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: Scott Shellhamer and Jason Butler of Moiii

—

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

Scott: I’ve known Jason since the 90’s. We have tried multiple times over the years to create music together, but it never quite worked. I’m into heavy, he’s into light. This was the first time we really found a middle ground.

Jason: Yea, the middle ground we found between us took lots of time to find. Maybe with age & more patience we were able to voice our respective selves in a way that offered cohesion to the other.

Describe your first musical memory.

Scott: Music Machine. It was a Christian record for kids. The Music Machine is like no other gadget you’ve ever seen. Put something in and a song comes out!

Jason: Watching the Nelson Brothers at Six Flags Over Texas.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Scott: I played cello with Shinichi Suzuki on the stage at Auditorium Hall in Chicago.

Jason: Performing at The Stateside Theatre in Austin.

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

Scott: I’m fairly open and honest about things. Maybe when I was a teenager and left the Christian faith? I was evangelical and going door to door and such. I challenged myself to read the “good book” and didn’t care for what I found.

Jason: Im uncertain.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Scott: Disappointment.

Jason: Discomfort with potential satisfaction.

How do you define success?

Scott: I will never attain it, so I’m not sure how to answer this. Any artistic endeavor I pursue can be judged by others.

Jason: The ability to sit quiet with yourself – no squirming, no anxiety.

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

Scott: The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Jason: Ha! I actually loved RHCP when I was a young’n. The Nelson Brothers.

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

Scott: I have plans for a short film documenting my insomnia and weird dreams when I do find sleep. I’ve directed a couple videos for Jason’s band Thee Conductor and would like to continue working on similar things.

Jason: Would love to finish my screenplay for the short film I envision. The structure is there, just need to discipline myself to sit & write the dialogue.

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

Scott: Questioning your own existence. What it means to face your own mortality and what that means as you are still alive. Memento Mori.

Jason: My work (thee conductor) & the work that Scott and I do (moiii) together are so different. In creating both, it has made me appreciate that I or we or anyone doesnt have to be one thing (in this case one genre) all the time. Art allows for self exploration, absent of construct (if you allow it).

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

Scott: I’m in TX working on a record with my punk band NIXD at the moment. Music is all that is on my brain. I’m going camping when I get back. That’ll be a good time.

Jason: I am currently building rental dwellings on my property in the woods here in ‘lil Elgin Texas. I very much look forward to finishing & renting out this first one to recoup my empty coffer.

https://www.instagram.com/moiiiband/
https://www.facebook.com/moiiiband
https://moiii.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/someoddpilotrecords
https://someoddpilotrecords.bandcamp.com

Moiii, Moiii (2024)

Yeah, it’s been a couple weeks since I added records to The Obelisk Radio playlist, mostly because these posts are a pain to set up, but once again, I’ve been keeping track of stuff to go up and this time around we’ve got 24 new albums joining the ranks. Some of it is stuff recently covered — 35007, Ice Dragon, Truckfighters — and some has yet to be — Nick Oliveri, Brant Bjork — but as ever, it’s a lot of good stuff, so if you get the chance to hit up the playlist and updates page, you should find plenty there for your perusal, in addition to the running tab of the playlist, which from where I sit puts the whole stream in a different league of enjoyable. Hope you agree.

A lot to cover, so let’s get to it.

The Obelisk Radio Adds for Oct. 3, 2014:

The Melvins, Hold it In

Sometimes I have to wonder how it is that for a band who are so off the wall and experimental one can still basically approach any Melvins record no matter who’s involved in making it and have a decent idea of what to expect. Yeah, guitarist/vocalist King Buzzo and drummer Dale Crover have hooked up with JD Pinkus and Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers, and yeah, “You Can Make Me Wait” sounds like it would play over alternate universe credits to The Breakfast Club, but a lot of Hold it In (released by Ipecac) — “Bride of Crankenstein,” “Onions Make the Milk Taste Bad,” “Sesame Street Meat,” “Nine Yards” — is pretty much in the Melvins wheelhouse. It’s in moments like the jangly “Eyes on You,” trucker rocking “Piss Pisstoferson,” spacious seven-minute jammer “The Bunk Up” and sprawling noise finish “House of Gasoline” that Hold it In really distinguishes itself, but there are stretches even in those where the Melvins just continue to sound like the Melvins. I know they’ve got a fanbase that will eagerly snap up everything they do, and after 30 years of busting their collective ass on tour and in the studio without major commercial success, I’ll far from begrudge them their following, it just seems like for as much praise is heaped in the direction of every new Melvins release, there’s not nearly as much genuinely new ground being broken as time goes on and that even the gleefully weird territory Hold it In covers is starting to feel an awful lot like a comfort zone. The Melvins on Thee Facebooks, Ipecac Recordings.

