The Rubyz don't exactly lead normal lives for girls ages 13-17 ... unless normal is traveling to a couple dozen cities each month and performing for large audiences. Yet the girls don't mind because they love singing and performing and they get to spread the message of Christ through it. Their music is geared towards tweens, kids who aren't quite teenagers yet, but aren't little kids anymore. Cammie is 17 and is from Nashville, Marissa is 13 and is also from Nashville, and Alexis is 15 and is from Cincinnati.


What have you guys been up? What have you been doing recently?

Cammie: We're on three different tours right now actually. We're on a tour called Believe it's um it's the Christ In Youth is the organization that runs it and um it's the junior high event, it's two days. And so we go and we do and we do our set in the morning on Saturday and then we do a bunch of worship songs with the band. It's this cool cool event. They've got like speakers and painters and acrobats and all this stuff. It's like something you would take your youth group to on the weekends, like a retreat. Um so we're apart of that and then of course we're apart of this IShine tour with us and Luke Benward and Robert Pierre and Paige Armstrong as the speaker and our dancers and all the cool stuff that goes on with that and then we just um kind of got hooked up with Mission 6 um so we're going to be doing a couple tours on their Doubletake Tour and so yeah we're doing a lot right now actually.


So you're on all these different tours.

Cammie: Yeah


So what cities have you been to recently?
Marissa: We've been to Baltimore, Chicago, Nebraska (Omaha), Houston, Portland, Murfreesboro (Nashville), Grand Rapids and Ohio, of course, and then tomorrow will be Indianapolis.


Wow. So yeah, I'm guessing you all are still in high school and you're (Cammie) probably finishing up your senior year.

Marissa: I'm in middle school.


Oh you're in middle school.

Marissa: Yep, I'm a loner


What's that like being in school and being on tour?

Alexis: We all do school, well we're home-schooled now. Cammie used to be in high school but she had to drop out and re-do it on the computer. Marissa has a book, but it's very difficult to get it done.

Cammie: I mean we have to really plan. Sit down and make ourselves do it. And it's hard especially when we're gone on the weekends because you can't get internet and sometimes if you do get internet, sometimes it's really slow so it's like why even bother and sometimes your computer isn't working or you always have to charge it and there's nowhere to plug it in so like it's hard, but I mean it's easier than actually being in school but we really have to make sure we work really hard.


Do you guys ever miss being in high school or having a more "normal kid" experience?

Cammie: I mean I guess out of all of us, I probably do the most because I just, just pulled out of school and I was really involved in like the theater program at my school and I did lots of that and it's my senior year so I always see pictures on my friends myspaces and stuff like that of all the senior year stuff that their doing. But, I mean, I'm slowly being okay with it because it's like senior year or this incredible opportunity to not only do what we all love but, you know, to do it for Christ and to spread his message and so it's a definite good trade-off. I'm totally okay with it. But you still miss it and Marissa is in dance and she takes so many dance classes so she has to sometimes pull back on those and so I'm sure she misses that all the time. And Alexis, she's Ohio and Marissa and I are both in Nashville, so she has to travel a day earlier a lot of times so she doesn't get to see her family as much as she would like so I mean we all have things that we give up, not only school but like I mean, it's great because we're all family here so it's a good tradeoff in the end of it.


So how'd you guys get into this? Weren't there like auditions?

Marissa: We had an audition. Has it been three years yet?

Alexis and Cammie: About two and a half.

Marissa: Yeah we had an audition two and a half years ago and I actually just got an e-mail from my agent and I wasn't about to go though because I was 11 and I think you had to be 12 or 13 to audition, so I was not about to audition for it, I'm glad I did, I'm very glad I did.

Alexis: There was about 200 girls. And so we all got e-mails and I drove down to Nashville and went in this little tiny room and had to sing and dance and it was very nerve-racking. And then when we went to the call-backs and we could hear the girls singing from outside the door and they were all good. Everybody was so good and I didn't think I'd make it, I really didn't. But obviously God had another plan.


Three girls out of like 200. That's crazy
How did you guys feel when you got it?

