Posted in Questionnaire on January 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Emilio Torreggiani of Tenebra
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
We have never been particularly fascinated by definitions and sub-genres. Tenebra, as far as we’re concerned, are a rock band.
Sure, what we have in common is a passion for how rock was made 50 or 60 years ago, but then, we all have other influences that I think shine through in our music.
Mesca, Claudio and I had been wanting to form a band with these characteristics for a while, but the thing that got the group off to a serious start was the somewhat casual meeting with Silvia through an announcement. She was the element that squared the circle.
Describe your first musical memory.
My mum is a huge rock fan, I was lucky to grow up with an enviable record collection!
When I was a kid he made a tape of soft songs to put me to sleep, I remember in it were “Life On Mars”, “The Battle Of Evermore”, “Changes”…
These were the first things I heard. I still have that tape.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
It’s hard to answer. I’ve been playing in bands (with very little success :D) since I was 14 years old. With the band I had in the 00s, we toured a lot, even in the States, playing places I had only heard of, like the Metro in Chicago, The Casbah in San Diego, the Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco or at the First Avenue in Minneapolis.
But perhaps the show I have the best memory of was when we opened for Lungfish (a band I love very much, on Dischord records), in a small squat here in Bologna downtown which no longer exists.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I grew up as a leftist (which is probably a slightly different concept here in Europe than in the States, but that’s another story…), and I’ve always thought that the community was more important than individuals, well, I must say that with the emergence of social networks, society has veered towards what could be defined as “mass individualism” .
In social networks I only see an expression of vanity or self-promotion and it seems to me that they have largely supplanted moments of real confrontation, in real life.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
it should lead you to where you feel good and at ease, it should lead you to where your ideas are represented with the greatest possible care, regardless of what others think or the trends of the moment.
How do you define success?
For me, success is having the time to be able to do what I want and, sadly, having a dayjob is a daily struggle. :)
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
When I was twenty, a long time ago, there was compulsory military service here in Italy. You could decide to avoid it by volunteering for a year in some public service.
I ended up driving the ambulance to a hospital near Bologna. Unfortunately I have seen many road accidents and many deaths, something that, frankly, I would have preferred to avoid.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Next Tenebra album! I’ve already recorded a lot of demos and can’t wait to arrange songs with the others.
In general I would like to make music where many influences shine through, but all in an organic and harmonious way. This is always my goal when writing music.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
For oneself, art is therapy, it is a journey into one’s mind, it should be the continuous ability to marvel at something one does not know about himself.
For those who enjoy art, this should be a window on another human being, on the perennial effort of women and men, finite beings, to generate something that can survive them.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
My partner and I really like to go on short trips, especially when it’s winter and there aren’t many tourists.
We especially like central Italy, Tuscany, Umbria, Marche. They are places with a moving nature and art, where, moreover, you eat very well!
When it’s winter they are quite affordable and therefore we are organizing a weekend in Cortona…
I don’t know what day it is. The holiday here in the States has me all screwed up. I know it’s not the weekend anymore because I’m posting today, but really, if this is for Tuesday or Wednesday, I’m kind of at a loss. What I do know is that it’s 10 more records, and some quick math at the “71-80” below — which, yes, I put there ahead of time when I set up the back end of these posts so hopefully I don’t screw it up; it’s a whole fucking process; never ask me about it unless you want to be so bored at by the telling that your eyeballs explode — tells me today Wednesday, so I guess I figured it out. Hoo-ray.
Three quarters of the way through, which feels reasonably fancy. And today’s a good one, too. I hope as always that you find something you dig. Now that I know what day it is, I’m ready to start.
Quarterly Review #71-80:
MWWB, The Harvest
It’s difficult to separate MWWB‘s The Harvest from the fact that it might be the Welsh act’s final release, as frontwoman Jessica Ball explained here. Their synth-laced cosmic doom certainly deserves to keep going if it can, but on the chance not, The Harvest suitably reaps the fruit of the progression the band began to undertake with 2015’s Nachthexen (review here), their songs spacious despite the weight of their tones and atmospheric even at their most dense. Proggy instrumental explorations like “Let’s Send These Bastards Whence They Came” and “Interstellar Wrecking” and the semi-industrial, vocals-also-part-of-the-ambience “Betrayal” surround the largesse of the title-track, “Logic Bomb,” the especially lumbering “Strontium,” and so on, and “Moon Rise” caps with four and a half minutes of voice-over-guitar-and-keys atmospherics, managing to be heavy even without any of the usual trappings thereof. If this is it, what a run they had, both when they were Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and with this as their potential swansong.
