On The Record: Rubber

Our latest interviewee is Philadelphia duo Rubber whose most recent single ‘Fries & Wings’ has been brought to life in a super fun music video that meets the feel-good, danceworthy and R&B-inspired soundscape. Let’s get into it with this talented pair!

Welcome to Unrecorded! For those who haven’t heard of Rubber before, how would you describe your sound?

Bass driven grooves and vocal acrobatics. R&B with a hot pink anthemic pop twist.

How did Rubber first get together?

We met at a jam session while we were at school and really hit it off musically. Just started writing a bunch of songs with no expectations, performed them a couple times and the feedback was great so we released a single. That single ended up getting tons of traction locally so we decided to make a thing of it.

And how has your sound evolved since your debut single ‘Control’ back in 2019?

We are much more “in-the-box” now. When we made ‘Control’ we were still in school and had access to our campus recording studio which was pretty much a live recording gear playground so we did everything live. Now we mainly use DAWs to create the instrumentals but, sonically, it definitely feels more aligned with the music we actually listen to.

You’ve just released ‘Fries & Wings’, an ode to nights out with friends and inspired by 90s and 00s R&B. Why is that era of music so important to your style?

The divas, the effortless energy to the production and the delivery. The fun, hopeful, laid back, confident attitude of it all. The music video is also super fun, take us through the process of filming that and how everyone was involved. The music video was a blast! We filmed at one of our favorite bars with a team of folks we know well. We asked friends and fans to come out and just tried to have as much fun with it as possible at 10AM on a Tuesday morning. Thrilled with the way it came out!

With the video filmed at one of Philly’s oldest gay bars and Rubber being a half queer outfit, could ‘Fries & Wings’ be seen as a reclamation of R&B groves from the hetrosexual overplay often found in our favourite R&B songs?

As a white person, I don’t feel I have the right to reclaim anything about R&B. Simply existing as a queer person in music doesn’t always have to be a statement, or in opposition to, heteronormativity. I am standing on the shoulders of the queer folk in my craft who came before me, and attempting to widen the space that has been so painstakingly created for me by artists with much less privilege than me during a much crueler time. I am grateful to have the small platform I do and for the opportunity to tell true and complex queer stories (happy and sad) that I didn’t see growing up. My current preferred medium just happens to be R&B music, a space and tradition I deeply respect.

And lastly, do you have any exciting plans for the rest of 2022? Such as new songs or live shows?

Big headliner coming up in Philly on July 29th at Johnny Brendas and then maybe a tour – but you can follow us at @rubbermusic on TikTok and IG to stay up to date.