The Obelisk Questionnaire: Obiat
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: Obiat
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Neil Dawson: I try and convince people I can hit things in a musical fashion and hang out with musicians. I initially tried to take up guitar under my dad’s influence but I didn’t have the patience for it. I remember being in a music lesson at school, at 13 years old, hearing some drums from another room. I asked the teacher (Mr. Root – RIP) what was going on, who said it was drum lessons and they were free. Would I be interested? (worth noting, you also got 15mins out of class to do it) so it was a no brainer, I signed myself straight up and never looked back. I joined as many bands as possible whether it be punk rock, indie or just random covers and we would practice in the music rooms after school every night. Our deputy head (Mr. Dooley) found out that I played drums and asked me to join his dance band, doing blues and jazz songs, so I did that on Saturdays too.
Raf Reutt: For me, it was 90’s death metal that made me want to play riffs in a band. I then discovered Danzig and Soundgarden, Mudhoney and AIC. The idea of Obiat started shaping up. I went through Noise (Amphetamine Reptile Records) but it wasn’t until I was blown away with the sound of Kyuss, early Sleep and dub that Obiat’s path became clear. Our 1st album was basically my interpretation of Kyuss and Sleep riffs. My appreciation of 70’s classic rock came later and it was The Doors before Black Sabbath. Obiat’s sound nowadays is the outcome of all members’ input and influences. We’ve progressed to a harder hitting more immediate band with improved production, although we still love to go hypnotic and mellow in places.
Alex Nervo: An endless river of creativity fuelled by all the musical data collected through the years. I used to draw a lot when I was a kid but when I discovered my dad’s electric guitar I settled for music.
Describe your first musical memory?
ND: I have a few memories in different settings… early on it was listening to things like Madonna/Gloria Estafan tapes in my mum’s car coming home from primary school. At home, I remember singing along with my dad and sisters around while he played his guitar (there’s some embarrassing video footage somewhere). I remember taking ‘Survivor – Eye of the tiger’ on tape up to my room when I was about 8/9, and playing it over and over, trying to write the words down. As for live experiences, Green Day was my first gig in Leeds (aside from seeing bands at school) when I was 14. I felt sick at the end from crowd surfing so much.
RR: Growing up in Eastern Europe, before CDs and cassettes, we had cheap Bulgarian and Russian vinyls which were my mum’s. Kim Wilde, Kids in America, Rolling Stones and a Hungarian band, Omega.
AN: Listening to ’70s funk on the radio while riding my bike in the backyard.
Describe your best musical memory to date?
ND: Writing and recording ‘EyeTreePi’ was pretty epic. Recording at a studio owned by Dave Anderson of Hawkwind and working with Chris Fielding and Billy Anderson. The follow up tours were great experiences, especially ‘Stoner Hands of Doom’ in Erfurt, Germany. That was a gooooood gig/night. We ended up staying in this hostel which was an ex-police station, complete with cells.
RR: A collaboration I witnessed live of Neurosis & Jarboe and all the Slayer gigs I went to. As for Obiat, I’d echo what Neil mentioned and add the journey that our new album has taken us on, including the ups & downs, now that it’s finished and we can reflect on it.
AN: Same as ND, that night in Erfurt was pretty special.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
ND: When we started writing ‘Indian Ocean’ and were like “this is cool, we’ll have this finished and out in no time at all…..”.
RR: When Trump won a presidency. I always believed peoples sanity would prevail… I was wrong. Also the pandemic period. As a social worker, I suffered burn out and compassion fatigue, which I didn’t believe I could pull through from. I did :-).
AN: Never really as I don’t hold on firmly to any belief, I just look at the facts and make my own mind up.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
ND: If I interpret this right, as in getting better on your instruments and better at working with your bandmates… Well I guess, exactly that – it leads to a more well rounded band and satisfaction that you’re all getting closer to a complete collaboration where everyone is as involved as the next member, pulling their weight so to speak. I think it opens up more opportunities to be creative and think outside the box which we do like to do. I think we’ve cracked that on ‘Indian Ocean’. If not, we will have by the time our next album is ready… or the next one after that… actually will we ever crack it… Who knows haha.
