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: Francis Roberts of Old Man Wizard, King Gorm, etc.

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

It’d take awhile to itemize it, but when I boil it down I basically look for new ways to have fun, and one of my favorite things to do is writing music. Right now I’m working on a new Old Man Wizard album (the songs are recorded! Now for the boring business side lol) and the first full-length Yaga-Shura album (that one is further away from being done). I’m toying with ideas for a second King Gorm release but that’s not really past the ideas phase. I’m focusing a great deal of my energy on my YouTube channel at the moment, too. I scored a portion of the upcoming film “The Spine of Night” which is the first feature-length film with my name in the credits!

Describe your first musical memory.

I may have it mixed up, but my parents either got me a toy guitar in Tijuana as a kid, a toy keyboard as a kid. After that it was recorder in school and then clarinet, and then generally not liking music for years before discovering the electric guitar as a teenager.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I have a few that are pretty close to a tie:

-hearing my songs on an LP for the first time (it’s cool every time, one of the best feelings).

-being told I have created someone’s favorite song or album (also amazing every time it happens).

-watching a theater of people who (mostly) didn’t speak my language trying to sing along with a song I wrote.

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

When I was growing up I always firmly believed in the power of good, and that even the worst people can find ways to redeem themselves. Although I’m still an optimistic person, I no longer believe that.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

When executed purely, I think it leads to true honesty.

How do you define success?

Are you able to experience happiness regularly? You’re successful.

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

I typed out my answer, but even looking at it written down made me physically uncomfortable, so I’ve decided I’d rather not force you to read about it. Let’s just say that I’ve seen exactly one thing so fucking vile that I’d probably choose to erase the memory completely, given the choice. I guess it’d also be nice to unsee the entirety of whatever disgusting images people showed me in the early 2000s on rotten.com and other old internet nightmares like tubgirl.

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

A hobby I come back to from time to time is creating video games. At some point I hope I make one that I feel good enough about to share publicly.

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

To inspire the imaginations of others (ideally leading to the creation of more art).

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

Spending time with my friends. Visiting my dad’s new home when it’s safe to travel by plane.

https://www.facebook.com/Old.Man.Wizard/
http://twitter.com/oldmanwizard
https://www.instagram.com/oldmanwizard/
http://oldmanwizard.com/
https://www.facebook.com/king.gorm.usa/
https://www.instagram.com/king.gorm/
https://kinggorm.bandcamp.com/
https://francisroberts.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/f_c_r_
http://instagram.com/francisroberts

Francis Roberts, Story From Another Time (2020)

King Gorm, King Gorm (2020)

Old Man Wizard, Blame it all on Sorcery (2018)

Being released exclusively as a tape and a download on Nov. 6, Story From Another Time is not at all the first 2020 release from Old Man Wizard and King Gorm guitarist/vocalist Francis Roberts to be put out under his own name. To trawl through his Bandcamp is to fine a swath of recent live and home-recorded offerings based around weaving soundscapes from synth and electric guitar, but the prolific nature of Roberts‘ work is befitting the form of what he’s doing — as well as someone with home recording capability stuck this year in a pandemic lockdown — and the atmosphere in which he’s operating is cinematic enough that he’s doing actual soundtracks and scores at this point.

Dude keeps busy though — and if you didn’t hear the King Gorm self-titled (review here) earlier this year, you should do that too — but one of the two 18-minute tracks on Story From Another Time is streaming now, and tapes are limited to 33 copies, so as far as I’m concerned, this is a good time.

Word came from the PR wire thusly:

FRANCIS ROBERTS TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM

Known for his work in Old Man Wizard and King Gorm, producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Francis Roberts will release the cinemtatic album Story From Another Time on November 6th in digital and cassette formats. The two tracks, each over eighteen minutes long, are described as ” a film score for your imagination” — and they do indeed transport listeners to “another time.”

Roberts said of the album, ” I wrote and recorded this a few months ago, inspired by additional material and concepts that didn’t make it into my score for a portion of the forthcoming film The Spine of Night. I was so pleased with the result that I decided I had to let it sit while I planned a more proper release. I did this to push the limits of my ability to compose campy 1970s style cinematic music. It’s one of my favorite recordings I’ve created.”

“I used pretty much all of my synthesizers and samplers to record it, with the basis of side one being a heavily edited and resampled guitar improvisation and the basis of side two being seemingly endless string loops and bizarre Berlin school style sequences. The album artwork is from a painting called Slayer of the Old Wyrm by Valin Mattheis, one of my favorite currently active artists (whose work you may recognize from my releases with Old Man Wizard). The album will be available digitally and as a very limited cassette (33 copies).”

Preorder the album on bandcamp: https://francisroberts.bandcamp.com/album/story-from-another-time

https://francisroberts.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/f_c_r_
http://instagram.com/francisroberts

Francis Roberts, Story From Another Time (2020)