Ruby Boots

As a young, unsettled teen, Ruby Boots hitched her way up to Broome where she worked for a number of years as a deckhand. The hands that once scrubbed the boats surface, now make beautiful music. We had a chat to the musician on her journey and the release of her new album.
Hi Ruby, thanks for taking the time to chat with us! How are you and what are you up to at the moment?
I just got back to Perth after spending a month on the east coast, rehearsing up for the WA album shows.
Congratulations on getting the debut out! How has it been in the week or so since its release?
Busy and really exciting, it’s been great hearing everyone’s different take on the songs – feeling really good about being so close to taking it out on the road.
Your music is often filled with tales of lots of different characters, are they ones that you’ve passed at some point in your life or from your imagination?
It’s 50/50. Some of them I could introduce you to in the flesh, that is if I could track them down and find them again haha. Others are my interpretations of all kinds of walks of life, they are real in a sense because they probably exist somewhere or even everywhere around us.
I understand that you worked as a deckhand for a number of years, what got you into that job?
I needed to get out of Perth, I was young and impressionable, and had been living out of home from a very young age and was finding myself in situations that weren’t helping me in anyway – so it was a get out of the city and go as far as you can scenario. I hitched in trucks up to Broome and the pearling industry was really thriving up there at time.
And music was something you really took pleasure in while working there, did you know pretty instantaneously that you then wanted a career in music?
I learnt to play guitar out at sea and that’s where I started writing also, but no, not at all. I travelled overseas with my guitar after working on boats and kicked around busking and playing open mic nights … I knew I wanted to always sing and write but I wasn’t thinking about a career in anything, I was still just trying to please my restless soul any which way I could.
You’re also a bit of a wandering gypsy of sorts, do you think living life on the road with no set address allows you more creative freedom in your music?
It allows me to tour that’s for sure! I actually feel that being constantly uprooted has hindered my creative soul of late, I find myself making the most of my time on planes because it’s when things are stable, still and familiar – even if it’s just for those few hours. I’m finding that every time I’m somewhere for more than three or four weeks (which is a rare occurrence) that ideas really start to surface a little more freely again.
Do you think you’ll ever get to a point in life where you’ll want somewhere to call home?
Yes, absolutely. This really has just been a means to an end, but I need to settle and start writing again and that time is drawing near, this will be my third year with a suitcase to call home. My friends all laugh at me because I keep saying in a few months when I’ve done this tour or that tour I’ll settle down, but I think if by the end of year if I don’t have a base I’ll start to go a lil’ batty – I think I already am a little!
Thanks again for having the chat with us, is there anything you’d like to share before we finish up?
Just a shout out to the live gigs happening for the launch of this album. Oh and the shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are double head-liners with Raised By Eagles who are AMAZING, hope you can make it along somewhere! Thanks for chatting to me Forte Magazine! You’re lovely!!
When & Where: Howler, Melbourne – May 22