Having clocked up 100,000 miles on the road, Rue Royale are temporarily putting down roots to record their eagerly anticipated third album.The driven duo have ushered numerous tour vehicles into retirement since beginning their global adventure.
Three years after they married, in 2006 Ruth and Brookln Dekker started making music together in their then home city of Chicago, inspired by the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Radiohead, Grandaddy, John Martyn, Jose Gonzalez and Elbow.
The Anglo-American outfit earned their stripes on the Chicago music scene before selling most of their belongings and boarding a plane for Europe, armed with their instruments and self-titled 2008 debut LP, for their first out-of-town tour.
The road quickly became Rue Royale’s way of life – with chips and dents in their tour vans’ bodywork testament to over 600 shows in 15 countries.Meanwhile, without the backing of a manager and (until recently) a label, between tours the couple rustled up a cottage industry at their new home in Nottingham.
Together they printed, snipped, sewed and stuffed over 9,000 Rue Royale CDs, including 500 pre-orders for their second album ‘Guide To An Escape’ which they issued independently in 2011. Fans also warmed to the hand-made Rue Royale knitted goods (hot water bottle cover anyone?), bags and clothes that graced their merch stalls.
‘Guide To An Escape’ was picked up by Sinnbus who officially released it in March 2012. It retained the acoustic duo’s hushed, evocative melodies but was richer in sound and wider in scope, recorded at home following experimental sessions with producer Paul Pilot (who mixed the record) in London.
The album featured the single “Halfway Blind” which got repeat plays on BBC 6Music by the likes of Gideon Coe when released as a limited edition seven inch.Always on the move, the outfit collaborated again last year with Paul Pilot in pan-European project Guidebooks, stitching together organic electronica and classic free-spirited songwriting.
In November 2012, Rue Royale fans were treated to a very limited edition split cassette single, “Try As They Might”, with Dutch songwriter and friend Kim Janssen.And now to album number three – which is set to see the pair press pause on home recording and enter a bigger studio set-up for the first time.
“We’ve written a lot over the past year and it’s exciting!” Brookln enthuses. “The new songs feel fresh and lively. We’ve been working much more intuitively and have a lot of confidence in this batch of tunes.
Our releases so far have been home recordings which have been great fun. But we want to step up the quality and do real justice to our new material.”To realize their ambitions, Rue Royale are encouraging fans to help fund the new record through the successful Kickstarter model, with a number of pre-order options.
“We want to make the best album we can but are relying on the support of our loyal fans. It feels like a risk but it’s also exciting, and humbling, that people who like our music can play a big part in helping us create it,” says Brookln.
Whichever new direction the album takes, you can count on the fact that the journey will continue for Rue Royale, who are fitting in a UK tour in January/February before hitting the studio. That’s 101,946 miles and counting….
