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: Brad Frye of Red Mesa & Desert Records

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

I am the sole owner/operator of the small record label, Desert Records.

I am the founding member of the desert rock band, Red Mesa.

Both the label and band are very active and take all my free time when I’m not working or raising my family. I live in Albuquerque, NM, a place I moved to in 2010 to start a “desert rock” band, which directly led to me forming Red Mesa. New Mexico is high desert, I live at 5,000 feet of elevation here in the city. The energy and spirit of the high desert helps fuel my creativity and stamina for both of these projects.

With the label, it’s 100% DIY. At the moment, I have 23 bands/artists on the label with 20 albums being released in 2021. This might be boring… but here’s the basic run-down of what I do with DR. I scout and sign bands, send out agreements/contracts, organize all aspects of releases, do all the admin work for setting up the music for streaming/distribution/direct sales. I do all the PR campaigns in house. I do all the accounting reports and handle all finances. I run the label’s social media/ marketing/advertising. On top of that, I spend a fair amount of time talking/messaging/emailing with the bands/artists directly. My approach is to operate a label that supports the musical vision of the artists on the label.

Overall, it’s a ton of work, a true labor of love. I put my heart and soul into this. So far, I have not been able to pay myself or bring home money to my family. I hope so one day, but in the meantime I reinvest any profits back into the label to help it grow.

Describe your first musical memory.

I guess it would be listening to cassette tapes in my folks car in the early 80’s in rural Maine. My parents introduced me to The Beatles, CCR, Bob Segar, Bruce Springsteen, and ’50s-’80s radio pop and rock. No one in my family played music, so I didn’t grow up around instruments nor did I see any live music as a kid.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

My first concert was seeing Tool in 1998 in Lewiston, ME. I was 18, a senior in high school, and it was truly the first big concert I had ever seen. They were touring for the Aenima album and they were in their prime. Completely blew my mind. That experience has stuck with me.

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

Good question. Hard to pick one moment. Daily, I am confronted with doubt and belief, good and evil, light and dark, peace and chaos. I am not religious, but I am certainly of the spiritual realm (I believe we all are). Finding the peace within is the only thing that will keep me (or anyone) balanced to deal with all of life’s pressures and stress. Then you die. You can die at any minute. I do not want to be surprised by death. I want to be able to be at peace with that moment whenever it comes.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Evolution of the individual. Honesty. Finding the peace within. There is no other point to life. Stasis is death…

How do you define success?

The correct and true answer is happiness. My motto is “Follow your projects with purpose and passion without attachment to the outcome.” That is much easier said than done. Happiness in art can get buried in a number of things in which musicians and labels also have to gauge as “success”. When running a record label, you are helping release someone else’s art. This is extremely important to them, and must be handled with the utmost respect and care for their music. There are deadlines, budgets, sales goals, social media, growing a fan base, playing live shows/tours, on and on and on….It’s easy to get lost in the work and stress of it all. You have to believe in the music.

It’s the same with making your own music. You have to love it for yourself. You can’t care if anyone else will love it or hate it. You must also find a balance in your life…income, rent & bills, family, health, etc.

All the bands and labels that I work/communicate with do not earn any income from their music.

This is a tough reality to swallow. That means you really have to have your shit together.

Do not take things too seriously. Enjoy what you are doing. Play what you love and what makes you happy. If you can sit outside with your instrument in nature and play for no one AND be happy, you are doing fine. Truly, nothing else really matters.

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

Greed, hatred, and violence. It all stems from fear. I have seen it from myself. I have seen it from people I love. I see it daily in my neighborhood. On the news/internet/social media. Something about those things make being a human being seem disgusting and hopeless. I still believe in love and gratitude. I strive to cultivate those on a daily basis to destroy fear.

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

An instrumental/ambient/western/drone solo album(s). I have hundreds of voice memos on my iPhone of little ideas and pieces of music. I find it relaxing to play stuff that isn’t a structured song. When I get some time, I will start putting these together and record/release some of this stuff.

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

To connect humans to a higher level of consciousness. Art provides perspective. It is an expression. It provides hope that life is not just work, chores, routine, birth and death cycles. Good music has always inspired me. Inspiration can be a powerful factor in motivating humans to strive for a higher consciousness.

