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Ruen Brothers On World Cafe

In this session, we hear the story of how two brothers went from singing in the pubs of an old steel town four hours North of London called Scunthorpe to recording at Rick Rubin's Shangri La Studios in Malibu, Calif. where Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers sat behind the drum kit, Lana Del Rey was strumming guitar and Bob Dylan's old tour bus-turned-recording studio was parked outside.

Henry and Rupert Stansall, known professionally as the Ruen Brothers, made their debut album All My Shades of Blue with Rick Rubin. It channels '50s favorites like The Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison and pays a bit of tribute to the brothers' dad's old vinyl collection. Side note: Papa Stansall is not only a rock and roll fan, the brothers told us their father sang the line "they called us foul-mouthed yobs" in the song "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" by Sex Pistols.

The Ruen Brothers started us off with a live performance of the title track "All My Shades of Blue." Hear it all in the player above.

Copyright 2018 XPN

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.