Marissa: I was actually at school and my mom called and I was eating - no, she came to my school and I was like eating lunch and she talked to me and I threw down my lunch and like started screaming and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. And then I went home after that and I just ... partied.


How did you all get into music and dance and everything?

Cammie: I mean we've all been surrounded by music in so many different ways. Like I said, Marissa does all this dance and so she always, it's really funny, we'll have our Itunes on like shuffle or something and it'll play a song from the 80's or one of the brand new songs on the radio or something really old or whatever and she's like "I did a dance to that! I did a dance to that! I did a dance to that!" So she like has all this music in her head from all her dances. And Alexis did a bunch of singing and stuff at her church, doing worship and things like that and my parents, my dad, plays in the orchestra at my church and so my whole family plays instruments, they're all in orchestras and things like that so like in different ways we've always been surrounded by music, but I mean it's definitely a passion of all of ours.


So it's primarily singing or do you guys play instruments as well?

Cammie: I mean, we all play a little instruments ourselves but we don't do it in our shows. Maybe, you know, in the future. No we just sing and dance in our shows.


What are your faith backgrounds and how does that play into everything?

Cammie: Like I said, Alexis her parents, her dad is a pastor.

Alexis: I've been in church my whole life.

Cammie: We've all been, church has been a huge part of our lives and most of our friends are from our churches and things like that and I know I was definitely excited and the other girls were too when we heard that this audition was for a christian group. I mean Marissa is right in that age that we're kind of aiming for, that our audience is at, people who love the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana and stuff like that and um Alexis is just growing out of that phase and I, even though we might be older or younger or whatever than that phase, we definitely all know what it's like to be in that age and it's important to us to spread a good message because I mean we feel, we all love the Disney Channel and all of the music and movies and stuff, I mean Luke Benward is on our tour and he's on the Disney Channel and he's on of our best friends and so we love it and we think that they do a great job of entertaining but we want to go further than that and actually get something out there and that's really important to us. It's important to me because I have older sisters who have always taught me that and now it's my chance to spread what they have taught me and Alexis wants to spread too like her dad preaches and Marissa is right at that age so it's really purposeful.


So what do you hope to express to listeners and people coming to your shows?

Alexis: A lot of our message is not to grow up too fast. Because so many girls especially and guys, but girls want to grow up so fast. I mean, I think I started wearing makeup when I was like eleven and then I stopped because you know, there's no point. I mean girls always want to grow up so fast so kind of our message is just, you know, have fun being a kid. You don't need to grow up so fast. God has you right where you're supposed to be for that time. He doesn't want you any older or any younger, he has you right where you're supposed to be. So in order to fulfill your walk with him, he's got you where he wants you, so there's no need to grow up too fast.


What are your future plans?

Marissa: I wanna be in a movie.

Cammie: Yeah, we want to get hooked up with Luke Benward and be in a movie. No. I mean we all definitely want to do a second or third album with this, if this spreads off into other things, I mean, that would be awesome. And even if after a few records we're done, not only is it a really awesome opportunity for us to use this challenge that we have and have a blast, but it's really, really important for us to do this for the right reasons, for God's work, and if that's what we accomplish now and in years ahead, whether we are continuing to entertain or just back at home with our friends or something, that's definitely a huge deal to us and that's what we want to accomplish.


Well that's about all my questions. Do you have anything you want to add?

Marissa: Um, what's my favorite color. I love that question.


What is your favorite color?

Marissa: Pink and turquoise. Because pink is just a very funky color and it just shows like how my personality is, just like spunky.

Cammie: I think the only thing that we would ever want to add on, is that, I'm not trying to say that we're just some big, famous thing, but kids will see us and they like, like the other night last night at our show, these girls saw us in the elevator and they we're "Oh my gosh, it's you!" And we were like "Hey, what's up?" But like we're normal. We're so normal. And we do that more than anybody else. Like when we first met Luke, we were like, "Oh my gosh, Luke Benward, he's been on the Disney Channel, oh my gosh, I'm freaking out!" Like we are so, so normal. And if you see us hanging out on the bus and stuff, it's like sweatpants, t-shirt, messy hair, no makeup. Like we're just, we're really normal people.