Take it as Red

With a new single out last Friday (February 28) Ria Rua will release her debut album 'Scape Goat' later this year.

The day before releasing her new single 'Black and Tan', Ria also attended the première of psychological thriller 'The Surfer' directed by Lorcan Finnegan, and starring Nicolas Cage, in which her song 'Asking For It' is featured.

“It's kind of massive,” the Mullagh woman says modestly.

But it's only the beginning for alternative rock singer songwriter, who also produces and plays the drums.

She will play Phizzfest, the Phibsborough Arts Festival, as well as gigs in Cork before making her way to the sun, sea and sand of the Mediterranean Middle East and Cyprus this summer.

Along with bass player Chris Schuette and drummer Korey O'Byrne, Ria hopes to go on tour after the release of her album on June 13.

The album, and her music as a whole, is a kind of protest which speaks to breaking down societal norms and responding to current events in the world as she sees them.

As a neurodiverse person, Ria opens up about how she finds can find it “difficult” to watch injustices happening and not respond to them through her writing.

For Ria, her music focuses on concepts that “really matter” to her, with sexual expression and women's rights among the themes that often coming to the fore.

From Meath but now living on the Cavan side of the county border, she began writing in 2020, after which she released her first single entitled 'I Can't Sleep', a song about Donald Trump, or more so about a sleepless night she had thinking of Trump's actions and antics.

“I was just so angry with him and his absolute nonsense and I wrote that,” she says of the song. “I just wrote so many songs since.”

The album name 'Scape Goat' represents how those in power sometimes look for someone to blame when mistakes are made.

“A lot of the powerful people, the billionaires and stuff like that, they blame people.”

Of concern to her amid the current push for global position and power is the damage being done to “freedom and expression”.

Ria, who prefers to use her stage name, writes from the heart, which she also wears firmly pinned to her sleeve.

She’s open and chatty. She’s engaged and engaging.

Last week she sat down to write with social media on her mind, how it's “driving us apart” and “not fostering communities and not fostering friendships.

“Even though we are the most connected to people we've ever been through social media, I definitely feel the loneliest in everyday life.”

She accepts that her music is “not exactly positive” but states its more about getting a message across.

“The more people are seen and are connected, the nicer the world becomes,” she opines, giving the example of women's rights and empowerment, whereby the more people speak up “the more equal society is.”

In that respect Ria is trying to create a “movement” or “at least” join the movement of famous women before her, mentioning the likes of feminist rocker Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, whom Ria really admires.

“She's actually 71 and she's still releasing amazing new music at the moment,” enthuses Ria, who says there is “a hint” of rebellion in her own music, which she admits is “to the point” and “full on.”

Released in January her song 'I Love That For You' is one of her more “personal” and her “favourite” to date.

Streamed all over the world, the furthest being Tokyo, Ria says the response has been “pretty amazing”.

The song is a tribute to her younger days, when it was assumed she would “marry a local farmer”, something she now laughs at.

“I was never really that type of girl,” she says.

“You don't have to do what's expected of you. You can create your own path and your own journey and fight for your own dreams.

“That's what it's about, just going on your own path and doing what you need to do to enjoy life.”

Growing up, Ria says she “never thought” she wasn't fitting in.

“I never really got the social hues or what was expected of you, it was very natural for me to look like I was rebellious even if I wasn't trying to be.”

In her teenage years, Ria was struck by the notion of being told “you have to do this now”.

“I was like what? This is not what I signed up for,” she says.

In the song, refrains of “get a job”, “get a life” and “get a man, you'll need one” are whispered over angry tones, reminiscent of what Ria would have heard growing up.

“I was very much a tom boy, I have just always kind of been on the outskirts.

“I was never really ‘normal’, but I never really noticed that I wasn't until I got to be a teenager and people started telling me.

“It's a message to people, you don't have to do what's expected of you, you can find your own path and that's the best way to live your life really.”

Ria agrees that music helps her, and is heartened that it appears to be helping others too.

“The thing that I really enjoy about Ria Rua is inspiring younger women, if I had that when I was a teenager I think life would have been a lot easier, if I saw another female drummer in my local area or saw another female express herself freely.”

One of the “big things” that fulfils her is seeing girls and other women come up to her after gigs expressing their own interest in playing the drums, the guitar or writing music.

“That means a lot to me,” she shares. “I wouldn't do anything else, I don't think I could do anything else really.”