Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands?

Sid Truelove also drummer with Flux of Pink Indians, X-Ray Spex. & Jimmy Pursey.

Gem Stone RB bass player, Drummer in fatal Microbes

Pete fender RB guitarist, Also in Poison Girls, Omega Tribe. & bass player in Fatal Microbes

Leda Baker guitarist. Daughter of Ginger Baker guitarist

Vince Vomit, guitarist rb bass player DIRT

Tony. Buzzcocks. guitarist

Phil Pain Guitarist RB & PAIN

Michelle Brigandage Vocalist guitarist rb

Seano Jilted Generation

Sean Shadowland

How is it that you started playing music? We didn’t know we were going to be musicians as in we didn’t plan it, it sort of evolved over time and after we started going to gigs we got more interested so Punk gave us the opportunity at a Crass gig, then after moving in with Poison Girls we had the chance to jam as a band and make things up on the equipment in the rehearsal room where the Poison Girls lived.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?

Zillah Minx Vocals & lyrics AGE 56

Sid Truelove Drummer now guitarist and rb composer of new music. Age 57

We have a great new band with Sid now playing guitar and front of stage, Sean Mcann on guitar and Dave Greensill covering for Seano when he works on tour for Captain Sensible of The Damned. Then we have, Jake Cunningham on Bass and our new drummer Charlie Smith.

Seano Guitarist also Captain Sensible of The Damned guitar tech age 37

Charlie Smith Drummer age 27

Jake cunningham Bass player age 27

Dave greenshill age 13

Have you had other previous members? Yes, All the above & more.

Did you make music even when you were young?

When we started Rubella Ballet Sid was 19, Zillah 18, Pete Fender 14 & Gem 13. Sid & I had never played an instrument or sang through a microphone before. Sid had never played a drum kit in his life. He had spent years bashing his Nans knitting needles on the table, or posing with a plastic toy guitar whilst listening to Marc Bolan.

Pete Fender and Gem Stone are a different case they are the son & daughter of Vi Subversa of Poison Girls so they grew up in a band environment. Pete Fender was already a competent guitarist, which helped in composing music for Rubella Ballet. Pete Fender was also the Bass player in Fatal microbes and Gem was the drummer, they stopped Fatal Microbes when Honey Bane left.

Where are you from? At the time we formed the band we all lived in London & Epping @Poison Girls house. What year did the band form? 1979 What's your style of genre? Punk & Goth. There was a time when we became part of a group of punk/goth bands mainly on the Anarchy punk scene described on the front pages of the music paper NME as “Positive Punk” We have also been classed as in a genre of our own day-glo punk. What inspires you? Life, death, everything brings us inspiration but I think we usually have a political view on our subject.

How often and where do you reherse? Now we rehearse in Birmingham as the other members of the band live there, its only Sid & Zillah in London. It’s cheaper to rehearse in Birmingham so we do a couple of rehearsals before a gig or tour.

How have you developed since you started with the music?

We were all very young when we started and we formed a band spontaneously for fun not as a profession we don’t make money we just cover costs. We continued because we love creating music and lyrics we have a lot to say. We also love gigs and tours meeting the audience and connecting with them in person is enriching to our lives we love it.

At first we just jumped on stage and performed using our instruments the best we could as we learned to improve our skills. The same for Zillah Minx the first time she heard her voice through a mike was when she jumped on stage to sing at a gig with an audience. The first gigs we made up as we went along. We then got the chance to rehearse at Poison Girls house as it was free and they had equipment we used it as often as possible. It really helped us to develop quickly along with the gigs we got on what seemed like a daily basis. People went out to gigs everyday so we were in great demand.

Loving music we were keen to improve our skills and try what ever styles we wanted to incorporate into our own punk music. We decided early on to heed the legendary words ‘any one can form a punk band’ so when we did we knew anything we can manage to create is our punk music. Simply because we were proud we had managed through punk to form a band, play gigs, make record, appear in music press on radio etc we created our own life through the band that was different to what was expected of poor working class kids like us.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band?

Sid is a qualified chef he was employed at 17 by celebrity chef Brian Turner at a celebrity restaurant in Mayfair in London’s west end. So he could have been a celebrity chef.

He is also the drummer in Flux of Pink Indians, Neu Smell on CRASS records & X-Ray Spex at the Roundhouse.

Sid continuously composes music including dance music, making records during the rave scene with the track Doet on Spiral Tribe first release & as the creator of Xenophobia, with MC Scallywag of Spiral Tribe fame & Zillah on vocals. Sid had a hit record with Xenophobia number one in the dance charts with ‘Rush In The House” Sid has also had music commissioned for adverts.

