Abbie Gibson caught up with The Rubens before their free gig this Saturday the 3rd of December 2:30pm at the Beach Hotel and again at 8pm at The Brunswick Hotel.
SAM – LEAD AND VOCALS
ELLIOT – KEYBOARD AND BACK VOCALS
ISSAC – LEAD GUITAR
SCOTT – DRUMS
WILLIAM – BASS GUITAR
Abbie G – I was just having a listen to I think it was your first ever interview in 2011 for Triple J Unearthed and you can just hear the excitement in your much younger voices, it was super cute but I mean since then you guys have just kicked goal after goal and blown up not just in Australia but also starting to see success overseas…5 years on how’s everyone doing?
EM – (ah chuckles) Ah I think we are all doing pretty well. I think we are just as excited as we were back then…I think everyday, this is weird that this is our job still right? Like yeah this is still weird that we get to play music in front of people for a living.
I think were pretty…we realise how lucky we are.
Abbie G – How does everyone deal with the bands increasing success and massive tour dates?
EM – Um its hard to say really..we just kind of chill and relax with mates and catch up with family and suff …like right now weve got some days off and Im just hanging at the beach with some friends which is awesome..lovely…..no schedule and nothing to do lovely…beautiful!
Abbie G -You kind of have a double wammy as your also touring and recording with 2 brothers..are their any fisty cuffs along the way or anyone sent to there corners on tour?
EM- Nah…we are actually pretty lucky..I mean like we as brothers get on pretty well. On the road theres never any conflict and then of course theres Scotty and Will to break everything up in the end if we clash at all which we don’t really. Its just nice to have a vibe that is not to “Margin” orinatated you know..you need other peoples personalities…ha we are lucky really theres no “Gallagher” kind of clashes!!
Abbie G -You’ve talked about the creative process being quite intimate amongst yourselves and that rather than jamming and working it out together each of you prefer to work on something privately before unveiling it to each other…this a pretty different model that seems to just work really well for you guys….do you get nervous that one of you is just gonna say “nah man that really sux” and how do you let each other down?
EM – Were pretty good and trust each others judgement…like weve all got kind of the same taste in music really and we all kind of know what it is we want to achieve with our own music as well so I think…I mean when part of the reason we write separately is cause we are all pretty shy with our own ideas and things…Its kinda like we feel like we need to get them or hash them out on their own and then once we feel like we are ready or the song is ready we can then show it to each other…Obviously we trust each others opinions enough to take each other criticism where we can just cause you know we are brothers and stuff …were good mates and we grew up together you know even with Scotty and Will we are all really tight as a band….We make it easy on each other you know if we think something is shit were gonnna let each other know! (laughs)
Abbie G – Ha so no one goes into a massive decline and has to leave the room not to been seen for awhile?
EM – Ha no I guess we haven’t written anything too shit yet to make that happen which is lucky!…If we write some thing god damn awful we will let each other know…that might happen.
Abbie G – I imagine with most bands when starting out you have career goals or like a measurement of success kind of thing where you think “yep weve made it kind of thing”….you guys have kind nailed it from day one with JJ Uneartherd, J awards, JJJ Hottest 100 2 years running, platinum records amongst many other miles stones but are there any pipedreams that you think “yeah I really want to play that gig” , or release an album like that…or even someone you want to work with?
EM – Um I think for us we would like to get a bit more traction overseas…I think its something we are working towards and obviously it’s a different market to Australia
Tells us about this tour…your 4 gigs in to a 22 gig tour in just over 1 month thanks to Corona Sunsets…they’ve been a massive supporter of awesome bands and all sorts of other creative over the years…how did this collab come about and how important do you think these kind of tours are to your fans.
Elliot massive thanks for taking the time to talk to Common Ground! The Rubens are well known for their epic live sets so we are all super pumped to be seeing you this weekend in Byron Bay and what you guys get up to in 2017. Good luck with the rest of the tour and see you Sunday at The Beachy and The Brunswick Hotel.
