Reuben Stone: a Force to be Reckoned With
Liam Lynch caught up with multi-instrumentalist Reuben Stone ahead of his performance at The Aardvark on Saturday 20 October.
Reuben Stone is the very definition of a dedicated musician. Having had a musical upbringing, he is well versed on more than one instrument. His method of piecing a song together is that of someone with a tonne of ideas, but with the talent to execute them all and form something cohesive and intriguing. Anyone who has listened to his back catalog will hear a myriad of influences including Reggae/Dub, Pop, Neo-Soul, Electro/Techno, Blues, and Rock among a range of others.
“There are really no artists that I’m trying be like, I don’t listen to a lot of music because I’m playing most of the time. A lot of my influence started from using a loop station just for practicing guitar scales and it slowly progressed over about 10 years to the point its at now. Full blown arrangements and song structures.”
Reuben uses a host of different instruments to build these arrangements, depending on the trajectory of the song and what mood he is trying to convey. Guitars, keys and synths, percussion and beat-boxing, vocals and even trombone are regularly featured, and his audiences are treated to watching him layer them piece by piece as the songs sprout from a basic platform into an intricately layered work of art. He has honed his craft through street performance, and using a series of live recorded loops his talent has managed to carry him to cities all over the world. Notably, he has played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival three years running now.
“It involves doing between two and five one hour shows a day for a month. A lot of improvement happens over this time. It really is a marathon of shows. This year I did 80 shows.”
Having embarked on sold out tours with artists such as Tash Sultana and UB40, Reuben is no stranger to the stage either, although transitioning from street performance to playing a venue hasn’t been without its challenges. Both types of show however have managed to benefit from one another, as Reuben has used facets of each to improve his performances.
“Street performance is a huge part of my show, whether it’s to 50 or 5000 people. It takes me a while to switch between the two, but every time I do my street shows gets better and my stage show gets better. It keeps it interesting. I really love it and I’m happy doing either shows or street. They are both a great way to live the dream.”
His latest single release and the focus of his current tour Now Everyone Knows seemingly marks a shift towards the electronic side of the musical spectrum, however according to Reuben this isn’t the case at all.
“It’s definitely not marking a shift in any particular direction. The next single is completely different again. That’s the way I’ll be structuring my next EP. Every song will be very different unlike my last EP that was in the same vein and vibe.”
It’s difficult to know what to expect from Reuben Stone. Every song throws a curve ball that includes a different influence, and a different vibe. All that you can be certain of is that he is a musical force to be reckoned with. Reuben Stone will be bringing his eclectic live performance to The Aardvark on Saturday, October 20th.
