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: Trevor Richards of The Long Hunt

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

In terms of The Long Hunt, I define myself as a guitarist, songwriter, photographer, social media manager, recording engineer, graphic designer, booking agent, video editor, webmaster, roadie, and esteemed van operator. I came to all these various roles through a combination of trial and error, sheer force of will, and a reluctant sense of responsibility.

Describe your first musical memory.

Not really sure what my first musical memory would be, but if I had to guess, it probably had something to do with the neglected 1950s ‘Kay’ brand acoustic guitar that sat in the corner of the living room, behind the television stand, gathering dust. On extremely rare occasions, and I am talking rare, my Dad might pick it up and pluck a few notes. More often than not, it was something that would get knocked over while trying to hook up the VCR or the NES. I remember that I did like the smell of it, for what that’s worth. It was kind of that ‘old wood’ type of smell. As a teenager, it was the instrument that I learned to play on. Now I have it in a case in the closet. It still pretty much smells the same.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I am going to limit my answer to just within the scope of The Long Hunt, and even more narrowly, within the scope of live shows. Even then, I’m not sure this memory is particularly the “best” or if it’s just one good memory that sticks out among a field of several good memories.

The memory du jour is our first show as a band, which occurred Saturday, April 1st, 2017 at Cattivo in Pittsburgh. The lineup was The Skull, Horehound, and Monolith Wielder. The Long Hunt opened things up. Being our first show, this particular gig would probably stick in the mind regardless. Bolstering that fact, the turnout that night was especially good and we brought out a lot of our friends.

Up to that point, I had taken a few years off from playing live music, and this was the first group where I was kind of the de facto band leader. At the very least, I was the one with the microphone (talking between songs, not singing, just to be clear).

I was totally wired with nerves, which was especially challenging given how subdued, slow and “clean” our songs were back in those days. Believe me when I say It was an extreme challenge to keep things calm and controlled. But we did. Finishing our short set without a hitch was a massive relief and a massive release. In addition, the crowd seemed to enjoy our music, which was reassuring. This was truly the first real feedback we got as a group. It was a nice reminder how rewarding playing live music can be.

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

When I discovered that the beloved children’s book series of my youth, The Berenstein Bears, was in fact spelled The Berenstain Bears the entire time [I felt the same way when I found out those people were psycho christians – Ed.]. I am not saying it’s aliens, per se, but I think Cern and the Large Hadron Collider have something to do with it.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Usually towards a large pit in which to burn money. On the way to said pit is often a journey of self discovery and what I’ll call “artistic refinement”. Refinement in the sense that the more you do something, the better you tend to get at it. In addition, the longer you do something, the better chance you have in finding people who appreciate, and maybe even understand, what you are doing. Or at least trying to do, in some cases.

To me, artistic progression has, at the very least, a partial goal that is aimed at tearing down walls of pretense and allowing the exposure of one’s “true self” to be expressed to the world, through the vehicle of one’s preferred artistic medium. I am talking about making art that is pure. Art for art’s sake. Art that is an unfettered extension of one’s being, that also has that common thread that connects with others on some deeper and meaningful level. I am not saying this is an attainable goal, but it’s a goal nonetheless. Sometimes I’ll get glimpses of it on the way to that smoldering money pit.

How do you define success?

Being successful in music seems to have a lot to do with balance, and is a relative metric that will vary from person to person and band to band. There are always going to be positive and negative aspects to doing just about anything, and if, at the end of the day, the positive aspects outweigh the negative, then you can count that up as a net “success” of sorts. One person’s success is another’s failure, of course, though I think the healthiest outlook to have is to not measure yourself too much against what other people are doing. That’s not to say one shouldn’t have goals or that one should settle or remain stagnant.

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

Honestly, I think we all could have been just a little better off without witnessing many of the events over the last few years, things that still keep unfolding. That said, out of even the steamiest pile of shit often grows something new and beautiful. So there is that. We’ll see.

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

Putting together a book of some sort might be cool. Maybe a book of photography or something more of a visual sense. Specifically band related, a book of stills from our recently released animated short film “Threshold Wanderer” might be a nice thing to put out into the world.

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

The most essential function of art is communication.

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

Camping, traveling, and taking pictures.

