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: Tom Denney of I Klatus & Tom Denney Art

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

The attempt is to create the heaviest expression. The desire to experience the heaviest expression has not been achieved. The frustration is in the continued attempts to capture the heaviest expression. It started before consciousness started. More of a destiny, or a magnetic tethering. The first expression was pre toddler smashing different cooking pots together to make the noises bend to the will. Then Tuba in grade school. The largest and most primal brass instrument. The amount of air your lungs could produce could generate tones, primal chaotic tones. When the air passed through the various curvatures of the brass pipe system, you could stagger the breath in combination with certain vocalizations to generate the alternating tones which would sound closer to animal. Like an elephant or large cetacean. Also the volume and vibration that would be caused in the room always fascinated.

From the age of 8-18 I was able to grow my lung power to the point that I could yield the tuba as a sonic weapon, creating sharp whipping noises that would create great amusement by the consternation of and within a football field radius. Which was often fun because we would actually perform at football fields, like the Orange Bowl in Florida. I would have to work with an assault line of other tuba players in order to project our internal lung capacity through the winding of the brass tubes over the combined voices of sixty thousand stadium goers.

Soon after that I traded in the tuba for bass guitar. Continuing to search for the sound until I finally got myself a Gibson six-string and proper mesa boogie full stack. Originally it was just noise that would clear out basement shows. Then it evolved. It continues, the search for the heaviest continues.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Playing on a big stage next to your best friends while every one is in sync. Playing music with other people, there have been so many times where it crosses over into the mystical. To attempt to point out one experience isn’t really viable. To say that there is something very metaphysical to playing live music with other talented musicians, it is as close to eucharistic transcendental experience that you could hope for as a human. Outside of jumping out of a plane, jamming live and really getting into sync with people musically is as close as you can get to the thrill of the void. It taps into a deeper part of my being. It’s proof of the resonance of sound and psychic abilities. They call it “Intuitive Playing”.

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

…

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Poverty.

How do you define success?

The ability to transmit a message and have it received by another participant.

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

…

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

I would like to create an animated series. Lots of colors and moving elements all set to music.

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

To capture the imagination, hold it in place. It is to make permanent the flowing of ideas which pass through the mind. Like taking a snapshot into the imagination, which is in itself with the flow of the nature of the universe. Where do ideas come from? Where every thing else in nature comes from. The Void. Pondering the void can lead to existential breakdown for most workers. However the artist stands at the edge of this void, tethered by a single rope, leaning into the void to report back to the rest of the culture the changing tides and torrents of the void. A seed springs forth from the shadowy mud as a stalk of receiving, searching for the light. Most people only want to hear about the light, see pictures of it in advertisements, listen to other people conduct their opinions about the mater. Yet only the artist are compelled to explore it in person. The experience of which can either destroy you or make you whole. For it is the true spirit of man which feeds of art. It holds immense value.

It will be the only way we have to tell our story to future generations. Art is our only document of how our souls are currently surviving, impacted by the flow of creation, and living in the warm embrace of a central star that will eventually go supernova and destroy us in every sense. We look to the art to show us lifetimes beyond our own, possibilities of our seed passing on through the darkness of space into a never dying new form of awareness. Art is the life raft of our culture through the deafening sour void that is existence. Destruction and cosmic survival intertwined. Like coiled serpents flowing in unison into each other for all eternity. Art is the promise of a cosmic rebirth. Through sound, and vision and storytelling in all its forms and conjurations. The art and its creator is our truest form of magick. As everything emanates from the void of the mind firstly and then through skill and control, is transcribed onto paper or computer. Then the engineers set to crafting it and it is made real.

Every technological miracle mankind has achieved from the wheel to the space vehicles, it all started with the artist, transcribing the vision for others to follow. On the cave wall with charcoal or the corporate hi rises with light pens and holographic interface. It will always be the artist at the forefront of these unfoldments. A visionary artist is your best friend when it comes to conjuring and manifesting the unseen or impossible. The artist will find the way, the artist will build the path that leads to kingdoms built of knowing. Like the temple of prayer which all emperors are crowned upon was envisioned by an artist, hanging over the edge of the void. The realms of chaos and noise. From which he conjures something pure. Something that we all can interpret differently, and subscribe to and follow. Art is not a religion, it is THE RELIGION, which is called by many names. Its unfoldment will continue to astound us and lead us into the future. Through fashion and technology, and interpersonal relationships, art will continue to be the life raft that carries all the consciousness of humanity forward. Into the void of unknowing, and the retainment of the past.
Art is our only promise of immortality.

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

The Apocalypse

https://www.tomdenney.com/
https://instagram.com/tomdenney_art

https://iklatus.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/iklatus
https://twitter.com/i_klatus

https://deadsage.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/dead_sage_records
https://www.facebook.com/Deadsagerecords

I Klatus, Targeted (2022)

Chicago purveyors of avant darkness, harsh metal, noise and sludge disaffection I Klatus are set to release their new album, Targeted, this Friday, April 1, through their own Dead Sage Records label. As with 2017’s Nagual Sun (review here) and 2013’s Kether (featured here), their volatility is their own on this fifth full-length. Their tribalism their own. As it has throughout their 20-plus years of existence, phasing into and out of our reality like a flash from some manipulated subdimensional core, their underlying chaos of mind feels sincere. The three-piece of founding guitarist/vocalist Tom Denney (also visuals here and for a wide slew of others), bassist/vocalist John E. Bomher (Bury the Machines, Indian, Yakuza), who also mixed and mastered at Berwyn Recording, and drummer/vocalist Chris Wozniak (Lair of the Minotaur and that’s all you need) conjure a visceral, inward-born darkness. It is not accessible, or friendly, or kind. Targeted mangles with a grief born of addiction, mental illness, violence. While it’s nowhere near the most thrashing of sounds, to call it anything less than extreme is underselling it.

In just five tracks and 28 minutes, I Klatus portray this grim fascia of right now, utilizing a deceptive depth of arrangement and the inclusion of guest spots from Allison Chesley (aka Helen Money) on cello and Valentina Levchenko on vocals for opener “Solstice of Wind,” violin/cello from Joseph Starita on the subsequent “Shitback and Halfway Damned,” lyrics from Michael McEvoy on the especially gruesome “Dance With the Skulls in the Church,” and gongs and more from Patrick Hamilton on grinding centerpiece “Opium Cyborg” and the more extended closing title-track, which moves from its quiet beginning to cast its own post-sludgy vision of paranoia, conspiracy, and malevolence. If there is a soul, it is a thing to be mourned. Gone.

One could write a dissertation on the sociopolitical statement being inherently made. If this is some version of how a piece of the post-Rust Belt white working class views itself and its experience, then that is one more level on which I Klatus sound well and truly fucked. I’ll spare you the blah-blah-blah (this much, anyhow) and leave you instead to the morose back half of “Shitback and Halfway Damned,” the bleak krautrock of “Dance With the Skulls in the Church” and the anti-genre strive for understanding of “Targeted” itself. There’s performance happening here, of course — I Klatus didn’t just hit record and Targeted magically came out; these songs were built carefully and fleshed out even beyond the bounds of the trio themselves — but it’s rare to hear something raw enough at its heart to feel as authentic as this does in what it’s trying to convey.

You can stream the full album below, followed by a track-by-track generously put together by the band.

I’m not sure if “enjoy” is the right word, but maybe “appreciate” would work.

Either way, good luck:

PREORDER: https://iklatus.bandcamp.com/album/targeted

I Klatus on Targeted:

I Klatus started off as a college basement noise project just after the twin towers fell. Like the blob, the project consumed other artists, digesting their talent. It slowly grew in scope, embellishing the fundamentals of musicianship rooted in sonic exploration with downtuned guitars. The subtle frequencies, hums and grinding synthesizers have always reminded us of the sounds of madness, the type of white noise that comes to mind through transcendental meditation. It is at the core of our beliefs that Sonics are the Foundation of the Universe and by exploring the sounds of noise, we further delve into the expanse that is universal creation and we challenge the listener to join us on the journey and find the songs within the sounds. This is the fundamental groundwork by which all our songs take root and find expansion; like a tree growing through the floorboards of an abandoned society. Noise in a very real sense is a type of deity in itself. One that we take a knee to and worship wholeheartedly.

Immediately on the heels of “Nagual Sun,” the band went into seclusion in the cold mountain town of Snoqualmie, WA, to write and record a follow-up. 14 sunless days went by and in stark contrast to the summer sun filled experience of Los Angeles which inspired “Nagual Sun,” we forced ourselves to write without any distractions from jobs or family, without any sunshine or warmth. Just cold rain and troll spirits.

The entire concept of the album is about fear, addict ion, and psychosis. Confronting the self-obsessed fears often faced by those with mental health challenges such as schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder. Often times, these unfortunate victims of their own minds are terrorized by unseen entities which cause them to turn to drugs and other strange behavior to cope with the daily horrors which plague them. An irrational fear of being followed, tracked, and hunted. Fear of being implanted with microchips while unconscious; injecting shadow entities their nightmares, nightmares which bleed into daytime realities. The psychosis is infectious, affecting who you’re able to trust. Here we confront the harsh reality that we’re face to face with when these kinds of struggles affect our loved ones, and we find ourselves in a position of needing to protect ourselves from these unseen forces which are very real to the victims of such maladies.

