The Obelisk Questionnaire: Evan Linger of Dreamwheel and Skeletonwitch
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: Evan Linger of Dreamwheel and Skeletonwitch
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I never really liked anything the way I like and gravitate towards music. Growing up, everything felt like static. Not horribly terrible but also not stimulating or exciting to any degree. It was all going through the motions to fit in like everyone else; get up, go to school (later work), play sports or have a typical hobby, watch TV, spend time with people I called friends and repeat. Even at a young age this all felt like being in some kind of tedious purgatory, especially growing up in the homogenous American Midwest. I was, even at a young age, full of complex feeling and emotions that had no place in the static and dull world that surrounded me. Luckily for me, my mother is a music fan and has great taste. I began to realise that, although I could not physically escape my grey and monotone surroundings, there is a bigger and more vibrant world out there. A world that fit me or at least had room for complex emotions and thoughts. I think this is true for so many people. When we have or create music, as a fan or artist, the world doesn’t seem so dull and depressing and grey. One can give some meaning and color to an otherwise chaotic an tragic world with music. At the very least we can express or feel something deep and rich we would not normally get to feel with the power of music. I essentially came to do what I do out of necessity.
Describe your first musical memory.
It is all a mix of not physical memories but rather a switched being turned on at some point. If I had to take a guess it would be riding in the car with my mother and her knowing the words to 60s and 70s rock songs and telling me all about the song and the artists. Later thumbing through piles of LPs and listening to certain songs over and over just to catch a certain feeling again.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I have been very lucky to not just be a listener, which would have been fine enough for me, but to have put music out in the world that may have also given a handful of people the same feelings I get when listening to music. This is the best for me. On a stage or on a record, it doesn’t matter.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I believe nothing is fixed or permanent. If you have firm beliefs eventually you are going to get very disappointed. Everyone is living their own reality and having their own experience and you have to be flexible or at least cognisant of that. You have to be open to everyone’s perspective even of its polarising to yours. It is a daily exercise for me to recognise this and I still struggle with it.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
The whole exercise itself of progressing as an artist isn’t a means to an end or leading to some final goal. The effort to progress is the end game. Art isn’t a science with defined parameters. If you pick up an instrument or put on a new record or go to a museum that effort itself is what’s important. Our willingness to create or absorb art leads us to want to create and absorb more. Art and creativity lead to more art and creativity.
How do you define success?
This is a very personal. There is commercial, monetary and personal success. Music can exist in one or all of these spaces. For me, it is being satisfied with the effort I put in to create the music. This always feels like a big success. If I can listen back to a record I played on and know, even with its flaws, I did the best I could in that time then I feel like it was a successful undertaking.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I have had some good and bad experiences in the music world. All of them helped me get where I am now and I try and find some gold even in the shit ones.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I am on a constant quest to make songs and music that pushes emotions deeper and farther. I think a good artist always thinks he/she still has to create no matter how far they have come. I cannot imagine one day saying ‘’I did it all and it was all great and I have nothing more to say’’.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To move people to a place they otherwise couldn’t be moved without art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Just spending time with good people that I have in my life.
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