Reuben Bollock is known for the haunting, powerful, deeply emotional music he creates with his band, Reuben and the Dark.
There are even T-shirts circulating that say “I Cried at a Reuben and the Dark Concert.”
“A number of years ago I started realizing that our shows were becoming this group therapy thing for people going through grief,” Bullock says.
“I think because there’s a lot of pain and grief and healing in the content of all the songs. It’s really drawn an audience out that is there for it.”
He and the band are in the midst of their Funeral Sky anniversary tour, celebrating their widely-celebrated 2014 debut album.
The record’s meaning has changed over the years for Bullock but perhaps never as intensely as now.
His older brother, Ben, whom he calls “his twin soulmate,” passed away in late January, from an overdose.
Ben is completely intertwined with the album, Bullock says. He essentially started writing music to process experiences he and Ben lived through when they were young.
“Now it feels like this record was preparing me for this moment,” he says. “It’s full of my brother’s funeral songs.”
Addiction came into his brother’s life when Ben was a young man, Bullock says.
The music helped Bullock cope.
“We almost lost him back then in many, many ways; many, many times. And [writing the music] was something that helped me grieve at that time what was happening.”
It’s a powerful time to be revisiting the album on stage.
“It’s going to be really, really difficult,” Bullock says. “He normally comes and sings with us.”
“We have this song called ‘Memory’s Lament’ and every time I sing it, I’ve had so many people come up and say, ‘I just lost my brother and I just wept and the song helped me heal.’”
“That’s a club I was really hoping I didn’t have to join. But here we are. And in a way it feels like this album is actually a really beautiful tribute to him, almost in some kind of mystic way.”
There are many glimmers of hope and beauty amid the grief, he says.
The original Reuben and the Dark bandmates are joining the current group for some shows.
“I’m grateful to have such a brotherhood coming back together, to have all these musical brothers,” Bullock says.
“They’ve all shared such close moments with Ben. And we get to all come together and sing him home every night.”
Their last show, February 28, will be “epic,” in Bullock’s words.
It will be the current band, the original band, the Bullhorn Singers, and The Pairs, a folk trio they recently toured with, all on stage.
“And a string quartet,” Bullock laughs. “It might be total chaos but we’re going to have fun with it.”
The band has a new album coming out sometime this year, their fifth. Keep an ear out for songs being released this spring.
First, the focus is finishing this tour in Alberta.
“I just hope that the audience is going to be okay with how emotional it’s all going to be, and how much I need it,” Bullock says.
“I’m going to end up with all the “I Cried At a Reuben and the Dark Concert” T-shirts,” he smiles.
The Funeral Sky Anniversary Tour is in Edmonton February 21 and Calgary, February 25 to 28. All the details can be found at the band’s website.
“A Memory’s Lament” from Funeral Sky:
