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: Maxime Cayer of Coup Sur Coup Records & The Adits

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I run a cassette and digital record label, Coup Sur Coup, out of my garage and storage room in my house. I am basically the sole operator. Meaning I wear all the hats, and it’s a pretty demanding dance.

I’ve been in bands most of my life, I had to deal with shitty record deals myself & after a while I started doing it on my own. That was around 2006-07. Coup sur Coup started in 2017 in Montréal. Seven months later, I moved out West in British Columbia, and been there ever since. I’ve done 27 physical releases so far, all on cassettes. I’ve been extremely lucky in working with fantastic artists from the get go, that have helped me establish the label.

Describe your first musical memory.

My parents talking about seeing Alice Cooper, back when they were kids in the ’70s. At that point I had never heard Alice’s music, I was just going by my parents’ ’70s stoner memories, describing a wild man, guillotines, snakes, blood, black magic and shit, a wild band, and a wild show. I was sold. Haha.

Relating to the label side of things,
I remember being mesmerized by the Uzi Suicide Logo on those early Guns cassettes. I didn’t know what it was, what it meant.

A band? A gang? I had no idea what a vanity label was back then, but I was just hypnotized by that logo. I guess the label’s story started there in a way.

Lastly, this might not be my first musical memory, but seeing the live broadcast of Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert back in 1991, with Metallica, Guns, and all the others, was a watershed moment. Like, “I WANNA DO THIS.”

Describe your best musical memory to date.

There’s a few. Playing a show earlier this year with my son joining me on stage to play with us, has to be up there. Definitely. Just having my kids with me when I play shows nowadays is fantastic.

Seeing a release that I’ve just announced sold out in less than four hours (200 copies!) was also quite a trip.

Leaving on that first tour was also a pretty cool feeling.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

That first tour. Canada, late February/mid March, only source of heat we had in the back cab was a dryer duct taped to a heater vent out on the front dashboard. Three weeks like that. That vehicle, a VW van, also had a tape deck & a tape stuck in it, with Bon Jovi on side A and Toto on side B. So that’s all we listened to. I was really wondering what I had gotten my
self into.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Finding yourself.

How do you define success?

Being able to do what the hell I want, include my friends and community, and be able to do the thing I like the most after making music, talking about music.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I caught my mom and dad having sex when I was a kid. I’m still terrorized by that memory.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’ve yet to come up with that one.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Art is a means to express something we can’t really find the words for. Art is capable of molding civilizations.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

– ‘Oppenheimer’ by Chris Nolan.
– Being done with winter and shovelling.
– Finishing paying off my car.

https://www.facebook.com/TheAditsWestKootenay
https://theadits.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/coupsurcouprecords
http://www.instagram.com/coup_sur_coup_records
https://coupsurcoup.bandcamp.com/
https://coupsurcoup.bigcartel.com/

The Adits, “Kids These Days”