Trust Your Mojo! That is what Bluebird & Skoko all about. The band conveys the spirit of deep sultry Chicago blues and rebellious rock ‘n roll energy into their album “Trust Your Mojo, Sista” which has been released in Cdbaby, Amazon and iTunes and also at the Omom Music . They create and play their music with their passion and luxuria of life, guided by the mysterious creature named “Mojo”. Music is their life and love is their food, spiced up with their fun, energy and unique background and personalities of Bluebird and Skoko themselves; their music is the genuine expression of what their hearts desire. So you better watch out!

Roberto “Bluebird” Ruggeri was born in Rome in 1956, grew up listening to all kinds of music particularly the deep country blues. He started picking up guitar at the age of 12, playing mostly rock-blues with some jazz influences with his former band. He performed as an opening band for Muddy Waters in the Italian tour. He also played with Dr. John (with whom he recorded one of his own songs), John Kalb, Bill Dicey, Alexis Korner, the Sun Ra Orchestra, and many more. His slow version of Johnny B. Goode received five stars from independent radio stations in USA. He also owns the Omom music label which released mostly surf/instro music.

Elena Skoko aka Sugar Babe is a very interesting, energetic and artistic woman and has long list of her artistic achievements. In 2008, Skoko and Bluebird started their own musical project. Her rockin’ yet sensual vocal and attitude suitly pair with the bluesy guitar of Rob “Bluebird” which creates intriguing nuance to their music. She has involved in the artistic world since she was young. In the early years, she started her career in the Italian indie punk rock music scene performing with her former band “CUT” all around Italy and abroad. In 2001, she founded a fashion label sugarbabe.org and last year, she released a book titled “Memoirs of a Singing Birth” in Bali. At present, she is a mother, designs clothes, makes music, writes poetry, and fascinated by photography, graphics and video.

We saw them for the first time at Jakarta Blues Festival 2010 where they gave such an electrifying Chicago blues with rebelious rock and roll and punk energy injected all over their songs. It was magnificent, totally entertaining and groundbreaking, we even still remember it crystal clear until now. What’s more interesting about them is that they are no strangers to Indonesia. They lived in Bali for quite some time even gave birth in there. “Bali’s got big mojo, strong magical creative energy.” said Skoko, and that made them decided to put Bali dancer along with the mystical energy surrounding it in their video clip, “Trust Your Mojo, Sista.” We were in contact through emails for an exclusive interview which you are about to read right now.

Listening to Bluebird and Skoko is ardourly exhilarating, you express your “mojo” into electrifying grooves of sultry blues and rebellious punk. Bluebird, could you tell us how did you fall in love with the blues at first time?
Bluebird: I was born in a record store my parents own back in 1956 when rock & roll started to shake the World. That music was all around me and my passion immediately started. The power was so incredible and different from the rest of the music that I felt in love with it at the first listen. I remember that I took a 6LP box set with all the old blues men such as Big Bill Broonzy, Champion Jack Dupree, Sonny Boy Williamson and others and I listened to that album thousand times mostly Sonny Boy and Big Bill Broonzy. They were so simple but so great! From that first step into the blues I sarted to search for all the artists who lived before them to understand the music. I read so many books on the history of the blues and many biographies and the blues step inside me. Years after I went to see Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, they had a show in a big festival in Italy and after the show I went backstage (it was in the mid 70s and everybody could walk to the backstage) and I simply asked Junior Wells if he could teach me how to play harmonica. He gave me his home address telling me to fly to Chicago. One year after so I did.

Could you explain a little bit about Chicago blues which you converge in. Whom are you inspired from?
Bluebird: Chicago blues..uhmmmm..it’s a long story. I wrote a book in 1982 with great interviews and lots of photos called Chicago Blues. To be short, Country blues went to Chicago and also all the other big northern cities and to be heard they had to play electric. Of course every city has a different style but Chicago Blues was the most influent one and all the greatest blues men went up there to find fortune. That’s when they changed the whole music.

Who inspired me..long list but here are few names from the blues to classical scene: Junior Wells, Dr. John, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Howlin Wolf, Walter Horton, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Irving Berlin, Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Harry Partch, Randy Newman, Tony Joe White, Dylan, Louis Jordan, Beatles, the Band, Frank Zappa and many more.

