The Ruts

Formed in London in 1977 around Malcolm Owen, Paul Fox, John “Segs” Jennings and Dave Ruffy, The Ruts belong to the second wave of British punk and early on incorporated elements of reggae, dub, ska and reggae rock. The band made its mark on the London scene in the late 1970s, notably in the context of Rock Against Racism, and recorded its first single, “In a Rut”, for the People Unite collective associated with Misty in Roots — a decisive encounter that opened The Ruts to Jamaican rhythms. That tension between punk urgency, a fluid bassline and reggae inflections shapes The Crack, released in 1979, with tracks such as “Babylon’s Burning”, “Jah War” and “Staring at the Rude Boys”. After Malcolm Owen’s death in 1980, The Ruts continued as Ruts D.C., moving more decisively toward dub and reggae on Animal Now (1981) and Rhythm Collision (1982), recorded with Mad Professor. The band split in 1983, reappearing from 2007 around Jennings and Ruffy, later joined by guitarist Leigh Heggarty. Under the Ruts D.C. name, they have since carried forward this strand between punk, dub and social consciousness with Rhythm Collision Volume 2 (2013), Music Must Destroy (2016), Electracoustic Volume One (2021) and Counterculture? (2022).