By Mark E. Waterbury

MM: You had a very musical family so was it preordained that you would go into music?

JR: Yes, my family was very involved in the classical and jazz worlds, but none of them have done music like I do. I did grow up with the classical music and still do some today, I just did a project for Steinway. But I always wanted to learn other genres and ways, so I started playing jazz piano. When I was a little girl, I would memorize all these minuets that I was learning and once I knew them I would jazz it up, and it was pretty innovative for me doing that when I was so young. Jazz had always come so naturally to me and I was always very jazz-inclined. Now my family calls me the future Romeu because I am doing the dance and electronic and computer-oriented music.

MM: When did you start getting into electronic music?

JR: Jazz had been my world for a number of years and I traveled the world playing it professionally. I wanted to try something new and original, so I created the Romeu band. I did four albums with that band, and was trying to get my own writing and ideas and my own productions going. Then I was a producer for a performer named Keevins. He was an artist in his own right with a lot of ideas, but he needed a producer, so I shared my ideas with him. He was a drum and bass artist and that was very interesting for me, because I am a big innovator myself and really respect it when people have different music ideas. I thought what he was doing was very cool, so we put our ideas together and started touring around doing underground raves and dance festivals. That is how I got exposed to a whole new world of different genres coming from Europe, especially the DJs coming from England and Germany. The way people reacted to it with the dancing and how they were all real happy and jumping around, that made me really think about it and realize that I wanted to do that music.

MM: So how did Galaxy Girl come about?

JR: After doing the Romeu Band for awhile, I wanted to move on and do something new again. So I created an album called "Stepping Out" which completely changed everything I did in the past. I started fusing electronic into the pop music that I had been doing. After that is when Galaxy Girl showed up, and I started getting into software and Pro Tools and midi's, really getting into the electronics. I learned more about engineering and producing a completely different sound. I call my music E-Pop, or electronic pop music. It's very futuristic music.

MM: What did you do to make your sound innovative and different?

JR: My background in jazz and classical and European music gives me a different background than most electronic artists. I like to experiment with my roots, and it makes my music very self styled and not sounding like anybody else.

MM: Once you created Galaxy Girl, what did you do just to get the music noticed at first?

JR: I played as much as possible, and that is what I have always done. Even if sometimes you have to play for no money you do it for the exposure. If you have the chance to play always do it. I got myself out there and just kept doing it.

MM: What do people like the most about your music?

JR: It makes them real happy and makes them dance, and that really inspires me as well. There is nothing like seeing a dance floor full of people dancing to my music, it is very gratifying.

MM: Would you also say that when you perform it is like performance art, a real performance?

JR: Yes, I play live and that separates me from DJ's. I have a lot of different instruments that I play on stage, and I am true to how I play my instruments and my music. I am very passionate about playing live and the people who come out notice that as well.

MM: What has been the progression with each album to spread the popularity even further?

JR: I think the accumulation of work has been important. Every time I put out another album it always attracts more people. I like to promote myself too, and got to know people like promoters and publicists that helped me out as well. It's all about the music and getting the music out there.

MM: Do you already feel that your are a success and what level of success would you like to see with Galaxy Girl?

JR: I feel pretty lucky. Maybe I am not a superstar because I come from the underground, but I feel pretty lucky to be able to do what I do. I do know that with my music there is always room for being creative and letting people see what I do, and the more I do it the more people will see it. It's all about hard work.

MM: Is this the music you are going to stay with now, and just try to be as innovative as you can with it?

JR: Absolutely. I always have ideas coming into my head of doing a melange of things that I find interesting to do. I would like to create albums where I could cross say Middle Eastern music with dance or create dance mixed classical or Afro-Cuban. I love creating new fresh music that no one has ever heard before.