Zillah loved designing and making her own clothes so she was interested in a career doing that. She was about to start university to take a law degree; She wanted to be a punk Judge. Then when she met Sid they both decided to do what they both wanted to do be punks go to gigs and play music in their own band. As the band doesn’t pay the rent Zillah also worked as a manager in a disabled and disadvantaged peoples charity, she helped to set up. She was also the legal advisor, fundraiser at Women Against Sexual Harassment, giving advice to women & a few men about what to do if sexually harassed at work. She also returned to University and got a BA 2.1 upper division in Communications & Audio Visual Production studies.

Zillah is the producer, director of a documentary about women in Punk ‘She’s A Punk Rocker U.K.“ Sid was the editor, we did all the work ourselves without funding. We bought and taught ourselves how to use all the broadcast quality equipment.

We are also supporters, attending demo’s or playing benefits, of many issues such as animal rights, feminism, homeless people, anti war, etc.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that?

When we started in 1979 we didn’t know any booking agents. As we are punks on the punk scene it was easy to get gigs as they were every night and everyone went. A lot of members of the audience as well as the bands would organise and promote our own gigs. Since then we have always booked our own gigs. Usually promoters come to us and we agree a deal together. We like to do it this way as we have total control & can ask for ticket price to be low and invite local bands to support us.

We could do with more international enquiries, maybe we need a booking agent we always appreciate and investigate offers.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? When we record our new stuff we usually release on Overground records. They have a good distribution network and are a good punk label. They let us record what we want and if they can afford it let us add, lyric books, downloads, cd’s or colour vinyl & sleeves.

What made you decide to make this music? We were punks at a punk gig when we got onstage to perform after anyone in the audience was invited onstage by CRASS to perform. So what we did was by definition punk attitude to get on stage and do something we had never done before. We played whatever sounds we could get from our instruments and vocals, so punk music.

What are your songs about? Life, love & fantasy we cover politics, animal rights, workers rights, mother earth, water rights, global warming, conspiracy theories, 9/11, homelessness, mental health, war, Illuminati, Anonymous, feminism, space travel, unemployment, we write about anything we want. Usually it is something that means a lot to us we don’t like to see suffering and injustice in the world so we are very vocal about our questions & opinions.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics?

Zillah Minx & Sid Truelove write lyrics separately and together.

Sid composes all the music.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics?

We have done both, sometimes I have written lyrics with a melody in mind so I sing it to Sid and he will compose music.

Often Sid has composed a number of riffs and I will fit my lyrics to the composition

Do you compose in a certain environment? Usually at home, but it used to be at the rehearsals or recording studio.

Have you done any covers live? Batman original 1960’s music & theme tune. We used to perform it as our opening song we thought it reflected our young age and love of all things in comic’s especially super heroes we associated them with punks. They looked different from everyone else and where misunderstood.

What language do you sing in? English, we love other languages, but none of us could compose a good song in another language. We listen to a lot of other music in other languages such as bhangra and punk music from Europe and anywhere else it doesn’t always matter about the language the music and melody can be strong enough to connect with us.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs?

Least 50

Most 5000 Scream USA

What ages are most of your concert attendants?

I’m happy to say we get more girls attending one of our gigs than usual punk gigs quite a few girls are very young age 18 -28. I always notice them as they usually colour their hair, have a lot of piercings and tattoos and wear their own colourful punk or Goth style clothes.

Everyone else is the usual Punks and gig goers of all styles from young to middle age. Punks have always been inclusive so we get a great variety of ages and styles.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We started in 1979 so every time we released a new record we would incorporate the new into the established set. We have done this for some years and we still do it now. We play a mix of old and new songs.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? Not any more, so many venues in London have closed down due to gentrification and social cleansing of traditional working class areas. The most regular event we play is now Rebellion punk music festival.

What was your first gig like? Impulsive, chaotic, fun like a lot of friends at a youth club messing about and having a creative time that turns into something magical for those participating both in the music and audience.

What was your latest gig? Rebellion Punk music festival we played to 2000 people in the Opera House. Over 10,000 people go to the festival every day.

Have you had to cancel a gig? Yes a year ago we had a phone call the night before our gig from a member of the band saying our drummer had been arrested. We waited for him to get out the next day in time to get to London for the gig. He never contacted us again so we had to cancel the gig and the one the next day & get another drummer. We lost a lot of money we had spent on rehearsals, equipment and travel and it put us back months as we searched for a new drummer, did auditions and rehearsed with different drummers.

Where have you played live this year?

Our first gig of the year was AWOD, A Winter Of Discontent. We played on the Sunday, which was a tribute day for Vi Subversa of Poison Girls who died the year before. It was a very moving event I could barely hold back my tears as I reminisced with the audience about my times living in her house with Poison Girls and playing gigs with them and CRASS.

