowledge (if anyone can challenge me on this, I’d really like to know, because it’s fucking sweet): we got a double encore. We did our encore, and then the crowd specifically yelled for a Cadence Weapon encore, which they did.

After Northampton, we played the Middle East in Cambridge where we encountered our new mortal fucking enemy, or at least Cadence’s, but ours too by association. Before his set, some poor-mannered asshole stole one of Rollie’s tees from the merch table, and unlucky for her, Rollie saw the whole thing happen. After making her put it back, the thief girl kept shoving a camera in his face while he was playing, trying to record as much of the show as possible. Then, finally, as a lovely end to the evening, someone stole his new hoodie right off of the stage. Now, despite having zero evidence to support this claim, I would bet my Wii (yeah, I went there) that the thieving, set-recording, snaggletoothed bitch had a hand in stealing said hoodie.

He was pretty bummed, but literally as I speak, we are rectifying this injustice by doing the true Canadian thing, handing Rollie a gift from the Ruffians: a new hoodie. Because we’re sweet. Unlike that douchebag girl who probably stole his original hoodie. I hope she reads this and understands how much of a sour cunt she truly is (there’s that c-word).

So after a few theft-related nights on the road, we had a good time in Brooklyn, and we’re now sitting in the Mercury Lounge waiting for Cadence Weapon to hit the stage. I think I did pretty good for my first ever SPIN.com tour blog, but just to make sure, I’ll get my mom to email me what she thought and I’ll post an official mom-review excerpt in my next tour blog. F’real.

— ruffian mitch

Mark and Mitch on merch duty

Born Ruffians packing up the van