Ruby Savage, DJ and founder of Don’t Be a Creep
Hi Ruby, how are you? Hope all is well. Thanks for taking time to speak to us at YMC. We love music at YMC; it’s integral to everything that we do. You work in the music industry, wearing a few different hats. Can you tell us a little bit about the things you do?
Hey, I’m good, thanks. Yeah, I love music too! Took a minute before it became my job though – I started off studying set design at the Dutch Film Academy but I’ve been working for independent record labels for the past decade now. I also DJ, host a monthly radio show on NTS, throw parties at VFD club in north London and generally spend most of my time listening to or, better yet, dancing to music.
Now you work at Gilles Peterson’s legendary record label Brownswood, right?
Yep, pretty legendary place to work at. I started there as label manager but with DJing taking off I’ve had to take a step back so now I’m head of Product Development which for the most part covers the manufacturing and visual direction of the label and releases. So I work closely with the team and artists to create the visual and physical elements for the album campaigns such as the artwork, photoshoots and music videos.
You grew up in Holland. How did you end up living in the UK?
My mum’s English so I’ve been coming here all my life to visit my fam but it wasn’t until my cousin suggested we meet up in Hoxton one day that I thought about living in London. That was about 15 years ago. It was such a mad moment; walking around Old Street and Shoreditch at that time I just felt this raw, uncut creative energy. I instantly loved it and knew I had to get in the mix. A year later I moved to east London to start an MA at Goldsmiths. Then I went to the best club I’d ever been to, Plastic People (RIP), which pretty much sealed the deal for me; I’d found my spiritual home. The area has changed a lot since but I’m still hanging in there.