The Obelisk Questionnaire: Finn Akuma of BÜZÊM & Dredge the House
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: Finn Akuma of BÜZÊM, Dredge the House Promotions, Ezra Pound and Born on Your Knees
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Imagine you’ve taken a windowpane. You were contact high from DMT 6hrs before. You now hit a full bowl. Go beyond the gates and meet God. Subsequently you kill them after coitus because well…? You ever seen Hellhaiser, but got turned on? BAM! Fuck it! You are gone man. Beyond the regions and realms of existence and understanding. Oh then Satan somehow appears and is like, “The fuck you doing? Go back and never come here again. You didn’t need to die to find tonality.”………… and out from this intense cascading wall of sound and monolithic riffs we flesh into humming circles of familiarity to when Earth first started. In short if you smoke a lot of pot and trip while listening to grindcore on 33rpm then you’ll dig us.
Describe your first musical memory.
My mother for Christmas bought me a keyboard when I was 5? And so I’d try to play the usual stuff like Mary Had A Little Lamb or whatever. But my mother with this old grand piano would be playing away for days. Expected me to play along with her to stuff like Mozart. Did that for a minute. But my real first one is getting a violin through a school music program. I never practiced, but when i did it was fun to do these like slow dragging strokes like if it’s a bad note or if it sounded like someone dying. Beautiful is its own thing, but for me that was a sound I found later in just some of the most merciless drone and black metal.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
In 2018 I saw The Obsessed and had taken some photos. It’s 2022. Walking past the tour buses for the Ministry / Melvins / COC tour in Portland, ME. This guy with super muttonchops walks by me and we’re talking for a minute. When I realize it’s Reid obviously I got all gitty cuz dude! Fucking RWAKE! Well turns out that a photo I had taken of Reid while with The Obsessed from what he told me was that he still shows people that photo. As someone who is virtually unknown it was a big boost in knowing that I did something that meant something to someone else. And to get recognition alone was huge, but to get that from someone who you look up to? Pretty rad!
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
That being myself wasn’t worth my time. Something I’ve dealt with my whole life. But in the last few months I’ve been shown how foolish I’d been in my early years. All that I’m doing now is because I found the opportunity to do so. As a kid I just had the chances, but was never allowed to really flush it out. As I got older I had to work more to be comfortable existing and wasted so much time never just creating. Because I’ve seen it in little spurts where what I do inspires someone and I was always selfish thinking I’m not doing anything. And come to find out people are doing because I did something because someone else inspired me. Realizing your self worth and actualizing that to make others wanna do the same is a huge struggle to overcome.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
In the sense that an artist is never truly done with what they’re doing? That I do believe.
How do you define success?
Naively I say being able to live off being a musician and not scrubbing dishes. I quit being a cook at one point because I kept wanting to cut my fingers off or wanting to hurt those around me because of the mental abusive world it is. But success I don’t really care for much. Ya I’d like to be seen. Who doesn’t want that? Success is only found through royally fucking it up until you don’t. Worst way to put it. But the more you keep doing something, but always willing to adapt then you’ll achieve a goal I think.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
When I was 12 years old I watched my father slowly die of cancer over 6ms and that image of watching the soul leave the body as you see the eyes go from white to this stained yellow wall color. It’s not pretty. Someone healthy become a skeleton of a human being. The only I can describe what that looked like is seeing photos of holocaust victims. That emaciated appearance as you watch someone slowly accept their death and essentially quit trying to live because at that point you can’t go back. And watching my father have to struggle with death destroyed me for twenty years. There really is no way to describe what that was like.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Wrote a musical and performance art play two years ago that I’d kill to get off the ground. Very fortunate to be in Portland right now where we’re all trying to just create. There’s no limitations. There’s no overseer or magazine or anything defining what we are right now and I gotta say that is amazing. Sure you could pigeonhole someone into a demographic, but there’s so many people wanting to just do. And I want to bring that all together in a way that someone twenty years from now will take and try to perform that. I’d love to be at some summer outdoor theater and watch a local troupe put on this play, but I just go as participant. Weird to think that I guess, but it makes me strive to wanna do something of value instead of jerk off and waste my time.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Imagination. For it to be whatever you want it to be. Art needs to move you. I get so bored at shows watching bands just play to play. For me that’s what cover bands are so why am I gonna waste my time in this world being boring? You’d hope to wanna inspire the next wave of kids and people your age to get off their asses and make something of themselves. In other words if you’re reading this? Don’t become just another industry band that only plays with the same collective circle of people and then burn out because you never did anything with the gift you’re given.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
It’s weird as everything I center myself around is music. Stopped trying like 8 years ago. Been looking for the time to start up again. Back in 2012 I went to IFC to pitch a TV series, but was so ill-prepared for that and just fucking fucked up the meeting. But eventually I got around to writing out a 10 episode series I’d love to see be out in the world. Alongside that I wrote two features I hope to direct some day about Boston that I don’t feel is ever expressed nor approached before.
Upcoming Shows:
May 6th: Geno’s in Portland, ME with Extinction A.D., Goblet, BÜZÊM, Mankala, Death’s Hand
June 16: Charlie O’s in Montpelier, VT with Komodo VT, Black Axe, BÜZÊM, A River Of Trees
June 20: The Cavern in Portland, ME with Guhts, False Gods, Hollow Leg, BÜZÊM, In The Wind
July 7th: Sammy’s Patio in Revere, MA with Hobo Wizard, BÜZÊM, High’n’Heavy, Going2Hell
July 8th: The Cavern in Portland, ME with Hobo Wiard, BÜZÊM, High’n’Heavy, Mast
July 22: Geno’s in Portland, ME with VRSA, North Star The Wanderer, Afghan Haze, Trash Fire, As Real
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