Ruckus first began in 2013 in a dingy kitchen in West End, Brisbane. Scott, Angela and Martin had just returned from an east coast poetry tour, and were all jacked up and crazy-like on poetry and ready to make things happen. They figured they needed a fourth to make their dream reality, and when Ange’s flatmate Megan overheard them and asked what a poetry slam even was, they knew they’d found their perfect team.

They spent their first year running poetry slams out of a tiny bar called the Hideaway and began to gain a reputation for being an event where the bizarre and unreal unfolded.

When the hideaway closed they moved on to the New Globe Theatre and then The Zoo, where they continuously grew, hosting local and international artists and confusing audiences with their dinosaur scoring system and nutty antics ever since.

Ruckus has since expanded into running satellite events, slams in other states and at various festivals, facilitating workshops and producing events for other artists from various artforms.