The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jérémy Blais of Subsun
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: Jérémy Blais of Subsun
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
In its rawest way, I play drums in a rock band. Despite all the genres, sub-genres, and whatever you wanna call or define what we do with Subsun, at the end of the day, we play heavy music for fans of rock n’ roll. I think it comes from the dream of a little boy who wanted to imitate the people he saw on stages from shows he went to, thinking, yeah, I can do that as well! Nowadays, it comes from hard work, practice and dedication to the art and the desire to perform with friends.
Describe your first musical memory.
I would say that even at a young age, I was already fascinated by the music that was playing on the television (90’S kid in Québec, Canada), or when my parents would play a disc. As a kid, I would always play the drums on the table, the desk, my books, everything I could get my hands on. One day, I came to my room and my parents had bought me my first drum kit, a white Intex 5-piece kit. Couple years later, I met with a friend’s friend because he was playing guitar. The first song we ever jammed was “Crazy Train” by Ozzy.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Every time that I have the opportunity to go on the road with friends, to play a gig or to go into the studio to record music, I feel blessed. You have to make the opportunity to do it, it’s not easy, but it’s always worth it. As life goes by, it’s a lot of sacrifices to continue to do music and I’m glad that I’m still doing it past 30 years old.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
As a band and as a group, we wanted to establish some ground rules regarding the decision we would take. One of them was to never accept a pay-to-play gig, that shit is stupid.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
It leads hopefully to more progression and to ultimately, self-discovery as a group. I think every band has to discover who they are as a whole, as an entity. The members come from different backgrounds and musical heritage. You have to discover together what you are becoming as a whole by building your sounds from those heritages and taking from every member.
How do you define success?
It would be easy to define success with numbers, we sold as many albums, we have that many streams. Sure, numbers are a tool to monitor progressions but it can’t be all about that. I think you have to stay true to yourself and to have a strong belief that you create something awesome and at the best of your capabilities.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I don’t have a specific example in mind but, it is always sad to see an artist that you listen to and admire performing live and realizing that they are not as good as in the studio. The live performance are where it’s at.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’m fascinated by cartoon voice acting, and sound effects. Being part of a cast of voices for a cartoon would be a project I want to be part of.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
I would define art as the materialization of the personal expression of every art form that came before it. In a world moving so fast and leaving next to nothing for the individual, art is the truest and most sincere form of expression and the only timeless mark someone can leave behind from his journey into this universe.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Video games are a medium that I’m a big fan of. This December, the physical edition of the game Cuphead is getting released and I can’t wait to play that game for the first time. That game is a great example that videogames are a form of art. Cuphead is using a rubber hose style of animation. Popular back in the 1920s and 1930s, every frame of animation is hand drawn and it’s simply gorgeous visually. The soundtrack to the game is also interesting as its live originally composed jazz and big band-inspired music.
https://www.instagram.com/subsunrock/
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https://subsunrock.bandcamp.com/
http://www.subsunrock.com/