Solstice of Wind

Air as an element is often associated with breath, life, communication, and the holy spirit connection. The solstice is when a star reaches its solar maximum. As far as we are concerned here on Earth, the Sun is our Lord, governing agriculture and survival. We revere and celebrate the abundance of life it brings. The tribal drums and ancient sonic tools (such as the bullroar) used to make the rhythmic patterns of this song symbolizes the breath of life, a petition to the Lord.

The lyrics channel the chaos energy of the dragon, a war cry. A vow to conquer the unknown and to meet the challenges of daily survival through the breath and the beat; petitioning the light to awaken the dawn of actualization. We beat the drums in hopes to open a portal to a place of reverence. An altar where the sonic ritual brings us to timelessness, which may end our suffering.

Shitback and Halfway Damned

A song that deals with having to take measures to protect yourself from people who were formerly very close to you. Friends and family members who become infected with this black ooze of fear and mind control. No matter if it comes from addiction to a foreign substance or a malfunction in the frontal cortex of the brain. The tension in the song reflects this notion that you must constantly be gripping some sort of weapon, metaphorically or physically. To constantly be on edge like you need to protect yourself from someone who you are required to allow entrance to your house, or your personal space, both fists clenched.

It features Joseph Starita (Hunt Hunt Hunt Camp, Unique Sheik) on the violins and cellos conjuring the feeling of being on sinking ship in a violent storm, water ripping you to shreds before sending you down into the briny depths to be lost forever in darkness.

Opium Cyborg

This song is about losing your humanity and your soul to the opiates. Injecting the flesh with some sort of synthetic that replaces the viability of human consciousness, thus overriding any sense of humanity and replacing it with a cybernetic high of mind. No longer capable of independent thought. No longer viewing the abilities of human empathy or emotion. It is about literally being transformed into a robot while trying to find God, through substances.

As if to say this attempt to find solace transforms you physically, mentally, and spiritually into a cybernetic automaton, going through the motions of being human but vacant of those sacred aspects which make up your “soul.” As I sit here writing this, I’m looking over my brother’s ravaged and mangled body, destroyed by years of abuse, wires and tubes coming out of everywhere, limbs lost… a casualty of this opioid crisis.

Dance With the Skulls in the Church

Inspired by the real-life case of the Hampstead Children, it tiptoes upon the precipice of the “eyes wide shut” realm of conspiracy and satanic ritual abuse. The unbelievable accusations of the children who said that the church leaders would practice dark rituals when the church doors were closed amongst a secret few elite in which they would actually dance in the church nude with the bleached skulls of murdered babies; by decree of archbishops and parents who would partake in the macabre dance ritual hidden beyond the gaze of decency, beyond the influence of the righteous.

This piece features the noisy textures of our label mate Patrick Hamilton (Viaverso) a Chicago mainstay with a strange ear for psychedelia and a first-hand knowledge of the horrors of which we speak. We were so pleased with his contributions to this one that we invited him to add his “gongs and robots” to the album’s title track.

Targeted

Targeted is centered around the odd phenomenon of feeling subjugated and harassed by unseen forces of influence on a daily basis. People who believe they are targeted are somehow born into it because of their genetics. They are marked by unseen adversaries, be it elite government agencies or something higher, the end result being the consistent and unending harassment via an array of attack modules all of which share in common a specific undeniable scientific reality.

The deeper you delve into the targeted-individual psychosis the more you find out that it is a type of spiritual warfare where demons or entities from other dimensions not too dissimilar from aliens at Roswell, are shifting in and out of reality to cajole or attempt to belittle and over time harass into Insanity the victims. The purpose of this is unclear but victims describe something more akin to the poltergeist experience. In fact, seeing shadow beings in mirrors and having objects disappear or reappear, a spiritual warfare.

The battleground is the soul, and the war is fought for sanity. The victims of this psychosis seem to have no control over their reality and this to me is the most horrifying prospect imaginable. To wake up and have zero control over your substance, over your surroundings. Nothing could be more terrifying than this thought that there are overseeing demigods which have only mischief and chaos in mind for your life.

This strips you of autonomy. It strips you of your voice of creation because nothing you can do or say can extricate yourself from this environment of constant surveillance and individualized attacks. The worst and most terrifying aspect of this is that you are doomed to have no one believe you. What would you do if you woke up in this type of situation? What would any of us do?