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

Raising my one-year-old son, Wyatt. He’s changed my life for the better. I want to be the best father I can be for him.

https://www.facebook.com/redmesaband/
https://www.instagram.com/redmesaband/
https://redmesarock.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

Red Mesa, The Path to the Deathless (2020)

New Mexico’s Red Mesa will issue their third long-player, The Path to the Deathless, on June 12 through guitarist/vocalist Brad Frye‘s own Desert Records label. The seven-tracker runs 40 minutes and makes a curious impression on first go, subsequently opening up to the listener in terms of its ambition. That is, as much as Red Mesa pledge allegiance to the idea and ideals of desert rock in their name and that of Frye‘s imprint, they’re not through the two-and-a-half-minute opening intro “Ghost Bell” — the actual bell of which, yes, is answered toward the end of closer “Swallowed by the Sea” — before they’ve introduced elements like harsher shouting vocals behind Frye‘s croon and a flourish of violin that comes up again later.

Certainly the title-track and subsequent “Desert Moon” have their riffy roots right on their sleeve for all to see — the band even notes below that the latter is a direct play on Kyuss — but at the same time, “The Path to the Deathless” echoes out its midsection like drifting Monster Magnet, and Frye, bassist/vocalist Alex Cantwell and drummer/backing vocalist Roman Barham bridge a large flyover gap in bringing aboard Earthride frontman Dave Sherman (also Spirit Caravan, Galactic Cross, Weed is Weed, etc.), who reigns as one of the principal figures in Maryland doom, to sing and provide lyrics on “Desert Moon.”

So clearly we’re not just taking about a desert rock record here.

Pulling the rug out from under expectation isn’t new for Red Mesa. Their 2018 sophomore outing, The Devil and the Desert (review here) manifested half in roaring grooves and half in subdued acoustic form — a stylistic theme The Path to the Deathless centerpiece “Death I Am” continues and pushes further toward country via pedal steel guitar and twanging lead vocals — so they’re obviously comfortable reaching beyond sandier landscapes. And on repeat listens, The Path to the Deathless not only bring those melodic, quieter and heavier rocking sides together in a more cohesive fashion than its predecessor, it continues the outward push.

The violin — contributed by Kristen Rad, who wins as far as surnames go — throws open the context of The Path to the Deathless right at the outset, giving a tie to post-metal à la SubRosa that, like the bell on “Ghost Bell,” also finds an answer and realization as part of the album-encompassing-summary that is the finishing track “Swallowed by the Sea” (there’s more pedal steel there too). At the same time, Red Mesa aren’t shy about their appreciation for the finer things as regards rock. Scott “Wino” Weinrich (Spirit Caravan, The Obsessed, etc.) shreds “Disharmonious Unlife” to bits in addition to contributing vocals to the piece — another East/West tie-in for side B — and Red Mesa strip back to the bare trio for the all-out penultimate thruster “Revelation,” as if to cleanse the palette ahead of the undertaking that is the nine-minute finale to follow.

Bottom line? There’s a lot going on with The Path to the Deathless, and that’s before you even get to the overarching spiritual theme of the work, exploring life and death as the three-piece are, or the fact that this is their first offering with Cantwell in the lineup and the dynamic shift that brings in terms of he, Frye and Barham all working together on vocals and providing further variety there. Can one song on the album hope to capture all of that? Well, the “Swallowed by the Sea” comes close, but even that doesn’t encapsulate the bicoastal aspects of the Sherman and Wino appearances, so when it comes to giving a sampling of the whole, there isn’t really a single track that does the job. So we might as well groove.

Enter “Desert Moon,” which you’ll find premiering on the player below courtesy of Red Mesa‘s Bandcamp. As noted, Frye, Barham and Sherman all check in with some perspective about the track, and you’ll find that down there in blue.

Hope you dig it:

Brad Frye on “Desert Moon”:

“‘Desert Moon’ is Desert Rock meets Doom. The main riff is like a backwards Kyuss riff. The chorus is an ode to Maryland Doom. The bridge is a psychedelic journey. Red Mesa wrote the music, Dave Sherman wrote the lyrics and sung all the vocals. This was pure collaboration magic. Much love to Dave for being on this. He absolutely killed the vocals and nailed the desert vibes.”

Roman Barham on “Desert Moon”:

“We wanted to have some great special guests on our new album. Dave Sherman came up right away since he was a good friend, and both a badass frontman and musician. To have Sherman a part of ‘Desert Moon’ was both an honor and was very humbling. He crushes on this song and makes it come alive. I fucking love his lyrics. East meets West.”

Dave Sherman on “Desert Moon”:

“Recording and performing for the Red Mesa project was so badass because it mixed East Coast and Southwest styles together. This turned out to be a monster song, in my opinion. Having John ‘Johnny Wretched’ Koutsioukis on board tracking it for us made it pure Maryland doom for the brotherhood of music.”

