Born Ruffians

Born Ruffians rose to prominence in the aughts indie blog era, the same Toronto scene that produced Canadian indie icons like Broken Social Scene and Tokyo Police Club. Since that time, they’ve become one of Canada’s greatest indie rock exports, releasing albums on some of the world’s most acclaimed record labels - Warp Records, XL Recordings, Yep Roc Records, Paper Bag Records, and their newly-minted Wavy Haze Records. The group has toured internationally, supporting artists like Caribou, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip, and The New Pornographers, while also headlining tours throughout North America, UK, Europe, and Australia. ‘Uncle, Duke & The Chief’ (2018), one of the final projects produced by the late, great producer Richard Swift (The Shins, Nathaniel Rateliff, Foxygen), brought the band into a new era: the album was lauded by NPR Music, Rolling Stone, and American Songwriter as a mature, confident evolution of the band’s hooky left-of-center pop sensibilities. Their follow-up trilogy ‘JUICE’ (2020), ‘SQUEEZE’ (2020), and ‘PULP’ (2021), charted on Billboard and US Alternative Radio Charts and garnered widespread acclaim from press outlets in North America and Europe. Now, they return with “Beauty’s Pride”, a record that sounds like it was made in 2025: it's a maximalist indie rock album that embraces hi-fi production techniques, and it presents Born Ruffians as the rare veteran act that can still make you feel like you’re discovering your new favourite band.