Look. Maybe it’s a fan-piece, but screw it, I’m a fan. And as someone who liked the second run of Corrosion of Conformity‘s Animosity-era lineup, this previously-unreleased LP from the three-piece that included C.O.C. bassist/vocalist Mike Dean and drummer/vocalist Reed Mullin (R.I.P.), as well as guitarist/vocalist Jason Browning, is only welcome. I remember when they put out the single on Southern Lord in 2010, you couldn’t really get a sense of what the band was about, but there’s so much groove in these songs — I’m looking right at you, “Hard Time Killing Floor” — that it’s that much more of a bummer the three-piece didn’t do anything else. Of course, Mullin rejoining Dean in C.O.C. wasn’t a hardship either, but especially in the aftermath of his death last year, it’s bittersweet to hear his performances on these songs and a collection of tracks that have lost none of their edge for the decade-plus they’ve sat on a shelf or hard drive somewhere. Call it a footnote if you want, but the songs stand on their own merits, and if you’re going to tell me you’ve never wanted to hear Dean sing “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown),” then I think you and I are just done speaking for right now.
Seven Nines and Tens, Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers
I agree, it’s a very long album title. And the band name is kind of opaque in a kind of opaque way. Double-O-paque. And the art by Ahmed Emad Eldin (Pink Floyd, etc.) is weird. All of this is true. But I’m going to step outside the usual review language here, and instead of talking about how Vancouver post-noise rock trio Seven Nines and Tens explore new melodic and atmospheric reaches while still crushing your rib cage on their first record for the e’er tastemaking Willowtip label, I’m just going to tell you listen. Really. That’s it. If you consider yourself someone with an open mind for music that is progressive in its artistic substance without conforming necessarily to genre, or if you’re somebody who feels like heavy music is tired and can’t connect to the figurative soul, just press play on the Bandcamp embed and see where you end up on the other side of Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers‘ 37 minutes. Even if it doesn’t change your life, shaking you to your very core and giving you a new appreciation for what can be done on a level of craft in music that’s still somehow extreme, just let it run and then take a breath afterward, maybe get a drink of water, and take a minute to process. I wrote some more about the album here if you want the flowery whathaveyou, but really, don’t bother clicking that link. Just listen to the music. That’s all you need.
In March 2021, T.G. Olson, best known as the founding guitarist/vocalist for Across Tundras, released a self-titled solo album (review here). He’s had a slew of offerings out since — as he will; Olson is impossible to keep up with but one does one’s best — but II would seem to be a direct follow-up to that full-length’s declarative purpose, continuing and refining the sometimes-experimentalist, sometimes purposefully traditional folk songwriting and self-recording exploration Olson began (publicly, at least) a decade ago. Several of II‘s cuts feature contributions from Caleb R.K. Williams, but Olson‘s ability to build a depth of mix — consider the far-back harmonica in “Twice Gone” and any number of other flourishes throughout — is there regardless, and his voice is as definitively human as ever, wrought with a spirit of Americana and a wistfulness for a West that was wild not for its guns but the buffalo herds you could see from space and an emotionalism that makes the lyrics of “Saddled” seem all the more personal, whether or not they are, or the lines in “Enough Rope” that go, “Always been a bit of a misanthrope/Never had a healthy way to cope,” and don’t seem to realize that the song itself is the coping.
