This weekend I travelled home to Brighton to conduct my first interview for my MMP. I met with Ruby Taylor- lead singer and instrumentalist of local band, Yumi And The Weather to discuss her new album and upcoming tour.
Ruby and her live band have been performing across the UK since 2014, starting out in grassroots venues including Bar 42 (Worthing), The Brunswick (Hove) and the Brighton Dome. Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, the success of the band was on the up and Ruby's song 'No Such Thing' was even featured on BBC's 'Normal People', which aired on 26th April 2020.
When people say it's who you know, not what you know, I can definitely agree with them in this instance. I managed to secure this interview with Ruby as she is an old contact of mine from a few years ago- (In 2015 I met Ruby at a part-time job I had in Worthing town centre). Back then Ruby was playing smaller gigs at local live-music venues in a bid to establish herself and in the industry.
The prospect of interviewing Ruby face-to-face in the midst of a pandemic, made me somewhat nervous yet excited all at once. It was strange to have to use a boom pole along with the flash-mic to maintain a two-metre distance but the sense of achievement after I spoke to her was unmatched.
In this interview I was really hoping to get to the depths of Ruby's career as an artist and how she has had to adapt to life as a creative since the first lockdown in March. I structured this interview in a way which focused on the importance of grassroots music venues to Ruby's career and how these have acted as stepping stones to her success.
One thing I found really interesting when talking to Ruby was how many grassroots venues she played at in previous years, which have either re-purposed or closed down altogether. This changed the focus of the piece more onto how the closure of venues will mean the chain of opportunity for creatives in local communities is effectively broken.
Ruby spoke about the challenges of going online to perform through live stream and how the lockdown in March acted as a time of reflection for her sound- mentioning how having equipment to record at home is more important than ever as studios are closed under the current UK Government Covid guidelines.
On the whole, this was a really positive first interview in terms of gaining insight into what it is really like for those in the grassroots industry right now, as their business' and passions have been ground to a halt.
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