Musician Bobby Reimer grew up in the Mennonite farming community of Kleefeld, Manitoba.[1] While still in high school, he suffered major head injuries in an automobile accident.[2] Surviving the crash impacted Reimer to become a musician and motivational speaker.[3] Reimer adopted the stage name Robb Nash and formed the band I Witness, which released a number of singles in the early 2000s. He later changed the name of the band to Live On Arrival as a reference to his accident.[4]
Well, I asked him a few interesting questions.
1: If you could be any other musician past or present, which one would it be and why?
Johnny Cash....without hesitation....he is the reason my goal was always to play prison shows. And those shows have been those most fulfilling shows I’ve ever played. Getting to meet inmates, hear their stories and find out that often the difference between me and them was where we started...our upbringing. Even getting to write songs with them and have them perform with us later on stage has been an amazing experience for them and our audience to hear their stories.
2: If you had to name one song from any genre that really speaks to you, which one would it be and why?
One More Light by Linkin Park. The desperation in the lyrics, music and vocals really speak to the desperation of how many lives have been stollen by suicide.
3: Are you a Mulder or Scully? Do you believe aliens have visited planet earth and if so what do you think they think about mankind?
I don't spend much time thinking about this.....i feel i/we have enough shit to figure out and fix among the people already here and the mess we've made.
4: What was the happiest day of your life and why?
Probably the first time someone handed me a suicide note after a show when we were called to do speak and do a show at a school that had been struggling with a lot of losses. Now after more than 900 suicide notes at our shows for struggling communities, reserves and prisons....that first one is a moment i will never forget. It changed the content of every show I’ve performed since. It was i realized now just "what" i do....but "why" i do it.
5: If “God” (whatever your idea is on that) were stood before you now, what one question would you ask him/her and why?
I think the world already asked it every day....."Why God Why? Every time something bad happens. I think it would be more about what God would ask us. And i think the question will be "Why did you blame me for all the shit in your life?" The way i was brought up.....God would be looking down laughing as it is God that decides our fate and causes all the tragedy around us as some type of "lesson". I imagine God in tears looking down.
I always say from stage that i don't think things "happen for a reason"...i think things happen with potential. Tragedy has the potential to tear apart an individual, a family, a community or even a whole country. But tragedy also has the potential to bring people together. It involves choice in the tragedy. We are going to face enough "lessons" in life based on the world around us and the mistakes that we make.
I was once hit by a semi-truck....found with no pulse and not breathing. They had to rebuild my skull with titanium. The recovery has been brutal. People in my own family told me that "God spanked me with a semi cause i was a bad kid and needed to learn a lesson." That brought me to an even darker place as i thought i was a puppet with no say on what would happen to me. Then one day someone gave me the simple truth....the "reason" i was hit by a semi was because me and my friends were going too fast on an icy road. Shit happens....what are you gonna do when it does? One lyric i wrote was this: "Tragedy appears and people stop to pray to you....they wipe away the tears and people place the blame on you." Religion often teaches that we walk through this painful world just waiting to experience peace in the afterlife when we get to walk with God. I think we are meant to discover that peace here on earth. If you find that peace.....that you can actually have an impact on the world around you. And like me.....you can walk from the darkest place and go from SUICIDAL TO SIGNIFICANT....where your life has an impact on the world around you.
And i think the greatest "church experience" i have been at has been NA meetings (or AA) No one putting on a facade. You open up about your struggles at the start with no judgement. You can call the person next to you at 4:00am when you're struggling. And you pray together. I think prayer can help you through those tough times and even help you avoid them if you listen to those gut feelings you get. I wish everyone could experience a meeting like that.
6: As an expressive artist in the music industry, how does the state of the planet make you feel?
I often hurt seeing the pain in the eyes of so many.....but the fact that we can use music as a part of someone's breakthrough is the most significant feeling there is.
7: Do you think as a person of some influence that there is a duty on us to help influence humanity for the better?
There's no duty or obligation.....but i think everyone should experience what it is like to have your art doing something good for humanity if they haven't already. i am so grateful to be a part of this world of art that....if we allow it....can help people have breakthroughs and find out they're not alone. A song can calm you down when you need it....get you pumped up before playing a big game.....and even allow you to scream along when you need to get something out of your head. A song can bring tears out of you.....which is so important to do. I've always said that tears are like poison....they're not meant to stay in your system....you gotta to flush them out regularly.
8: What one cause would you say you feel most associated with and why? Whether it’s equality, poverty, politics, the environment or other?
Mental health. It's a war that we are loosing. And i think we are loosing some of the most gifted people on earth to suicide.
9: If you were stood before the leaders of the world, what would you say to them?
When i think of the leaders of the world....i think of the media. They are what dictates so much of how the world turns and our perspective on it. I would and always do beg them to share stories of hope not just of tragedy. For example....show that not every story of mental health ends in suicide....not every story of addiction ends in an overdose.
10: And finally my last question is in fact one written by Freddie Mercury in the song “Is This the World We Created”:
If there's a God in the sky, looking down What can he think of what we've done To the world that He created?
So many people in the religious world sing "He's got the whole world in His hands" I think He gave it to us and we were supposed to take care of each other. There's enough food and water for everyone.....how did we become so self absorbed that we didn't take care of the world around us....which was OUR job all along.
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