Long Read // Ria Rua on upsiting and upcoming album 'SCAPEG.O.A.T.'
I spoke to our Red Queen about her uprising and upcoming album ‘SCAPEG.O.A.T.’, and fell head over heels in adoration with Irish artist Ria Rua. “The name Ria Rua means Red Queen in Irish” despite having been bullied as a redhead when she was younger, she decided to turn things around and use it as a statement instead and empower herself to truly love all she’s made of!
Ria Rua started out as a drummer, but when it proved hard to find someone to sing and write songs, she decided to take matters into her own hands. “I was originally a drummer, I never imagined that I was going to sing, but then I thought “oh feck it”, I’ll just sing myself. I instantly fell in love, it was just this expression that I never quite felt from the drums. The connection between the words and singing and song writing opened up my world. It was an incredible journey where I saw the world differently for the first time.”
Her songs are how she experiences the world as a neurodiverse queer person, “I really try to fight for women’s rights, I have been assaulted and harassed and I write about this. One of my earlier songs caught the attention and people bonded with it, my first song was ‘I Can’t Sleep With You’ which was a big “fuck you” to Trump which is sadly still relevant today.” The new album was inspired by the last couple of years of her life, and has become somewhat of a protest album, “I’m really mad at the state of the world. The album is about going backwards, the world is more divided than ever, but the album is also filled with this sense of hope, because you have to have some form of a way to go. I'm angry, but I’m also hopeful. I know the wonderful people that are in this world and I know that we can be better together.”
Despite billionaires deliberately dividing us, the mainly working class, we are not all that different, something Ria Rua sees when she speaks to people that listen to her music or come to her shows. She’s found value in a personal connection with her listeners, “I try to achieve a connection with people, that is the most important thing as an artist”, when she started sharing her honest values, people connected with those in an instant, and it’s what makes her such a unique voice and a fresh breath of air. She’s unapologetically political and hard to pinpoint musically, “it’s something different which I suppose is good. I’ve taken inspiration from Nine Inch Nails and Kim Gordon and that type of good craic.”
Aside from the value her music brings, she also makes sure her live shows are inclusive and offer a safe environment for anyone who’ll listen, “I’m looking to collaborate with Safe Gigs, who will be setting up a stand at each one of my gigs and I’m so happy about that because I think it’s very important for people to be able to go to gigs and feel safe!” Aside from the full band versions, she keeps being asked to perform acoustic versions of her songs, which she might eventually end up doing as a tribute to her vocal coach who passed away not long ago, “it was the first year anniversary of her death and I played ‘Bitchemian Rhapsody’ and I played it on this guitar that got progressively more out of tune and it was really old and it was falling apart around me and everyone fucking loved it, it was this crazy mix of mentalness and it is kind of a funny song, after the response of that I would like to bring a tribute to her in the form of a couple of songs in acoustic form.”
Her strong suit is clearly going all out on stage, in full band form, performing the music she’s written, produced, and will be performing across Ireland, Northern Ireland and in London the upcoming few months. As she speaks passionately about the topics she writes and sings about, I feel how much she adores the profession that’s chosen her, and on a last and very heartfelt, tearful note we end our conversation; “I felt so alone as a teenager and I feel like being on stage and singing about this stuff and have people connect with it is so special, I really love it.” If you are ever in the position to go and watch Ria Rua live, you really shouldn’t pass up on the opportunity.
Words by Laura Rosierse
