The Obelisk Questionnaire: Geoff Saavedra of Titanosaur
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: Geoff Saavedra of Titanosaur
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I make loud catchy music. Great music to drive really fast with the windows down on a sunny afternoon.
How did I come to it? Well… there’s a picture of me when I was about one year old, sitting on a carpet with a giant bass across my lap. Maybe that was when I “came to do it”? Or, when I was 6, 7, 8 and listening to my uncles’ record collection and I would play Queen’s “Brighton Rock” and be amazed at Brian May’s use of the stereo field. I would stand in the middle of the living room and pretend to play the guitar as each strum came out of a different speaker… or, maybe it was when, from the same collection, I heard the Ramones song “Commando” and its simplicity, its humor and I wanted to do that… or maybe it was when I would go to my friend’s house and we would play Kiss Alive and jump off his couches playing air guitar (I was always Gene, he was Paul).
My mother got me an acoustic guitar when I was about 12. I took lessons and learned the pre-requisite “Stairway to Heaven” and some Simon & Garfunkel, but it wasn’t the same. When I received my Fender Strat (which I still play) at about 16, and I learned how to play a bar chord, that is when I knew I would be able to make music… That I had to make music. The first couple of songs that I learned – Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop” and Black Sabbath “Children of the Grave”.
Describe your first musical memory.
As described above- I vividly remember being mesmerized by Queen’s “Brighton Rock”, during the guitar break around the 2:45 mark. And then the two guitars playing off each other at the 3:20 mark. I was about 6 years old.
I remember driving around Long Island with my uncle (only 14 years older than me) driving, as he blasted WLIR, Long Island’s Alternative radio station, playing The Clash, Depeche Mode, The Cure, and me loving that music.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Best musical memory… garsh… If we’re talking about best performance musical memory, it would have to be when I was in a Punk band called The Orgasmabots (Obots for short). Our last show was a Porn Festival At Acme Underground in NYC. They played Debbie Does Dallas before we performed. We did a cover of Joan Jett’s version of “Do You Wanna Touch.” We had an amazing crowd and lots of fun that night.
Best musical memory watching a performance? Would be the first time I went to a thrash concert. It was Suicidal Tendencies, on tour with Exodus and Pantera opening. It was my first true mosh pit. I’m 6’9”, and I was headbanging to Suicidal with a tiny woman behind me creating her own pit. She grabbed the back of my jacket and threw me around… it was amazing!
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Way too deep for me to even find an answer for this one.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Depends on who you are. Sometimes it leads to insanity. For me, it leads to happiness. I’m constantly striving to be able to get the sounds out of my head and into the world. I get better every song I write, but I’m still not completely there.
How do you define success?
Success is satisfaction, reaching set goals. I have a few goals – be happy making music; get more people to hear my music; be able to survive off the income of making music.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I guess, I wish I hadn’t seen my mom going through the surgeries that she had to go through when I was younger. My mom was a young single mother, and we lived in a house with my grandmother and two uncles. My uncles saw me as a younger brother, and my grandmother was like a second mother to me. Also, I was always taller than my age, so people thought I was older. I was let into parts of hospitals I shouldn’t have been.
So, sometimes, when I’m dealing with my own hospital journeys, I flashback to those days in the early ’80s and my anxiety goes through the roof. A lot of things have changed with medicine, luckily…
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A tree house? Or a true recording studio… hmmm…
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Most essential function is to evoke emotion – whether that’s serenity, anger, sadness, excitement. I guess boredom is also an emotion, but we don’t like that kind of art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Looking forward to the day that I get my heart transplant and everything goes smoothly.
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