Who Are They?
Ruby Coast are charmingly jangly indie-rockers from the sleepy Aurora/Newmarket suburbs. Mark Robert Whiting, Nathan Vanderwielen, Keith Bradford and Justice McLellan all met in high school, where Justice used to cheat off Mark in math class. Drummer Corey Marshall, who they met while skateboarding, was soon added into the fold. Together for almost two years, Ruby Coast toured eastern Canada with fellow suburbanites Tokyo Police Club, playing Over the Top and North By Northeast (NXNE) while sharing stage time with local scenesters Woodhands and Foxfire. They’re currently re-recording their debut EP (originally produced by Damon de Szegheo) with TPC frontman David Monks.

AREN’T THEY IN HIGH SCHOOL?
Not anymore. Marshall announced his graduation the day of their NXNE showcase. The band members’ ages range from 18 through 20; they’re still living at home and working as grocery clerks and landscapers, but as Aaliyah said, age ain’t nothing but a number. McLellan says, “I just don’t see why it needs to be said. Music’s music — age doesn’t have anything to do with someone’s ability to play it.”

BUT THEY’RE GOOD, RIGHT?
“My mom likes our music,” McLellan brags, and she’s not the only one.

“I saw them play [for the second time] at the Drake,” says Monks between takes at Chemical Sound Recording Studio, “and they went from being my sister’s boyfriend’s band to a band I wanted to do stuff with. [Monks’ sister has indeed been dating guitarist Vanderwielen for over a year.] To me, they sound like a ridiculous competition between five instruments, all birds of paradise, showboating. I hear the Born Ruffians in them.”

With mangy adolescent hysteria burning throughout their five-song EP, choirs of videogame synthesizers, twinkly bells and poppy, swinging rhythms complement McLellan’s earnestly offbeat vocals, which have been compared to a Postal Service–era Ben Gibbard. The shout-heavy “Neighbourhood” reveals the band’s existential bent — “Walking past, breaking legs we’ve never known, we carry guns not for violence but for show.”

ROCKING THE SUBURBS
An hour-long GO train ride away from downtown (though the band prefer to drive), Aurora’s scene is divided between bands who play screamo and bands who play ska.

“We never fit in, which is why we started playing in the city in the first place,” admits Whiting. “We played a battle of the bands once,” says Mark. “The promoter hated us because we only sold seven tickets on this bill of hardcore metal bands. We played last and weren’t even on the list.” Now McLellan organizes a monthly singer/songwriter set at the Starbucks where he works part-time. Adds Monks, “It’s so important in Aurora to have any encouragement to keep writing songs.”  

BEHIND THE MUSIC
The earliest incarnation of Ruby Coast was The Breeze, a “stoner rock” group inspired by McLellan’s longhaired 17-year-old Pink Floyd phase. Influenced by Jim Morrison and Syd Barrett, McLellan started smoking pot before class and experimenting with harder drugs. Now nine months clean, McLellan says he feels more creative. “It was just unnecessary. There are things on the line now. The rest of the band have chosen [being musicians] by not going to school. Music’s way sweeter than doing drugs.”

END WITH A BIG FINISH
“We base our live show around the philosophy that less is always more,” says McLellan, though they’re open to inspiration. Whiting adds, “We just watched the Flaming Lips DVD, and thought about how sweet it would be have to have a giant bubble in Tiger Bar.”