The Obelisk Questionnaire: REZN
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: REZN
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Whatever we’re doing is just a culmination of all of our musical tastes and creative energies. We love the atmosphere of cinematic and psychedelic music, but we wanted to add more of an edge to it. At the beginning, it was just Rob and Phil jamming together with the intention of making a blend of heavy and cosmic music. When Patrick and Spencer were brought into the mix, our combined writing styles and personal musical goals gave REZN a backbone that was stronger than all of us could’ve imagined. It’s very much based around an organic friendship that glues us all together.
Describe your first musical memory.
We all grew up digging through our parent’s record collection and their music taste, which was mainly just a mix of classic rock and country music. It seems like the one common thread we all shared was listening to Pink Floyd from a very early age. Who would’ve thought?
Describe your best musical memory to date.
This is impossible to answer, but playing our ‘Live at Ohmstead” collaboration record with Lume live on stage at The Empty Bottle was up there as our favorite. Simultaneously, there were two drummers, two guitar players, two bassists, two vocalists, and the sax and synth just swirling everything into a sonic milkshake. Transforming simple melodies into colossal walls of sound with the people that we love was unforgettable, not to mention the feeling of playing it live. The Bottle was the perfect finale to that tour we did with Lume, and the energy in the room that night was very, very good. Here’s a video taken by our good friend Austin that gives you a glimpse into that performance: https://youtu.be/0qT00rnLGZ4
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
We come in conflict with our own independence quite a lot, mainly because we’re a small team and have very limited outside help as a band. Although that comes with its own set of challenges, it has allowed us to act and change whenever and however we want. As with other bands, our biggest challenge was getting through the pandemic with our sanity and ambition intact. We still managed to release a record during that time, and although we weren’t able to tour it like we would have wanted, we realized that our independence is what fulfills us as musicians. So even when the responsibilities and band tasks can become overwhelming between the four of us, we can appreciate those moments because they’re founded on an independence that has allowed us to grow in our own direction as a band and as people.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
We don’t necessarily think artistic progression is a linear process. We believe our music grows with our own life paths. That includes our influences and what we continue to learn in regard to writing, our style, and what is going on in our lives while we are creating new art. One major tenant of ours is to try to not make the same record twice, so we always focus our efforts to reshape and reinvent how we make music as REZN.
How do you define success?
In the context of our band, we would love to keep being able to write music we are proud of and perform it in front of the world. As long as we can continue to do that, we would consider ourselves successful.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
We wish we never saw the black mold on that guy’s carpet floor we slept on after a show one time. We also wish we never saw the uncensored cover of The Origin of the Feces… so we could see it for the first time all over again.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
We would love to make a dark ambient noise record. It’s something we are all interested in, and it would be fun to see where our vision for it leads us. We would also like to help create a space in the music scene where heavy music can continue to be fused and transformed by other genres and sounds. If someone can hear our hybrid blend of “psychedelic doom” and take it further, then we know we’ve done something meaningful.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
We believe it’s a connection between the creator and the observer. It’s a force that gathers, motivates, inspires, and provides pure enjoyment of life.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Disc golfing season. Everyone except Patrick loves it. Also excited to experience Chicago while Lori Lightfoot is no longer mayor. Lastly, we’re looking forward to camping and relaxing outdoors as much as possible once we’re done touring.
facebook.com/reznhits
instagram.com/rezzzn
rezzzn.bandcamp.com
