The Obelisk Questionnaire: Joseph Schafer of Colony Drop
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: Joseph Schafer of Colony Drop
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I don’t try to define what I do, personally.
As a kid, I wanted to be a “Writer” – whatever that means these days. I must thank my excellent High School teachers, Ms. Forte, Mr. Kinkaid and Mr. Broadway, for fostering that talent in me. I should also thank my writing professor in college, Diane Suess (Pulitzer Prize Winner), for training me.
I don’t think people need to be just “one thing” anymore. Idris Elba is an actor and a rapper, for example. Rhianna is a CEO of a clothing company as much as she is a pop star. Frances Ford Coppola probably makes more money as a wine mogul than as a film director. If all those folks can do many things, why not me, too? The only limitations are my willpower and my circumstances, though those are both significant limitations.
Besides writing, everything else that I now do began by accident. As an events promoter, I just wanted to put a half-decent show on and wound up running a small business. As a musician, I just wanted to yell in a room with my friends, and now I’m in a band, and in that band, I often manage our analytics and booking, so as a band member, my role is much larger than only “musician” and that’s true of every member of Colony Drop. Creativity and enterprise are simply about doing things.
Describe your first musical memory.
My earliest musical memory is being a five-year-old child and going with my parents to see Jurassic Park. I recall being strongly affected by John Williams’ theme in that film. Maybe that’s a bit basic. The first song I remember wanting to hear a second time was “Be Prepared” in the Lion King a year later. That soundtrack was the first cassette I begged my mother for. We wore it out. Pop music, rock music, and extreme metal all came later.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
It’s difficult to pick a ‘best,’ however, in 2005, I saw Nine Inch Nails play the Toledo Sports Arena on the With Teeth tour. That was my first genuinely massive show. I got into the mosh pit as a scrawny teen and was totally ripped away from my friends and thrown way far near the front of the crowd. I was totally alone and could not find them (no cell phones!). I recall I had a sunburn, so the bodies around me were kind of uncomfortable. I had no choice but to give myself up to the stimulation of the lights and sounds and Trent Reznor’s music. That was the first time I truly went into a transcendental or sublime surrender state while seeing live music. I still have a bootleg CD of that show – it was a great set. They played “Dead Souls”!
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When I was a kid, my parents went all out for Christmas. They were really into making Santa Claus real for me. Dad would get his boots muddy and track them through the house at 4 AM – the works. As a result, I believed in Santa for a while longer than my friends. When I confronted the fact that Santa wasn’t real, that led to an immediate test of my juvenile religious beliefs. Jesus and God went in the trash can probably minutes after that. My apostasy was fast and brutal. Black Sabbath came into my life soon thereafter!
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Bankruptcy. But if you’re doing it right, it also leads to community, friendship, and solidarity. Maybe even love – I met my wife through metal.
How do you define success?
Success is when something you’ve taken part in has a tangible effect on someone else’s life. Even if you only bring a spark to one person’s life, that justifies all the labor involved in creative expression. The only value in trying to do music, writing, or art on any kind of large scale is that it gives you the opportunity to have a tangible effect on people more often and more regularly – everything else is just a hoop to jump through.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I spent too much time on the Something Awful forums in High School; let’s leave it at that. I’m thankful I never followed any of those random acquaintances to 4chan.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I have an as-yet unproduced complete screenplay for a feature-length horror film, as well as a complete manuscript for an epic fantasy novel. I’d love to see those two pieces published.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
I subscribe to the theory of creative expression put forth by playwright Lajos Egri – I’m not sure if his theory has a formal name or school of thought, but his basic premise is that art exists to express a worldview and put it up for an audience’s evaluation.
So, for example, the worldview expressed by Metallica on Master of Puppets is “life cannot have value while you’re being controlled by an outside force.” Each song explores one outside force that sucks value out of your life: narcotic addiction, religion, wartime conflict, mental institutions, and so on. The album is such a success because it expresses that worldview so completely without talking down to the audience.
Egri argues for this theory in his excellent books On Dramatic Writing and On Creative Writing. They’re great resources even for songwriters, musicians, or painters. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m getting married next month. I’m looking forward to the wedding, but I’m also looking forward to the wedding being over so I can finally get some sleep. Haha!
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