The Third Eye

We wrote about an album of 80 minutes of long-from drone not too long ago by a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based musician known as Ruiner. It’s the project of Zac Hogan and was released on June 9, 2023, via Desert Records.

Our review of Ruiner’s The Book of Patience (see it here) shows that we’re fans of what Hogan has done with this project. As the liner notes say, “If absorbed wholly, transcendental exultation will be ascertained.” You can use chemical enhancements to achieve an effect like this, but you can just as well meditate to the sounds of Ruiner’s drone, too.

The Book of Patience was recorded in one take using a bass bow on an open-B string (mostly) of a five-string bass. It should also be noted that the album is the first time (I think) that Ruiner has recorded his enchantments. Hogan’s project began around 2010 strictly as a live experience that was nowhere to be found online. “But now, this high desert enchanter is ready to make flesh the material capable of manipulating Time and Space,” his Bandcamp reads.

I’ve been intrigued by Ruiner ever since writing the review, mainly because of the mysteriousness of the project but also because I’ve enjoyed listening to The Book of Patience. I reached out to Hogan, and he answered a few of my questions via email so we could learn more about the project.

Check out the following interview with Ruiner, which sheds light on the secrets behind The Book of Patience.

Interview with Ruiner

Third Eye: Can you introduce yourself and the Ruiner project?

Ruiner: My name is Zac Hogan. My current music projects are Ruiner and my death metal band Dysphotic, and I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. 

I guess the idea for Ruiner goes all the way back to 2008 when I was getting into a lot of Drone/Doom bands; some were Stephen O’Malley centric such as Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, Khanate, Sunn O))), Thorr’s Hammer and others such as Thrones, Asva, Corrupted, Asunder, and Earth. I absolutely fell in love with the sound and immediately felt a deep connection to it because it was so colossal, emotive, and obscure. It seemed so fresh at the time that I wanted to put all of my creative energy into contributing to the genre, so a friend and I created a band called Drought that was a desert-themed Drone/Doom project. 

But the problem was that right after we recorded our demo, I moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 2009 with an ex-girlfriend and didn’t have anyone to play this type of music with out there, so I created Ruiner in the meantime. I started the project with the idea of using a cello bow on my five-string bass. I quickly realized why a cello has a curved fretboard; since the bow is straight and my strings on my electric bass were flush, I had to figure out a solution, which was putting metal wall hooks in between my pickups and using them to hold down some of the strings. 

I then started incorporating a loop station and making these droning dark ambient pieces. Fast forward from then, 2009 to 2011 or ‘12, I had moved back to New Mexico, and Drought was in full force and I would use Ruiner for the shows that Drought was unable to play. By this time, I had amassed a lot of equipment, and Ruiner had evolved into a giant wall of sound/drone worship.

To answer your question about what Ruiner is all about: I enjoy how anti-human and alien the whole drone experience is for everyone; it makes people squirm, or they love it. We, as humans, are naturally rhythmic; we have heartbeats and crave music with a rhythm. Ruiner is a test against that. How far is someone willing to go outside their comfort zone to experience something like this?

An atmosphere of mysticism

Third Eye: What’s your musical background? What other projects have you worked on in the past?

Ruiner: My father showed me a lot of cool bands when I was very young, around six years old, and I naturally loved the hard rock radio station as a child. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Rush, then my father got me a guitar when I was 12. I was reluctant at first but then started to love the guitar, learning songs like Metallica’s Master of Puppets and figuring out how to upgrade my own pickups to EMGs in an old BC Rich Beast and even changed the strings on a Floyd Rose when I was 13. 

Fast forward to 2007, when I was 18 and graduating High School, I decided to do the dumb thing and go to the College of Santa Fe to study music. So I have a Bachelors in Music. I knew that it wouldn’t make me any money unless I wanted to be a teacher, which I didn’t, but I had the opportunity to study something I absolutely love and become proficient at it. I’ve worked in so many other music projects since I was in music school and had a lot of music friends outside of college growing up, but some of the more serious projects have been Skinwalker, CassoVita, Drought, Predatory Light, Quarkchaser, Ruiner, and my current band Dysphotic.

