EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Girgis signs Ruby Fields

Aaron Girgis, who manages Skegss and runs Sydney’s Sounds Of The Suburbs Festival, has signed Ruby Fields.

Speaking exclusively to The Industry Observer, Girgis said he’s known the 18-year-old Sydney artist for five years:

“Ruby has been hanging at my office [in Cronulla] since she was about 13. We have an art gallery attached to it that we run Sounds Of The Suburbs Festival out of too.

“She was one of the crew always painting and playing music down there; even when we didn’t have stuff on she would be hanging out […] I probably knew years ago I was going to manage her but she had to learn to grow on her own and find her music.”

TIO can also reveal Fields has locked in Select Touring as her booking agency. Select’s Casey O’Shaughnessy, who also books Skegss, is handling her bookings.

“I fell in love with a place Aaron created with his mates when I was about 13 and have been trying ever since to create music good enough to be under his management,” Fields told TIO.

“I couldn’t imagine doing it all with anyone else,” she added. “After meeting Casey and realising how lovely some people in the industry can be and also looking at the track-record of amazing artists select takes care of it would’ve been dumb to turn down.”

Casey O’Shaughnessy said: “Ruby Fields is such an exciting young talent with a voice that we think will resonate across a wide audience. I couldn’t be more excited to be welcoming her into the Select Music family.”

Fields uploaded her debut single ‘I Want’ to triple j Unearthed this morning and since then it’s been played over 600 times, downloaded over 1,500 times, and been given an average rating of four-and-a-half stars.

triple j’s Zan Rowe penned a review of the track on the Unearthed page, it reads: “Big, fist pumping slice of heartfelt indie here. More please, Ruby?”

triple j Unearthed announcer Dave Ruby Howe said: “Yessss this is powerful! One song in and I’m already convinced that we’re going to be hearing a lot of good stuff from Ruby.”

Fields said the track is about “the concept of a Japanese anime TV show with a schoolgirl that tackles day-to-day issues like crushes and school work by day and becomes a warrior princess by night.”

“The best thing about Ruby is she doesn’t even own a phone, What 18-year-old doesn’t own a phone?!,” said Girgis. “So she only checks the computer maybe twice a day, she had no idea what was going on ’til maybe 2pm.”

Girgis said the swift uptake of ‘I Want’ is proof of triple j’s attentive and all-inclusive system:

“Bands hit me up every day they ask me how to get onto triple j and triple j Unearthed. I think what people don’t understand is that they do listen to every track that’s uploaded!

“If you go into the office it’s headphones on and they’re listening,” he added. “A prime example is Ruby she uploaded it then 30 minutes later it’s on their socials.”

TIO can reveal Fields is set to announce multiple festival bookings and show dates in the near future.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.