The alternative world is full of colourful characters. By its own definition people who don’t conform to societal norms make up its population. Many of those people are creatives too, they lean towards music, art and often their free thinking is both chaotic and coveted. So when the opportunity to talk to just such a person, Ruby Rumsey, came up we jumped at the chance. Here she talks to Gary Trueman about her life playing guitar for punk and rollers Bite Me, and how it was that she also became a cam girl.
Let’s talk about the music side of your life first. How did you first get into music and what did your early listening sound like?
“I’d say when I was about 14, and it seemed old now but at the time I thought this was new stuff. I had friends at the time like Estee (Bite Me bass player) who started listening at 11. I didn’t even know that rock existed because I thought the only stuff around was the stuff on the radio. Then I started getting into it. I was into Green Day for a while. Guns N Roses too, then it just kind of got heavier from there. I did get into Duran Duran when my dad showed me them when I was about 15.”
So more recently, who are you a fan of now?
“Well, Nova Twins, I absolutely love them. Supernova is such a good album. I saw them with my two sisters, I got my sisters into them, about three years ago in Brighton, and it was such a good show. I saw them again opening for Muse. Anthrax I love. It’s a bit of fun.”
That’s a bit of a change up from Nova Twins, but they are another fusion band aren’t they?
“I love Anthrax, my boyfriend showed me them and I was like, I don’t know about this but wait let me listen to them. He showed me Testament before and it took a minute to appreciate them. With Anthrax he kept saying they’re a party band and I listened to them a bit more and do you know what – they are a party band. They’re fun and different to other thrash bands, that’s why I like playing them on guitar. And I love Joey Belladonna too.”
Speaking of guitars when did you first pick one up and start playing?
“Basically when I got into Guns N Roses because I thought Slash was really cool. My mum got me an acoustic from a charity shop. I was playing the right chords and getting frustrated because it didn’t sound right. My step dad came in and said it’s not in tune. I didn’t understand you had to tune it. When I got decent about a year later my mum got me my first electric. I was sobbing because it was so fucking cool. I plugged it in for the first time because I’d never played through an amp before, and it was so loud. I was so happy. I still have that guitar. It’s really beaten up but I love it.”
A lot happened for you around the age of 14 then really.
“Yeah, it’s when I started wearing eye liner and dying my hair and stuff.”
What do you play now, what guitar did you bring along for the shoot?
“I have about seven guitars. I have my BC Rich Warlock for the shoot. She’s beautiful. I call her Belladonna after Joey. I also play keyboard. I don’t play piano in the sense that I know what to do with my feet. I like messing around on drums and I like doing demos on my laptop. I want to get more shit done like that. I’d like to do a side band Depeche Mode kind of thing where I can do my singing. There’s no time at the moment though.”
You’re in a band called Bite Me and we have spoken to the band a while back. It’s kind of a punk n roll band isn’t it? You’re almost to punk rock what Anthrax are to thrash. Is that a fair thing to say?
“I would say so. Jess our drummer would agree and Robin would as well.”
We ought to mention Robin Guy too because his passing was a huge shock. For readers who don’t know Robin was Jess’s husband and also a drummer probably best known for his work in Sham 69. So how is Jess now, and the band too?
“Well we’re keeping an eye on Jess and everyone’s keeping in contact so we are all looking after each other. It’s weird because it still doesn’t feel like it’s happened. It was weird how it happened. We love you Robin, always will.”
With the band, you’ve got a new singer and you’re playing Rebellion. You must be looking forward to playing in Blackpool again at that festival?
“Yes! We’ve already booked our hotel. We’re going to make a proper time of it this year instead of like usually we’d have to rush off after just the day. We’re very excited to bring Kit our new singer to the Rebellion masses.”
She sounds like a great fit for Bite Me.
“She’s brilliant and everybody knows her as well. People say things like oh I remember her from years ago when she was opening for this guy or that band. No one has a bad thing to say about her.
Moving on from the music side of your life we ought to talk about what you do for a living which should be very interesting. You work as a cam girl. How did that happen? How did you become a cam girl?
“Oh that’s a good question. I was on Twitter when I was about 19 and some guy had seen, nothing filthy, a picture of me, and he asked if I would sell him videos. I was like, fuck off, you’re bullshitting. He sent me like a hundred quid, and then another hundred in the space of like 20 minutes. I was like, sweet. Then I came across someone on Facebook, my friend Sailor and she talked to me about being a cam girl. And I thought I could probably do that. It sounds easy enough. I never thought maybe I shouldn’t, I just do things, I don’t really think things through. I quit being a carer which I’d done for a few months and spoke to my mum about it. I said I’d spoken to a friend and blah blah blah. I didn’t have a laptop and my mum was like, I have one, don’t let me hear you, use the spare room. She said so long as you make money. I came down in the morning and she was like, go on then, how much did you make? And I think it was like 200 (dollars) for an hour. She was like, fuck off! I was like yes, I think I can do this. I was moved out within two weeks.
So your parents are broadly supportive then?
“My dad doesn’t know.”
He will do if he reads this.
“Hahaha, oh my god! He doesn’t really have Facebook.”
He doesn’t do the internet?
“No, which is good.”
Your mum is obviously supportive though.
“Yeah, my mum is like, go make some money.”
The thing is a lot of people will pooh pooh what you do but working online is actually really safe isn’t it?
“Yes it is but also people thinking that are actually just being stupid and misogynistic. They don’t actually care about the real issues like safety. They care that you’re selling a body. Aren’t we all selling our bodies to the man? Like somebody who works a nine to five for ten pounds an hour is selling their body much more than I’m selling my body because I’m making a hundred dollars an hour.”
No doubt some of the people that criticise you and what you do are still the people that would view the kind of material you put out.
“Oh definitely, it always is.”
Is it like photography where there are certain levels that models will work to and that is stated when you are looking to work together. So are there things, levels if you like that you will and won’t do?
“Every cam girl will have personal things they won’t do. If I do certain things I’ll charge extra for them. There are things I will definitely never do, like obvious things.”
What are your future ambitions. Where do you see yourself in a few years, or are you always living for the moment?
“I would like to get on a roll with the fetish clip site things I’ve been doing for a few months. I want to get it off the ground so I don’t have to cam for like a month if I don’t want to. It’s like a passive income so you can go on holiday for a month and still earn. I still have to find my niche. Cam I don’t really think about it, pay the rent, drink some beer, party. Band wise, an album or an EP. We’ve got to get some stuff out. I’d like to get back in the studio, and also do another music video with Kit in this time and get Kit’s vocals on the singles at least.”
You moved recently. How did that go?
“Oh I’m so tired. There’s so much room and I’m so happy. The living room is so chill, there are LED lights everywhere. I’m going to get my guitars on the wall soon. I had like a studio before and this is a one bedroom flat.”
If you could go back in time and give a 13 year old Ruby one piece of advice what would you say? That’s just before so much happened for you.
“That’s a really hard question. I immediately thought stop drinking so much, but I love drinking. Keep practicing guitar. I would have liked to have learned more sooner.”
Interview and photos by Gary Trueman