Greetings from All Access Magazine! Here we are backstage at Hollywood’s Key Club with RUE, featuring vocalist Jenna Ross, bassist Pedestrian, guitarist Echo, and drummer Rick McKay. Hello, RUE! Tonight we’re here to celebrate the release of your latest video, “Another Sad Love Song” from the upcoming “Songs of Love and Pain” CD release. How soon will that CD be coming out?
Rick – To be announced.
Jenna – Yet to be determined. We’re working on it.
Do you know how many songs will be on the upcoming release?
Jenna – We keep on writing, so we don’t know which one’s to choose from.
Rick – We have a whole dry-erase board full of songs that haven’t been heard yet. We are constantly writing, always in production.
Is it true, you have a new keyboard player performing tonight?
Ped – Yes, David Orozco is with us tonight.
Will he be on the new project?
Echo – We’ll see how things turn out.
Are you currently working on any other videos?
Jenna – Not at the moment, but we’re looking to do more in the near future.
Ped – We’re always going over new ideas for videos, and we’re trying to get the ball rolling on stuff. Getting a video done has always been really hard for us, because people like to throw everything at it and say, “we’ll do this, and we’ll get it done,” and then they drop the ball. So we are always looking for that one outlet that will work.
Do you work with a steady crew, the same director and/or producer from project to project, or do you explore more than one team or option?
Jenna – We like to explore working with other people, but we really love working with Sanaz and Olaf. Sanaz has been with us since day one, as a vee-jay and promoter, for metal and hard rock music altogether, so hopefully we can work with her again.
Rick – I’m not opposed to working with other people, and we’re always looking for new ideas, trying to move forward.
The band was formed in 2003, right? How did you get your start as a band?
Jenna – We were all side-show freaks traveling with Barnum and Bailey on their European tour (chuckle)!
Rick – No, you were drinking at the bar, getting numb with Bailey’s!!!
Ped – Same difference!
Echo – No, actually, Ped and Jenna were in a band first, quite a while ago, then that band went on hiatus, 
broke up, and we were all in different bands. Ped called me and said, “You want to play in a band and change your life?” I said, “Sure, why not?” he said, “Okay, but find me a drummer within 24 hours, I’ve already got a singer,” and then I found Rick on the Internet – he was the first call I made, and that was it.
Jenna – That’s how you know it’s God-sent, when everything falls together like that.
Rick – The first practice was magic – the first try, and that was it!
Indeed, one of your bio notes speaks of how you were brought together by karma. Does the band have a particular collective spiritual vision? Perhaps do you individually pursue certain paths of discovery and connection with the infinite?
Jenna – I’m a very spiritual person – I’ve got my own religious beliefs, and I choose not to really speak about it, because I don’t want to direct anybody away from anything that they’re feeling at the time. Our music is very spiritual with us, not only from our outer stance with whatever God that we choose to pray to, but also with our connection with each other and with our crowd – it’s more of a human connection that we try to keep moving, you know – infinite or finite, either way, it’s all about the human connection.
Ped – We always try to keep religion and politics out of what we’re doing, and just let the songs speak for themselves. We let whatever emotional connection people want to experience on their own happen. Art is subjective, and we let people take it for what it’s worth, for what it means to them.
When you started, did you have a steady spot to practice?
Jenna – At that point in time, kind of. We were just afraid that they were going to get it closed down.
Ped – The coolest thing about that time was when, right after we got together, we got approached by the owner of the place, Rick, rest in peace, good friend of mine. He came and said, “Hey, I got a spot on the show this weekend, what are you doing?” So we played our first show one week, to the day, after first coming together. It was February 14th, at the Rendezvous.
Now, the Santa Clarita Valley area has steadily been getting more diverse. Do you find that there’s any one kind of musical affiliation or preference that stands out in the neighborhoods where you’re from?
Ped – Unfortunately, regarding diversity, I think the Valley is getting more and more closed-minded. Years ago, there were so many diverse bands, they were just like a whole unit. I was lucky enough to be in one with Jenna, and all the bands around us were just this big group of friends, and everybody knew each other, everybody helped, pulling together shows. We’d throw underground shows everywhere and anywhere that would offer us space. We’d get the bands together and have meetings about it, and I don’t see that kind of camaraderie anymore. A lot of the newer bands are all playing the same thing, over and over.
Jenna – There’s a large movement of upper-middle-class moving in now, and it’s just basically the cultural lines. There’s a lot of upper-middle-class children coming in there that all come from the same exact stamp. They are all the same age, and it’s just what their generation is going through right now.
Rick – Nobody has something new to say anymore!
What part of the area are you from – is it Canyon Country?
Ped – I’m from Newhall.
Echo – I was Canyon Country. I live in an old ranch house.
Jenna – I’ve got two-and-a-half acres off Sierra Highway in Canyon Country and Rick’s out in the Valley.
