Singers link up with producers all day, every day.
Even in the moments it’s taken you to click this link and open this feature, at least 30 singer/producer collabs have been agreed to in DMs and inboxes around the world. Business as usual. Standard procedure.
But the combination of Ruth Royall and Nookie is a singer/producer collab that exceeds the usual link-up process and needs exploring and documenting. It does so for various reasons…
Firstly, it’s the fusion of new-gen and pioneer. Ruth is at the very forefront of the new league of singer-songwriters in drum & bass who are carving their own path and making sure singers are no longer just seen as featured artists, or go uncredited as so many did for years in the past.
Meanwhile Nookie is one of the primary pioneers. As we discussed with him in our extensive Origins interview last year, Gavin Chueng is a verified forefather who helped draw up the blueprints for the deeper, soulful and more musical side of jungle drum & bass.
To add to this forefront / forefather fusion is the fact that the collabs were done anonymously online. Ruth had no idea she was writing and singing vocals for a stone cold legend while Nookie was unaware of how explosive Ruth’s profile was becoming at the time.
Completely unwittingly, these conditions led to a perfect storm that has so far resulted in upwards of 10 songs together that range from soulful D&B to gospel house. Many of these creations will appear on Nookie’s forthcoming Metalheadz album, giving Ruth centre stage on one of the most anticipated D&B LPs of the year, but it started last week on Over Shadow with Love Less Chaos.
Two talents, two generations, one shared musical ethos that’s triggered an exciting and hugely prolific workflow that spans over 30 years of jungle history. Singers and producers link up all day, every day, but connections like this are like gold dust. Here’s how the whole thing went down…
How did you both link up and start collaborating?
Nookie: We met on a website!
Ruth Royall: (laughs) It’s so funny! I was working on Soundbetter, doing freelance writing for people and sessions and he got in touch. We were working together but he signed all of his messages as Gavin.
This must have gone on for well over a year and I had no idea who he was. I said to my manager, ‘This guy Gavin is really good! I like all of his stuff!’ He talked about releasing it and I said I’d be up for that, so he emailed my manager and signed his email Nookie. I was like, ‘Wow!’
Nookie: I’ve found collaborating with people quite challenging sometimes so I thought I’d give the website a try and found Ruth. When I heard her demos I thought, ‘Yeah she’s amazing.’ I knew she was into drum & bass, but I didn’t want to be like, ‘Oh yeah I’m Nookie, I’ve been in the drum & bass scene all these years blah blah blah.’ I wanted to go in totally anonymously and see what she came up with so there’s no pressure. She can do what she wants, and we’ll see how it feels. It worked out so well.
Ruth Royall: It let the music do its thing in a really nice organic way and it was stuff I as enjoying because the music was so good. So there was no pressure at all, just really genuine.
Nookie: Yeah none of this, ‘We’re working towards this release,’ or label pressure. None of that at all. Just literally – see what you can do. And, on top of that, working with Ruth is so easy. Give her the music, she writes to it so naturally. I don’t have to do much at all with the vocals – she knows when things come in, the breakdowns and intros. She clearly loves the music and is incredibly talented.
Amazing. The anonymity factor is great. Nookie did you know much about Ruth’s work at all? And Ruth would it have been a different scenario had you known it was Nookie you were working with?
Nookie: I saw she’d done some stuff with Hospital and some other labels so I knew she was into the drum & bass but I hadn’t heard of her before.
Ruth Royall: It was a quite a while ago, so I hadn’t developed the profile I have now. But in terms of whether it would have influenced the collaboration or the process, one of the things I’ve always thought going into any collaboration is just to be nice and focus on the music. But in honesty I’d have probably been really nervous!
Nookie: It worked out really well in the end and we’ve done nine or 10 tracks together now, including a soulful house thing and some slower tempo stuff. Most of it will be on my Metalheadz album.
We need to hear this soulful house tune!
Ruth Royall: It’s been amazing to be able to do proper gospel vocals. It’s hard to do that on D&B stuff because of the tempo. D&B is great to belt things out over, but when it’s around the breaksy house level of tempo there’s more room to do those type of vocals.
Nookie: I’ve always been quite musical and used a lot of strings and pianos which lend themselves to the gospel style as well. Drum & bass can be musical, and there’s some great musical stuff out there by guys like Makoto, but it’s not as musical as sometimes I want it to be. I’ve always been into that soulful sound, especially with my Cloud 9 stuff.
Nookie you were an early champion of vocals and brought that influence to D&B in a big way. You pursued another career for a while and have come back and there’s this whole new generation of great songwriters and singers, which Ruth is at the forefront of – how do the two eras compare?
Nookie: You’re right – I’ve always loved vocals and there’s always been some great vocalists in D&B Cleveland Watkiss, Jenna G, Diane Charlamagne. But the music and the industry has definitely matured and there are a lot more professional songwriters and singers like those original guys I just mentioned. Back in the day things were a lot looser – and sometimes it worked, other times it didn’t.
