Dryhouse Ruins at MKE-Ultra in Milwaukee on April 23, 2026

A few weeks ago we had another chance to catch up with local drone legends Dryhouse Ruins at MKE-Ultra. As expected, there was a lot of interesting improvisation happening with this band. Each member has been in several Milwaukee bands going back to the late 1980s and it was a delight chatting with a lot of local musicians at the club who were in attendance and supporting their friends in the band.

Purchase their most recent release here.

Recording information:

DRYHOUSE RUINS
2026-04-23
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee-Ultra

Jeff Mitchell: guitar

Jim Warchol: guitar
Damian Strigens: bass
Ben Derickson: drums

Setlist:
01 One (19:11)
02 Two (12:09

Total time = 31:20

Recorded with permission by Richard Hayes for this blog

Microphones: Line Audio CM3 in ORTF
Additional source: mono SBD (kick drums)
Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96
Software: Audacity, Fission, xAct

downloads:

16bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC files (170 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that sort of thing

320 kbps mp3 files (90 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible

Dryhouse Ruins at Acme Records in Milwaukee on December 12, 2025

After more than ten years of performing around Milwaukee with their improvised rock instrumentals, Dryhouse Ruins has finally released a studio album -- in this case a double LP recorded by Beau Sorenson.

The band is made up of four music scene veterans who have worked in a plethora of great bands ranging from Field Report to the Frogs, and including Testa Rosa, Death Blues, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Sometime Sweet Susan, and the Lovelies. This band is something different, though -- completely improvised music which can and will be unique each time.

For their record release show, there was only one possible choice of venue -- Milwaukee's legendary Acme Records, where a capacity crowd showed up to witness this marvelous show. In 2014, the band played their first show at Acme (as a trio) and have performed there often since. 

Sitting next to me in the front row was local photography phenomenon Ryan Sarnowski who graciously supplied the following photos:

An infamous set at Colectivo Backroom in 2017 opening for Ryley Walker (where the audience was talking atrociously throughout the entire evening) was my introduction to the Ruins. A much more positive experience for me was their powerful set opening for Chris Forsyth in the hot depths of summer 2019, which can be downloaded here. I'm hoping there will be another show announced soon.

Purchase their album here.

Recording information:

DRYHOUSE RUINS

2025-12-12

Milwaukee, WI

Acme Records

Jeff Mitchell: guitar

Jim Warchol: guitar

Damian Strigens: bass

Ben Derickson: drums

Setlist:

01 D Jam (14:25)

02 B Jam (14:45)

03 C Jam (14:23)

04 E Jam (11:03)

05 Bm Jam (6:48)

Total time = 61:24

Recorded with permission by Richard Hayes for this blog

microphones: Line Audio CM3 in ORTF

recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96

software: Audacity, Fission, xAct

downloads:

16bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC files (366 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that sort of thing

320 kbps mp3 files (166 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible 

Dryhouse Ruins at Acme Records in Milwaukee on July 12, 2019

Here we have a really wonderful set by Dryhouse Ruins, who opened up for the Chris Forsyth Broken Mirrors Band at Acme on July 12 of this year.

The Ruins are an instrumental quartet who are made up of four veterans of the music scene here in Milwaukee -- Jim Warchol (Sometime Sweet Susan, Death Blues) on guitar, Jeff Mitchell (Field Report, Hello Death) also on guitar, Damian Strigens (Testa Rosa, Field Report) on bass and Ben Derickson (Collections of Colonies of Bees, All Tiny Creatures) on drums.

I enjoy the way that the Ruins slowly build up tension and complexity in their pieces. There is a feeling of architecture to each piece which is very satisfying. You can see this structural aspect of the music in the waveform graphic in the Soundcloud streaming box below the next photo.

This recording was made using a stereo pair of Beyerdynamic MC930 cardioid microphones in ORTF configuration about 8 feet from the band, with a Shure SM58 placed a foot above the ground near the kick drum so that the drums would sound like drums.These signals were recorded using a Sound Devices MixPre 6 recorder at 24bit/96kHz and Audacity software was used to mix the channels and provide very gentle EQ. 



I hope to see Dryhouse Ruins again soon. With the members of the band being so busy both musically and with their lives, I can't count on that happening soon -- but I'll be there when the conditions are right for another Ruins show.

downloads

(click on the file name to obtain a direct download -- 

this likely will not work on phones and tablets -- 

if you are on a mobile device the Soundcloud stream above should work):

16bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (395 MB)

(suitable for burning to CDs)

16bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (191 MB)

(lossless compression audio file playable on iPhones and computers)

320kbps mp3 file (90 MB)

(highest quality mp3 possible)