You might still be recovering from your weekend of speed balls and freaky prostitutes. You might be on your way out the door to retrieve your car from the ditch you left it in last night when you had to flee the murderous Iranian man who's wife you'd just killed in a bout of ill advised drunk driving. Whatever you've been up to since Friday, it's Sunday now. Which means I won't be giving any kind of preamble or introduction to this interview. Because why? Because fuck off, that's why.
Not that this band (Rapids) really need an introduction. They're brilliant. Go to their myspace, you can download their EP for free. This interview is another email one, so it's kind of brief, but you know. That's the way it is sometimes.
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1. Do you think music is obsessive by nature? Is writing a song about something an act of obsession, or more of possession?
Sometimes when technical skills, musicianship and inspiration have failed us in the songwriting process, we turn to the Ouija board and ancient tribal medicine for answers. The out of body experiences that follow probably fall under the ‘possession’ umbrella.
2. Do you think our impulse to obsess over things should be indulged or denied? Why/Why not?
We’d like to tackle this on a case-by-case basis. There are those out there whose job it is to obsess over certain things, like climate change and how to fix it. This is a good obsession that should be indulged in. There are those who obsess over sex with midgets. We encourage people to draw their own line on that one.
3. If an obsession is mutual, do you think that makes it healthy? Or even more destructive?
Rapids love cake. But we also realize that cake cannot actually love us back with the same youthful vigor and mutual emotion. The day we believe otherwise will mark our spiraling descent into destructive obsession.
4. What are your thoughts on the sometimes obsessive relationship between musicians and their fans? Would this be inherently destructive because the fans' feelings can never be fully returned?
Mark David Chapman.
5. Do you think it takes a certain amount of self obsession to want to pursue a career in music? How do you feel about musicians being often lambasted for being narcissistic or self-indulgent?
Yes and no. We believe there are two personalities in music: there are those who concentrate on the music alone and shy away from the publicity that comes hand in hand with mainstream exposure. On the other hand, of course you have the musicians who use personality, image and ‘self obsession’ as a tool to further their career. Neither should be counted as more or less legitimate than the other, and it’s worth noting that sometimes bands with the biggest ‘personas’ are mild souls when off tour (The Hives enjoy gardening and living the quiet life when not on the road). An image is only an image, not necessarily the truth.
6. What are Rapids' current obsessions?
We’re obsessed with messing our house up until it can’t get any messier, then cleaning it until it can’t get any cleaner. It’s a weekly cycle. We also obsess over the current state of the summer cockroach invasion. This may or may not have a causal relationship with our previous obsession.
7. When do you think an obsession stops being healthy? Or is obsession never healthy?
Everyone has their own obsessions in life, both big and small. But when these obsessions start to take over, hindering a person from functioning normally and effectively in day-to-day life it might be time to take a step back and reevaluate the important things. Have you been paying your bills? Are you neglecting your wife? Are your obsessions driving you to taunt your own children and gamble your savings on cockroach races? You are not alone, and there is help out there.
8. What do you think it takes for a person to properly rid themselves of an obsession?
A good distraction and an expensive therapist.
9. Do you think an obsessive relationship is inherently hierarchical, with the obsessor on the bottom and obsessee on the top, or vice versa? Or is it more linear?
Of course it’s hierarchical. There are things that we want to do to people we obsess about that they would not want to do to us.
10. Where do you think obsessions come from? Some sort of fault in our personality? Do you think we use obsessions to fill the gaps in who we want to be, or how we see ourselves?
Obsessions come from the mystical Obsession Falcon. Like his close cousin, the Stork (where babies come from) the Obsession Falcon attacks your subconscious first, with his fierce talons and conceited beak. Before you know it your life is turned upside down and nothing else exists except for the vessel of your obsession. Beware that fucking bird, man.
