OC Music Awards 2012: Mandie & Ruby Create Jazzy, Fun Acoustic Tunes

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ Ruby has sort of the same standpoint in music as I do...I listen to how she plays and then my singing influences her style sometimes and vice versa...We feed off each other really well. Finding a good writing partner is actually hard to do.
” Mandie from Mandie & Ruby Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“I met Mandie in high school, we were in this little punk rock/sort-of ska band. She was the singer and we wrote music all through high school,” said Ruby, one-half of Orange County acoustic-duo, Mandie & Ruby.

The pair, who have played together officially since October 2010, but have known each other for about nine years, were entered in the OC Music Awards based on the merit of their live performances at places like coffee shops, private events, and the Downtown Fullerton Art Walk and are thrilled by the crowd response.

Although the two have been in and out of other bands throughout their lifetime, the two hold down artistic day jobs (Ruby is a chef at Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33 and Mandie is a designer for her retro-styled clothing business Heartbreaker Fashion) and admit to having not connected so readily on the musical front with other people as much as with each other.

Mandie elaborated: “With Ruby, it’s really easy. She comes over. We drink a bottle of wine. It’s like, ‘Alright. Let’s write this. Let’s do this.’”

“Ruby gave me the opportunity to sing a different style,” Mandie continued, referencing her past singing career in “indie rock” group 1518. “I’m finding it’s much better suited to my style of voice. My style of singing. Ruby has sort of the same standpoint in music as I do…I listens to how she plays and then my singing influences her style sometimes and vice versa…We feed off each other really well. Finding a good writing partner is actually hard to do.”

“ I find myself very drawn to soulful music like the blues and jazz...I like reggae a lot too. Especially music that came out in the 1960s. I like vintage reggae as I like to call it.
” Although they are relatively new to the Orange Country music scene as a duo, both Mandie and Ruby have a lot of experience in music. Mandie has been taking private voice lessons since she was 11-years-old, went to an arts high school in Los Angeles, and majored in voice at Cal State Fullerton.

Ruby, who according to Mandie hails from Texas, said that both her and Mandie are jazz-trained and she has played music, in one form or another, since she was about 8-years-old. They both have similar musical tastes as well.

“I find myself very drawn to soulful music like the blues and jazz,” Mandie said. “I like reggae a lot too. Especially music that came out in the 1960s. I like vintage reggae as I like to call it.”

“I identify myself with a lot of old school reggae and jazz bands,” Ruby agreed, elaborating. “Just seeing videos from when I was younger of old jazz guitarists like Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery. That kind of inspired me to pick up that sort of style and I definitely like playing jazz and stuff like that.”

Mandie and Ruby’s live show consist of both covers and original songs. Mandie said that she treats covers as a way to introduce her friends and listeners to a song that they wouldn’t otherwise have heard.