Skoko, how did you engage in indie rock scene at first place? Could you tell us a bit about your experience in the Italian indie punk rock (CUT band) before? Who inspire you for your music?
Skoko: I have been into alternative scene since I was a teenager in my home town in Croatia, I was listening Sonic Youth, Pixies, Violent Femmes, Iggy & The Stuggies, Ramones, Nina Hagen, Sex Pistols, Einsturzende Neubauten, Leibach, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil and others. When I went to the university in Italy, I met friends with similar tastes in music and attitude. In Bologna, the town where I was studying, there was a strong indie scene – many bands, clubs and a vibrant underground artistic movement in the ‘90s. A friend and colleague of mine invited me to form a band, so we did. He also introduced me to Lydia Lunch, Diamanda Gallàs, Jon Spencer, The X and many other artists. We started to rehearse and play around. We recorded a demo that was very well reviewed in the music magazines, and then we made a record and started to get amazing reviews in major music press. That helped us get gigs and play all around Italy and abroad. We also worked on our label Gamma Pop, with another friend and university colleague. It was fun, though hard work and little money. But, we didn’t care much, it was all very enthusiastic, I met so many people that are still my friends. It’s funny, as we were at the beginning as artist and musicians, so were young journalists and photographers. We grew up together and now, many of them are writing for famous magazines and they call me for interviews and articles.

How did you two meet anyway? Was the passion of the music brought you two closer?
Skoko: We met in the warung (stall) in Bali. We started to talk and realized we had lot of things in common. We were both working in fashion and we both had our roots in music, though in different ways. I was a punk rocker and Roberto a bluesman. We both quit the stage for years and dedicated our lives to clothes for some time. In the meanwhile, I was listening to lots of old blues, mostly female vocalist like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day, Peggy Lee. That sound was so in tune with my mood, it made me wish to sing the blues. It absorbed all my anger, so I wasn’t in the punk anymore, my voice has changed too. I was growing up, I guess. When I told Bluebird that I wanted to sing the blues, he said: “Really? I am a bluesman. Let’s do something together.”

How did you decide to blend punk and blues all together? Where did the idea come from?
Skoko: We didn’t really decide anything, it came to us spontaneously. We are very gutsy in our way of making songs, at least I am. We put ourselves into our songs and they reflect our background, our past and our present. I am not a schooled musician; I grew up on the stage and on the street. I am lucky to have met punk rock, where it doesn’t matter if you went to music school or not, what counts is that you have something to say, the knowledge and skills can come along. They do come, with chaos, fun and experience, not with sacrifice, pain and discipline. We found out our combination was working, we had a common ground, but also differences that were making our sound peculiar.

Listening to your songs, Skoko’s rockin’ vocal and Bluebird’s bluesy guitar embody the whole concept! Definately, “Trust Your Mojo, Sista” represents who Bluebird and Skoko are. “Girls Minds Are Tricky” so much represents the deep Chicago blues, it was like listening to Muddy Waters! Additionally, the folky “I’m an Angel” and the seductive sound of “This Soul is Mine” are totally unique.  I am wondering how did you manage to incorporate the blues side and the punk rock side into your music? Who wrote the lyrics? How did you two compose your songs? What inspired you in the process of making music? What is the concept of making your music?
Skoko: I can’t tell you all, but I can tell you one thing, many songs were written in bed.. Honestly, if you think too much you don’t make groovy songs. Since the beginning, we had fire inside and an irresistible urge to create. In fact, we made Koko, our daughter one year after we finished our album. So, you can say passion, or better “the mojo” is our guide. We study a lot, read, write and talk smart, but when we make music we forget about everything and concentrate on the creation. Everything has to fit, it has to be the right word, the right note, but I don’t “know” why it is right. It just is. Most of the times I write the lyrics, but we also do it together and Bluebird makes the music. Other times, Bluebird has a writing inspiration and I we finish it together.  Sometimes, I have a melody in my mind and Bluebird finds the keys and the chords.

Since blues is a great media to pour out your soul, how far do you assimilate your feelings and life experience into your music? Any messages behind the music you would like the listeners to attain?
Skoko: Our message is “trust your mojo”, we are truly into it. I mean, only you know what is right for you, so do the right thing. Do it. Put yourself into everything you do, this is art. If you want to be an artist. If you are into business and other human activities that involve brain and ban emotions, well, that’s another thing. I must say I’m a lousy business woman. I put too much of my soul into my work, I’m too emotional.

How far does jazz influence your music? Any jazz musicians you are inspired from?
Bluebird: As I said before, our influences are many and from various genre of music from blues to country, from spiritual to rhythm & blues, from jazz to rock. I always loved the art of people like Miles Davis, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Coltrane and mostly Roland Kirk and Jimmy Smith. Too many to mention them all.

