‘I just feel we need music and we need togetherness’

It’s been a “pretty mega” year for Cavan’s Ria Rua and her band already, and it’s still only February.

Her album SCAPE G.O.A.T launches at the end of the month (Friday, February 27 ) followed by an almost sold-out tour of Ireland and the UK.

“I’m nervous but I’m super excited at the same time,” she says, speaking to the Celt.

“What an amazing thing to experience in one’s life, to release an album,” muses the Mullagh based artist.

SCAPE G.O.A.T refers to those in power who, by Ria Rua’s reckoning, are the G.O.A.T when it comes to shirking responsibility.

Singer Ria Rua is joined on the album by her band, including co-producer and bass guitarist Chris Schuette and drummer Chloe Corcoran Hanlon.

To promote SCAPE G.O.A.T, they’ll embark on a six date tour starting at Dublin’s Whelan’s on February 26, before playing Galway, London, Cork, Belfast and Brighton over the following month. They also have a few festival lined up for this summer, however details remain under wraps for now.

The upcoming tour gained momentum organically, and while the journey wasn’t what the talented singer expected, she says it’s shaping up to be “actually amazing.”

Having reached out to promoters, Ria Rua admits the initial response was disappointing.

“I was a bit upset for a few days and then I re-grouped and said, ‘Do you know what? Let’s just do it ourselves.’”

In hindsight, she believes it “worked out for the best” as the tour is now fully “artist-led” and allows her and the band to have full creative control.

She believes this alternative route is more “personal” and has opened the door to do things she otherwise may not have been able to.

After a putting out a call out on social media to people who may be “struggling” and “can’t afford” to come to see her perform, she has generously added them to the guest list, free of charge.

Its somewhat karmaic then that when Ria Rua announced pre-orders for a vinyl version of her album, she happily reports they received “so many” in return.

“Kindness doesn’t cost anything,” she says humbly.

“The world is crazy at the moment and I just feel we need music and we need togetherness.”

On the flip side, there has been some last-minute details which had to be taken care of. Out on a walk in the Cavan countryside recently, Ria Rua “realised” she needed support acts. There and then, in a video with trees swaying in the background, she posted again on social media. Queue 367 responses- more days than there are in a year- and just like that, after replying to each and every one, Ria Rua had her support acts.

The “DIY” version of her tour “really connects you with the people” she has learned, a theme that keeps pace with her own music which focuses very much on “lived experience”.

“I’m learning about all the different parts of the music industry so I think you’re better equipped for when you’re not doing it yourself. When it becomes a bigger thing you understand what people are saying, rather than just having no opinions, because I don’t think that’s ever been my forte anyway.

One song in the 10 track album which catches the Celt’s attention is ‘Bitchshemian Rhapsody’.

Where did the name come from? Bitch, Bitchshe, and Bitchshemian were thrown out in the air, before ‘Bitchshemian Rhapsody’ earned top place, the singer songwriter informs.

It has no direct connection to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, though she adds the latter is “such an iconic song that of course it’s in some ways connected but not exactly. It’s more of a comedy thing.”

About “getting out of a bad situation”, the song begins with a haunting call ‘My life is so empty’, while the response echoes ‘You mean empty like you’ to an electric rock backing track.

It’s angry and powerful, with the voice of someone who survived a bad situation.

Meanwhile the chorus lifts with comedic notes, specifically the lyrics ‘I want to legally dump you in a ditch’.

“That’s not legal,” Ria Rua quickly verifies, who often opens her shows with this song as she feels it “sets the tone” for what’s to come.

“The whole album for me is about female power and sticking up for yourself, surrounding yourself with the right people and having equal rights.

“At the end of the day this is a protest album, for a lot of shitty stuff that’s in the world right now. I want them [audiences] to be empowered to live their life on their terms and not on anybody else’s terms. That’s what I would like to happen.”

Ria Rua gives a special mention to everybody who has helped her get to this point.

“It’s been incredible, it takes so many people to actually get here. You never do it alone.”

Ria Rua’s SCAPE G.O.A.T will be released on Friday, February 27.

The tour kicks off in Wheelan’s in Dublin on Thursday, February 26, before making their way to Roísín Dubh in Galway on February 28, The Windmill in London on March 2, Fred Zeppelins in Cork on March 5, the Banana Block in Belfast on March 28 and The Hope & Ruin in Brighton on April 8.