Spookey Ruben

Spookey Ruben

Spookey Ruben , real name Alan Deil (* in Ottawa ), is a Canadian musician , composer and video director. He currently lives in Los Angeles .

Career

As the son of a space engineer employed by ESA , he grew up in Verden , Lower Saxony, among others . He speaks almost perfect German.

His parents insisted that he learn an instrument and he chose the classical guitar . At the age of 13 he got hold of an electric guitar for the first time. As a result, he became a member of several hardcore and speed metal music groups, the most famous of which is likely to be Transilience . With his appearance shaped by the musical style, wearing long hair and satanic T-shirts, he earned the nickname evil in high school , which later became Spookey .

At the age of 19 he moved to Toronto where he began studying film at the University of York. Meanwhile, he pursued his interest in music with the help of a four-track recorder.

In 1995 he released his first album Modes of Transportation Vol. 1 on the TVT label. It contains the song These Days Are Old , which is used or served as the theme song for two TV programs worldwide. In Germany the WDR broadcast Zimmer frei! and a Japanese broadcast. Only in Japan was Modes of Transportation Vol. 2 - What's A Boy To Do ?, also published on TVT in 1998 . Then came the concept albums Bed (2001) and Breakfast (2002) via Hi-Hat Recordings , which also contain a selection of the songs from Modes of Transportation Vol . In 2006 the Berlin-based label Lamm Records released an acoustic EP called Ausfahrt Walsrode. With the title song, he published a song in German for the first time.

The album Alone at the Zoo (2003) and a pre-EP version of the album Mechanical Royalty (2008) were released in DIY and limited editions, which fans received at concerts and on Rubens website. In order to include Modes of Transportation III , he started a crowdfunding campaign. 20 years after the first publication of Modes of Transportation Vol. 1 , a new edition appeared in a digipak with bonus songs. Modes III was funded by the action and recorded in Los Angeles. It was released in 2016.

Music genre

Rubens' style of music is shaped by the pop music of the 80s. When instrumenting his compositions, he mixes electronic sounds and instruments with acoustic and electric guitars. The singing is characterized by the contrast between tonally high passages and tonally deep passages.

In the album Mechanical Royalty , released in 2008, Ruben breaks new ground on the 15-minute song of the same name by contrasting a progressive rock title with the otherwise familiar pop-oriented songs. According to Ruben, he has always wanted to do something like that.

Videos

Ruben shoots all of his videos himself. In the 1990s, they were shown on German music television, mainly on Viva Zwei .

Discography

Albums

• Modes of Transportation Vol. 1 , 1995
• Wendy McDonald, Live in Japan EP , 1997
• Modes of Transportation Vol. 2 - What's A Boy To Do? , 1998
• Bed , 2001
• Breakfast , 2002
• Alone at the Zoo , 2003
• Exit Walsrode , 2006
• Mechanical Royalty EP , 2007
• Mechanical Royalty , 2008
• Modes of Transportation Vol. 1 - 20th Anniversary Edition , 2015
• Modes III , 2016

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1. ↑ MySpace page of Spookey Ruben
2. ↑ intro.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Hi-Hat Recordings ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Spookey Blog on Myspace ( Memento of the original from January 10th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.