Nuha Ruby Ra is punk and DIY to her very core. A powerful provocateur, her sound is enthralling in its musical and vocal subversiveness.

Experimental synths, battle-march drums and jagged but sometimes funky guitars create an air of immediacy and intention. Her vocals transcend the earthly realm through the use of multiple microphones programmed to create different tones and textures. Exploring the possibilities of using her voice as an instrument in its own right, her lyrics are delicate but devilish; cutting through and across songs with total unapologetic truth and centering around topics of sex, heartbreak and anxiety. Sometimes using humour and sometimes using deep reflection, Nuha Ruby Ra is an artist bravely tackling dark personal feelings and experiences through her artistry. Genuinely genre-defying, her music is absolutely confessional but encourages catharsis for the many who can relate to her honesty.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Nuha Ruby Ra following her bewitching set at Mutations Festival. Still dressed in her stage outfit of patent white knee-high boots and an oversized shirt adorned with lyrics and various scribblings, it was the first in person interview either of us had experienced since the beginning of the pandemic. Her compelling and invincible presence on stage translated directly into our conversation that proved to be one of the most engaged I’d generally had in recent times. We spoke at length about the increasingly dire and damaging situation at hand for communities of artists and musicians living in London. As a warehouse dweller herself, Nuha Ruby Ra is facing the unfathomable threat of her home for the past decade in Hackney Wick coming under demolition to make way for some swankier spaces for a less underground and therefore more favourable form of artist to reside in. The miserable reality is that the destruction of this home of around ten artists is not a rarity but is instead an increasingly common experience across the capital’s less developed regions in which many artists like Nuha Ruby Ra live and work. What will the UK’s musical and cultural landscape look like when these alternative spaces that enable artists to create are squashed? An age-old question that continues to be ignored by those who have the power to do something about it. Fortunately, we came full circle and refocused on the innate resistance and resilience of our generation’s artists. Art always survives.

Nuha Ruby Ra’s debut EP, How To Move, is about discovering how to move from the dark and into the light. This cathartic record gave her the tools necessary for recovery but has also propelled her forwards as one of the most exciting artists operating in the UK underground right now. With talk of a future LP and a string of upcoming tours supporting the likes of Life and Yard Act, Nuha Ruby Ra is one to keep a close eye on.

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your festival day to have a chat with us. Your set was great. How is it to be playing live again?

In June I had a socially distanced run of shows for a London promoter called 1234 Happening. They put on an amazing roadshow tour of loads of emerging bands who are from London. All together it was a tour of about twelve different bands who were playing in and out of the gigs. It was a really great experience. I’d never been so nervous before the first gig after not playing live for so long but it was great to get back into action.

You were the recipient of the Green Man Rising competition in 2020 that got you to the main stage. How was it claiming your prize? 

That was honestly my highlight of 2020. I absolutely wasn’t expecting it - I was just so happy to be in the final six! I was at a party when they were announcing it on BBC Radio Wales and my manager messaged me saying they were about to announce the winner and asked if I was listening but I was like, "no it’s fine I’ll just find out tomorrow." But then I went up to my friend's bedroom to listen and it was me! It was a special and unexpected feeling. The first time playing Green Man and opening the Mountain Stage was the biggest treat the universe could have offered me that year; it was beautiful. 

Your sound is punk to the core and flirts with experimental jazzy beats. I hear influence from The Birthday Party to Björk to The Slits and all the good stuff in between. Who would you say are your biggest musical inspirations? 

Well The Birthday Party are a huge influence because they’re my favourite band so you’re on the money! I don’t know if when I make music I’m necessarily intending it to be of a Birthday Party vein but because I’m so heavily influenced by them in my growth then obviously it will reflect in my music. I’m a big fan of Björk to The Slits as well. Björk is one of the queens of experimental music making!

How is London as a creative hub for you? I’m aware that you live in a warehouse space, it must be great living with other artists.

That space is everything to me if I’m honest. I’ve lived there for nearly ten years; it’s my family home and I’ve grown up there. I don’t think I’d be doing what I’m doing now if I didn’t live there. The people I live with and the space that we have allows me to make music and art there. Very sadly, we found out last week that they plan to knock us down which is an absolute travesty - as has been happening all over Hackney Wick. Even beyond me living there, I want that space to exist for other people to live and to have the same community that I’ve had. Look, I can’t afford to have a studio and pay rent whilst living in London. Living in a place where you’re able to do both allows you to create and to grow. This is something that’s being brutally killed in London and it’s sad. Artists and musicians in London who don’t come from very privileged backgrounds need these places and these communities. The nature of artists is that we’ll go and find new places. London will not be the epicentre of creativity and culture if we keep getting kicked out of it. It’ll be a rude awakening. But, at the same time, we live under a government who during the pandemic told artists to go and retrain! 

Right! Let’s all just be machines. What a narrow view on life.

Exactly. What about the things that bring joy and happiness to people’s lives?! Those dry bastards enjoy art and music in some capacity as well.

You are (or were) the bass player in the post-punk Arrows of Love. What drove you to pursue a solo project?