We as Indonesian, are very proud and thankful that you incorporated our culture into your video clip “Trust Your Mojo, Sista.” It gives the mystical nuance to it. Why did you decide to include the Balinese culture into your video clip?
Skoko: We were living in Bali. Balinese culture is so intense and inspiring. Living there, you absorb it and it goes into you, it’s overwhelming. Bali’s got big mojo, strong magical creative energy. It inspired visions in me and I had to put it into a storyboard of our video clip. I wanted it to represent our soul and our song. I guess, everything what’s happening in our lives inspires us, it’s spontaneous. You can expect lullabies in our next album.

What is your opinion on the blues scene, particularly Chicago Blues today?
Bluebird: I believe that today, no matter what genre we are talking about, everybody is expecting an obvious music, I mean not many people is looking for something different. If they like blues music, they want to hear a strictly blues album which can be as nice as it can but CANNOT go out of the blues path or they say “this is not blues”. By this, they don’t have the chance to listen to anything new and different something call just MUSIC. Music has no boundaries, look at what Frank Zappa did: he did not play one genre, he played MUSIC and I don’t see many people now who remember him or his works. This is the same for any kind of music. I don’t see many people who experiment new ways, they just play blues. This is too close, for me, to work in a bank.

Correct us if we are wrong, however we heard that your first performance in Indonesia was in Bali. How was it?
Bluebird: Yes it was in Bali  right after we released the album and had it in our hands. We decided to set up a show to check if the songs work “live” and we performed at the Mannekepis Jazz & Blues Bistro in Seminyak. We didn’t say anything to all our friends but the venue was packed and we all had a lot of fun!

And how was it like performing in Jakarta Blues Festival?
Bluebird: They have a good opportunity to make that event a great one. They need more experience and professionality. The quality of the organization was not at a good standard level. Too many bands playing “covers” and  there is no reason to have them, they can play in any club everyday. A cover band should play in a cover-song festival. Of course you can play a cover or two but if you don’t have your own songs..

What do you think of the blues scene in Indonesia today?
Bluebird: I like Adrian Adioetomo who is a great musician and is brave enough to play his own compositions. I love the music of Ray D’Sky easy, simple and with the right energy. I really don’t care of all those bands playing covers. You have too many bands devoted to the art of playing covers. But…where is the music?

Could you share with us the most unforgettable performances that you’ve had so far?
Skoko: One week before I gave birth to our daughter, we performed in Sanur. I was rocking for two hours with my big belly under the nose. It felt so good.

Wow..what an experience. We also learn that you are involved in charity events. Could you tell us more about the charity events you’re working on?
Skoko: I gave birth in Yayasan Bumi Sehat birth center in Ubud with the help of Ibu Robin Lim, an amazing woman and wonderful midwife. It was an extraordinary experience for us and for the baby, who was welcomed with songs and never had to be separated from me. We didn’t even cut her cord. It was a natural lotus birth, a gentle birth. We were so grateful to Ibu Robin that we decided to support her cause, and our cause too for ever. We are planning to organize a charity even to raise funds for this non-profit organization that is helping local population with safe birth. They are also involved in Banda Aceh and Haiti. Many Indonesian musicians are willing to participate, including Oppie Andaresta, who is a great supporter of Bumi Sehat, as her son was born there too. Now, we are looking for sponsors.

It seems that blues music scene is making a come back nowadays. Could you comment on the development of blues music in the future?
Skoko: Yeah, it’s true. Usually, people think blues is for old people, but it’s really getting popular among young bands. In London is hype. In blues clubs you see so many young musicians and young audience. In US is a huge established reality, but it’s growing beyond its niche, it’s going into mainstream.

Is there any plans ahead for Bluebird and Skoko in 2011 that you could share with us?
We are working on our next album (“Trust Your Mojo, Sista” should be out soon in USA & in Indonesia too) and we’ll record it at the Ardent Studios in Memphis and we’ll have many special guests in it.

Cool! Final question, What would you like to say to your fans and our readers?
Bluebird: Two things only:
First: You can purchase our album or download it at cdbaby.com  & iTunes.
Second: NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE SAY, YOU GOTTA TRUST YOUR MOJO!!!

Find them at Bluebird & Skoko’s official Myspace and Facebook page.

Interviewed by: Riandy Kurniawan and Edria Kosasih

Stage photos are taken by Dwi Ratri Utomo
The off stage photos are courtesy of Bluebird and Skoko

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