Our second featured act for this year's BIGSOUND Live came to our attention a couple of years ago with a track that made us swoon it up like there's no tomorrow, 'Wise Up'. We're talking about Perth's Bex Chilcott, who performs under the name of Ruby Boots. We love her and we loved having her stop by the virtual office to answer our questions about all things BIGSOUND and more. Bex is one of the acts pulling double duty for BIGSOUND. Not only will she be delivering a must-see showcase, she'll also be speaking during the conference as part of The Battle For Country Music session! Don't forget, you can find out all the info you need about the conference and Live event and purchase your tickets over at QMusic. Now... here's our chat with Ruby Boots.
RUBY BOOTS'
Bex Chilcott
Performing as part of BIGSOUND Live 2014
Wednesday 10 September - 10:50pm @ Press Club
Hello and thanks for joining us at It's My Kind of Scene! How are you on this fine day?
Bex Chilcott: Sleepy pre my morning coffee :) not for long tho!
First things first... Moustaches or beards?
Bex: If I tell you Movember is my fave month of the year, would that suffice! LOVE a dirty mo!
BIGSOUND Live brings together a huge range of incredible acts from Australia and overseas. How do you feel being part of what's quickly become one of Australia's most well regarded music showcases?
Bex: I'm really chuffed to be a part of the showcases this year, you are right, it is an exciting time for Bigsound, and it's an exciting time for me too. I have my debut album coming out early next year so it's just really good timing. What a treat to be able to meet with folks from around the world that can count toward your journey. I've just finished up at The Seed Fund workshop and Bigsound was a hit topic, with some of the mentors making mention that it's not just the international speakers that are making their way over to Aus for the showcases but plenty more international industry types are heading over and using Bigsound as a go to place to witness the awesome emerging Australian acts that are featured at the showcases, which is REALLY exciting for us as artists, because if we have a domestic showcase that can give us musicians that are at the beginning of our careers a leg up before having to travel internationally, that's a big advantage being so far away from the the US, UK and Europe.
For me, seeing musicians I may not normally be inclined to see is one of the best things about the BIGSOUND Live experience. You have a short space of time to play for people who may not know you or your material well. So, how do you decide what or which songs to play?
For me, seeing musicians I may not normally be inclined to see is one of the best things about the BIGSOUND Live experience. You have a short space of time to play for people who may not know you or your material well. So, how do you decide what or which songs to play?
Bex: I love being able to shape my set like it's a conversation and half hour slots are perfect for that. I'm a very direct and upfront person off stage so it works well with my personality. Playing to predominantly new audiences has some real bonuses, as I have all new material and a new live band, so as an artist I can fill my set with the songs that mean the most to me and inject all my new passion and energy into them rather than having to play older songs. Which is rare because when you are playing to your fans you want to make them as happy as you can so that they have the best experience possible and so your set, or conversation as such, is usually about them for the most part and a few self indulgent moments throughout it. My Bigsound set is probably the set I have been most excited about playing for some time now; new songs, new band and intense times! I can't wait!
Speaking of punters who may not normally attend one of your shows, have you got a fave memory of someone who may have come to see one of your shows? What about a least favourite? Gig from hell you don't want to re-visit? (Hopefully it's hilarious with hindsight?!)
Bex: This is one of my favourite interview questions because I had one of the warmest experiences with a young fan, and it's always so nice when this springs to mind. Let me introduce you to Huey .. I received this email here from him and he came to meet us with his mum when we played Moomba Festival last year. The email pretty much explains how awesome he is and trumps any need to get into any gig-from-hell related topics haha. I was smiling about this for days!!
Hi There,
We are doing an autograph hunt where the kids seek out the autographs of their most favourite people ever. Huey, who is 5 years old and has just started in prep, is a MASSIVE Ruby Boots fan and wants to write his letter to you to get an autograph. He especially loves Bex, but would be amazed if he got all of the band's autographs. He'd like to send you a request letter, as we are all working on our
writing skills. Could you tell us where to send this letter?