Issued on limited blue vinyl through StoneFly Records, Freebase Hyperspace‘s first full-length, Planet High, is much more clearheaded in its delivery than the band would seem to want you to think. Sure, it’s got its cosmic echo in the guitar and the vocals and so on, but beneath that are solidified grooves shuffling, boogieing and underscoring even the solo-fueled jam-outs on “Golden Path” and “Introversion” with a thick, don’t-worry-we-got-this vibe. The band is comprised of vocalist Ayrian Quick, guitarist Justin Acevedo, bassist Stephen Moore and drummer Peter Hurd, and they answer 2018’s Activation Immediate not quite immediately but with fervent hooks and a resonant sense of motion. It’s from Portland, and it’s a party, but Planet High upends expectation in its bluesy vocals, in its moments of drift and in the fact that “Cat Dabs” — whatever that means, I don’t even want to look it up — is an actual song rather than a mess of cult stoner idolatries, emphasizing the niche being explored. And just because it bears mentioning, heavy rock is really, really white. More BIPOC and diversity across the board only makes the genre richer. But even those more general concerns aside, this one’s a stomper.
Not calling out other reviews (they exist; I haven’t read any), but any writeup about Melt Motif‘s debut album, A White Horse Will Take You Home, that doesn’t include the word “sultry” is missing something. Deeply moody on “Sleep” and the experimental-sounding “Black Hole” and occasionally delving into that highly-processed ’90s guitar sound that’s still got people working off inspiration from Nine Inch Nails‘ The Downward Spiral even if they don’t know it — see the chugs of “Mine” and “Andalusian Dog” for clear examples — the nine-track/37-minute LP nonetheless oozes sex across its span, such that even the sci-fi finale “Random Access Memory” holds to the theme. The band span’s from São Paulo, Brazil, to Bergen, Norway, and is driven by Rakel‘s vocals, Kenneth Rasmus Greve‘s guitar, synth and programming, and Joe Irente‘s bass, guitar, more synth and more programming. Together, they are modern industrial/electrionica in scope, the record almost goth in its theatrical pruning, and there’s some of the focus on tonal heft that one finds in others of the trio’s ilk, but Melt Motif use slower pacing and harder impacts as just more toys to be played with, and thus the album is deeply, repeatedly listenable, the clever pop structures and the clarity of the production working as the bed on which the entirety lays in waiting repose for those who’d take it on.
Moongazer is the second full-length from Bologna, Italy-based heavy psychedelic blues rockers Tenebra, and a strong current of vintage heavy rock runs through it that’s met head-on by the fullness of the production, by which I mean that “Cracked Path” both reminds of Rainbow — yeah that’s right — and doesn’t sound like it’s pretending it’s 1973. Or 1993, for that matter. Brash and raucous on its face, the nine-song outing proves schooled in both current and classic heavy, and though “Winds of Change” isn’t a Scorpions cover, its quieter take still offers a chance for the band to showcase the voice of Silvia, whose throaty, push-it-out delivery becomes a central focus of the songs, be it the Iommic roll of “Black Lace” or the shuffling closer “Moon Maiden,” which boasts a guest appearance from Screaming Trees‘ Gary Lee Conner, or the prior “Dark and Distant Sky,” which indeed brings the dark up front and the distance in its second, more psych-leaning second half. All of this rounds out to a sound more geared toward groove than innovation, but which satisfies in that regard from the opening guitar figure of “Heavy Crusher” onward, a quick nod to desert rock there en route to broader landscapes.
Doom Lab, IV: Ever Think You’re Smart... And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?
With a drum machine backing, Doom Lab strums out riffs over the 16 mostly instrumental tracks of the project’s fourth demo since February of this year, Doom Lab IV: Ever Think You’re Smart... And Then Find Out That You Aren’t?, a raw, sometimes-overmodulated crunch of tone lending a garage vibe to the entire procession. On some planet this might be punk rock, and maybe tucked away up in Anchorage, Alaska, it’s not surprising that Doom Lab would have a strange edge to their craft. Which they definitely do. “Clockwork Home II (Double-Thick Big Bottom End Dub)” layers in bass beneath a droning guitar, and “Diabolical Strike (w/ False Start)” is a bonus track (with vocals) that’s got the line, “You’ll think that everything is cool but then I’ll crush your motherfucking soul,” so, you know, it’s like that. Some pieces are more developed than others, as “Deity Skin II” has some nuanced layering of instrumentation, but in the harsh high end of “Spiral Strum to Heaven II” and the mostly-soloing “Infernal Intellect II,” Doom Lab pair weirdo-individualism with an obvious creative will. Approach with caution, because some of Doom Lab‘s work is really strange, but that’s clearly the intention from the start.
