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: Idin Alexzander of Lavisher

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

At a minimum, as a drummer, I help establish the rhythm and keep time. But there’s certainly more to it. There can be. You can add drama or tension to a section, let it breathe, accentuate certain notes to shift the feel of a song to something more.

Describe your first musical memory.

I don’t have a specific first musical memory but I suppose, if pressed, it’d have to be listening to music at home with my mother. But I’d rather not elaborate. It’s a wonderful sort of memory and if I’d share it, the bloom would come off the rose and I want it only for myself. It’s nourishing.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

The beginnings of me playing the drums. It was the first time in my young life that I did something that seemed to come naturally. It was a relief to find that. It was shortly after I had heard Metallica and started my heavy music journey. That led to all the incredible shows I saw and friends I have made.

Or maybe it was seeing The Dillinger Escape Plan play Calculating Infinity at the Fireside Bowl and being literally at the front of the stage with Ben Weinman swinging his guitar like a fucking madman, dodging it and being blown away by Chris Pennie’s drumming. Fucking brilliant! Nora and Ka also played and what a show it was.

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

This question reminds me of undergrad or law school, where you have some Ayn Rand loving asshole, some selfish Libertarian, talking about excellence, independence, or some other horseshit they mangled through the filter of their beliefs. Fucking handed down from their douchebag parents. Those fuckers are always trying to test you. They couldn’t of course. They’d try to sling their false intellectualism but I never respected it. How could I respect a position like that coming from those pricks? Those motherfuckers grew up in the burbs where life is soft, grew up rich, talking about bootstraps and such. Fuck those guys. This just makes me want to go and read more Kant.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Knowledge for one. I suppose it leads to a self-discovery of sorts. If you have an interest in becoming a better artist, I say that abstractly because I am reticent to refer to myself as such, so let’s say musician to soften the blow of the question, you will explore new methods of expressing your creativity. You will focus on techniques or set goals. As a drummer, some of these can be technical or merely physical. I want to learn the push-pull method or, I want to be able to blast at 300 bpm. The self-discovery bit comes when you face those decisions of what you really want out of the instrument and yourself.

How do you define success?

The answer to that concludes the previous. Getting better at the technical and academic side of the instrument. Chops for lack of a better word. But substance without style is dull. I wouldn’t sacrifice one for the other because my ambition is to maximize both, however that lands. And so I want to be better at expressing my ideas and synthesizing and expressing my bandmates’ ideas too. Would that be holistic?

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

Nothing. I say that for two reasons, what I have seen has been an experience that has brought me to where I am. Or maybe I just haven’t seen enough fucked up shit. I’ve heard about people’s fucked up lives but that’s not my life. So it’s either I am the sum of my experience and however painful some memories in my mind’s eye are, they lead me to this point, or maybe I am a fucking fraud who has lived a charmed existence. Either way, I’ll be the one beating myself up about it.

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

In a musical sense, I want to write drum parts that are beyond anything I can do now, utilizing drumline techniques and then at some point, bits of gospel chops, and elements of styles that are beyond me.

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

To provoke thoughts or emotions one hadn’t considered or felt. To enhance or give shape to thoughts or emotions one could not elucidate.

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

Finishing The Price of Salt and reading more poetry. It’s mostly lost on me. I’ve got to work on that.

https://www.lavisherband.com
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https://lavisher.bandcamp.com

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Lavisher, “Reverie”