Also we played at Rebellion Punk Music Festival.

Where do you plan to gig the coming year? Milan & Bologna, Italy, London, Rebellion Festival and America.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale?

When we released Ballet Bag was our first merch in 1982.

We have vinyl record, CD’s, T-shirts, DVD’s, badges, patches & various fluorescent nail varnishes, make up jewellery.

Where can people buy your merchandise? Now we sell on rubellaballet/bandcamp.com

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now days? Everyone does it if we can get anything for free that’s what happens no one wants to pay for music downloads. The upside is people buy vinyl again and merch at gigs so we have to adapt if we want to keep going.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It’s harder to sell music to make money.

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? I don’t know if it will help I usually reply to all people who ask for interviews some have millions of readers some are online with few viewers. I have never had any interviews that have suddenly led to a massive peak in sales. The only time I noticed a lot of response to an article was when Dangerous minds reviewed my film documentary ‘She’s A Punk Rocker U.K which was on YouTube for free and 50,000 people watched it within a month.

Do you have any role models or idols? No I’m one of those punks who believe there are no idols, just bands you like.

Why do you think that they exist? Because other people put them there, it’s the mainstream media who constantly bombard us with this idea of who we should idolise. Today’s society tends to have them to keep people in line to do what is expected of them.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? When we started our inspiration was the punk and Goth bands playing at the time, we have adapted as new music styles have come onto the scene but mainly we do our own thing as punks we don’t care if you don’t like what we do but it’s more awesome for us if you do like it as we try to be our own style of authentic, genuine, punk, Goth music.

What have been your biggest obstacles? Money, we have no help we do everything ourselves. So for instance in the past and to some extent even today, If we are asked to play say Italy we would be expected to get there ourselves and hope to be paid enough to cover our expenses such as hire of van, petrol and the fare across the sea to the country. We often did not have enough money to play lots of the gigs we were invited to play.

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Be yourselves and appreciate what you have. Be helpful to other bands.

How do you get psyched for a gig? I don’t have time before a gig, I usually drive us to the gig then get all the equipment out and carry it in then we also have to get out and set up our black lights so we are too busy setting up the gig to get psyched. The only thing I try to do is be alone or art least not talk with too many people before the gig as I like to go over the lyrics in my head before the set so I prefer to talk after our set. I get psyched on stage during the set the audience response is what counts.

Do you have any new material?

Yes, we released our new album ‘Planet Punk’ in 2013 so that had 13 new songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M9fLxfW-hI

Rubella ballet, John Peel sessions can now be heard on vinyl, released on an American label. Dark entries. Our first release, ‘Ballet Bag” was nine tracks on a cassette in a bag with a lyric book, badge and poster. It has been re digitised and released on vinyl in U.S.A with extra tracks from our John Peel sessions.

http://www.darkentriesrecords.com/store/vinyl/rubella-ballet-ballet-bag-lp/#tab-description

We are also now recording a new vinyl album ‘Danger of Death” set for release in 2018 so that will be another ten new songs.

What are your web sites?

https://rubellaballet.bandcamp.com/

http://www.rubellaballet.com/

https://www.facebook.com/rubellaballet/

https://www.youtube.com/user/sidandzillah/videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LbA6wQ3PVA

How can people reach you? At any of our address or e-mail [email protected]

What are your plans for the future?

We are recording our new album ‘Danger of Death out in 2018.

Gigs in Italy

America, ‘Near Dark’ Festival California, Sept 2018.

Dublin Castle, Camden, London https://www.facebook.com/events/140798263266445/

Rebellion Punk Music Festival, August 2018 .

https://www.facebook.com/RebellionPunkMuskFestival/photos/a.10150100070380880.280594.11349800879/10155016538390880/?type=3&theater

Zillah Minx will also be touring, taking workshops and Q & A when screening her film documentary ‘She’s A Punk Rocker U.K’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHFRHEUL5Tc

For info on the documentary, I made with no funding about punk women by punk women.

https://www.facebook.com/shesapunkrockeruk/

I am producing & directing a new documentary about punk women of the world. It takes me a long time because I have no funds and do it in my spare time with Sid filming & editing at home.

Do you have something to add?

Thank you for taking an interest in Rubella Ballet and asking us such interesting questions. I hope you and everyone else enjoys the read and comes to a future gig or get in touch with us on any of our sites we are DIY. We do not have an agent or publicist we do all our own gig bookings and everything else involved with being in a punk band. We will get back to you

on all our social media sites as we are the only ones monitoring and replying to you. Thanks to everyone for supporting us over so many years.