Ped – Where I live, everybody on my street is a bunch of gun-totin’, truck-drivin’, horse-ridin’ rednecks – I love it, man! And everyone there will talk to each other. We drive by, we’ll wave at each other. You go one block over, and everybody is just so uptight out there. You wave at them, they freak out. I mean, my neighbor and I just built a fence between our houses, whereas down the street they build tall walls.
But then, back to the old days, was there a big party scene when you were growing up? Block parties, rock parties, rave parties, hip-hop, whatever?
Jenna – Oh, yeah! A couple of nights at my house, you would have to walk three or four blocks to actually get to the party!
Rick – Let me tell you, when your drinking all night, you can find some interesting places to sleep!
In the past three/four years you’ve been together now, have you been touring steadily?
Jenna – We play mostly in the Southern California area. We all have day jobs too...
Ped – It’s the most depressing aspect of probably all of our lives, because performing is everything that I think all of us want to do. I’m going to kind of speak for everybody on that and say there’s nothing I would rather do, [gesturing to band mates] than just play music our whole lives.
What’s the farthest from home that you’ve performed?
Echo – Reno, Nevada.
What are some Canyon Country spots for hearing seeing live music?
Ped – Not so many. When a club comes up, the city just smashes it down! We always used to throw underground shows, and were lucky that when we did, the cops weren’t called much. Now, if you try to throw something out here, the cops are all over it!
Jenna when did you start singing?
Jenna – I was born singing, I think. I was lucky enough to be raised in a family where my grandmother, grandfather and my dad all sang three-part country harmonies in the living room when I was growing up. I started singing harmony with my grandmother as soon as I could speak.
Rick McKay, you have been compared to drummer Neil Peart. Do you find that to be applicable?
Rick – Yes!
Ped – You can take that as ego, but I’ll back that statement up any day of the week.
Rick – I’ll tell you why: I grew up in Illinois, and didn’t have much to do, so I played music. I played my first live show when I was 5 years old. I’ve been playing ever since I could get behind a drum set. When some people were practicing to AC/DC, I was doing Triumph, Rush and Allman Brothers, stuff like that. I was playing odd types of time signatures before I knew what they were. That’s what I grew up playing. I can play every Rush record ever written. It was a lot of time and a lot of dedication and it’s just in my blood. My dad plays guitar and I was always around it growing up, I had a studio built for me in my house. My family always felt if you’ve got something to do and you’re really good at it, go for it and do it! I taught drums already – at 12 and 13 I was teaching students. I’ve come a long way, and I’m really satisfied with my playing, it’s a means to an end and as long as the band sounds good, then I’ve done my job!
“Ped” or “Pedestrian”- bass player any meaning to your name?
Ped – “One who walks” – well, I didn’t have a car for a long time! (Chuckle) – also, I got a jay-walking ticket when I was 12/13 by this real prick of a cop, and on a ticket they have a little line with a spot that says “alias,” and he put “Pedestrian,” and when I showed my friends they said, “You got a jay-walking ticket, let me see that – all right, Pedestrian!” And it kind of stuck.
Do you play any other instruments?
Ped – I’m learning mandolin right now and I play guitar. I started off on piano when I was about four years old, but I didn’t go very far. Then I played drums in a marching band for a while, from the end of elementary through junior high. Finally I just picked up a bass and I’ve faked my way through it ever since.
Echo, where does the name “Echo” come from?
Echo – [doing a very credible impression of an arena’s acoustic reverberation] HOW-how ARE-are YOU-you TO-to NIGHT-night? (laughter)
Ped – We make so much money off him at parties!
Any particular musical influences you want to site as having made an impression on your playing?
Echo – Tons! Growing up, my family raised me on a lot of the Who, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, good old bands.
We’ve noticed a tad of Tool influence in your band’s music. Any favorite tracks from Tool or A Perfect Circle?
Ped – “Automa” – it’s one of my favorite CDs.
Jenna – It’s my favorite album of all time, and “Stinkfist” is my favorite song.
Jenna, it looks like you work out a lot. What is your regular routine?
Jenna – I do a different muscle group every day, six days a week, and 45 to 90 minutes of cardio, and I eat very clean, very healthy, and I don’t drink. I used to drink, but now only on special occasions. I lift weights and try to do it all, and take care of myself.
Jenna, you worked on a side project with Serj Tankian of System of a Down. Tell us how was it working with Serj?
Jenna – He was actually one of the easiest musicians for me to work with. He really allows you to have full creative and artistic rein over what you want to do. He asked me for my input, and put down everything that I had. He was really happy with it and I was really comfortable there. He is a great person to work with and the tracks that I did (on the “Serart” project with Serj), got the most critical praise, I’m really blessed that it got a good review.
You began singing at an early age, when did you start writing songs and poetry?
