The Obelisk Questionnaire: Luca Umidi of Huge Molasses Tank Explodes
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: Luca Umidi of Huge Molasses Tank Explodes
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I guess I can say we are a group of four individuals with different backgrounds who put their energies together to express themselves through music. How we found ourselves doing this together is mostly by accident. Then we got to know each other and little by little we created a common space which I can simply call a “sound” in which we all recognize ourselves.
Describe your first musical memory.
It is probably connected to The Beatles. My parents used to listen to their records, and I am still a huge fan of their music. I remember the tapes of the red and the blue collections, my favorite song was “Magical Mystery Tour.” I don’t have an exact event in mind, but their songs sound deeply familiar to me.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I wouldn’t say I have a best musical memory. Every time you work on a song, and you get closer and closer to the point in which that mass of sound becomes something that you didn’t even imagine, and it sounds good, that is a beautiful moment that becomes an emotional memory. The best part is that if you’re lucky enough that memory will be recalled in a new form every time you get to that point.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
We live in a very noisy world. We face disturbing news every day, and every day we have to digest words and events we don’t understand, or we strongly disagree with. In this confusion, we must keep strong on the wise side daily, live our communities with a human sense of mutual support and empathy, and avoid following shallow and horribly dangerous points of view. Tough times.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I believe that creativity, in any form, leads to a development of our inner sensitivity. It keeps you very alive. No matter what the outcome. We need to feed our artistic side with new and different inputs, in order to stay awake and keep our mind going. We all need creativity.
How do you define success?
Even though it can sound rhetorical, success is a very overrated concept to me. Not always a negative one though. We give too much value to recognized statuses. What you do has a meaningful essence if you do it genuinely and at your best. We should care less about being recognized as successful and give higher value to what we do in the act of doing it.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
If we take a look around and reflect about what’s going on in the world, there are so many things I wouldn’t want to see or hear. Pain, war, physical violence, verbal violence, rejection and disrespect for minorities and diversities, money supremacy, oversimplification that leads to distortion, egoism…It just feels like we’re going backwards. Sad to see this happening.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Tough one… well, think I’d like to have more time to create instead of having clear in mind something I want to create… so, a time-expanding machine? 😉
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art keeps minds alive. It preserves sensitivity and critical thinking. And this approach can then apply to many other aspects of what surrounds us in daily life.
When a piece of art goes from a sender to a receiver, it undergoes a unique process, which is taking a new form depending on how that specific receiver gets the message. It is something that actively involves both the parts. In this sense we can say that art is a place of freedom where both the creator and the receiver can meet.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I live in Milan, which is becoming more and more complicated. I’d like to move to a quite different place at a certain point of my life. But these are just words now…
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Huge Molasses Tank Explodes, III (2024)
Tags: Huge Molasses Tank Explodes, Huge Molasses Tank Explodes III, III, Italy, Milan, Tidal Wave Records
