Videos

Rubylux – The Boy Could Fly

• 30th Jul 2010

The phrase “Britain’s best-kept secret” gets used to described a lot of new bands – usually wildly inaccurately, for bands who have yet to play outside their rehearsal rooms in Hoxton. Yet how else are Rubylux to be labeled?
Here, after all, is a remarkable band who have already released their own live DVD; who have a thriving official fanclub with an ever-growing number of disciples paying a £10 annual subscription; who are one of the few Western bands to have toured Vietnam; whose songs have been played on Heroes and Neighbours; and whose spontaneous Street Gigs earned them enough money to fund recording their debut album with James Sanger, producer of Madonna, U2 and Manic Street Preachers.

Those feats may be impressive, but they’re not as impressive as Rubylux’s soaring music. Distilled perfectly into the 45 minutes of debut album Fake Control, it’s a sound that swerves passionately from the universal anthemics of The Boy Could Fly and Gold Rush via the political fire of They Sold You and Westminster to the thunderous, harsh rock on I Want You and Heart Made By Machines.

And it’s a sound that has already won over thousands of people around Britain since the quartet first had their idea for the Street Gigs in their native Brighton three years ago.

Singer/guitarist Rob Humphreys explains: “I was a busker from when I was 12, and I knew that Street Gigs could reach music fans who either wouldn’t usually go to gigs, or who used to but who have families now and couldn’t see bands live any more.

“At first, we’d borrow a generator and a PA system, and we’d set up around Brighton – blast out our songs for 30 or 45 minutes, however long we could play before the police or council shut us down. Then we started recording those gigs, to sell them later on. We made enough money to buy our own gear, because the Street Gigs attract a ridiculous amount of people, far more than we’d play to at a normal little venue in Brighton.”

Now, Rubylux try to play Street Gigs in the afternoon at whatever town they’re touring in. Rob reckons the authorities are usually easygoing and allow them to play an extra four songs once they’ve been alerted – “although when we played at a square in Bath, we had the police, the council, health and safety…every type of authority you could think of. And then a priest came running out in all his robes, complaining that he was trying to practice for his sermon that Sunday!”

Other Brighton bands have since tried copying the Street Gigs idea but, as Rob points out: “We keep doing the Street Gigs better than bands who’ve followed our idea, because our songs are more universal. They reach a wider audience than most bands.”

That universal appeal came quickly once the band formed in 2007. Rob and keyboardist Adam Harris had played together since they were at secondary school, eventually meeting drummer Mike Hall and bassist Clark Coslett-Hughes through the Brighton band scene.

“Within the first couple of rehearsals, we knew this was the perfect line-up,” recalls Rob, 26. “Our sound is universal, and I’d love to be known as a band of the people, but it’s not deliberate – it’s come about from us all loving the same type of songs.

“Lyrically, the songs are from discussing the way the world is run, philosophy, spirituality… and there are romantic songs too. I don’t think we can be easily pigeonholed for what we write about.” Indeed not, with the pounding I Want You being about “going back to ex-girlfriends for ‘bonus time’

However unintentional their widespread appeal is, it’s enabled Rubylux to capitalise on starting their own official fanclub. For an annual £10 fee, fans get demos of new songs, exclusive gigs, links to live footage and exclusive band news.

“Fans have got really into it,” Rob enthuses. “We get a hardcore that come to every gig we play, and they’re always asking when the next song will be ready. They’re so passionate.

“It’s the same as when I was growing up and I’d send off fliers in CDs for bands like Oasis or the Manics. I’d love receiving info back through the post, even if it was just a postcard.

“With the music industry falling apart, it seems like keeping your hardcore fans as a foundation is more important than ever. We want to be important enough to people that they’ll subscribe every year and tell their friends about us. The feedback we get is amazing.”

The fans’ support enabled Rubylux to fund recording of their album Fake Control with James Sanger. “We heard he was incredibly eccentric, and those stories were true!” admits Rob. “He’d have us work through the night, and still wake us up at 6am. But James is a lot of fun, open to any idea and experimentation of our sound that we wanted to try out.”

Since completing work on Fake Control, the band have been one of the first Western acts to tour in Vietnam, an experience they hope to repeat later this year as well as playing at Singapore’s biggest festival, Singfest.
“The owner of the Hard Rock Cafe in Vietnam wanted to get a Western band over, and we were lucky enough to be chosen,” Rob recalls. “It was an incredible experience – beautiful country, beautiful weather, beautiful people.”

With such a devoted worldwide fanbase that other more established bands would kill for, isn’t it frustrating that Rubylux are virtually unknown in the mainstream at home in Britain?
“Not at all,” Rob insists. “I’ve always thought Britain might be one of the hardest countries for us to crack, but that won’t stop us trying.

“There’s a lot in our music that people can love. Yes, our music is instant. But, the more people listen, the more they can get into the finer details and our lyrics.

“The idea of succeeding at home doesn’t frustrate me, it’s a challenge. We won’t stop until we’ve pulled that off.”