Jenna – Actually I think I’ve been writing as long as I’ve been singing, and I’ve been singing as long as I could speak. There’s always been a voice inside me to get out and I was lucky enough to have a family that really encouraged my artistic creativity. I was always pushed to follow through with my emotions. My dad and grandmother were songwriters too. I have music that my great-great-great-grandmother wrote, and lyrics, about the First World War, and her husband coming home from it. It’s been something that’s been in the bloodline.
Do you have any such favorite bands or artists that you click with?
Jenna – Yes: Tool! Maynard, of course. And David Bowie, “god of my world.” And Jeff Buckley, I love Jeff Buckley. Then Pat Benatar of course, my heroine, a goddess up there on stage. Oh, and Fiona Apple, and Chrissie Hynde, my “bitch”! I love that girl! She can knock somebody’s ass out, and continue with her Telecaster. When I was 13, my dad got me for Easter, a beautiful little cherry-red Telecaster with a white pick-plate and a maple-wood neck, just like Chrissie’s. I wanted to be just like her.
On that topic, we’ve seen a lot of current bands with female lead singers, including Evanescence, Epica, Lacuna Coil, Otep, Hole, Powder, even the band that was just playing, Mankind Is Obsolete. Of the latest slew of female-bands, are there any with whom you find a commonality or identifying vibe?
Rick – The one thing that we’ve got going on over a lot of the other bands that are out there playing right now is that we are very musical. A lot of the others doing the female-fronted thing go down the Evanescence path, and they want to be over-produced and “safe,” because they feel that’s easily “signable”, which sometimes it is, but then there’s nothing new. We want to be more like Heart, where you hear these two-part harmonies, guitar harmonies, and the music was just on top of the ball …
Echo, what’s your main guitar?
Echo – The Gibson Les-Paul.
Favorite effects?
Echo – I like the delay.
Jenna – There’s another reason we call him Echo!
Rick, what kind of kit are you pounding these days?
Rick – I play a Tama Maple Star Classic, I run all DW hardware, and I’m actually endorsed by a cymbal company, called Soul Tone Percussion.
Ped, what’s your axe?
Ped – Currently I’m playing a couple different Ibanez 5-string basses. Their names are “Courtney” and “Sasha,” but Echo likes to call them a lot of other things! I have a Basson bass cabinet, which is the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard in my life, in the way of bass. There’s an Ampeg SVT-4 Pro Head, and I use an old DVX analog compressor.
RUE won the award for Best Pop-Alt Album from All Access Magazine in 2005. Now, how do you feel about that designation, “Pop-Alt”? Do you find that it’s still valid, or has your musical focus shifted or broadened?
Ped – I think “Pop-Alt” is an oxymoron!
Jenna – You see, “Pop” stands for “Popular Music,” and I guess we were just popular at that time, in that genre and category.
Rick – And you can never categorize yourself. If somebody looks at the band and says that you’re pop alternative, and you’re wanting to tour and sell a lot of records, as a band wants to do, then you have a better chance. You know, there are not a lot of people that go the Otep route, because there’s only so much blood curdling screaming that you can take. Not that it’s bad, but you’re pigeonholing yourself. It’s a label. We were happier with getting an award, more than just what it was about.
Any advice you’d like to give any other local bands just starting up?
Echo – Buy all of your music! Support everybody, as opposed to ripping it off from all of your friends. Don’t give up, man. There’s always a way to do it.
Jenna – Respect everybody who picks up an instrument, even if they suck, because they’re picking up an instrument, and not a pipe or a gun. So be encouraging to other people, open-minded and openhearted. There are a lot of people in this industry that will just keep on knocking’ you down, and you don’t want to be a hater like that.
Ped – It takes a certain character to be able to actually learn how to play, and those are the experiences you need to improve yourself.
What final words do you have for your fans and our readers?
Jenna – I’d like to thank Eric Blair for doing my face, and check him out at Blairingout.com, and thanks to Gear Goddess Apparel, who sponsors us in clothing, and Gypsy, the owner – she hooked me up tonight. Check out Geargoddessapparel at MySpace.com. And thanks to Sanaz and Olaf.
Ped – I want to thank a kid I saw walking down the street, on his way to school with a guitar slung across his back, because that’s the future.
Echo – I want to thank the other bands playing with us tonight. Rayzing Sons and Impel are good friends of ours, and we’re really glad to be playing with people that we respect, just as much as they appreciate our music.
Rick – And I want to thank All Access Magazine, because I won for Best Drummer [Pop-Alternative category, 2006]! I wanted to express my thanks for the award, and thanks to the staff for thinking of me!
Jenna – We want to give our love back.
Congrats RUE on your latest video, “Another Sad Love Song. AAM looks forward to reviewing your new CD soon! AAM’s supports local music and Santa Clarita is surely local, even if one of you came by way of Illinois! Thanks for your time, and as always, Rock On!
