Live Music at Spirits Tavern with By Small Ruin

By Small Ruin is the nom de band for Athens, GA multi-instrumentalist, Bryan Mullis. When asked about the origin of the name, Mullis would say that it hints at the fact that typically it's not the huge one-time mistakes in life that take us down, but rather the slow bite-by-bite, drink-by-drink, smoke-by-smoke flaws in our nature that finally get the best of us. In reality, the name is an anagram for his own name.

After years of playing as a drummer in a number of Athens and Atlanta indie bands, Bryan felt the need to pursue something that was all his own. He called up an engineer friend in town, booked some studio time, and spent the next few months recording the ten tracks on By Small Ruin’s debut release, Year of the Bull – playing every instrument and singing every word.