Jean MacDonald, Erin Gately and Natasha Roe are multi-instrumentalists who banded together to have fun making music. Jean and Erin attended Ladies Rock Camp in 2008 and chose guitar and bass respectively. The camp was successful in bringing them together and helping them move from traditional folk music towards rock and roll. After a few more camps, lessons and a near death experience, they decided to form a band. Jean’s sister-in-law joined as drummer and quickly found the groove. The trio quickly began to write songs and build their repertoire. Ignite, the debut EP by Ruby Calling, was the result of the three Portland, Oregon women getting together every week over the course of several years to make music and rock out. Each song has its own story:
Crow Girl: The Crow Girl is a recurring character in books by Canadian author and musician Charles DeLint. She acts silly most of the time but shows up when you need her. Super-secret liner note: there are actually two Crow Girls in the DeLint books but the song emerged with only one.
Level Up: The geek girlfriend’s lament, inspired by Jean’s own experiences with college boyfriends who would stay up all night playing Dungeons & Dragons instead of, well, paying attention to their girlfriend. This song was originally written during the October 2010 session of Portland Ladies Rock Camp, when Erin, Natasha and Jean were joined by Peggy (Jean’s sister who played bass) and formed a band for the weekend called Cupcake Coalition.
Ignite: A tribute to Ani DiFranco, Erin’s favorite musician, who always tells it like it is; written as part of the 2012 RPM Challenge.
Some Days: The majority of the lyrics of this song were written in the middle of a run. It is meant to be a kick in the pants to get out there and exercise.
The Patio: For years Erin clipped out photos of patios and dreamed of relaxing on them. Then she had a patio epiphany and realized she really wasn’t interested in sitting still. This song is about being ok with that.
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