After a year of firsts for Wollongong band Ruby Tuesdays – including a David and Goliath-style victory against a US fast-food chain over use of their name – the quintet prepares for what could be their biggest year to date in 2019.
Ruby Tuesdays are basically the little band that could: faced with insurmountable odds and against the might of a legal team representing a corporate giant, Ruby Tuesdays deftly slayed their opposition with narry more than a 'come at me bro'.
Their legal troubles (hopefully) banished, Ruby Tuesdays greet the New Year with renewed vigour off the back of their 2018 single 'Why You Always Gotta Fight Me'.
Here, the band’s guitarist, Shaun Snider discuss their legal win, new music and poetry.
Looking back over 2018, what have been some of the highlights for Ruby Tuesdays?
We’ve been working on our songs for ages, but 2018 marked at lot of firsts for us: First gig, first single, first tour, first international lawsuit; you know, the usual.
The band won a legal battle against US food chain Ruby Tuesday over the use of a similar name; how did it feel to come out victorious?
The whole thing was pretty unbelievable. We never thought they really had a case, but it was pretty crazy that we came out on top against this multi-million-dollar company.
How did you all celebrate the win?
We played a gig at our local pub, Howlin Wolf, with our families and friends. It was pretty special.
What is the story behind your new single, 'Why You Always Gotta Fight Me'?
Around the time, I was in a difficult point of a relationship and started reading a lot of poems that really kind of reflected how I felt. I read 'Funeral Blues' by W.H. Auden and fell in love with the words. The first lines in the song are from that poem.
I read another poem by Charlotte Mew that had the line: 'The things that kill us seem blind to the death they give', which just floored me. [The song is] a tale of love, loss, heartbreak, and ultimately accepting fate.
All our songs are heartfelt and from experiences we’ve gone through, although this song marks an evolution in style for us and hopefully the most message-driven song we’ve written yet.
In terms of arrangement and instrumentation, how did you approach the writing and recording for the song?
Well, what’s special about this song is it has Mate as his first time on lead vocals. Nice to have him up front steering the ship.
Personally, I really like the shift between Mate’s real close, personal delivery and then Keysie (Paul Keys) coming in at the end like a screaming demon to tell you it’s all f...ed.
The song was released at the end of November; have you had a good chance to gauge reaction to the song?
Yeah, the reactions have been unreal. I think safe to say probably has attracted more attention than our previous tunes, which is nice. It’s been played on radio all around the country; the other day we did a radio interview for Queensland, so it’s cool to be reaching a bigger sphere.
It plays out like a break-up song; what are some of your favourite break-up songs?
How much time have you got? 'I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You' - Colin Hay; 'She’s Got You' - Patsy Cline; 'If You See Her Say Hello' - Bob Dylan (actually all of 'Blood On The Tracks'); 'River' - Joni Mitchell.
When and where can folks catch one of your live shows?
We have our single launch at Heritage Hotel (Wollongong) on 23 February and a bunch of other dates before and after (cough, cough… tour) soon to be announced. Stay tuned.
What's coming next for the band in 2019?
2019 aims to be a juicy year for us. Keysie’s birthday. Our first major tour. EP launch. And hopefully the release of Bano’s first cookbook. All exciting stuff.
