Biography
Ruin/Renewal was founded in 2005 by guitarist and songwriter Josh Pritchard. He wrote the band’s earliest songs over a solitary winter in the Berkshire Mountains near Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 2003. Pritchard and his twin brother John captured the first Ruin/Renewal recordings with celebrated producer Tom Eaton in 2007, though the music never saw a formal release. Josh continued to write and record demos during a hiatus while traveling in South America and Europe.
Upon Pritchard’s return to New England, the band performed at venues throughout Boston and New York City in 2010 and 2011 in support of their recording debut.
The seven track, self-titled EP was released by the Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based independent publishing house Burst and Bloom Records. The label’s renowned roster of artists includes Dylan Metrano’s slow-core institution Tiger Saw, indie-folk guru Guy Capcelatro, DIY-hero Audrey Ryan, and other widely-loved New England artists like Mara Flynn, Wesley Hartley and the Travelling Trees, Hello Shark, Seekonk, Tiny Fires and Thom McCaffery.
R/R’s first release was well received. The tracks “Proverbs” and “One of the Four Humors” garnered attention in the Boston-area and beyond. “Proverbs” earned the number-one spot on the Boston Emissions “Favorite New Local Song Poll” (WZLX-FM) for the week of December 3, 2011 – less than a month after its release. “One of the Four Humors” and “No Blues” gained airplay on WMBR’s “Pipeline!” with Jeff Breeze – the radio show that has served as Boston’s premier source for local music for decades. The band later appeared and performed on the show. In the fall of the 2011, Ruin/Renewal was invited to join the line-up at the O+ Festival in Kingston, New York.
Josh Pritchard, John Pritchard, bass player Josh Homer and drummer Lauren Grubb (Minipop, To The Wedding) are the band’s primary contributors. Since its inception, R/R has featured the work of many talented collaborators including Brett Bashaw, Tom Eaton, Paul Eddy, Mike Gruen, Megumi Sasaki, Steve Smith, and Lauren Strobel.
Ruin/Renewal will release a collection of material from its early years in May 2012 as it works on its next release of new material for October 2012.