—

Slow Season, Mountains

Whichever of Cali four-piece Slow Season‘s parents introduced them to Led Zeppelin, thanks. The Visalia outfit will release their second album, Mountains, this November on RidingEasy Records, following-up a 2012 self-titled, and by way of advance notice, the thing’s a ripper, echoing out Plant-style vocals and Bonham stomp with an underlying skater-rock groove that fits well with the label’s output in bands like The Well, Electric Citizen, and so on. Of course, there’s more than that at play — second cut “Synanon” reminds of some of The Flying Eyes‘ heavy psych rollout — but from the oohing and ahhing that cap “Damo’s Days” to the bombast that comes to the fore in “Wasted Years,” Zeppelin are a central influence, bolstered throughout by touches of early Soundgarden and forays into mega-swagger for “King City” and acoustic psychedelia in “Apparition.” Mountains‘ bread and butter, though, is the meaty riffer fare of “Shake” and closer “The Defector,” the sheer arrogance of which impresses, let alone the fluidity of the riff or the obvious aesthetic drive of the production. Slow Season on Thee Facebooks, RidingEasy Records.

—

Beak, Let Time Begin

Not to be confused with Beak>, who are a different band entirely, post-metal four-piece Beak are based in Chicago and Let Time Begin (released by Someoddpilot Records) is their chugging, growling, atmospherically ranging debut full-length. Chicago has proven a hotbed for the genre, and Beak seem well aware of the tenets, trading off crushing riffs for atmospheric post-rock airiness, the lineup of Chris Eichenseer, Jason Goldberg, Andy Bosnak and Jon Slusher taking an Isis influence to unexpected synthy weirdness on “The Breath of Universe” — a vocoder early bringing to mind some of Cynic‘s post-reunion proggism — after the lumbering of “Light Outside.” Longer songs like “Into the Light” and “Carry a Fire” flow well, incorporating some blackened guitar squibblies and echoing screams between them, and the penultimate “Over the Shelter, the Morning” moves from abrasive feedback to contemplative ambience ahead of “Fiery They Rose,” which meters out weighty pummel but ultimately caps Let Time Begin on a subdued note that’s both satisfying and emblematic of a burgeoning will toward individuality. Beak on Thee Facebooks, Someoddpilot Records.

—

GravelRoad, El Scuerpo

Seattle blues rockers GravelRoad get the vibe just right on “Waiting for Nothing,” which opens their fifth album, El Scuerpo (Knick Knack Records), rocking out quiet, unpostured blues to lead the way into the record’s varied takes, from the boogie-woogie shuffle of “40 Miles” to the psychedelic fluidity of “Green Grass,” straight-up heavy rock of “DD Amin,” languid roll of “Asteroid” and upbeat finish of “Flesh and Bone,” which is among the happiest songs I’ve ever heard about cannibalism. My chief issue with some of their past work has been a tendency toward disjointedness and a modern blues production style that hones in on clarity and the brightness of the guitar and gives up some of the malevolence of the low end — something more related to my own perspective listening than the actual mission of the band — but El Scuerpo flows well and a mix by Jack “Yes, That Jack Endino” Endino treats eight-minute heavy jam rocker “Asteroid” with its due reverence, and the more I hear it, the more I want to hear it. GravelRoad on Thee Facebooks, Knick Knack Records.

—

Lords of Beacon House, Lords of Beacon House

Los Angeles heavy rockers Lords of Beacon House serve notice of their arrival this fall via a three-song EP on Homhomhom that takes loose, Graveyard-style ’70s worship and adds a touch of Western flair in the snare march of “Seven Days” and Sabbathian string pull on “Cool Water Blues.” The EP (they call it an album, it’s really more of a demo, but whatever you want to call it) runs shortest to longest, and opener “Distant Thunder” is the most straightforward of the bunch accordingly, but even in its 8-track chug, Lords of Beacon House showcase natural tones and a penchant for writing strong hooks that continues right through until the last repeat of the line “I asked for water/She gave me gasoline” in “Cool Water Blues,” which rounds out with familiar if welcome nod. They’re a new band and so far as I can tell, this self-titled is the first audio they’ve made public, but they seem to have a handle on what they want to do, and that’s never a bad place to start working from. More to come, I’m sure, and thanks to Bill Goodman for steering me their way. Lords of Beacon House on Thee Facebooks, Homhomhom.

—

As noted, this is just a fraction of the stuff that joined the playlist today, so if you get a second, check out the rest at The Obelisk Radio updates and playlist page.

Thanks for reading and listening.