Third Eye: Ruiner started as strictly a live experience, nowhere to be found online. Why did you ultimately decide to record it and share it online?

Ruiner: I wanted to open a show for Godspeed You! Black Emperor when they played here at Meow Wolf, and I know the people that book shows there, but they were like, “You got any material to check out?”…. Trying to sell only your word to someone is very difficult. So I said to myself, it is time. Put together a web presence and put this out into the world, especially if I’d like to play big shows with big bands.

Third Eye: I want to ask a few questions about The Book of Patience. First, what was the inspiration for the title? Is it a reference to something?

Ruiner: The past few years, I’ve gotten into obscure occult literature, and these publishing companies make beautiful artisanal editions of these books which has been such an inspiration. I wanted the album title to reflect the atmosphere and mysticism surrounding those books. I suppose that is the reference, even though it’s not linked directly to any sort of subject matter. 

Ritual and ceremony

Third Eye: What was your vision for The Book of Patience? Or was this simply a moment in time that was recorded and improvised?

Ruiner: This project used to be all improvisation, but when I decided to go “public,” I wanted to do something I hadn’t done before, which was to make a composition. I simply started with a bowed open B on my five-string bass and added just one effects pedal, and I was like, “Ahh, that’s it.” It helps when you have a wall of amps pummeling your chest, too; sounds better that way, in my experience. I then worked off that root note and improvised the rest of the composition layer after layer and refined it only once. I manically typed each movement out on my phone after a couple of studio sessions.

Third Eye: For someone who’s never seen you perform live, can you describe what the experience is and intended to be like?

Ruiner: My performances are meant to be an experience that someone will remember for the rest of their life. It appears as though you’re a part of some ritual or ceremony, but you have no idea what it’s about.

I set up candles, and a giant cow skull, put a sword on the skull, burn Dragon’s Blood Incense, and turn as much light off as I can get away with; the live performance is preferably only candlelight. My equipment set up is four 8x10s with big bass amps (up to 300 tube watts each), a huge pedal board, a cello bow used on my five-string bass, and I wear a cloak that covers my face. I start the set with Gregorian chants as an introduction and begin to play along with them. As the chants rise and fall, I slowly increase the volume and intensity of the drone; after a gradual ascend, I crescendo into what feels like a jet engine in front of your face, a swirling mixture of noise and low-end bass droning. 

When I feel ready to end the set, the final move is me pulling the power cable out of my pedal board, severing the signal, and leaving the room in dead silence. This is where everyone is usually pretty dazed or pretty pumped afterward, clapping and hollering, haha.

Actually, here is a YouTube link to a full performance back in February:

Third Eye: What’s the best live show you’ve ever seen? And why?

Ruiner: Oh my god, so many….  The only show that keeps coming back to mind while pondering the question is the first time I saw Yob at the 2010 Scion Rock Fest in Ohio, and probably because there’s such an extraordinary depth of emotion that the band evokes. And when I was younger, it was so overwhelmingly heavy. 

What’s next for Ruiner

Third Eye: What’s one record you can’t stop spinning right now?

Ruiner: Forlesen – Black Terrain.

Third Eye: Last question: What’s next for Ruiner? What are your short and long-term plans for the project?

Ruiner: My short-term plan is I need to put together an album release show and do that soon.  I went to a metal show out at a cemetery recently and knew the people to talk to in order to set up a show there, so I’ve been thinking about giving that a shot.

My long-term plan is probably pretty far out, but I would like to really work on another composition and make Ruiner a one-person orchestra project. I have one thing in the works, which is an insane stage piece and custom instrument being made for me, which is a candelabra that will be a harp as well. I am working with a fabricator, and not sure how long it will take to get it put together, but I am sure when it’s done, it will be quite the spectacle. I also want to incorporate a cello into the project, but I need to purchase one and start practicing again. Time will only tell.

Order Ruiner’s The Book of Patience on Bandcamp here.

Support Ruiner by finding him on Bandcamp or social media (Instagram).

Parting words: “I need to be silent for a while; worlds are forming in my heart.” – Meister Eckhart

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