The Obelisk Questionnaire: Marcos Resende of Pesta
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: Marcos Resende of Pesta
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I see myself as a person who, in addition to being a musician, likes to be involved in the whole chain that involves my music, this has a bit of Underground culture that makes you have to create other skills to bring your music to your audience. This involves playing guitar, producing shows, making music videos, anyway… I realized that I just wanted to insert myself more and more in all issues related to my music.
Describe your first musical memory.
I don’t know exactly what was the first thing I heard that caught my attention, I grew up in a house with a lot of music, since my parents listened to“Samba, which is a very popular Brazilian music (now a little less) like “Cartola” and “Jorge Ben Jor” and my sister listening to a lot of ’80s pop music… and all that music always caught my attention somehow… Rock and Metal came after that… I discovered Queen’s A Night at the Opera at the beginning of my teenage years, and at that time I didn’t know much about it! But I was sure at that time that I needed an electric guitar, there was no other way! and at the same year I got one by trading an old acoustic guitar I had and a few more things, at that time I was consuming everything I could find, from punk to death metal.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Among many memorable moments it’s hard to choose one as the apex, but I think when I bought my first “real” guitar, it was something so great to me that I couldn’t believe I had done it! Well, this has a context, as you may have already noticed I’m from Brazil, and things here are not easy, but I don’t want this to sound like a complaint because I have a good structure, it’s just a fact, going back to context… when I finally thought I could buy a real guitar the prices were pretty absurd in here, and the Chinese forgeries took over, and that made everything more complicated to get any guitar of those consolidated brands like Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, Epiphone…
So an opportunity came to do a job in Europe, and I decided to extend this trip a little and pass a few weeks in London, at the end of that trip I found a used Gibson Les Paul in a window at Macari’s Guitar Shop at Camden Town, all my money ran out at that moment but I was already at the end of the trip and couldn’t be happier to have no money. I came back with this guitar on my back and all Pesta’s records were recorded with this guitar, this memory remains incredible in my memory.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I think we are all being tested all the time, with conflicts between professional and artistic life… Family conflicts, political conflicts… But I think in my teenage years, I saw my family becoming a very religious family, and at the time I didn’t exactly understand why, but in that time that seemed to be my way too, I wanted to understand what was happening with them, after all they are my family, but a while went by and I saw that it was not for me, and this rupture/separation was a little disturbed, but very important to move forward, today I see that my belief is outside of any religious or institutional role, I do not believe in that and intend to continue that way.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
For most artists one thing is certain, it will not lead to success and media fame as we grew up seeing, this is a fact. But for all people who are firmly in the art somehow, they have a possible aspiration to get recognition, most of the time it will come from a niche or a community, some will break this barrier and reach people outside this niche, and to me what matters most in artistic growth is not the size that the artist will be at some point from now, but if his art is growing and being recognized, and this recognition is not the cover of Rolling Stone, it can come from any corner, from any site, blog, from friends or fans, even if they are a few, but this crescent role gives you a consistency to continue and target new things, audiences, etc.
How do you define success?
Well, while my art is growing I understand this as a success, while people are sending us messages saying that our music is marking his moment in life, so I understand it as success, we have to keep putting our goals, some of them is more reachable, others more challenging… But for every goal, where do we succeed, like get our album released in a vinyl version, doing a big show or a tour, I understand it as success.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I wish I didn’t need to see the stupid president we have in Brazil today… Well, the list of “disgusts” is huge, but this is the top of the moment.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Right now, I want to keep recording albums with Pesta, it’s been a good journey with these guys and we are finally releasing the version we made of Nightmare song by Sarcófago’s on streaming platforms, after some agreements with Cogumelo Records which is the rights holder, we will release a music video of this song as well and we are excited! But I still want to explore some psychedelic things with Brazilian rhythms because it’s something that is culturally important to me, and it’s part of my experience here somehow… And finish a personal project called Necropolis Ascends, which is a project of mine with a great friend from Greece, we’re in the final stages of recording our first EP and we’re pretty excited about the Trip Gothic Doom madness we’re creating.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
For me to take people away from the tyranny of everyday life, from this reality that is at the same time chaotic and trapped, plastered with rules and duties… The Freedom that art brings is liberating for those who are aware of it, and this liberation is a fuel incredible powerful for a less ordinary life.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Absolutely everything I think as aspiration that I want to do involves music somehow, but maybe the “less” musical of my projects is slowing down from Technology (which is my main occupation) and opening a Pub, this project has already been about to happen a few times but I’ve always bumped into time, but at some point I want to put this dream into practice, it won’t be exactly a place to play just what I like, because in this case I would go broke (lol), but a small place that allow pocket shows and be intimate enough to go with your friends, get drunk and listen to good music! I know we already have this type of option around here, but there’s still room for more!
https://pestadoom.bandcamp.com
https://youtube.com/pestadoom
https://facebook.com/pestadoom
https://instagram.com/pestadoom
http://www.pestadoom.com/
https://www.facebook.com/abraxasevents/
https://www.instagram.com/abraxasfm/
blackfarmrecords.bigcartel.com
instagram.com/blackfarmrecords
facebook.com/blackfarmrec
