A Norfolk musician will release his first debut single on the “hardships” he has experienced during the coronavirus pandemic.
Reuben Cocksedge has been working on his first solo song ‘Puppet Tears’ in his home studio in Methwold over the past few months to highlight the struggles performers have experience after being “taken away from the stage and audience.”
The 20-year-old drummer, who is known by his stage name ‘Reubes,’ has been playing music since the age of 10 and made the move professionally a year ago.
He said: “It’s a tribute to the hardship suffered by fellow musicians in such difficult times, the song reflects the financial and mental health struggles of being kept from the stage and its audience.
“It feels like my creative outlet, my job and my way of life has been taken away and there’s no timeline as to when I might anticipate things going back to normal.
“Mentally as a performer it’s quite a painful thing.”
Reubes, who also works as a music tutor, is part of two local bands - Light Skies Darken and The Pure Floyd Show, who mainly perform in East Anglia.
He said his leap of doing it professionally turned out to be “disastrous” after Covid hit, with the majority of his 70 shows booked for this year being pulled.
He added: “It’s not just the case of the performances, there’s a lot of behind the scene stuff, like recording studios and writing sessions, photo shoots - none of that has been able to happen.
“But because I’ve not been able to play with anyone else, it’s been an opportunity to channel some of that isolated feeling and perform something of my own.
“The difficult thing was the lyrics, I called it Puppet Tears because I feel like a puppet with its strings cut and waiting to return to the stage.
“I really hope there will be a live industry to return to soon because the longer it’s kept from happening the more difficult it will be.”
His track will be released on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon and Youtube on Tuesday, September 15.
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