RUBY BOOTS

Bootsy Call

WAMi Award winners Ruby Boots launch their second EP At Last this Saturday, October 8, at Amplifier, with help from The Panda Band, The Seals and Hugh Jennings, but first Bex Chilcott tells MATTHEW HOGAN about the massive first year in the band’s history.
It’s hard to believe that Ruby Boots have only been hitting WA stages for just over a year. In their relatively short lifespan so far, they’ve accomplished more than what most bands do in their entire career.
Months after forming in their current line-up and releasing their debut EP, the six-piece band took out the coveted WAMi Award for best country act, played on some of the state’s biggest festival bills and supported countless touring bands all the while picking up gushing reviews usually reserved for seasoned headliners.
As the band’s line-up was a work in progress for their first EP, At Last sees Bex ‘Mama Boots’ Chilcott joined by the complete band consisting of Eliza Rogers on violin, Jesse Woodward on banjo, Ashwin Subramanian on drums, bassist Tim Stacey, and keys/guitarist Clay Smith. The new EP also sees the band work once more with co-producer/recording engineer Corey Marriott, better known for his work up front of The Novocaines.
“Corey worked on the first EP with us and we both have grown together in some respect, him as an engineer and us as musicians,” says Chilcott. “It was nice to step back into the studio and witness that growth. I’m really happy with the stuff that he comes up with.”
The band’s mish-mash of folk, country and bluegrass is clearly on show throughout At Last and the EP has already seen the band widen their audience despite not even being released yet, as the band has picked up airplay on ABC 720. Perhaps it’s the subject matter that anyone can relate to, such as that on closer Small City Blues.
“It’s just about falling in love with another city,” Chilcott says. “I went to Melbourne and it’s just a bit bigger and quite vibrant and I thinking that maybe I wanted to relocate, but then I realised home is where the heart is and you can make something of what you’ve got wherever you are. It’s just about the love between two cities for different reasons. It’s not really very deep or anything.”
After a summer last year that saw the band take in the Big Day Out, Laneway Festival and more highlights, the band has been thinking how they’ll top it this year. “We were thinking that today actually, now that the sun is out,” she says. “We had a really great summer last summer, but I’m happy with where we’re at the moment so I don’t really think too far in advance. I think it’s to someone’s detriment to think that far ahead, but all of these things are unpredictable so be happy with where you are now, and every thing is else is topping it. That’s my outlook on it.”
Chilcott has been looking in advance as far as a full-length album is concerned. “I’ve actually written three quarters,” she says. “It’s funny, you finish a release and it’s such an interesting process from this naked baby you write on an acoustic guitar in your lounge room and the song is just nothing and then you take it to the band and they just make it so much better and so much more alive. We have quite a few new songs ready to record, so we’re really excited at the prospect of recording a new album soon.”