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The Long Hunt, Threshold Wanderer (2022)

Pittsburgh instrumentalists The Long Hunt release their second album, Threshold Wanderer, on April 1. And it’s more than an album as well, since guitarist Trevor Richards apparently taught himself 3D animation in order to tell an accompanying visual story in a short film that coincides with the six tracks of the release. “The Tower” (video premiering below) is the point at which the record begins to unfold, with the subdued “Prelude” setting a mood for two minutes before. It introduces the natural distortion and subtle noise vibe behind the riffs, like if earlier Mastodon slowed down to take a breath, and the brightness of the crash cutting through the density of the tones. The three-piece made their debut with 2018’s All Paths Lead to Here and are veterans of the Descendants of Crom festival in their hometown. Threshold Wanderer, as it happens, probably should’ve come out around the time they would’ve played that fest for the second time, in October 2020.

Clearly that didn’t happen — the release or the event — but one could hardly argue The Long Hunt didn’t make the best of their time. Drawing on visual elements both organic and otherworldly, the accompanying videos are a fitting match for songs like “The Golden Bough,” with its subtle Earth influence met by sunshine, a three-eyed deer, or the subsequent 12-minute “Night Falls on Black Wings” with its journey into aural and visual space. Dragons, the whole nine. It’s an immersive multimedia experience that continues as “Crossing the River” courses through post-rock and heavy psychedelic drift and closer “Procession of Dust,” with the flapping raven wings at outset, reminds distinctly of the semi-animated album-video Neurosis put out over 20 years ago for A Sun That Never Sets. As the also-12-minute finale plays out, our evolved protagonist — the aforementioned three-eyed deer — is bathed in light like something out of 2001 and there’s fire, chaos and noise and I’m not really sure what the aftermath is but that’s probably the point. In any case, feedback.

Trevor Richards, bassist Allison Kacmar Richards and drummer Mark Lyons will be back at Descendants of Crom this June 3-4, and since Threshold Wanderer will be out by then, it’s a symmetry of happenstance that somehow makes sense considering the breadth, atmosphere and sense of exploration in the music of these songs. As they’re reportedly no strangers to live projections and such, it doesn’t seem unlikely that either at the fest or at some point thereafter, The Long Hunt would perform with Richards‘ animations accompanying. It all ties together, you see. Impressively. But for that, one feels obligated to point out that while the band’s intent may have always been to complement the audio, it was in fact that audio that came first, and “The Tower” speaks to that with its musical prominence, and the manner in which the video builds off the rhythm and mood of the track with which it’s paired.

Though “Prelude” is the actual entry point to the album, consider the clip for “The Tower” below something of an introduction as well, since it’s the beginning of the actual story that takes place throughout. Musically, it not necessarily tell you everything you need to know about Threshold Wanderer‘s more progressive-tinged intentions, but it’s a place to start. The place, actually. And I promise you, I promise, I promise, I did not know there was a big obelisk shooting lasers into space when I booked this premiere. I promise.

Preorder link and more info follows the video below.

Please enjoy:

The Long Hunt, “The Tower” video premiere

Digitally Pre-save ‘Threshold Wanderer’ now: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thelonghunt/threshold-wanderer

‘Threshold Wanderer’ is the newest album by the Pittsburgh-based instrumental trio The Long Hunt, following 2017’s ‘Wilderness Tales’ EP and 2018’s ‘All Paths Lead to Here’ full-length.

In contrast to the dry minimalism and sparse textures that defined the first two records, the songs on ‘Threshold Wanderer’ are often lush, dense, and verdant. Musical styles range from post-rock to post-metal, heavy psychedelic, doom, drone, and even a few hints of prog and classic rock. ‘Threshold Wanderer’ is all about musical exploration and traveling between worlds.

The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered in the first quarter of 2020, with the intent to release it later that year. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the global pandemic, those plans were unfortunately shelved. Not to be deterred by events beyond their control, the band soldiered on behind the scenes.

After a three-month crash course in 3D modeling, using open-source animation software Blender, guitarist Trevor Richards embarked on the monumental task of writing and animating an album-length music video. Eight months and over 1000 hours of work later, the accompanying music video/short film for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ was born.

Expanding on the band’s frequent use of archetypal themes such as nature, life, death, and rebirth, the music video for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ is an epic story-driven visual experience set to the music of The Long Hunt.

Bookending two years of anticipation, the band will release both the album and accompanying music video/short film for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ on Friday, April 1, 2022.

Upcoming Live Shows:

June 3-4 @ Descendants of Crom IV, Pittsburgh, PA

THE LONG HUNT is:
Trevor Richards: Guitars
Allison Kacmar Richards: Bass
Mark Lyons: Drums

The Long Hunt on Facebook

The Long Hunt on Instagram

The Long Hunt on Bandcamp

The Long Hunt website