“THE PATH TO THE DEATHLESS” the third studio album by the Albuquerque, NM band will be released by DESERT RECORDS on June 12th.

This album is a concept record about death and beyond. Death and dying are harsh realities of the physical world, but the soul and spirit lives on through the “deathless”.

The album was recorded, engineered, and produced by Matthew Tobias at Empty House Studio (who has recorded albums by (OM, AL CISNEROS, SUPERGIANT) in January and February of 2020. The album was mastered by John McBain (original MONSTER MAGNET guitarist).

1. Ghost Bell
2. The Path To The Deathless
3. Desert Moon (Feat. Dave Sherman)
4. Death I Am
5. Disharmonious Unlife (Feat. Wino)
6. Revelation
7. Swallowed By The Sea

Red Mesa is:
Brad Frye: guitar, vocals
Roman Barham: drums, backup vocals
Alex Cantwell: bass, vocals

Plus:
Wino: Vocals and Lead Guitars on “Disharmonious Unlife”
Dave Sherman: All Vocals on “Desert Moon”
Kristen Rad: Violin on “Ghost Bell” and “Swallowed by the Sea”
Alex McMahon: Pedal Steel on “Death I Am and “Swallowed by the Sea”
Steve Schmidlapp: Acoustic Guitar on “Death I Am”

Red Mesa on Facebook

Red Mesa on Instagram

Red Mesa on Bandcamp

Desert Records on Facebook

Desert Records on Bandcamp

Desert Records BigCartel store

Multi-directional Albuquerque trio Red Mesa, who are just as likely as not to roll with heavy riffing or acoustic bluesy vibes, are done with their new record, which has been given the title The Path to the Deathless. It’s set to release on May 1 as the follow-up to 2018’s debut, The Devil and the Desert (review here). They’re reasonably tight-lipped at this point about what the album actually sounds like, but it’s a concept record or at least seems to be working on a couple of set themes, and it’s got Maryland doom kingpin Dave Sherman from Earthride, Weed is Weed, Galactic Cross, etc., doing guest vocals, so that’s an automatic win in my book.

The band will head east for New England Stoner and Doom Fest this Spring, and I’m kind of expecting a few more dates to be announced around that — it would be crazy to drive from New Mexico to Connecticut for one show, but weirder things have happened in the universe — but nothing’s come through as yet that I’ve seen. Will keep an eye out and The Path to the Deathless is something in itself to look forward to in the meantime.

Here’s the latest off the PR wire:

Red Mesa has finished recording new album “The Path To The Deathless”.

The heavy desert rock band, Red Mesa has finished recording the new songs for their next full length album, “The Path To The Deathless”.

The album was recorded at Empty House Studio in January and early February 2020 with engineer/producer Matthew Tobias. The band had Tobias at the helm for their last three releases including the “Breathe” cover for Magnetic Eye Records’ Best of Pink Floyd, their last full-length “The Devil and The Desert”.

“The Path To The Deathless” will be a concept record about death and eternity. The album will be released on Desert Records on May 1st 2020.

Red Mesa is playing The New England Stoner and Doom Fest in May. Tour dates and album details will be coming in the following months. In the meantime, the band has invited you to watch the recording process via their social media pages.

While the new album is being recorded, the band has officially released a music video from The Devil and The Desert album. The new music video of “Route 666” will keep fans happy and excited for all new material.

The new album will feature bass player Alex Cantwell for the first time as he joins singer and guitarist Brad Frye and drummer Roman Barham in the studio.

Guest appearances! The album will feature guest vocals from Doom veteran Dave Sherman (Earthride, Galactic Cross, Weed Is Weed). Sherman performs the vocals on a “Desert-meets-Doom” song called ‘Desert Moon’. Alex McMahon (GRAL Brothers), who played on the entire first half of The Devil and The Desert, has laid down pedal steel on two tracks. Kristen Rad, a highly talented violinist, contributed to the opening and ending tracks.

“The Path To The Deathless” is the next step of evolution for the band that is heavy and psychedelic, yet unpredictable. Red Mesa says this will be their “heaviest album yet”. By picking up where Side B of “The Devil and The Desert” left off, the next record takes you where Heavy Metal meets Desert Rock meets Doom.

Red Mesa is:
Brad Frye: guitar, vocals
Roman Barham: drums, backup vocals
Alex Cantwell: bass, vocals

https://www.facebook.com/redmesaband/
https://www.instagram.com/redmesaband/
https://redmesarock.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

Red Mesa, “Route 666” official video