Toronto band Born Ruffians took a break from their busy recording schedule to bless APK Live with their presence in late January. The band, along with local acts Glass Thieves and Loonie in the Garden, treated the sold-out venue to older classics and a few new tracks from their upcoming full-length album.

This marked their first show of the year as well as their first show in London since a "violent" performance back in March of 2011, during which a fight broke out in the audience at Call the Office that resulted in broken glass and fans sent to the hospital. "That never happens! It was crazy. There was blood!" said bass player Mitch Derosier. Luckily this occurrence wasn't enough to keep the boys away from the Forest City, and despite the chaos of their last visit, the Born Ruffians boys said they will always enjoy playing in London. "We've been playing London for quite a while now," said Derosier, adding that their first show was LOLAFest back in 2006. "London is somewhere we've had a lot of great shows."

The show at APK Live was just a little break for Born Ruffians as it was back to the studio the next day to continue working on their new album. "We're approaching it way differently. We're doing it way more relaxed," lead singer and guitarist Luke Lalonde explained about the recording process. Although the band doesn't expect to release the new tracks until the fall of this year, they aren't rushing anything. "We've only just started. We only have two songs nearly completed but this way we can go back over songs that are done," said Derosier. The band said they want to be able to take all the time needed in the studio to go back and perfect any recorded material. "This allows us to go in a few days a week and do it more sporadically and spend more time on material and not just book two weeks of studio time and that's all the time we have."

Lalonde wrote many of the songs for the album while living in Montreal in 2010, including what he explained to be pop songs he'd love to hear. "I think I want this record to be our most catchy pop record." He also credited the large amount of David Bowie he was listening to at the time to the song written for the album.

The crowded room at APK Live danced and sang along during what the band thought would be one of their few shows before the record is released. Born Ruffians managed to sneak in a few new songs but mostly stuck with older material. "It's always nerve-wracking to play new songs," said Lalonde. "Everyone gets really quiet because they don't know the song. It kind of sucks being on stage because it's a bunch of people in the audience, not reacting." That wasn't the case, though, as the boys in Born Ruffians proved to London why they were a sold-out show.

Look for new tracks from the band later this year. Check out bornruffians.com for more information on the band.