Cousin Rufu
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Cousin Rufu

Toronto, Ontario, Canada | SELF

Toronto, Ontario, Canada | SELF
Band Rock Soul

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Cousin Rufu at the Velvet Underground"

Cousin Rufu are a new band in Toronto and are charged with energy, soul, and passion. Their set at the Velvet Underground got them ready for their upcoming performance on Friday August 5 at The Sound Academy. Here are a couple photos from a recent shoot I did with them and some insightful responses the woah! interview questions.
In two (2) sentences, or less, describe your band.
Cousin Rufu is about collaborative creativity and exploring what emerges collectively when a group of diverse individuals get together to make music.

As musicians are you very conscious of the direction your music takes? What can people expect to hear at the upcoming show?
At this point, being a band that's less than 2 months old, the direction isn't really set yet. I think that's the exciting part about this stage of starting up something new - there's a lot of possibilities. I think we'll be taking it one song at a time and shaping our sound as we go - the most important part is whether what we're doing is engaging to us as musicians, and exciting to our audience.

Who/what has inspired you as musicians?
We're so new, that we haven't even had that conversation as a group! We definitely haven't formed around being a band with a certain sound or because we all want to be like band so-and-so. I think for all of us, there's an underlying desire to just get out there and perform, and collectively, all the musicians that we've loved seeing in our lives inspire us to want to do our best, write great songs and get out in front of an audience as much as we can.
How would you describe your experiences as an independent band over the past years? Have you experienced any major challenges and/or significant moments?
Again, we have some diverse experience to draw from here. Being a new band, it's actually been surprising how smoothly things have gone up to this point. One big hurdle is finding the right chemistry, and it seems like we got lucky right away. Our first rehearsal where we were all in a room together for the first time rocked, like we were all old friends. We seem to be getting a lot of opportunities to play right out of the gate too, so that's really awesome!

Albums you’re listening to at the moment.
Take Care, Take Care, Take Care - by explosions in the sky.

Favourite restaurant in Toronto. Why?
Depends on the mood, but Korean food is always on the top of the list.

Favourite independent coffee place in Toronto. Why?
Tango Palace on Queen East. We always hear music that's awesome and new, plus they have amazing staff and the pastries are pretty awesome. Excellent serving of tea.

Favourite independent musician/band in Toronto. Why?
Shabamzy! Pure testosterone! Groove Funk Country Stompin' Rock.

Favourite card game. Why?
ASSHOLE, everyone can play and everything can change with just one card.

What does the Summer/Fall of 2011 hold for your band? Any tours, recordings, special events?
At this point, we're trying to get together promotional materials, find opportunities to play, and video our live stuff. We want to play as much as we can, tighten up our playing, and write new material. We'll also be applying for 2012 summer festivals.

How can people get more information on your band?
Right now, www.cousinrufu.com has some recordings of our songs. We'll be updating the website over the next month so it's more current and provides more info and performance dates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd8JJl1OCTU - WOAH! Music


Discography

EP - No Cover No LInes Release March 2012

1. No Cover No Lines
2. Red Dress
3. Girl I Know
4. Beautiful and Fearless
5. Wine Angel

Photos

Bio

Cousin Rufu is essentially Pop Rock Soul. They sound like the Dave Matthews Band, with the voice of Seal, the laid back groove of Ben Harper and the lyrical craft and playfulness of Jack Johnson.

Throughout 2011, they performed at several well known venues all over Toronto and are now ready to take their energetic performance to festivals all over Southern Ontario and wherever else their journey may lead them.

They were surprised to have enjoyed playing for 7 and a half hours at Scotiabank's Nuit Blanche 2011, all-night artist instillation event in the streets of Toronto. They were commissioned by, Vancouver-based Artist, Kevin Schmidt and can't wait to play for crowds of that size again and again.

In early 2012, they plan to release their debut EP, "No Cover No Lines". They are also planning to release a free download of their latest song called, "Hand In Hand". This song was written in honour of the resilient spirit of those who continue to inspire the world with their efforts in overcoming the suffering and the challenges caused by the tragic earthquake in Japan this past March 11th, 2011.