The Obelisk Questionnaire: Marcos Coifman from Reino Ermitaño, La Garúa, Necromongo and More
Posted in Questionnaire on December 28th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
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: Marcos Coifman from Reino Ermitaño, La Garúa, Necromongo and More
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Concerning music… In short, I am a heavy rock bass player and I sing a bit too, but there’s more to it. I am not a gifted instrumentalist, and never did quite practice long enough to become a truly good one, like anything within earshot of a session musician, I’m just Ok good at what I do. I studied some musical theory a couple of times in my life but I didn’t stick with it for very long, my relationship with music has always been instinctual. I don’t claim this a s a point of pride, mind you, but rather to state that my main interest has mostly always been composing, writing songs, lyrics and melodies. Perhaps I have some talent there. I don’t think I’m a gifted arrange-maker either; I’ve often relied on talented guitarists for that: bridges and solos, getting from point A to point B and C and whatnot. What I love to create is mostly a structure of riffs and build its relationship with a vocal melody counterpart. The meat of a song.
I was brought up drawing and painting and always believed that was going to be my main path. I suppose it still is, I am a visual artist, a painter. Reason I mention this is because to me the creative process in writing songs is not too different from the one in painting: I follow what I call the pleasure principle… it begins with an emotion, which I hone into and follow and try to express as best I can through lines and color or through sounds and words. It is important to me that it starts from there, from within, where there is something that exists, that is felt, something you can follow and recognize, something you feel, when the sounds you make hit the mark and resound with that emotion. Surely one can pick up an instrument and fiddle or begin drawing and doodling and start from there, but when I do that the result feels like a study, like practice, not like art. If there’s no inner feeling going on, driving you, nothing that yearns to break out from the unconscious I’d rather not do anything, really… whenever I’ve tried, I’ve been bored with the result. It doesn’t really matter where it takes you so long as it’s genuine and I try to not manipulate what’s going on too much into pre-concepted forms, as I believe sticking to the genuine, true emotion or story or whatever’s going on inside you and letting it flow naturally is paramount to the whole process.
Describe your first musical memory.
I came into music at an early age – it was always around in my house when I was little, my mom used to play the Beatles, classical and Hispanic music constantly – but I came into the heavy around 12 or so and was hooked on metal… this is around the mid-eighties, so from Maiden to Metallica to Slayer and on to heavier things didn’t take long. But I do remember being a very small kid, like maybe 5, listening to 45’s in the old, large old-timey Telefunken stereo my grandparents had (which I still have and use). Had a favorite record too, even if I used to constantly draw shit on it and my very kind grand mom had to replace it a couple of times. This was it, in all it’s 60’s Gypsy Argentinian Nueva Ola Pop glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjyRUeML6nc
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Hmm… Ok, first I want to say that from the whole musical process, including touring, playing gigs and festivals and releasing records, out of everything, I think the part which has constantly pumped me full of pure pleasure the most is that time when the song that has been gestating in your brain for quite a while and which you’ve gone over acoustically with your bandmates sounds at full blast for the first time in the practice space… it’s just fucking brilliant. And the cool thing is you get to re-experience that high as you keep making music, never gets old.
That said… seeing Black Sabbath reunited (WITH Bill Ward, mind you) in 1999 felt like a full circle amazing experience to me. Just something I didn’t hope to see and just made me completely happy at the time. But there have been many, many highlights. Playing with Reino Ermitaño in Germany’s Doom Shall Rise certainly was one, what a cool gig and people.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
You know, I can’t really say I’ve had that experience, that I remember. I might forget, but I feel I’ve always done what I wanted to do. Artistically, musically I, we, any band I’ve been in, we never did the slightest thing to please anyone but ourselves, so I have no “almost sold out, but stuck to our guns” stories, heh. I don’t even think I firmly hold any belief, to be honest. I just do me and free and fuck the rest. Respectfully.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Well, with the right stimulus it can lead to greatness, can’t it? If your art knows nothing but struggle, I suppose it depends on how your head works and what your circumstances in life are, but it surely can be hard to feed your art and keep growing and not get bogged down… but in the right time and place, hey… Black Sabbath, Hendrix, The Beatles, what have you… of course an insane amount of talent was there, but also the world conspired to allow them to nurture it into peak heights. Sabotage, Physical Graffiti… would those records have been written without the bands’ previous success and support? Probably not, I think.
In any case, even without financial success, even without peers, art can progress and lead to a sense of fulfillment that is not unlike a spiritual or religious high. And that is success in and of itself.
How do you define success?
Sticking to music and art in general… as I said in the previous question, to me success comes with the completion of a project you are content with, one which truly makes you feel fulfilled. That is the core. And then there’s success… I would feel successful enough to live only of my art, with no material worries, as any artist would, perhaps. But that can be a tall order in this world. In any case I’ve never had ambition for Rock and Roll stardom or art history books. The respect of my peers and the love by people who dig the work we’ve done in our small doom niche around the world has been fulfilling to me.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Cheesus, that’s a hard one… I live in Peru, there’s a lot of ghastly sights we’ve seen. I once unintentionally stepped on a hand after a car bomb blew up some blocks from my house in the eighties. And truly, it doesn’t matter where you are, the world has horror enough for all of us. Can’t think of a particular nightmare at the moment that was so traumatizing I wish I could erase, though… while I do have some regrets in life, I don’t really wish to unsee or unlive any of it. It doesn’t work that way for me.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I am in the process of making the guts of what will become a record with my new band, illwind. I wanna’ make that very badly. Gods willing, it will happen soon. Other than that, I hope there’s still a whole universe of unsettling dreams for me to paint that I have yet to discover.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Connection. For sure. Above and beyond all, art is about connecting. It is about connecting with yourself and the regions beyond your consciousness that you can only access in dreams. It’s about connecting with other people through a language richer, and more profound than words as we normally use them – poetry excluded. It can be about connecting with the spiritual or an upper (or lower) plane, as religions or psychedelics do or attempt to. We are still very small, see? This language we use and these senses and the society we’ve built for us are great (yes I know, bear with me, I’m aware of the shit as well) but through art we can reach into a deeper form of connection of the self, of the senses, we can shed our everyday husk for a while and touch something soul-moving. That’s it.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Travelling. Fucking hell, how do I miss that. It’s been a while. Hopefully soon.
https://www.facebook.com/witchdoomperu/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7FxqC0kNJWel8iv3jvNBcz
https://www.facebook.com/lagaruablues/
https://www.instagram.com/lagaruablues/
https://www.facebook.com/necromongo.crustnroll/
https://www.marcoscoifman.com/
