Ilan Rubin released The New Regime's new album in installments because he isn't a fan of flooding social media
The New Regime will be releasing the last installment of 'Heart, Mind Body & Soul', officially completing the album, on March 6.
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) spoke with the main man behind the music, maestro drummer and artist Ilan Rubin, in an exclusive interview before the LP's release.
The New Regime released 'Heart', the first EP of the new full-length in September.
Rubin spoke on why he chose to release 'Heart, Mind, Body & Soul' in parts, opening with, "It seems like the climate of everything dictates that you have to flood social media as much as possible, which is something I'm not a huge fan of."
Rubin says after recording he was "left with 20 songs but I was thinking that 16 would lend itself to releasing 4 tracks at a time". He explains that releasing one, two, or three tracks at a time just wasn't enough and he shared that his brother, Aaron, who manages him, gave the idea to moniker the album 'Heart, Mind, Body & Soul' and release it in parts.
"I feel like there's a great listening experience for those who want to listen to it in chunks as well as those who want to sit down and listen to the entire thing from top to bottom," he says.
Having worked with many epically renowned artists, and being one of the greatest drummers of our time, Rubin has shown himself to be a master of his craft. He has been the drummer for Nine Inch Nails, Angels & Airwaves, and toured with other heavyweights including Muse, The Killers, Alice In Chains, The Used, The Joy Formidable.
Describing it as "a very simple story", Rubin shares how he met Paramore with renowned frontwoman Hailey Williams. Referring to Justin Meldal-Johnsen, who produced Paramore's self-titled album and its follow-up LP 'After Laughter', he says, "Him and I played together in Nine Inch Nails in 2009 and their drummer had left the band at some point, and they needed a session drummer, so I was called in to do that."
He went on: "But we got along so well that they asked if I could tour with them and I was able to do as much as I could because I knew in the back of my mind that Nine Inch Nails would be regrouping at some point that year in 2013".
He confirmed that they continued later with some tours.
When asked what Rubin felt set The New Regime apart from his previous works in other bands, he replied, "Well, I think the setting apart from those bands was natural because the music that I wrote/write I knew wasn't going to be like anything that I was involved with. I just have fairly different tastes to all of my friends and people who I perform with, but what I wanted to do from the very beginning of The New Regime was to make sure that the music could not be pigeonholed".
He adds, "I've always enjoyed bands spreading their wings and writing different kinds of songs and experimenting, and I've hated when bands just do one thing. I think it gets very boring even over the course of an album, let alone the course of a catalog/career. So I just knew that from one song to the next, I wanted everything to be different and that was my only goal with the infection of The New Regime".
Rubin's passion for his music lights up as he speaks. Fine-tuning his skills throughout the years since a young age (even entering the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest musician to ever play on a Woodstock stage), the artist revealed no difficulties in being the musician helming every instrument on the new album.
"There wasn't a challenge, which is why I like to do everything myself," he says. "I've spent my entire life, practically, performing, playing, learning music on different instruments. So, the reason why I do it all is that I play these instruments well and I know exactly how to execute what it is that I'm looking for."
He shared some insights on producers and artists who tend to lose track of the bigger picture of being an all-encompassing artist, rather than being someone who calls themself an "artist" and focuses on one instrument.
He says, "I know a lot of people, either out of laziness, vanity or whatever you want to call it, that say 'Yeah, I did all the recording myself'. And usually, it happens to be somebody who's good at one instrument and decent at the rest, but that is not the way I have learned. I've spent a lot of time getting at a good level with everything. I play all the instruments that I play very well 'cause I've spent the time, I've put in the years. So when it comes to writing and recording, the easiest way to do it is to just have at it and get it done".