What you see is what you get in the sometimes manic, sometimes blissed-out, sometimes punk, sometimes fluid, always rocking Medicine by White Fuzzy Bloodbath, which hearkens to a day when the universe wasn’t defined by internet-ready subgenre designations and a band like this San Jose three-piece had a chance to be signed to Atlantic, tour the universe, and eventually influence other outcasts in their wake. Alas, props to White Fuzzy Bloodbath‘s Elise Tarens — joined in the band by Alex Bruno and Jeff Hurley — for the “Interlude” shout, “We’re White Fuzzy Bloodbath and the world has no fucking idea!” before the band launch into the duly raw “Chaos Creator.” Songs like “Monster,” “Beep-Bop Lives” and “Still” play fast and loose with deceptively technical angular heavy rock, and even the eight-minute title-track that rounds out before the cover of Beastie Boys‘ “Sabotage” refuses to give in and be just one thing. And about that cover? Well, not every experiment is going to lead to gold, but it’s representative on the whole of the band’s bravery to take on an iconic track like that and make their own. Not nearly everybody would be so bold.
With the vocal melody in its resonant hook, the lead guitar line that runs alongside and the thickened verse progression that complements, Secret Iris almost touch on Euro-style melancholic doom with the title-track of their debut 7″, What Are You Waiting For, but the Phoenix, Arizona, three-piece are up to different shenanigans entirely on the subsequent “Extrasensory Rejection (Winter Sanctuary),” which is faster, more punk, and decisively places them in a sphere of heavy grunge. Both guitarist Jeffrey Owens (ex-Goya) and bassist Tanner Grace (Sorxe) contribute vocals, while drummer Matt Arrebollo (Gatecreeper) is additionally credited with “counseling,” and the nine-minutes of the mini-platter first digitally issued in 2021 beef up a hodgepodge of ’90s and ’00s rock and punk, from Nirvana grunge to Foo Fighters accessibility, Bad Religion‘s punk and rock and a slowdown march after the break in the midsection that, if these guys were from the Northeast, I’d shout as a Life of Agony influence. Either way, it moves, it’s heavy, it’s catchy, and just the same, it manages not to make a caricature of its downer lyrics. The word I’m looking for is “intriguing,” and the potential for further intrigue is high.
This isn’t the first time I’ve done this — an all-request show — but I’m especially happy to have put word out for people to pick tunes in this instance, because look at that middle block of songs! It’s like a guided tour through classic stoner rock. Not Slomosa so much, though they certainly emphasize the enduring influence of ’90s and ’00s heavy rock on new bands — or Circle, who end that block in avant-sludge fashion, but the rest of it is right in there. Unida. Goatsnake, Astroqueen. Lowrider. Acrimony. I’ll say them again. Acrimony. Even newer Bitchwax. I could’ve put Spirit Caravan in there as well, I guess, but I like the way this one flows as is, and you can see, they all came by request.
Some were just bands — play Slomosa, etc. — but some were specific to the songs included here. Playing Tin House and Funkadelic back to back is my idea of a good time. See also Lowrider and Goatsnake. I was thinking I might do blurbs in the Gimme chat for these bands while the show’s on. The last episode was pretty dead — I think it was also Good Friday? so maybe that had something to do with it — but just to help people kind of understand some of the context here, because I’m guessing that the more headbangerly contingent is going to see stuff like 500 Ft. of Pipe and not know what the hell is going on. Fair enough.
I may do that, I may not have the energy later today. I’ll be around in any case. Come say hi.
