Last month saw the release of Solitude, the debut album from singer-songwriter Bex Chilcott, better known by her stage name, Ruby Boots. To quote the last track on the record, it’s a debut that’s been a long time coming. Since embarking on her musical career at the beginning of the decade, the West Australian alt-country act has slowly but surely cultivated a dedicated fan base, playing more than 100 live gigs in the last 12 months alone, while putting the final touches on an album that’s been three-odd years in the making.
“I feel like I recorded four different albums,” laughs Chilcott, as she recounts her round-about recording process, one that involved travelling around the country to work with a ramshackle crew of producers, singers and bands. “I got to play with so many great artists from around the country, and it meant that there was so much energy in the songs. I started in Melbourne with Jordie Lane. We recorded ‘Lovin’ In The Fall’ in Soundpark Studios in Northcote, and I just love that place to pieces. Then there was Sydney, with Tony Buchen. There were some great sessions over there. Then back to Melbourne with Anna Laverty.
“People can sometimes worry about the cohesiveness of something when it’s so staggered and spread out, but I think at the end of the day, the tracks sit together well.”
For an album called Solitude, it sounds like there was quite a lot of collaboration. According to Chilcott, the title instead encapsulates a personal journey. “I wanted to pay homage to where I started writing and playing songs, which was out on the boats,” she says, tipping her hat to the time she spent working on a pearl boat off the coast of north-west Australia. “I think that’s the beauty of song. I feel like my job is to create a story with enough of myself in it, and enough emotions, that people can then adapt and take on as their own … When I’m writing, and when I’m putting a lot of myself into it, I wonder if anyone else has felt the way I’ve felt, and I try to write with that in mind.”
When questioned further about her process, Chilcott explains that a big part of it is simply finding the time. “As a modern artist today, there is so much to juggle outside of writing and recording. So essentially you have to be flexible. There will be times where I’ll put a month of Mondays aside. If I’m in Perth I’ll go around to my guitarist’s place. And then there are other times where I’ll go away for a couple of weeks, just to get out of the country. And then there are other times where I’m just feeling really inspired, and just mucking around on the guitar.
“You know my favourite place to write lyrics? On a plane. Because no-one’s calling you, no-one’s emailing you. There’s nothing to distract you, and I find myself getting into this amazing, lyrically creative zone. I feel like that time is precious. And it’s great, because I catch a lot of planes these days, so I’ve really learnt to cherish that time to be able to get some stuff down.”
Asked if she ever feels exhausted by the juggling act, Chilcott admits that sometimes it can feel a bit like hard work. “I have wonderful, supporting people in my team, but I’m the one who has to hold it all together,” she says. “I have to be an entrepreneur and a businesswoman as well as an artist. So that can feel like work at times. But then you get on the road, once everything’s (hopefully) lined up, and you’re reminded [what it is] that you’ve been working 12 hours a day on. Once you’re on the road, you’re in that world, and it makes everything worth it.”
So how does Chilcott feel now that the record is finally out there? “Relieved!” she exclaims. “I’m feeling really relieved, and a lot lighter, and I’m actually starting to feel excited again now that it’s out. When you have a body of work that you’re sitting on, you really need to just get it out into the world.”
As for the music itself, Chilcott is determined to keep doing things on her own terms. “In my eyes, I know that I’m not making straight-down-the-line country music, in terms of what Australia labels it,” she says. “I can’t sit still for more than five fucking seconds, so I’m not going to be able to sit down and write this particular way all the time. It’s just not within my nature as a person.
“My take on the record is that something like ‘Walk Away’ is a straight-up-and-down country song, leaning more on the traditional side, whereas ‘Ruby Blue’ is more from the Americana side of things, and ‘Cola & Wine’ is almost a little poppy. I don’t even know what you’d call ‘Baby Pull Over’. And it’s more fun for me doing it that way. I think on the commercial side of stuff, it’s about generating money, and I’ll never be about that. I live off the smell of an oily rag, so I’m going to make the kind of music I want to make, all the time.”
Solitude is out now through Universal, and Ruby Boots, withRaised By Eagles and Andy Golledge, is at Newtown Social Club onThursday May 21.
