The Ruts

The Ruts were a reggae-influenced British punk rock band, notable for the 1979 Top 10 hit "Babylon's Burning", and an earlier single "In a Rut", which was not a hit but was much played and highly regarded by the UK BBC Radio 1 disc jockey, John Peel. After meeting at the Deeply Vale Free Festival, The Ruts were formed on 18 August 1977, the band consisted of Malcolm Owen , Paul Fox , John "Segs" Jennings and Dave Ruffy . As part of the Misty in Roots People Unite collective based in Southall, west London, the band were active in anti-racist causes and played a number of benefits for Rock... Against Racism. Schoolboy friends Fox and Owen shared a mutual interest in music. In the early 1970s they lived together in a commune on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, where they performed their own musical compositions with Paul Mattocks, who played flute, guitar and keyboards. Mattocks later became The Ruts' first drummer. Post Office telephone engineer Jennings met record shop manager Ruffy in 1976 and became interested in punk after discussing the latter's Ramones' T-shirt. Meanwhile, Owen's interest in punk was piqued when he saw the Sex Pistols playing live.
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