It’s been a busy year for Born Ruffians. The group is reading their new album Beauty’s Pride, which is set to be released on June 6. From there, the group is set to tour extensively in the U.S. and Canada in the second half of the year. I chatted with frontman Luke Lalonde about the genesis of this new album and what a certain memoir by Vladimir Nabokov has to do with it all.
You’ve spoken about “Mean Time” drawing inspiration from Speak, Memory. Are there specific themes or lyrics that you drew on from Nabokov’s book?
It’s in the opening lines of the book that he says “The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.” Which would be the most literal line I drew from. Overall I was really taken with the imagery and style of his writing. Something about that book really just had me under a spell, as beautiful writing can do. I was trying to write a song about time, life’s relentless pace, looking back and moving forward.
When did you first read said memoir? Was there a gap of time before it began to inspire your songwriting?
I read Speak, Memory sometime in 2022 or 2023 when I was writing the songs for Beauty’s Pride (our new record) so the timing was good. It was on the bookshelf at home (my wife’s copy) and I’d only read Lolita before. I’m not exactly sure why I picked it up but I’m glad I did. He has such an interesting story – coming from a wealthy family, his father was assassinated. He’s kind of unapologetically snobby but extremely likable, an undeniably brilliant mind and visual writer. I love his obsessive hobby of collecting butterflies. Also he dictated most or all of his work (I think) to his wife. So credit to Nabokov’s wife who may also have played a role in the prose? Either way, we are blessed with an amazing body of work I haven’t really scratched the surface of yet (Pale Fire is next in my queue).
Was this the first time you’ve drawn inspiration like this from a book, either for Born Ruffians or your solo work?
I definitely draw from what I’m reading… books are like water for my mind. I think you get out what you put in too. My favourite part about reading is how fully it engages my mind and pushes it outward. It’s such a collaborative process between the author and the reader and we get to create and imagine so much as we read.
We have a song called Kurt Vonnegut on our first record. I used a part of Cat’s Cradle in the song:
“Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder ‘why, why, why?’
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.”
At the end of last year, you posted a clip on Instagram along with thoughts on your favorite books you’d read that year. What was the reaction like for that?
The reaction was pretty modest haha… I guess I felt inspired to share. I love reading so much.
How’s your 2025 in books going so far?
So far so good! In 2020 I started keeping track of what I read in a spreadsheet and I learned how much I enjoy adding a new book to the list. So far my favourite book I’ve read this year is Gliff, by Ali Smith with an honourable mention to World Within A Song, by Jeff Tweedy which was a perfect book about music.
You’re heading out on tour next month, and again in the fall; any bookstores you’re hoping to hit up along the way?
I always like going to the Last Bookstore in LA and Strand in New York. When I get to a city or when we stop somewhere on the way, the first thing I do is google “book store near me.” I can browse in bookstores for a long time. If someone could bottle the smell of “used bookstore” or “fanning through pages in a book” that would be great.
Photo: Calm Elliott-Armstrong