Mixed and mastered by John E. Bomher at Berwyn Recording, with layout/artwork by Tom Denney, Targeted also features guest performances by Alison Chesley aka Helen Money (cello on “Solstice Of Wind), Valentina Levchenko (vocals on “Solstice Of Wind”), Joseph Starita (violin, cello on “Shitback And Halfway Damned”), Patrick Hamilton (gongs, robots on “Opium Cyborg” and “Targeted”), and guest lyricist Michael McEvoy on “Dance With The Skulls In The Church.”

I KLATUS:
Tom Denney – guitar, voice, noise
John E Bomher – bass, voice, noise
Chris Wozniak – drums, voice

I Klatus on Bandcamp

I Klatus on Facebook

I Klatus on Twitter

Dead Sage Records on Bandcamp

Dead Sage Records on Instagram

Dead Sage Records on Facebook

In their own festering way, I, Klatus have been active for over 20 years, working at the behest largely of guitarist/vocalist Tom Denney — also a visual artist one might call when looking for something equal measures of fucked up and cool looking and/or mud-brown psychedelia — and the impending Targeted that’s to be released April 1 through the band’s own Dead Sage Records imprint will be their fifth album in that time, following behind 2017’s Nagual Sun (review here). Which, yes, was fucked up, mud-brown psychedelia and topped by cool looking cover art to match.

I haven’t heard any of Targeted as yet, but I’ll have ears open, as I, Klatus have long since found their niche between Chicago’s atmospheric-everything ethic and rawer, Midwestern Rust Belt sludge, post-industrial in the economic sense rather than the aesthetic, disaffected and ultimately its own kind of extreme, ultra-dug-in heavy.

If you think you can hang, maybe you can, maybe you can’t. Nothing’s up from the record as yet, but you can check out a video for “Moment of Devastation” below from the prior album, and yeah, that should get the point across nicely. This band never has been and never will be for everyone. That is completely intentional.

From the PR wire:

I KLATUS: Chicago Sludge/Doom Metal Trio To Release Targeted Full-Length Through Dead Sage In April

Chicago, Illinois-based esoteric sludge/doom metal trio I KLATUS presents their fourth full-length, Targeted, confirming the album for release through their own Dead Sage label in April.

I KLATUS is embodied by drummer Chris Wozniak (Lair Of The Minotaur, Earthen Grave), bassist John Bomher (Yakuza, Indian), and guitarist/vocalist/visual artist Tom Denney (renowned artist for Soilent Green, Kylesa, Weedeater, Black Cobra, Rwake, Samothrace, among countless others).

The entire concept of I KLATUS’ new album, Targeted, is about fear, addiction, and psychosis, confronting the self-obsessed fears often faced by those with mental health challenges such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Often, these unfortunate victims of their own minds are terrorized by unseen entities which cause them to turn to drugs and other strange behavior to cope with the daily horrors which plague them. An irrational fear of being followed, tracked, and hunted. Fear of being implanted with microchips while unconscious; injecting shadow entities into their nightmares; nightmares which bleed into daytime realities. The psychosis is infectious, affecting who you’re able to trust. Here, the band confronts the harsh reality that we’re face-to-face with when these kinds of struggles affect our loved ones, and we find ourselves in a position of needing to protect ourselves from these unseen forces which are very real to the victims of such maladies.

Mixed and mastered by John E. Bomher at Berwyn Recording, with layout/artwork by Tom Denney, Targeted also features guest performances by Alison Chesley aka Helen Money (cello on “Solstice Of Wind), Valentina Levchenko (vocals on “Solstice Of Wind”), Joseph Starita (violin, cello on “Shitback And Halfway Damned”), Patrick Hamilton (gongs, robots on “Opium Cyborg” and “Targeted”), and guest lyricist Michael McEvoy on “Dance With The Skulls In The Church.”

I KLATUS will release Targeted through the band’s own Dead Sage imprint on April 1st, digitally and in a limited run of cassettes. Stand by for preorders, audio previews, and more to be issued over the weeks ahead preceding its release.

Targeted Track Listing:
1. Solstice Of Wind
2. Shitback And Halfway Damned
3. Opium Cyborg
4. Dance With The Skulls In The Church
5. Targeted

I KLATUS:
Tom Denney – guitar, voice, noise
John E Bomher – bass, voice, noise
Chris Wozniak – drums, voice

https://iklatus.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/iklatus
https://twitter.com/i_klatus
https://deadsage.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/dead_sage_records
https://www.facebook.com/Deadsagerecords

I, Klatus, “Moment of Devastation” official video