Daniel Laner and Fernando Fine have been best friends since elementary school. In every childhood friendship, daydreams of growing up together indulging in fame are discussed but hardly fulfilled. The two-man-team has grown together and invented what is now their band, Ruby Red. Growing up in the Bay Area, the duo's upbringing and journey to adulthood have acted as a framework to the memories and hardships they paint through their catalog. The Oakland '00s hip-hop scene was heating up while the Ruby Red concept was coming to fruition. The influence of genres introduced to them while growing up reflects their blended, versatile sound that they have polished over the years of working together.
Since the pair moved to Los Angeles, they have taken the local indie music scene by storm. The band has landed gigs at beloved Los Angeles venues such as The Satellite (RIP), The Mint, and the Peppermint Club, playing to an intimate and engaged crowd of eager ears. Within each show Ruby Red plays, they enhance and augmented their live show experience to become more stimulating and aesthetically pleasing than before. I have seen first-hand how hypotonic the performances are and the trance that has audience members bewitched. When live music comes back, I'm dying to experience the band electrifying larger venues and the festival circuit.
Since the first single, 'How It Should Feel,' was released last February, the band has been on the radars of playlist curators, blogs, and the industry as a whole. The project's commencement previews the sometimes psychedelic, mostly chill cohesion of the project that left new fans longing for more. They treated listeners to an array of singles that embodied the legs of a range of musical styles and BPMs. Every song carries a different production style and leaves listeners flooded in other emotional states. At one moment, the band sounds like a distant cousin to electronic-trio Rufus Du Sol, and at another, they echo the signature sound of fellow up-and-coming singer Bakar. Ruby Red's whole catalog is worth the exploration.
"Our first EP, ‘Area of Affect,’ was kind of like the culmination of 2 years of just messing around, making songs just for the sake of making songs. Now that it’s been out for a minute, we’ve been thinking a lot about where (or if) Ruby Red fits in." - Ruby Red
Laner and Fine have struck gold yet again with the new single 'This Time.' The funky low-key track finds the duo satisfying the likings of a diverse set of music fans. The track's left-of-center flavor hovers over indie-alt and electronic territory with its wavy toplines and bubbly instrumentals. Once you check out the rest of the band's music, you'll realize that their distinctive sound is cohesive yet experimental. The song is complemented by a colorful, Office Space-themed music video that teleports viewers to pre-COVID corporate life with a spin. Ruby Red's exquisite and thoughtful visual exemplifications released with each song always seem to hit the nail on the head. Mark my words: Ruby Red will blow up, and you better get on the hype train now before the bandwagon.
"I think the boys at We Don’t Exist did a great job of capturing that feeling in the 'This Time' video. The song itself is a reflection of a lot of different influences that we have a lot of respect for––some old, some contemporary, some obvious. In some ways, 'This Time' is kind of us saying where we would like to fit in."
Check out the music video for 'This Time' below and take a deeper dive into the band's assorted bundle of tracks.
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