The Obelisk Questionnaire: Casey Kurec of Bog Mönster & Riff Fist
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: Casey Kurec of Bog Mönster & Riff Fist
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I’m a guitarist. My parents encouraged me to learn an instrument from a young age and while I spent several years learning the acoustic guitar as a child, I never enjoyed the typical classical or folk music you were generally taught as a beginner back then. It wasn’t until I was 15 and first heard Black Sabbath that I actually wanted to be a guitarist. I dug out my mum’s old classical and re-taught myself to play by learning a bunch of Iommi riffs and never looked back!
Describe your first musical memory.
My Dad had a huge vinyl collection and as a child I remember my parents regularly listening to the likes of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix. The first record I ever owned though was a copy of the Inspector Gadget theme music on 12” vinyl that I got given for my 6th birthday.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Ah so many! Traveling to Europe and going to festivals like Roadburn or Desertfest for the first time was definitely an incredible experience I’ll never forget and lead to meeting lifelong friends. While Melbourne, Australia has a thriving heavy music scene, the vast distances between major cities means that touring, both for Australian and International bands can be difficult and costly. Pre-pandemic, we did always have a regular stream of international touring acts but going to Roadburn for the first time and seeing so many amazing bands, all in the one place and so many stoner/doom/sludge and metal fans congregating together was eye opening. It blew my mind that here I was, an Australian at a festival in the Netherlands for a sub-sub-culture of heavy music, with people from Germany, the USA, Belgium, France, Russia, the UK and so many other countries and we all looked the same, dressed the same and sang along to the same classic tunes at the afterparty discos!
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
So as mentioned above, I discovered Sabbath at 15 and instantly recognised them as objectively the greatest band to ever exist. In my mind, you either acknowledged Sabbath were the best band in the world or you probably just never heard them. I couldn’t fathom that people had heard “War Pigs,” for instance, and not immediately recognised it as an incredible and unequaled piece of art. It took me years to come around to the understanding that just because I had that emotional (even spiritual) connection to Sabbath’s music, others (even other heavy music fans) just had a different experience. And that’s fine! As I’ve gotten older, I’m definitely embarrassed about some of the elitist musical beliefs I have held. Plus I just don’t care anymore. Like what you wanna like. It’s super lame to judge anyone for any kind of taste, be it music, other forms of entertainment or lifestyle choices.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
This is a tough one. On one hand, I feel that as you progress, you learn more and more about your artform and increase your skills and mastery of the field, however this does not necessarily lead to your art being any ‘better’ for lack of a better word. So many successful bands and musicians artistically peak much earlier in their careers and while their playing abilities or technical songwriting skills may improve, the magic is gone and their later work is flat or boring. I’m thinking of bands like Metallica or Qotsa. I’m sure Hetfield is a million times better guitarist now than he was 30 years ago but is he a better artist? Possibly strictly in terms of as a performer, but in terms of releasing artistically interesting music, I’m sure many people would say no. So I guess artistic progression can lead to mastery of your artform but it can also lead to complacency, especially when experiencing success and an earlier stage.
How do you define success?
I think as I’ve gotten older, I just measure success in being happy and being able to do the things that bring me happiness and joy. As a musician, you want others to like your music but to be honest, I’d consider a song to be a success if I was happy with the end product, regardless of if anyone else listened to it or not. Maybe my answer would change if I was in a majorly successful band bringing in the big bucks haha.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Hmmm, another tough one…. So there is this classic Australian 70’s band called Blackfeather who released an amazing early 70’s heavy psychedelic prog album called ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. Around ten years ago, they performed a reunion show so I went along with (Riff Fist Bassist/Singer) Cozza as we both discovered the band together on an old mix tape Coz had and were big fans. Well, we walked into the Corner Hotel (a venue in Melbourne where bands like Sleep and Boris have played) and should have known something was up when there were tables and chairs set up all over the venue floor and in front of the stage. We were also the only people there under the age of about 60. Anyway, the band (which I think was just the singer as the only original member) played almost nothing off the album we loved and to make things worse, they played with not a single ounce of distortion, fuzz or overdrive on the guitars. It was the cleanest guitar tone I’ve ever heard, fender strats through super clean fender amps which was completely at odds with the heavy 70’s overdrive I was expecting. The nail in the coffin was when they finally played their classic ‘Seasons of Change’ and the singer decided that rather than stick to the beautiful original melody, he’d adlib the shit out of it. Oooff! It was awful, I definitely wish I’d kept my memories of Blackfeather to just listening to the classic record.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A boardgame! The lyrics and world of Bog Monster are perfect for adapting to some kind of board game or pen and paper RPG. We’ve talked about one day releasing a concept style album with an accompanying game or game system. Maybe the gatefold vinyl folds out to a battle map and you get a bunch of Bog Monster miniatures with the deluxe edition or something like that? We’re all a bunch of nerds so I think something like this would be super fun and I don’t really know of any other bands that have done this.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Hmmm, I don’t know… to exist? hahahaha. I was going to say to entertain but that’s definitely not the point of some art. I guess to communicate something; feelings, messages, sensations, emotions, ideas. But that’s probably not true for all art either. I guess it’s different for every artist and every piece of art. There are no rules and that’s what makes art so special.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Traveling again. Since the pandemic shut down international travel, it’s yet to get back to the same level of accessibility and affordability we enjoyed for most of the past decade. I haven’t been to the US since 2011 or to Europe since 2017 and I can’t wait to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in years once I am able to.
https://www.facebook.com/bogmonsterband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/71RA44WSDGNyID1a8bmBZ1
https://bogmonster.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RiffFist/
https://rifffist.bandcamp.com/
http://www.rifffist.com/
