Interview: Ruby Frost

Ruby Frost recently released her album VOLITION, check out our quick chat with Ruby and where you can see her live in July.

Behind the Album

I started writing the album a couple of years ago, after I'd gone through an awful break-up with someone that I'd known for years and years. So a lot of the songs that I wrote near the start of the project are sad and bitter... but then the album turned into a story about how creativity picked me up again and brought joy back into my life. The more I worked on songs, the happier I felt... my song 'Water To Ice' is about that transformation. The album is called VOLITION because the title track is all about being strong and empowered and doing things of your own volition, not letting things of the past kick you around any more!

Why VOLITION is Ruby’s favourite song on the album

Because it is so much fun to play live. We were inspired by New Order's 'Blue Monday' when we were recording it, and it's my anthem song about being strong and independent, and doing what YOU want... not what anyone else expects of you.

NZ tour

I've just come back from a North Island tour to celebrate the release of VOLITION. It was heaps of fun, and basically just a giant road-trip with musical parties each night. In July I'll be playing All Ages shows in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington. Keep checking facebook.com/rubyfrost for all the details.

Ruby’s sound is....

Electro-pop with theatrical themes, and my voice is a strange beast?!

Collaborations

VOLITION was produced by Chris Zane in New York, who has produced some great bands like Passion Pit and Holy Ghost!. So it was great to fly over there and pour my heart out and see him work his magic with my songs. I wrote most of the songs myself, but did a couple of co-writes with Dann Hume (the drummer from Evermore) and Justyn Pilbrow (from Elemeno P) and they ended up making it onto the album.

Best part of the whole journey so far

Having the finished album in my hot little hands! It's a weird feeling to have it out there, now. I've been obsessed with this project and have been working so hard to make sure it's the debut album that I've always wanted to make. So now that it's done it's such a relief... this was my major goal to have done by 25 years old, so I'm glad I can tick it off the list finally.

Inspirations

David Bowie. Michael Jackson. Fleetwood Mac. Bjork. Elliott Smith. Air. Joanna Newsom. and The Beatles. I also got quite obsessed with Andy Warhol when I was making the album. I collected lots of his images for my wall, and read his book 'The Philosophy of Andy Warhol' which inspired me a lot.

Goals for the next few months

I'm going to go to Australia to get the album out over there, and play as many shows as I humanly can - both in Australia and in NZ.

Long terms goals

I want to keep writing songs, and eventually want to move over to LA and be a songwriter - I enjoy making music that either myself or other artists can perform - and I think it would be a great career to write for a range of different pop artists. But hopefully I can put out a few more Ruby Frost albums before I go and do that!

Challenges Ruby has faced with her album

There have definitely been some setbacks along the way, because the entertainment industry has a lot of people who talk things up to you! I've had people promise things that don't end up happening which is disappointing, but I've just learnt to take it all with a grain of salt and 'what will be will be'. As long as I still enjoy the music-making part, and am still working to get better at performing. That's what matters.

The writing process

I write most of my own material by myself, because my songs are quite personal. But I did go on a few co-writing trips to Australia at the start of the album-making process and learnt a lot by working with heaps of great pop writers over there. Normally I just play a few chords on my acoustic guitar, or keyboard, and go from there. It often happens at 2am in the morning!

Advice for budding musicians

Be prepared to work harder than anyone else - you might have to give up parts of your life to do this, and you will get set backs! But if you believe in yourself and keep improving yourself constantly, something cool may happen.

Best piece of advice

My boyfriend told me to stop caring what other people think so much. And that's an important lesson for any job!