Thanks if you listen, thanks if you’re reading. Thanks in general.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 04.29.22
Blackfinger
Waiting for the Sun (for Abraham Ram)
When Colors Fade Away
Tenebra
Moon Maiden (for Marco Gargiulo)
Moongazer
Telekinetic Yeti
Ancient Nug (for Matthew Parness)
Primordial
Spirit Caravan
Fang (for Tim Waits)
Jug Fulla Sun
VT
Slomosa
On and Beyond (for Steve Janiak)
Slomosa
Lowrider
Convoy V (for Rob Godfrey)
Ode to Io
Goatsnake
Black Cat Bone (for Sven Mueller)
Trampled Under Hoof
Astroqueen
Tidal Wave (for Max Mountain)
The 2003 Sessions EP
Unida
Wet Pussycat (for Rob Godfrey)
The Best of Wayne-Gro
Acrimony
Hymns to the Stone (for El Pez)
Tumuli Shroomaroom
Sheavy
Savannah (for Darryl Felstead)
The Electric Sleep
500 Ft. of Pipe
77 Burnout (for El Pez)
Dope Deal
The Atomic Bitchwax
Easy Action (for Mark Richard)
Scorpio
Circle
Rakkauta al Dente (for Amy Johnson)
Terminal
VT
Wartime
Under Your Light (for Juan Lopez)
Volumen II
King Woman
Golgotha (for Caleb Dub)
Celestial Blues
Achachak
Celebration for the Desert (for Mile Mijac)
Planet Hashish
Funkadelic
Qualify and Satisfy (for Scott Hamilton)
Funkadelic
Tin House
Be Good and Be Kind (for Cheri Pi)
Tin House
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is May 13 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the varied responses of publics and governments worldwide, and the disruption to lives and livelihoods has reached a scale that is unprecedented. Whatever the month or the month after or the future itself brings, more than one generation will bear the mark of having lived through this time, and art, artists, and those who provide the support system to help uphold them have all been affected.
In continuing the Days of Rona feature, it remains pivotal to give a varied human perspective on these events and these responses. It is important to remind ourselves that whether someone is devastated or untouched, sick or well, we are all thinking, feeling people with lives we want to live again, whatever renewed shape they might take from this point onward. We all have to embrace a new normal. What will that be and how will we get there?
Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan
Days of Rona: Emilio Torreggiani of Tenebra (Bologna, Italy)
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How have you been you dealing with this crisis as a band? As an individual? What effect has it had on your plans or creative processes?
The covid pandemic has been a lightning in the clear blue sky. We were all busy in the studio working on our new material and a while later locked on our houses for this long, also we all live in different cities except for me and Mesca, the drummer, so we couldn’t meet up, because of the quarantine rules!
Fortunately we finished our new demo tape just before the lockdown began, so we were able to send it to some record labels. We already found a cool label to release it on vinyl. I’m really happy about that. On the personal side of things: I’ve been lucky. I’m a motiongrapher and a video editor and I worked quite a lot from the quarantine, and I also written some new tune for the band. I can’t complain. For sure I miss my bandmates and my friends, in general.
How do you feel about the public response to the outbreak where you are? From the government response to the people around you, what have you seen and heard from others?
Italy has been hit hard and first by the pandemic, plus our political establishment is not “first class” at all (unfortunately it’s pretty common, today and worldwide).
The rules of the lockdown are pretty strict, but also very confused, so, for example, until a week ago it was forbidden to walk with a friend maintaining a safe physical distance, but it was ok to travel in crowded buses or work in factories where the social distancing is impossible. If the contagion curve is very low it’s because the people, in general, had a wise behaviour, I hope it stays that way.
What do you think of how the music community specifically has responded? How do you feel during this time? Are you inspired? Discouraged? Bored? Any and all of it?
We have a great small club in Bologna called Freakout. It’s like a “temple” for the underground music scene here in Bologna. Obviously music venues were the first places to be closed, so the Freakout guys organized a crowdfunding and they raised more than 8000 euros in a few days. Our underground community is small, but very tight, and it was awesome to see people give money to keep the club alive.
As for me, I’m a music junkie! I have always a guitar in my hands, I play my guitar during my work breaks too! I’m not discouraged, I’m confident that we will be able to lead a normal life pretty soon. We will cut a new record, hopefully in the next fall. I’m very happy with the tunes, it will be a great LP!
What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything? What is your new normal? What have you learned from this experience, about yourself, your band, or anything?
Reality surpasses fiction. I never expected something like this would happen. But Tenebra never stopped writing and composing. We look forward to getting back on the road!
