Julia Laws: How Trusting Intuition and Embracing Imperfection Built a Thriving Indie Music Career

As a part of our interview series with leaders, stars, and rising stars in the music industry, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Ronboy.

Julia Laws grew up on Fidalgo Island off the coast of Washington State amidst the DIY music scene. Influenced by the Pacific Northwest surroundings, Laws cultivated her evocative, atmospheric musical style before moving to Los Angeles. Between working at local venues, Laws began to produce and record her own music, releasing Ronboy’s first single in 2019 followed by an EP entitled ‘Velvet’ in the spring of 2020. Matt Berninger (The National) took notice of Velvet and invited Laws to record and perform with him while promoting his debut solo album. Berninger and Laws later collaborated with Resynator on a cover of Tom Petty’s ‘Only a Broken Heart’ in 2021- an all-synth, all-feeling rendition of the Petty classic. Laws wrote and recorded her debut album ‘Pity To Love’ through the winter of 2021 with Samuel Stewart and Sterling Laws. You might find Julia touring as the bassist and vocalist with Jade Bird, recording on an array of records like Berninger’s or Train, or composing musical works for podcasts. Ronboy’s craft comes to a cathartic summit in her poignant debut record Pity To Love.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit about your “origin story”. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up on Fidalgo Island off the coast of Washington. There’s an incredible DIY music scene there that was very influential for me on many levels. That’s where I learned how to record my own music, went to shows, played shows… One of the bands I loved being around is, SEACATS. All these years later, SEACATS member, Mike Davis, mixed 8 songs on my record.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

My family had a piano at the house for as long as I can remember. I took lessons for one summer but it was never a required activity. I’d come home from school and sit there for hours, not because I had to, it became a processing technique and something I looked forward to. I went down different paths of what I thought should be my career, but always came back to music.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

One of my musical heroes reached out to me on TikTok a few months ago. We’d never met or spoken at the time, and bam, there was an incredibly kind message saying they enjoyed my work.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I had a whiteboard with the layout of the songs for this album while we were recording. Running song titles, what needed to be recorded and so on. I had a friend stop by the studio one day and she was looking at the whiteboard at one of the song titles being like, “The Boogie Man? Is this song about doing the boogie-woogie? No… you mean the scary thing, Boogeyman…” Thanks pal, now I double check my references and spelling.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I’m about half way done writing my next album. Hearing the songs come to life is one of my favorite parts of making a record. There are a couple records I’ve been able to be a part of that haven’t been announced yet. I’m looking forward to those!

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in music, film, and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

Everyone deserves to hear and see themselves represented in music and on screen. Diversity is both a unifier and a champion of the individual. The more we see each other, the more we can hopefully understand and appreciate others from a greater perspective.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

Taking risks doesn’t mean making the craziest decision. Sometimes a risk is keeping something simple.

Youtube is your friend. It’s the best visual manual. I’ve learned so much. Unreal.

Everyone is learning as they go. It’s easy to feel like other people have it all figured out but the more you talk with them the more you realize we’re all taking things as they come and adjusting along the way.

Say yes to things you haven’t mastered yet. My favorite experiences and moments of biggest growth are the ones that initially scared me the most.

If you build it, they will come. All the work you do behind the scenes that feels like it’s for nothing, is accumulating and building whether you realize it or not.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

There’s a fine line between working hard and being a slave to the grind. I don’t have it figured out, either. I’ve started seeing a pattern where sometimes I need order and a routine, and other times I need to do something different every day. Instead of fighting that and trying to be one thing, I try and let myself follow that instinctual lead.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

How rad would it be to redistribute the world’s wealth. At the very least, for every human’s basic needs to be met.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My friend, Alison Tavel, is on a pretty parallel career journey as I am. She is the most selfless and supportive person that celebrates every wonderful moment and hangs through the frustrating ones. We share our work with each other at different points in our processes, and know we can give genuine feedback.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Any of Rick Rubin’s instagram quotes. He posts a quote for 24 hours and then deletes it. Highly recommend following if you aren’t already. He’s talking about recording and music but, wow Rick, sometimes you get me deep in my soul.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Fran Lebowitz. She’s a powerhouse. I feel like all of her strengths are my weaknesses. She’s incredible. She’s hysterical. I’m sure she’d dislike me.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://linktr.ee/ronboysocials

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Thank you for having me!