1983 - THE LIVE COMBO

... the "RUINS-as-a-band" project has not been mentioned very often, and sometimes I feel of a strong regret for this involuntary lapse of such musical dimension.

Our band had different line-ups (trio, quartet or quintet with variable set-up) and each one had moments of unique and indubitable sonic glory.

The "driving force" of this almost funky renditions of the band was evidently the pulsating bass of Pippo Monaro (just a few weeks before he had joined the new combo) and this distinctive way of playing his Steinberger bass (actually not showcased in the pictures here under) had contributed adding a remarkable dynamic to the sound of RUINS ... just what we were looking for at the time.

from L to R: Pippo Monaro, Franco Moruzzi, Piergiuseppe Ciranna, Alessandro Pizzin

Yours truly

My keyboards set up at the time was quite odd but extremely versatile: on my right side i had my bizarre Farfisa VIP600 electronic organ, the inevitable Korg MS20 on its top and an old tape cassette player nearby (for the "special sound effects" way long before the sample machines and keyboards were available). In front of me the essential Fender Rhodes 88 with the two Pearl pedals (echo and chorus) while on its black vinyl top the more than fundamental sound machine of RUINS, the mighty Casiotone 501. On my left there's a microphone for my alto sax (but that's another story ...)

from L to R: Pippo Monaro, Franco Moruzzi, Piergiuseppe Ciranna, Alessandro Pizzin

from L to R: Yours truly, Pippo Monaro, Franco Moruzzi & Piergiuseppe Ciranna

This recording was captured live during of one of the few live concerts of autumn 1983 and it is interesting to remember that during the same concert other new songs were actually performed but unfortunately destined to remain unfinished and definitively archived forever.

Anyway, I am still looking for any acceptable recording hidden in the chaotic "box o' tapes" in the archive that will allows to occasional fans and curious to listen to some Ruins' sonic alien extravaganza.

Time will tell ...

1983/1985 - THE FINAL DEMOS

One of the oddest memory resurfaced from the recent check of Alessandro's archival box is surely this unexpected K7 collection of demos (apparently documenting the last days of the Ciranna/Pizzin Ruins project back to mid '80's)

The 1983-1985 demos

The tape features a selection of quite consolidated songs in RUINS repertoire (although most of them in different version/mix), but also some other ones that remains obscure items still today.

"New gun" was/is a Ciranna solo effort as well as "Young and pretty" (but the latter was almost ready  for the final "band arrangement" to be included in RUINS repertoire).

"Today" was/is a brilliant dark and aggressive Ciranna song, maybe one of the best unreleased and unfortunately unfinished track for the RUINS project.

"It would be nice" was/is the working title for "Nice song" (a beautiful Ciranna song oddly enough wrongly credited to both Ruins here).

"Marry a bad girl" was/is a relatively old song dated back to 1983 with the 4 headed band (some band rehearsals full live recordings of this song have been recently resurfaced from the dusty shelves and boxes too).

"Pierce & Edith" was/is a band short live number dated 1983 and features here Pippo Monaro (bass) and Franco Moruzzi (drums) as very special guests.

The beautiful photo used for the tape cover is by Anthony Marasco (thanks!).

1983 - THE BURROUGHS FILES

Few months ago, looking for RUINS promotional stuff of the eighties, a mysterious box suddenly appeared out of the blue from Alessandro's personal archive.

Its content is still currently under investigation, but one of the most interesting items discovered within is surely this UNRELEASED promotional demo compiled in order to promote the experimental and multimedia side of RUINS' repertoire.

original tape cover with artwork and lettering by Roberto Roseano

The music featured here is an excerpt from the soundtrack of the "Il vento muore, voi morite, noi moriamo" a multimedia event inspired by the William S Burroughs 1968 novel "Wind die, you die, we die".

The actual event was a three screens slide show performance by RUINS & Stefano Padovan (with the creative help of Alessandro Rigato and Gianni Volpato)

original promo sheet by Alessandro Rigato

The music was not performed live but it was used a pre-recorded 2 tracks reel tape for general audio diffusion instead.

All tracks were individually composed and recorded by Ciranna & Pizzin to be then selected and assembled (according to the slideshow screenplay) by the whole 5 persons collective involved in the project.

At the same time all photographic material was created individually by Padovan, Rigato and Volpato to be reassembled, likewise the audio files, in few imaginary short random stories or sections.

various pictures by Stefano Padovan, Alessandro Rigato and Gianni Volpato