DJ RUBY – Jewel In The EDM Crown

This year’s Waveform line-up gets bigger and better with every day that passes, and the organizers and stage managers have been working their socks off to bring you the best bands and DJs from the UK and around the world. As a result of their graft, we are proud to welcome Reuben Grima, better known as DJ Ruby, from the Mediterranean island of Malta to the Waveform fold.
Parallel PR took the opportunity to grab a quick interview with the Maltese mixmaster to find out a little more than the bio tells us.

Parallel: Hi, Ruby. It’s good of you to take this time out from your busy schedule. Did you start your career in the bedroom like many DJs, and how old were you?

DJ RUBY: I was lucky enough to get gigs pretty much right away… I was the first DJ in Malta to launch House Music back in 1992 when I was still 15. I used to trick club owners by telling them that this was the music tourists wanted to hear… locals didn’t like it back then but it only took a few months to kick off and for various underground nights to start being hosted.

Parallel: In what kind of places did you get your earliest gigs?

DJ Ruby: I started off playing at the only 3 big clubs we had back then, but that was only for a short while, given they had a very mainstream music policy and I wanted to play underground! I then started to play at smaller underground parties and other small clubs that played house music and just started working my way up from there and pushing the underground scene.

Parallel: In Malta, you did a radio show for 14 years, tell us a little about it.

DJ Ruby: Yeah, I started off doing a regular weekly dance music radio show on one of Malta’s most popular radio stations back in 1995, in fact it was the first Underground Dance Music show in Malta. The show evolved over the years, until last year when the station decided to adapt a more mainstream music policy, so that was the end of that particular journey. I still host my monthly radio show on www.di.fm though... it’s on every first Friday of the month on the Techno Channel!

Parallel: For those who are fairly new to EDM, Malta isn’t the first place that comes to mind on the International calendar. When did the scene get going over there?

DJ Ruby: Make sure you change your perspective! Malta’s scene is solid & has been for years… Malta has the biggest dance music scene in the world when you take into account the percentage of loyal clubbers (more than 20,000) in a country of just 400,000 people… basically nearly all young people are into EDM! And that’s not counting the tourists that come every summer. Not even Ibiza has 20,000 local clubbers, their scene is done by tourists in summer only. Malta has a strong scene all year round!

Parallel: And for seasoned clubbers who haven’t tried Malta, what’s the scene like over there now?

DJ Ruby: It’s rocking! Renowned EDM artists play every week at big one off events… that’s in addition to various other big name DJs playing at weekly underground dance music club nights like Olympia, Cosa Nostra, Deep Society, Primetime and Gringos… we have it all. There’s also an elite team of very good DJs here… The Element, Carl Bee, Bengy, Tenishia, Lost Emotions, Miss Roberta, Audiofreak, Mato and obviously myself to name just a few.

Parallel: You’ve played with some of the top names in the wider Dance scene such as The Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim, and Paul Oakenfold. What’s the best gig you’ve played to date?

DJ Ruby: I had quite a few big gigs… the biggest in terms of crowd were playing to 9,000 people at Transmission Festival in Prague, 15,000 at Timewarp also in Prague… and twice for Isle OF MTV Malta for well over 50,000 people.

Parallel: You’ve played at festivals and clubs all over the world. Do you prefer the festival vibe, or the club crowd?

DJ Ruby: I would have to say clubs… you can play more underground and it provides a bit more of an intimate vibe… the bigger festivals tend to be more mainstream.

Parallel: What do you enjoy about playing the smaller festivals like Waveform?

DJ Ruby: I’m sure Waveform is going be awesome being a small festival... it’s like having a club vibe at a festival! Can’t wait!

Parallel: You’re also a prodigious recording artiste. Do you prefer the studio or the road?

DJ Ruby: The road! To be fair, producing whilst on the road, on planes at airports… and not just music, I’m also a film maker… so yeah, it’s music and video production while travelling around the globe.

Parallel: And finally, what does the future hold for DJ Ruby?

DJ Ruby: Certainly more international gigs, more productions as right now I’m releasing non-stop and getting even more into film making / visual art.

Thanks again for your time, DJ Ruby. We are looking forward to seeing you in person at Waveform, if not before, and we wish you every success in the years to come.

Words by Dex Flett (Parallel PR)
dex@parallelpr.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Parallel-PR/34168036863
www.waveformfestival.com
www.pureruby.com
www.facebook.com/djruby
www.fektivemanagement.com