Tatsuya Yoshida – Drums, vocal
Hisashi Sasaki – Bass, vocal

Ruins wurde 1985 von dem japanischen Kult-Drummer TATSUYA YOSHIDA gegründet. Neben den 16 offiziellen CDs sind die Ruins auf zahllosen Samplern und verschieden Vinyl-Platten vertreten. Die nächste Veröffentlichung steht im August auf John Zorn’s Label TZADIK an,auf dem Ruins schon einige Platten vetrieben haben.

Mittlerweile touren die Ruins fast jährlich durch Europa und den USA. Das letzte mal in Köln konnte man sie im Stadtgarten 1997 und 1998 sehen.

TATSUYA YOSHIDA hat u.a. mit folgenden Musikern/Bands zusammengearbeitet:
ZENI GEVA, MAINLINER, MUSICA TRANSONIC, GEROGERIGEGEGE, YBO2, HIGH RISE, JOHN
ZORN, FRED FRITH, STEVE ALBINI, DAVID MOSS, CHARLES HAYWARD,
MIKE PATTON, YOSHIHIDE OTOMO, RON ANDERSON, THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS, SUN CITY GIRLS, JASON WILLETT, HAINO KEIJI, TENKO, DEREK BAILEY, OMOIDE HATOBA,
SEIKAZOKU, TAIRIKUOTOKO VS SANMY AKUONNA, FURUDATE TETSUO, HOPPY KAMIYAMA, KAZUTOKI UMEZU, SATOKO FUJII QUARTET, Members from BOREDOMS

Auf dem diesjährigen Moers-Festival 2001 spielte YOSHIDA im SATOKO FUJII
QUARTET.

Along with the Boredoms, Naked City and very few others, this amazing drums/bass duo are masters of quick-change, stop/start tempos, time-signatures and textures. Ruins‘ explosive and intricately composed tunes are sung in a peculiar language of their own invention. (from Tzadik)

Ruins, who are Tatsuya Yoshida (drums/vocals) and Hisashi Sasaki (bass/vocals), play a unique form of manic and twisted progressive rock for these millennial times. This duo’s compositions are complex and can be disorientating to the listener who is accustomed to less innovative, dynamic and demanding musics. Tatsuya Yoshida, the founding member of Ruins, formed the band in 1985. Since that time there have been a number of different bass players, including Ryuichi Masuda, Hisashi Sasaki, and Kimoto Kazuyoshib. Bandleader/drummer/singer Yoshida credits such diverse influences as progressive-rockbstalwarts Magma, classical composers such as Chopin, and traditional throat singing from Tuva. Though hints of these and other influences (e.g. Bill Bruford, Rush, Pink Floyd, Gong, King Krimson, Magma, Yes, and Genesis) often come through in the Ruins sound, there is no mistaking them for anyone else.
Many of their compositions employ odd time signatures, sudden tempo changes, and passages of heavily processed noise. The bass, which unlike most has six strings, is often threaded through various effects. Both members of the band sing vocables that complement one another. These vocables are meant to be nonsensical and that’s how they sound. They are usually improvised, as are
portions of their songs. Their overall sound is chaotic yet precise, noisy yet harmonious, catchy yet repelling, frenetic yet disciplined. (from All Music Guide)

Reviews:

„…leaders of the Japanese underground…“
-THE WIRE

„Extremely funny“ „They¹re amazing to watch“ „They played with such
extraordinary intensity“
-BBC, RADIO 3, MIXING IT

„So, then, how does it sound? Fucking GOOD.“
-PITCHFORK

„Needless to say you should check out the Ruins“ „Great drummer“
-JOHN ZORN

„The greatest band on the planet!“
-HOE MAGAZINE

„(…) Ruins, the two man Japanese band that turned the Knitting Factory into a mosh pit (…) Stop-start hard-core rock, slow-rolling heavy metal and something like a pile-driver jig. Odd meters were interspersed with conventional ones; the music kept jumping forward in ever-changing fits and starts that pushed more and more listeners into motion.“
-NEW YORK TIMES