Many thanks,
Kimbra and Huey
p.s We will call you today because he is so keen to send this off ASAP.
My name is .. and I am a parent at the ... primary school, which is a child-inspired place in
Melbourne.
We are doing an autograph hunt where the kids seek out the autographs of their most favourite people ever. Huey, who is 5 years old and has just started in prep, is a MASSIVE Ruby Boots fan and wants to write his letter to you to get an autograph. He especially loves Bex, but would be amazed if he got all of the band's autographs. He'd like to send you a request letter, as we are all working on our
writing skills. Could you tell us where to send this letter?
Many thanks,
Kimbra and Huey
p.s We will call you today because he is so keen to send this off ASAP.
My name is .. and I am a parent at the ... primary school, which is a child-inspired place in
Melbourne.
If you get a chance to run around like a crazy person on the night/s to check out some other BIGSOUND Live acts, who would you want to see?
Bex: I am really looking forward to checking out Kathryn Rollins. Some of the tracks and the new video she has released is really different to what I remember, so the live aspect of that is going to be really cool! I am REALLY pumped about finally seeing Steve Smyth play. He is on the top of my list of acts to see. For anyone who hasn't seen both The Love Junkies and Marlon Williams, definitely do yourselves a favour! I'm going to try and see as many bands as possible, it's a rare opportunity to be able to do so!
There's so many great venues across the Valley hosting bands and musicians, but if you could play anywhere in the world, what and where is your dream venue to play? We all know of the awesomeness of BIGSOUND and we've all heard that SXSW is pretty darn good as well, but are there any other similar showcases in the world that you'd like to play, that we should know about? Anywhere else we should be dreaming of visiting before BIGSOUND returns to us, September 2015?
Bex: Americana Festival in Nashville would be my top pic, but that was probably an obvious answer coming from me! You can in fact jump on a plane the week after Bigsound if you feel so inclined, I saw that Ry Cooder has just been added to the list, so naturally I am really bummed I can't be there this year, but will be there next year with bells on. I'm also keen to check out Folk Alliance in Memphis!
What have you got planned for the rest of 2014, post-BIGSOUND? Any tours, festivals, stand-alone gigs, cake decorating courses, TV marathons or anything else we should know about that you'll be involved in?
Bex: Yeah I am going to learn how to stand up paddle board like a boss once summer hits again! Though I am not sure whether the coming months that I am spending in Melbourne is the best place to start that up. I'll have to wait to head back west I guess! I'm playing the "Out On The Weekend" side shows next month with Nikki Lane (US) and The Delines (US) which is going to be a hoot! The Spanish guitarist I played with in Nashville is in Nikki's band so looking forward to that reunion! And there is a national tour support in November and December that I am jumping on, but more on that when I am allowed to announce it!
Do you love song covers? If you could cover one song, right here/right now... what would it be and why?
Bex: My go to song of late has been Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel". It allows me to use my voice the way I love using it, being at full force, and aside from LC being one of the greatest writers of all time, this song hits a core, being about Janis Joplin he has captured some of her character so gracefully (as he does so well) in such a brief moment of time. I really love everything about that song.
Something I often wonder. How often do you think to yourself; "is this the real life, or is this just fantasy?"
Bex: I think it all the time... almost every changing moment of every day! Music sees us living such tumultuous lives, it's probably one the things I asked myself more often than any other question! And considering I rarely dream in my sleep (ripped off I know) I wonder if that's because half my life awake is in fact some kind of fantasy.
When they air the MTV Behind The Music special about you 31 years from now, what are they going to say about you?
Bex: Something I have heard my whole life; "You could always here her coming from ten streets away." My bellowing voice used to be the bane of my existence before I sang, always being told to quieten down, now I don't know what I would do with out it :)
Bex Chilcott... Ruby Boots... amazing. A huge thanks to Bex for taking the time to answer our Q's. We can not wait to hear that debut album next year and to see you at BIGSOUND Live in just a few short weeks! You can stay up to date with all things Ruby Boots by giving an old like-a-roo to her Facebook page!
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