Ruby Topaz’ new album
takes you into the ‘Rabbit Hole’ of his life
By John Hacker
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Ruby
Topaz’ new album takes you into the ‘Rabbit Hole’ of his life
By
John Hacker
PROVIDENCE,
R.I. — If some of the songs on the new album “Rabbit Hole,” by
vocalist, guitarist-multi instrumentalist, martial artist and sound
engineer Mark Bram, aka Ruby Topaz, sound like classics, it's because
they are.
There
are some songs that were intended for release by the band Ruby Topaz
back in the 1980s, but never saw the light of day.
Bram
is the lead singer and lead guitarist (and multi-instrumentalist, in
the studio) for the band Ruby Topaz and as such, just like Alice
Cooper, people began calling Bram Ruby Topaz.
“That
was my alter ego, everyone called me Ruby Topaz,” he said. “It
was like Alice Cooper, he didn’t call himself that, it was the
band, and eventually everyone called him Alice and that became him.
That’s exactly what happened with us. People started calling me
Ruby. Originally, in Junior High School, the band’s name was
‘Shir’, which was a take off on the Hebrew word for music, shir.
“Then,
in High School, we wanted to change the name and someone said why
don’t you come up with a different name and they said “what’s
your birthstone?” I said topaz. They said ‘What’s another
birthstone that would go with that?’ then someone said ‘ruby’,
Ruby Topaz, I went oooo, like Alice Cooper, Ruby Topaz... A more
Glitter / Glam version of Alice Cooper. Now I’m back, Ruby Topaz is
back, and I’m going to be releasing a 20th anniversary remaster of
the 2002 Mark Bram /Ruby Topaz Again album (which was stating that I
was back as Ruby Topaz), I'm working on that now.”
“Rabbit
Hole” is a 14-track album with a classic rock and roll sound dating
to the Beatles, Queen and other classic groups from the birth of rock
and roll.
Topaz
said the title track, “Rabbit Hole” is a song about the journey
he went through when he met his wife and finally married her.
There
are current songs and other tracks are songs that were written in the
1970s and1980s for albums that were never released.
“‘Rabbit
Hole’ is a journey. It has so many diversions to it,” Bram said.
“‘Rabbit Hole’ is like a Beatles album or a Queen album. A
Queen album, is hard rock, but they’ll do a kitschy song, they’ll
do a song that sounds like it belongs in the 1920s, then they’ll do
something operatic. The Beatles did the same thing.”
Bram
takes his inspiration from a world of artists he heard when he was
younger and some he even worked with in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Influences
run the gamut from “The Beatles,” “The Monkees,” “Hermans
Hermits” to “Queen,” “Led Zeppelin,” “The Who,” “Alice
Cooper,” “David Bowie,” “Frank Zappa,” “Jeff Beck,” and
“The Mahavishnu Orchestra.”
“I
don’t do cookie cutter. I like diversity and smearing lines between
genres. For some reason, I’m known for my guitar playing (and high
vocals), which is nice” Bram said. “I want people to know this is
a journey, it bring you all different places, there are ballads,
there are bluesy, jazzy, 60s pop, 70s pop, all these different
elements of everything that came before, but shown in a new light.
It’s complex, but it’s accessible, it’s got pop sensibilities,
but it also appeals to musicians because the musicianship is there.”
In
the 1980s, Bram and Ruby Topaz, garnered critical success in Europe.
The
single “Why” and the B-side track “The Sack” was played on
the radio and written about in England, Switzerland, Belgium, France
and Germany.
They
were also written up in the English magazine KERRANG in 1985 in
the Singles Reviews, along side of Blue Oyster Cult, Metallica,
The Rolling Stone, Roger Dawltrey, and others.
Reviewers
wrote "Amazing guitar,” "genuine excitement," and
"love to see one of their gigs.” We were played on Alice's
Restaurant, a pirate radio station in England and a major radio
station in Lyon, France, among others.
Bram
is also something of a gearhead with a studio filled with classic
recording equipment and more than 110 guitars he’s purchased over
the years.
The
equipment helps him create his sound, which is based on the sound of
the artists of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
“We
named the album ‘Rabbit Hole’ because I wouldn’t let go of this
stuff,” Bram said. “It was like, no, it’s not right, I've got a
new piece of gear, let me remix it. I held on to this stuff, I was
stuck down in my studio in this Rabbit Hole and that’s the concept
for the cover. Steve D’Andrea, my drummer in Ruby Topaz, who has
played drums with me, on and off since Junior High School, and plays
drums on Rabbit Hole and Stephen Fassbender, who plays the bass lines
that I recorded on the album, in the live Ruby Topaz band, are
looking down in the rabbit hole and I’m down in the studio mixing.”
Bram
said the remaster of the 2002 Mark Bram /Ruby Topaz Again album,
which also includes Steve D’Andrea on drums, is planned for release
in early 2023 and has songs from the late 90s and early 2000s, as
well as songs from his earlier music career remix and remastered for
the 21st century.
You
can find more about Bram and his alter ego, Ruby Topaz, his history
and the music he’s releasing currently at the following websites
and streaming platforms:
