The Obelisk Questionnaire: Tony Gallegos of Mosara
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: Tony Gallegos of Mosara
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I guess the obvious answer is doom/sludge metal. But I like to call it prog doom. It’s taking all the things that we collectively as a band are influenced by and turning it into this musical blend of different sounds and ideas. Each of us comes from different musical backgrounds, yet we manage to come across as what is normally identified as doom/sludge metal.
Describe your first musical memory.
My first musical memory was listening to “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” thanks to my dad. He used to say, “here come the elephants!” As I got older I realized what the song meant to him. He’s a Vietnam vet and that song encapsulates everything that Vietnam was to him. He would tell me and my brothers his stories. In addition to that, coming from a Mexican household, Sundays were cleaning days. That meant mom playing the radio. Her and my dad listened to everything, so what I grew up to was Motown, R&B, The Doors, Iron Butterfly, Smokey Robinson, oldies, and of course, salsas, cumbias, and rancheros. It definitely opened many doors for me as a kid.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Witnessing YOB for the first time. You don’t JUST go see a YOB show. You experience it! Each time I’ve seen them, I get the same feeling as the first time I had ever seen them. I literally tear up and I get these fantastical goosebumps. Watching Mike up on stage is much like watching a conductor conduct a symphony. I highly, highly recommend everyone going to see YOB. It changed my perspective on how a band should play, feel, and compose music. Literally the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Playing bass in a stoner/doom band back in 2005 changed a lot of how I saw what being in a band was about. That band was Sons of Serro. I had a lot of preconceived notions and beliefs of how to be in a band. They flipped everything around that I had believed. How to write, how to collaborate, listening, standing up for what you believed in, letting things go, looking at different bandmates’ perspectives. I call my time in that band my internship in the world of music. I learned a lot from those fellas and I cherish that time I spent with them. They were my mentors.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
It leads to boundaries being taken down. It opens up opportunities for growth, and more importantly, it brings more perspective to whatever it is your trying to accomplish. I see so many bands/artists/creators stuck in this constant loop. They fall into this ideology that whatever works, don’t change. Most of the time I feel they become stagnant and complacent. Why would you not want to progress? It’s like learning chords on a guitar. If you’re stuck playing the same three chords over and over, you’re essentially playing the same song. Learn different voicings, shapes, different fingerings. It’ll open up your creative expression and give you more ideas to work with. And since I was a punk rock kid, that’s saying a lot! HAHA!
How do you define success?
Success is what you make of it. To me, my band is successful. We get to play the music that I like to play with the people that I enjoy playing it with. We release albums, play shows and don’t take ourselves too seriously. At least not ALL the time. To some, “success” means tours, making money, traveling the world, etc. etc… Those things don’t really matter to us. Would it be nice? Absolutely! To make a living doing what you love to do is a certain level of success. But with that success comes an enormous amount of responsibility. I feel that at some point it becomes a job. Not at all dissing anyone that ever achieves that level of success, but to us, that’s not what makes us successful, per se. It’s doing what you want to do and enjoying what you do. Like I said, I’m surrounded by a great group of people and that is success to me.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I’m a healthcare worker, so the last few years were pretty awful on all spectrums. It was an extremely bad time for everyone, everywhere. I’d seen more death in the first few months of the pandemic than my entire career in healthcare and I’ve been doing this for 25 years.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Videos! I want to direct. Matter of fact, I’m working on a video for Mosara at the moment. We’ll be doing something for “Zion’s Eyes,” the extended version on the LP/stream. I’ve basically got all the stock footage in place. We just need to start filming our location footage. So, I’m hoping to have that done by this year’s end.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Not becoming stagnant. Maintaining a certain degree of progression. Pushing limits and breaking boundaries. It’s about staying fresh and experimenting with different ideas to make something old, new again.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
The next phase of the MCU!!! I’m a huge Marvel Cinematic Universe geek… HAHA!
https://mosaradoom.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mosaradoom
https://www.instagram.com/mosaraband
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7iPy2moj2uGafCQ7dnHDg