RR: It leads wherever we want it to, as long as we remain open minded and have freedom of expression….and funds haha. I believe it is always good to return to basics. Don’t overdo it.
AN: It could lead to many places depending on the circumstances, for many famous act that means complacency and self indulgence, for the hungry and starving musician it’s a free expression of that state of mind.
How do you define success?
ND: As a band, we are all happy with what we produced in the past and we’re really happy with our upcoming album ‘Indian Ocean’, so I guess that is success. There’s always that excitable idea that people will like what you do as a band and as an individual part in that band, however many people that may be, so that would be a bonus success. I think we know that we’ll never be able to rely on our music as our sole income in life and retire comfortably as it’s not mainstream enough and doesn’t appeal to the masses (I mean what’s wrong with the world haha) so we’re not chasing financial success, just like minded people as fans. That said, some money wouldn’t hurt to help us continue to write and record without being bankrupt. It does stretch you trying to pay for recording, mixing, mastering, pressing of physical releases and any equipment that needs replacing, servicing or maintaining but hey, it’s our hobby.
RR: When you feel an urge to express yourself through art and you have the courage and a platform to do it and you find likeminded people who appreciate it. Knowing someone’s there on the other side of the world, who you’ve never met, has your band’s album on the shelf because they like it… thats success and all
the satisfaction we need. We never made any money out of music anyway, so our expectations shifted from dreams we may once have had in our teens/early years as musicians.
AN: It’s gaining the desired outcome from a task or performance. For most of us it’s mainly money, for me it’s some economical gratification but mostly sharing something special through our music with like minded people, something that withstand the test of time.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
ND: The world struggle with Covid 19 and now Ukraine struggling to defend themselves alone. Lots of upsetting scenes across the globe to be honest… I wish we could all just get along and look out for each other but that’s the human race.
RR: Some of the social media posts of people I know ;-). Everything we experience helps to shape our personalities. There are a few things I struggle to get out of my mind. A body of a woman under a bendy bus, when I was a boy in primary school. As an adult, I saw a screaming mother on her knees holding her dead teenage son following a gang-style execution, which happened outside a place I used to live in London. I didn’t see the killer but heard the shots fired.
AN: Nothing, everything we have seen and experienced makes us who we are, knowledge is pain but still better than the fake reality of ignorance. Seeing some of my old friends disintegrate and fading away was hard though.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create?
ND: Our fifth album or a split LP. Include some more synth soundscapes. We watched Naxatras recently live and it was very cool.
RR: Dark minimal ambient electronic music…..and more albums with heavy riffs :-).
AN: Our best album. Some solo stuff I’ve been working on for decades now but it still is unfinished.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
ND: To offer ourselves and other people something familiar but different, to make us think, smile and carry on passionately with what we’ve always loved doing.
RR: As someone once said ‘Earth without art is just Eh’. It’s the best alternative to religion there is in my opinion.
AN: it’s the splash of colours onto the gray canvas of life. it brings out the Chaos in us in a more understandable form, art is basically a language. A song, a painting or a book can tell many tales if you’re careful enough to listen.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
ND: Hanging out as a full band again one day, even just for a coffee or beer and laugh altogether again and hopefully seeing my kids make good decisions and do something I can be proud of.
RR: Seeing my daughter growing up healthy and happy. A new Don Winslow book :-)
AN: Comedy shows, I like how comedians can say something utterly meaningful and true while making you laugh your arse off. Visiting the old world again, where history was made, Europe is my homeland, I don’t care for individual countries, I think that concept has been made redundant now. Seeing the bandmates and some good ol’ friends would be a blast.
https://www.facebook.com/Obiatband
https://www.instagram.com/_obiat_/
https://obiat.bandcamp.com/
