The Obelisk Questionnaire: Kostis Benning of Shovel
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: Kostis Benning of Shovel
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play riffs and scream for Shovel. Riffs, because playing guitar for me was always about the riff, from the ’60s masters to hidden gems that one might find today in the smallest scenes around the world. And screaming, because it is almost a meditation, a way to release and exorcise all the negativity from inside of me.
Describe your first musical memory.
Maybe it is not the first, but it is the first intense musical memory. It must have been when I was around six. My mother passed me a paper bag after school. I thought it was something edible, but wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t get to pay much attention. But when I got it in my hands, I realized it was something else- I opened the bag, it was a CD: The Beatles, Yellow Submarine. I still love this album and still have this copy in my place.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
This is a hard one! As we just released our album with Shovel just a few [months] ago, I can say that one of them was recording the album. Not a demo, not an EP, but a real album in a real studio, specifically Big Snuff Studio in Berlin. It was full of amazing gear, all vintage and cool equipment, most of which I had no idea what it was. I felt like a kid while exploring and — even more excited — when we got to use some of these crazy objects in our album!
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested.
I would say it happens a lot in when doing music! You think you have a clear idea about writing a song, about recording a record, finding the right artwork… Sometimes it is the way you expected it to be, but most of the times not. But I am also grateful for that, as it is always a lesson against being stubborn, dogmatic and assumptious.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression can go many ways. Some people, for example, dream about playing the fastest guitar solos or whatsoever. But I would love to evolve musically in various aspects and in a more holistic approach, to evolve in matters of composition, orchestration, dynamics… In the end what I want to say is that artistic progression for me should lead to deeper and more layered results, that can help amplify the creative expression behind an idea.
How do you define success?
I guess success is very different from person to person. For me, when talking about success in art, I believe it is the section between feeling personally satisfied about what you do and getting positive feedback from the audience, not in a matter of fame and publicity, but in a matter of communicating to other people the emotions that nourished your music. It is about the feeling that you are being heard and understood by people besides your own self and your bandmates.
What is something you have seen but you wish you hadn’t?
I think we have seen too much ugliness in the last years, and I wish we hadn’t to go through all that. The lockdowns, the war in Ukraine, the rise of racism… It is sad, that we are all getting oppressed in the same way, but some choose to blame the weakest instead the ones that cause all this madness.
Describe something that you haven’t created yet but you’d like to create.
I love experimenting with new forms of art, so I would be happy to create and learn in any possible way. But my next point on the to-do list is tattooing, as I received a small tattoo gun as a present from my beloved ones recently for my birthday!
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
For me art is a way of expressing feelings, in a non-verbal way. That means, that it helps you express things that are even deeper than what you would understand about your own self, feelings that you probably wouldn’t be able to express in words, talking to your friend or your therapist.
Something non-musical that you are looking forward to?
Summer holidays, for sure. Looking forward to some days doing nothing at all, getting some rest, some sun and some homemade food!
www.instagram.com/shovelberlin
www.facebook.com/shovelberlin
shovel.bandcamp.com
www.instagram.com/argonautarecords
www.facebook.com/argonuatarecords
www.argonautarecords.com/shop
