The Obelisk Questionnaire: Nitzan Sheps of Sheev
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.
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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Nitzan Sheps of Sheev
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I don’t think we can really define it or we don’t really like to define our music, when we started we said “as long as it is fun we continue” and I truly think that this is what we are trying to do. We try not to think too much in terms of genres and more in terms of feelings, if there is a riff that we all get goosebumps from then we keep it, if not then it’s out.
It came together when me and Phil met in a previous band and straight away realized that we have a connection, we both big fans of Alice in Chains and in general have a really similar taste in music. When that band fell apart we started to play together and the songs came out really naturally, there is some kind of magic between us that we really think similar in terms of writing music. After two years we decided being only a duo is not heavy enough for the music we want to create so we made some auditions for a bass player.
We had like 10 people coming but none of them was really able to play the songs, until Joshi came and play the songs perfectly top to bottom, he was really the missing piece that we needed. He added so much to each song with his bass and now we are all friends and writing music together.
Describe your first musical memory.
I can only speak for myself here.
I don’t know if it’s exactly the first one, but I clearly remember watching Marty McFly in Back to The Future shredding his guitar at his father high-school and I knew straight away that this is what I want to do.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Our first gig was at Dunker Club Berlin a really cool club and a bit unbelievable that we manage to get it for our first gig ever.
We never knew if people will like our music before and I remember when we finished playing our first song there was this 1 sec silence like in every song when the people are not sure if the song is over and then the crowd went wild. This is the best feeling any musician is hoping for.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I think as a musician your belief is always tested, we believe our music is amazing but we can only hope that other people will like it as well.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
We are always trying to challenge ourselves with the music we create. It’s a blessing and a curse, I sometimes write a complicated riff and then realized that I have to sing over it so I basically shot myself in the leg. But this is the beauty, always learning, always trying to create something that you might think is impossible but with a lot of hard work everything is possible.
How do you define success?
As long as some people like what we do it’s a success, we are not in it for money or fame or any of that crap, and we just want to make people feel good with our music like we feel good with it and even if some don’t that’s also ok.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I guess other musicians taking themselves too seriously and don’t understand that we are all in this together. Being nice and respectful is way easier than being a dick and pretending you’re a rock star.
I mean there are a lot of amazing people we met that truly help each other, lifting each other and this is how it should be, there is enough room for all the music in the world and I don’t see any reason why not support when it’s possible.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Our next album, we wrote four songs and we have millions of ideas and riffs and I am really curious to see where it will lead us.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
We are all in this world for a really short time and life is mostly pretty damn fucking hard, I think art can really help people deal with it. It can teach you things you didn’t know, it can show you that you are not alone and other people also feel like you and so many other thing. As long as it moves you in any way it’s doing its job.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I am watching Better Call Saul now and can’t wait to see how it ends.
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