Firefighter-turned-musician Ruthven shares his life lessons

Before getting into music, Sean Nelson, aka Ruthven, was a firefighter.

​“They feel like two different lives now,” he says from his studio in Peckham, southeast London – he was born and raised round the corner, in Lewisham, where he now lives with his wife and two sons.

​“I heard a lot of wild stuff while I was in the fire brigade. I joined at 19, got married young, had kids quite young. It was quite a toxic male environment and I was pretty soft for it, really.”

Back in 2017, Sean was one of the first musicians to sign to the Paul Institute – the prolific collective-slash-record label set up by brothers A.K. and Jai Paul – alongside the equally excellent Fabiana Palladino.

​“It’s so informal it doesn’t really feel like you’re being ​‘signed’,” Sean says. ​“It’s like a group of friends.” Since then, between hanging up his helmet, helping to train new recruits and a short stint as a delivery driver over Covid, Sean is finally dedicating himself to music full time.

His debut album, Rough & Ready, is distinctively Paul-esque: co-written and co-produced by A.K., it features retro-futuristic funk flavours, soulful vocals and richly layered melodies, with lyrics that deftly switch from playful (​“The way you look at me sometimes /​Clapped someone else’s cheeks /​that’s what it feels like” on I Can’t Go There) to poignant (​“I hear your call /​Waiting on a harvest /​Might be a while /​It’s better to be honest /​Started to fall /​Short of my standards” on 123 Days).

These days, when he isn’t in the studio, Ruthven enjoys spending time with his family, trying not to fall over, or going down a variety of esoteric YouTube rabbit holes. A charmed life.

If you could make a rule for a month, like dry January, what would it be?

Moderation March. I work in extremes and moderation isn’t easy for me. I’ve done extreme levels of going to the gym five times a week, eating clean, measuring carbs. Then when I met Jai and AK they were like, do you want a pint? I was like, you guys are legends, let me just have a drink with you. Can’t have this protein shake. But I’ve also done the whole ​“fuck it, I’ll eat and drink anything at any time” thing and that doesn’t work, either. It’s about finding a happy medium.

If your house was on fire – sorry – and you could only save one item, what would it be?

A basket of photos. My wife lost her childhood photos – she has less than 20. She’s a photographer as well. I’d find it painful not to have any pictures of my childhood and our kids. Everything else, I could get it back somehow, but those things. I lost a laptop that had all the photos of my eldest son on once, and since then I’m much better at backing stuff up.

What’s the last interesting thing you learned?

I’m recording a song right now, and I wanted to use a sample of a gunshot. I wanted it to be like a cheesy Western film, that kind of sound. It turns out none of those sound effects in the films are real gunshots!

When’s the last time you fell over?

Ice skating a few weeks ago. I felt like I’d dislocated my shoulder. I have a big, black bruise still. I was going so fast and getting way too confident, going round corners quickly, I thought I could start gliding… Then I went straight onto the floor. A woman screamed, it was blood-curdling. Really intense. I got up and kept going. It was cartoonish. There have been many unfortunate events like this happen over the last five years – I’m very accident prone.

If you were on a game show, what would your entrance song be?

I have quite a lot of soundbites in my head. Have you heard of Di Bus Can Swim? Basically there was a flooding in Jamaica, and the guy driving the bus was interviewed afterwards. He goes, ​“Nobody canna cross it.” It’s such a funny moment from the interview and someone turned it into a song. It’s a banger.

There’s another one – when my sons do taekwondo tournaments, I find myself saying to them, ​“Look at the strength! Look at the strength!” That’s from a video of a guy getting arrested. He’s from Birmingham and it’s taking loads of officers to get him in the car – there’s like five people trying to drag him in. He’s like, ​“Ahhh! Ah! Look at the strength!” So that could also be one. It would depend on the nature of the game show.

Can you leave us with some words to live by?

Try to be kind. I know it’s difficult! But try! Try! I like being kind to people. I know it’s not particularly profound, but that’s what I’m on at the moment. It’s not that deep, you know?