The PlayErie interview with Ruby Beil of Nostromos

On Friday, November 29th Erie will be treated to a rare show from Nostromos at the Beer Mug (1108 Liberty St. 814-454-4753) Also on the bill are Black Rose Diary and Cyborg Zygote. The show starts at 9pm.

Recently PlayErie.com had a chance to speak with vocalist Ruby Beil about her involvement with Nostromos as well as the direction and future of the band.

PE: The Nostromos song on PlayErie.com, "Red Scarf" displays your incredible range of vocal talents. You go from jazz singer to all-out shredder to operatic falsetto and more. How did you develop your style and what are your influences?

RB: My influences cover the best of the extremes, just to scratch the surface (PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, Patti Smith, Nina Simone, Chrissie Hynde, Erykah Badu, Blonde Redhead, Angelo Moore, Bjork, David Byrne, Diamanda Galas, Throwing Muses, Pere Ubu, Nina Hagen, Cat Power). I like to push the limits of vocal perfomance. My Grandmother was an accompaniest for a vocal instructor for many years, and I had a lesson here and there at an early age, but most of my "training" comes from singing along to my favorite tunes.  As a side, the song "Red Scarf" was written about my late Gram, Ahvagene Bond Clarke, a musical inspiration to the whole family. As far as varying the vocal style, I love a voice that cuts like a knife but is also soft and creamy. I guess I've developed my style through experimenting with different sounds and textures, but often my voice has a mind of its own on stage and I slide around trying to keep up.

PE: At times it sounds as through you are ripping your voice out... how are you able to sing like that on a regular basis?

RB: Singing like I do is a total body work-out. Different sounds come from different places in the body. Sometimes my diaphragm hurts and my throat is sore a couple days after a show. My neck is usually sore from banging my head around. But that's what the music makes me do, and I'm having such a ball. I practice regularly (1-3 X a week) with my Ithaca band and I cannot sing with the same intensity that I do during a performnce at practice, otherwise there would be nothing left for the show. If music ever put me in a position to perform more than 3 nights a week, I might have to make some compromises, but at this point, I haven't had any problems. My voice and I are best buddies, so I listen to it and take care of it.

PE: Tell us about Nostromos and how the band came together.

RB: Nostromos is a very mysterious entitiy. I was back in Erie and Garrett Skindell (DJ G-spot) and I wanted to get a musical project going. We jammed with a lot of fun folks and eventually settled on a tight group of friends, all former roomates of Garrett's by coincidence, and Nostromos emerged. I would have loved to put more time into that project before I had to return to Cornell for my Ph.D., but I'm so glad we still play together when we can, and you never know what the future may hold.

PE: You also play the fiddle, will it be featured at the Beer Mug show on the 29th?

RB: I'm still deciding on that. All I can say is I'm having some technical difficulties that may not be rectified before the show on Friday. I guess it will just have to be a surprise.

PE: Currently you are attending Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Do you find many differences between the music scene in Ithaca as compared to Erie?

RB: There's an overload of female folk music around Ithaca. Some of these ladies are truely awesome, but I would like to see more women rocking out. Erie has a nice dirty rock and roll flavor, that I miss in Ithaca. Almost everyone is a musician in Ithaca, and there are a lot of excellent bands. I-town records is a gorup of united musicians that covers the jam/world/singer-songwriter scene very sucessfully. Very noteworthy on the rock side are The Johnny Dowd Band, The Mofo's, and The Atomic Forces. My new band, The Witching, has had a modest impact on little Ithaca. These are some powerful women, and we've been having a lot of fun.

PE: How does Nostromos write their material? Does the music come first, or do you have lyrical and melodic ideas that are then put to music?

RB: The process is fairly simultaneous. I write lyrics all the time, so we'll just get a groove going, and I'll pick some lyrics that work. Each member of Nostromos contributes to the song writing process by throwing out a riff, a progression, or a suggestion for a bridge or time change, etc. Mustafah in particular has a special gift for arranging pieces into a cohesive song structure. Writing songs with Nostromos is easy, like dessert.

PE: Tell us more about The Witching?

RB: You can find all kinds of goodies on our website. We're recording our first full-length CD in the end of January. I've always fantasized about playing in an all woman rock band, so my dream has finally come true, and these ladies rock harder than I ever imagined. We played a UAA show, our second show ever in Erie this past summer, and we had a lot of fun and would like to come back again in the spring or summer.

PE: Do you plan to continue with music when you are finished at Cornell?

RB: Until I die... I have no idea to what extent or in what capacity, but I don't think I would want to live without rock and roll.

PE: Do you have any advice for female artists working in music?

RB: Don't give up. Don't be shy. Let your voice be heard. And most of all, have fun!

PE: What can we expect from Nostromos at the Beer Mug show?

RB: If you haven't heard Nostromos, then prepare yourself for a wild ride. The otherworldly theramin, blazing guitar solos, hard-funk-trip bass, insane beats, and my crazy vocals will top it off. It's been too long since we've played a show, and I think we're ready to explode! I can't wait!

PlayErie.com would like to thank Ruby Beil for participating in this interview. Thanks Ruby!