Ruth I was going ask what the difference was between working with new gen-artists and a pioneer but I guess because these collaborations were anonymous, maybe that’s not so easy to answer?
Ruth Royall: I think on a musical level it was very different. It was like working with a band, Nookie’s beats are that musical, you know? Also, there was much less attention and emphasis on the drop. A lot of modern drum & bass, which I totally love as well, has a particular form and style where I fit into the tune and you don’t sing over the drop or anything like that. It’s a lot more like topline writing. But with Gavin it was real songwriting, so there was a big difference in that way.
Nice. So it sounds like you’ve got a huge body of work together. Were they all written in those months running up to lockdowns?
Nookie: They carried on throughout lockdowns as well because my other business was affected by the pandemic, so I was doing a lot more writing. That’s when we started working more together.
Ruth Royall: it was really consistent and you kept apologising like, ‘Sorry I got another tune here, are you up for working with me on it?’ I was like, ‘Yeah! Bring it on!’
Nookie: It was building a very nice and natural progression. I’m not signed to any labels, I’ve done that whole exclusive singing thing and I wasn’t very comfortable in those type of professional relationships.
I fell out of love with producing for a while and it was so much pressure and stress to create releases on timeframes. So, with this, I did what I wanted to do and wrote what I wanted to make. If anyone else likes it, it’s a bonus. That’s the mentality I had. Before you had to make a track to please people in clubs – make it dancefloor friendly, make it easy for the DJ to mix. Nah forget that. I want to make music I want to make. That’s all the matters to me. Artists should please themselves first and anything else after that is great.
Nice. So totally pressure off, just having fun and seeing where the creative process takes you.
Nookie: Yeah, and the lockdown helped and pushed that mentality. There was no pressure and there were more important things happening in the world out there.
I was going to ask if you’d done any sessions in real life, but maybe not?
Ruth Royall: We literally met for the first time a few weeks ago. Gavin had a gig in Bristol so we said we should meet up and get some shots done. We did the coldest shoot I’ve ever done and I ended up hosting his set. Before that we’d never actually met before.
Nookie: We got on really well and it felt like we’d known each other for ages. These things can be a bit awkward, but it was cool.
Amazing. So all this starts on Over Shadow. A very natural fit with your legacy in mind, Nookie…
Nookie: Yeah. I’ve known the Over Shadow boys since our teenage years, before music. I knew Rob Playford when I was working in Red Records before he started Moving Shadow. I’ve always stayed in touch with Simon and Shaun. When they started the Over Shadow project it was a very natural connection and decision to make to release the first single together wit them.
How about the album? It sounds like we can expect a huge variety on the album and Ruth is the guiding vocal that brings t all together and focus?
Nookie: Totally. Ruth makes the album! Trust me. I love all those tracks, I can’t stop listening to them. We did them 12 – 18 months ago and still love those tracks now. To answer when it’s going to be released, that’s the million dollar question! There have been delays with pressing plants but it’s got a catalogue number so hopefully it will be this summer.
Can we expect more shows together? And how did the last show go?
Ruth Royall: It was so much fun!
Nookie: It was great. A proper crazy little club. Hopefully we can do more in future.
Ruth Royall: Definitely. And I’m especially looking forward to performing some of the slower tempo stuff. That will work so well live – that’s how it’s supposed to be and how you’re meant to hear it. The crowd really connected with that and the energy was great.
So that’s how people can hear this for now? At shows?
Nookie: Exactly yeah. Goldie wants to hold them down and he’s been showing off the tunes in his Instagram videos. Ray Keith’s been playing some bits on his radio show as well, he’s been giving us some good feedback and I trust him as a critic. So you might hear something special in his sets too and other than that, stay tuned.
What else is coming up?
Nookie: An album is enough to be coming out from me but I know Ruth’s got lots of exciting things.
Ruth: I have! I’ve got my first single called New Ride on April 1, which is an independent release and I’ve been working on loads of stuff. I’ve been working on production and co-production things. Some labels, some independent release and I’d say more explorations of a more jungle-influence sound. So yeah, loads coming.
Sick! So final question… What’s the most important ingredients for a good song writing session when everything gels and magic happens?
Nookie: We’ve been doing the perfect session since it started. That’s how it worked so well. Giving Ruth the music and letting her be creative and do what she wants and that works so well. If we end up in the studio together who knows? We might end up killing each other!
Ruth Royall: Haha. For me, attitude is so important. Leave you ego at the door and let the music do its thing. That’s the best environment to write in and serve the song as much as you can and don’t make it about you. Everyone gets excited then, excited about the music and excited about the creative process and that’s the most important thing.
Nookie & Ruth Royall – Love Less Chaos is out now on Over Shadow
Follow Nookie: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
Follow Ruth Royall: Instagram / Facebook / Soundcloud
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