We parted ways as I started this solo journey. It just so happened that at that time everybody needed to do their own creative thing so we never officially played our last gig and we’ve left it open. Everyone that’s in the band are still very dear friends of mine. Everyone’s just on their own journey now. My journey was mostly born out of a feeling of not wanting to compromise in creating. I needed to find my own way and my own voice. I’d only ever collaborated in the past and it was starting to feel quite limited to me. I figured that the best way to discover who I am would be to go at it alone.

Good for you. What’s your background to making music? 

My background isn’t musical at all actually, it’s art based. I studied Fine Art and became really interested in sound art when I was doing my degree. I then got music making in a very experimental, art based way. That started to develop into playing with people in bands and figuring myself out whilst I was in them. I never wanted to learn to play anything in a traditional sense. So, it was a very solitary journey within that even when playing in bands.

I guess it makes sense that you’ve developed into a solo artist - it started off that way, then you did some figuring out and now it’s ended up that way.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense actually - I’ve never really thought of it like that… You’ve figured something out that I haven’t even figured out myself!

Amazing, you’re welcome! How was the process of recording your debut EP How To Move?

It was during a difficult time in my life when a lot of things were changing - a lot of things that were my identity - my old band of seven years and a relationship I was in for a long time. This was someone who wasn’t just my boyfriend; we lived together, we were in the same art collective and our lives were very entwined. Both of these things were coming to an end at around the same time when I had some other personal difficulties that I was dealing with. It was a really tough place in general. I started writing the songs from a pained place and they were for self-help reasons I guess. I didn’t have any expectations of what would come. I decided to record the songs and put them out for release purposes. It’s been a really wonderful thing to find that they’ve resonated with other people. 

Definitely. The themes that you touch upon such as sex, heartbreak and anxiety are a part of the same conversation we all have in our own ways. 

Exactly! When you’re in that world you feel like you’re the only one but then you realise that there are a handful of emotions that really exist for humans but manifest themselves in different ways. At the end of the day, who hasn’t been through all of these emotions? It seems so obvious but at the time you feel very much like you’re just telling your own story and you question if it’ll be of any interest to anyone else. I think in general though, people can really connect to truth. 

I imagine that when you embark upon that journey and put music out into the world that’s confessional and cathartic, you can’t help but think about how it might be received because it’s an insight into you as a person.

Laying yourself bare is a scary thing! But, songs exist and then become other people’s songs. You know, we all have our songs that have our own meanings attached to them. When you’re making those songs, you feel very scared and vulnerable but it does give you strength at some point.

You make amazing music videos that are pieces of art. I really appreciate the way you use your body and divine femininity to express yourself and the song. It’s liberating to watch. Can you talk us through how you piece together a video?

So the EP’s called How To Move. For me, that comes from a sense of needing to move from a whole other dark chapter of my life. It felt like I was coming to the end of life. I was given a new lease of life and started moving from the dark and into the light. Physicality is also really important to me. I wanted my music videos to be performance based and for me to explore and use my body. There’s a running theme of physical movement to them. They’re all collaborative efforts apart from the video for ‘Cruel’ that I performed, directed and edited myself. ‘Sparky’ was the first video I made with my friend Charlie and Jasmine. We went to St Martin’s to use their green screen and I danced around to the song about a million times to experience different embodiments for about three hours. ‘Erase Me’ was with my friend who shot the cover for the EP. She'd never made a video before but she understands me and I knew she was going to smash it so it was great to work with her. ‘Run Run’ was a collaboration with my friend Ben who’s a digital artist. We sat down and I told him about this trip that I had where my actual journey that ‘Run Run’ is about played out in this other realm. He then went and created this seven minute short film of psychedelic insanity! I’m lucky to have such a community in which we collaborate and help each other.

Your first release was ‘Cure For Tired Business Men (Pt. 1)’ in 2020. It’s a legendary 32 seconds long instrumental concept piece - a brave but enticing first release! Should we expect a Pt. 2?

There’s many layers to that song. I wrote and recorded it as part of a performance for it to be used in the background over spoken word. I had planned to turn it into a more traditional piece of music at some point. But, I was with a friend who I had been writing with and it’s so not at all how he makes his music. He was basically like, "come back to me when it makes more sense." So, as a reaction to that, it was the first thing that I put out!

Is there a debut album on the way to follow up the EP?

There is! I’m in a writing flow at the minute. I’ve technically got an album’s worth of songs that I could put out but I’m really enjoying writing at the minute so I’m just going to keep on that track for a little bit longer.

That’s great news! Finally, what do you think the future holds for underground music scenes?

I’m really excited by the underground music scene in London. There’s so much incredible music being made right now from the really underground to the artists simmering at the top to artists just being discovered. At the minute, there are multiple scenes and some of the best music coming out anywhere is coming out of London. I’m so happy that I happen to be existing at the same time as the other people making music because it’s a really exciting time for new music. I think that art always survives - even when the powers try their best to kill it because they don’t see it’s relevance.

Article by Meg Sweeney originally written for Bad Luck Magazine.