Reign Forecast

"Basically the reason we got together is alcohol.” Barry McAuliffe is explaining the precise origins of his band Rulers Of The Planet. “A couple of us work in the Brog, and we all played in separate bands that seemed to split up at the same time. We got together for a couple of jams, began writing and recorded an EP. We made a couple of hundred copies and sent it out to one or two people. It manifested out of nothing, which is probably the coolest way to be in a band.”

This seems to have been the unwritten rule of the Rulers: turn up and see what happens. “Totally,” agrees Barry. “What happens with a lot of bands is that they set themselves goals right from the first practice whereas we decided to go and have a couple of pints up at Nancy Spain’s and a bit of craic. It got to the level around a year ago when people started to take interest in us based on an EP that we recorded for three hundred quid.”
The band’s biog talks of their various initial influences, including the now ubiquitous Gang Of Four and Wire. Is that the truth, we wonder, or a handy musical reference to drop these days? As ever Barry is brutally honest. “Do you know what the sad thing is? Mick is obsessed with Wire and stuff like that but there are other fellers in the band who are into Anthrax and Metallica. We all came from different backgrounds and the band is a fusion of the five of us”.
From those confusing beginnings something quite wonderful has developed. The Rulers have made their reputation as a fearsome live outfit, something that stemmed from their early days playing in front of small, uninterested audiences. “That’s exactly how it happened. Our first couple of gigs were pubs where they didn’t care who we were. You’ve got to go out with a bit of attitude and grab them by the balls. The bands in Ireland are a bit wishy washy but we enjoy what we do and we want people to hear it, whether they like it or not. We wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll band and have a good time from day one.” Not that their confrontational style always goes down well. “The second or third gig in Dublin I made some comment and five minutes later our drummer got a pint of Bulmers smashed above his head. The next minute the Gardai burst in the door. It was an awakening for us but if people can’t handle it, tough.”
So far so good, but the band’s debut, In 30 Minutes We Destroy The Earth, proves that there is more to this lot than just having a few beers and making a punk rock racket. “That was always our goal,” agrees Barry. “There are a lot of bands at our level who are amazing live but shit boring on record. We wanted to get the live element but also to take it away and prove that we could actually play. I really do think we’ve conquered that on the album. For the three months it took to record it we made an agreement amongst ourselves not to drink and see how we get on. It worked out a dream.”
The overwhelmingly positive reaction to the album is certainly spurring the band on. “We want to progress. Every day in the Rulers has been a step forward and it’s been rising and rising and rising. If you’d asked me two years ago would we be playing to 4000 people at Oxegen I’d have thought there was something wrong with you. It’s just the way it happened. You can’t be serious all the time but you do reach a certain point where you have to decide whether to go for it or not. For every high you get you get ten lows.”
One of those lows has been the general debacle surrounding (Rulers hometown) Cork’s role as the European City Of Culture, the programme for which has drawn many a disgruntled comment from the city’s artistic fraternity. Barry too has an opinion. “The city of culture has been great for the high profile people. There’s been many a good night out with tuxedos but as far as I know there hasn’t been one thing done for the bands of Cork. There are some fine bands down here but not one of them has benefited from this. They’re just looking after themselves to be honest. If you want to get Cork City on the map then the Rulers should be getting a couple of quid to go to London or Germany or America. We haven’t been offered anything, its bullshit. I’m not just getting on the bandwagon, that’s just being honest. You’d think there’d be something done for the youth but we haven’t even seen a fiver.”

In 30 Minutes We Destroy The Earth is out now on Sofa Records. Rulers of the Planet play Waterford Forum on May 19, Spirit Store Dundalk on the 20th and Club Headbangbang Tralee on the 26th.