The Obelisk Questionnaire: Anthony Gaglia of LáGoon, Oopsy Dazey & The Crooked Whispers
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: Anthony Gaglia of LáGoon, Oopsy Dazey & The Crooked Whispers
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I just have fun creating music on my own and with my friends. I’ve been playing guitar since I was really young, but for the first chunk of my guitar playing years I was playing classical guitar and did so all the way through college. I still love playing classical guitar, but I got pretty burnt out on how strict it all felt. My only goal now is to make music that I enjoy and more importantly fun to play live.
Describe your first musical memory.
Cruising around in my dad’s work van listening to music. He had a huge tape collection and he’d pick me up from school and let me pick out a tape and we’d drive around and listen to whatever I picked out as loud as the van speakers would allow. More days than not I’d pick ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres. He gave that tape collection to me a few years back.
-Describe your best musical memory to date.
Man, hard to pick just one. I’ve met so many rad people and travelled to some pretty cool places doing this music thing. In college I composed a classical piece based on Haitian voodoo rhythms and traveled to Doha, Qatar to present it at the World Conference of Undergraduate Research which was pretty unreal, so we’ll roll with that one.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When I was going to music school and getting all types of music theory shoved down my throat I had this formulaic way of going about writing songs. I thought I needed to jam everything I was learning into the music I was making. I was so focused on every song needing to have key and time signature changes, weird chord voicings, or all of the above. It’s a complex you see a lot of music school kids fall into. If you’re familiar with any of the music I’ve released over the past 8 years it’s pretty obvious I’ve moved away from that haha. I still think there’s a time and place for some of that stuff and still like nerding out on music theory but my songwriting now is definitely more of a “less is more” approach.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
For me it leads to expanding into other genres. I think that’s true in music, other forms of art, and life in general. If you aren’t trying other things you’re just limiting what you can accomplish.
How do you define success?
Releasing projects that I’m proud of and being the best friend, son, and husband I can be.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
We found an overdosed couple in the bathroom after one of the shows I played in college. It was the first show of mine my now wife ever came to. The guy survived but unfortunately his girlfriend wasn’t able to be resuscitated. It was a pretty heavy scene.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A classical album. I’ve got a few solo, duo, and quartet guitar pieces I’ve composed. Someday I’d like to get those worked out with some other players and record a live performance of them.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Bringing people together and giving them a sense of community they might not have without it.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Becoming a dad.
https://anthonygaglia.bandcamp.com/
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https://instagram.com/oopsy__dazey
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https://www.facebook.com/LaGoonPDX/
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https://lagoonpdx.bandcamp.com/
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https://thecrookedwhispers.bandcamp.com/
