Obsidian

    At long last Obsidian's Jason Campbell has agreed to chat! Distracting the public with an abundance of live shows, they've secretly been working on a new album. Giggling like teenagers we talk about the band's multinational origins, Jason's start in music and inability to walk away from the back end of things, as well as the distant future playing the casino circuit.

DK: How long have you been with Obsidian?

JC: Four years this September. We got our first lead guitar player shortly after we formed. It would have been
      less than a year after that when he left to go back to school. Daniel came into the band and we haven't
      looked back since. He's been in the band for about three years. The "original guitarist" didn't play on any
      of the records. He didn't write any of the music so he sort of existed, but he didn't.

DK: (laughs) He was a dream.

JC: (laughs) Yeah, he was more of a vapour. (laughs)

DK: He's a fictional creature. I love it.

JC: We really kinda talk about it as if we've had the same original line-up, maybe not from day one, but at
      least from record one. Dan did backing vocals and played on the first album. He came up with some
      parts during recording that really brought some songs together.

DK: How many albums have you put out?

JC: We've put out two full length albums. the first one is Time Erodes, the second is Into Oblivion.

DK: I'm looking at your social media page and seeing members from France, Germany, and Canada. How did
       that happen?

JC: Ok, well... (laughs) ... our drummer is from Germany. He still has an accent which he's slowly losing. Our
      bass player is from France. Her accent is still fairly strong. Most people think she's from Sweden or
      something.

Obsidian 

DK: How did you all come together? Were you trawling through an immigration program or what? (laughs)

JC: (laughs) I was looking for a Russian bride but found a band!

DK: Even better!

JC: It was really by chance. I went to see a friend who worked at a music store near my place one day and I
      was heading to the manager's office to speak with him, I overheard a guy say, "I'm looking for someone
      who plays metal. Kinda like THAT guy." I look over and he's pointing at me. He walked over and we
      started talking. He was new to town. Him and his wife had just moved from Winnipeg. They were looking
      to join a band as a rhythm section, drummer and bass player. I said, "I always know people looking for
      musicians, let's talk." At the time I wasn't looking to get into a band. I had a project I was, and am still,
      working on... But something about them seemed to click with that conversation, so Stef and I hooked up at
      my place that night to listen to some demos I had recorded. He really liked what I was doing and a few
      months later we jammed for the first time. We nailed down three songs, one of which ended up on the first
      album. After the first jam we looked at each other and asked, "Do we want to keep going?" That was a
      unanimous YES! We've all said it's been one of the most stress-free bands we've ever been in. Most of our
      stress has been from technical issues.

DK: Not everyone has that immediate chemistry. It translates really well on stage and in the writing process.
       What is your set-up on stage?

JC: Yeah, we have a great interaction on stage, be that goofing around, or our overall movement, and
      knowing where each other is going to be. We use in-ear monitors. If something goes wrong we have to rely
      on other cues. Our in-ear box probably weighed close to 100 lbs. We've been able to lighten it by about
      half, which is awesome 'cuz I can pick it up with one hand now instead of having to struggle with a big
      awkward box.

DK: By this point you've played a truckload of shows, what's one of the most memorable, in terms of
       someone you were really excited to share a stage with? What's been a highlight?

JC: Oh! Kataklysm was really cool.

DK: They're amazing live!

JC: That was a really cool show to open for. It was at the Red Room in
      Vancouver. There were three drum kits on stage. If you've ever been
      there you know that one kit is a lot, two is pushing it, and at three
      there's no room at all.

DK: That's insane.

JC: Yeah. It was Kataklysm and, I can never pronounce their name..
       Kara--- (laughs)

DK: (laughs) Yeeeaaahh, those guys. (Carach Angren)

JC: We ended up becoming friends with those guys. They're from Holland, right across the border from where
      Stef grew up. He heard them talking in German and asked where they're from. It turned out they were from
      neighbouring towns. They realized they had played all the same venues. They had a kinship goin' on. They
      had a big love-in. (laughs) I, on the other hand, do not speak a word of German...except some bad words.

Daniel Clark

DK: Everyone learns the swear words first!

JC: Of course! I learned those a while ago.

DK: If Obsidian could share the stage with anyone, dead or alive, who would be on that bill?

JC: Two come to mind, maybe two separate shows... I would say Meshuggah, and Gojira. Definitely. I think
      that all of us would be like, "Oh God, YES!" If those shows ever came up we'd die and it would never
      happen 'cuz we'd be dead. (laughs)

DK: (laughs) The excitement! Your hearts would all explode.

JC: Our hearts would literally just explode in our chest cavities... Those two would be insane. Devin would be
      another one. Strapping Young Lad would be off the chain. If he ever decided to put that back together
      again for even a single show said, "We want Obsidian to play," I would probably lose my... I would re-lose
      my virginity.

DK: You'd grow it back just to lose it to Devin. (laughing)

JC: (laughing) I'd go back in time, get my virginity back, and save it for that epic moment right there.

DK: (laughing) Awesome.

JC: I'm not sure how that works out, but... somehow it works out. Maybe Rick from Rick and Morty could
      help me out.

DK: It has to! There's always a way to get that stuff back. Rick could do it.

JC: There's probably some other bands, too... Death Angel would rank up there. They're not one of the bigger
      bands, but they've influenced me for years. I would never turn that down.

DK: How long have you been playing music? When did you first pick up a guitar?

JC: ooooh... I had a piano. I'm not a piano player but I do understand it. When I was a kid we had a piano so I
      would tinkle tinkle on it. In elementary school we had a really cool music program. It wasn't your typical
      school band with saxophone and trombone. It was acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass, and drums. It was
      a band. That was when I first started playing acoustic. Everyone was required to play acoustic guitar. It
      was like everyone playing ukulele at some schools. I thought it was cool, then I discovered the drums.
      There was only one person who played the drums and I wanted in. I did that for about four or five years,
      then I realized that my brother was a better drummer so I quit. I built a guitar and have been playing
      ever since.

Now with even better guitars!

DK: You built a guitar??

JC: Yes. I literally built a guitar. A
       very playable guitar. (laughs)

DK: That is super cool!

JC: It probably wasn't amazing. I was 13.

DK: Not the point. (laughs) That's really
       cool that you even did that.

JC: My luthier skills probably left something to be desired but it was workable. For the time it definitely had
      the look. (laughs)

DK: When people try doing it on their own they usually go with the Les Paul body style. Was that something
        you followed?

JC: No, I went with more of a strat shape. I like Les Pauls, I've had three or four of them. I had a 1970 custom,
      cream colour, same thing as Randy Rhoads. Loved it, but traded it for an ESP. I traded it to a friend who
      traded it off. It's still in the same shape. It's one I'd eventually like to get back. That would mean a lot. At
      one time I had, I think, eighteen-ish guitars. I've downsized considerably, down to around... ten now.

DK: Sweet! What's the main one that you write and perform with?

JC: I've got two Ibanez from around '87 or '88, when they switched from the Roadstar series to the RG, which
      is the current design. It's sort of a Strat / Ibanez shape. It's got more focused and contoured lines. The
      Roadstar was more rounded, kind of bubble-looking. Those were the first generation of the RG. I've got
      two Japanese models of those as the main guitars I use for shows. I've got a newer version, an RG321,
      with a plain mahogany body. It's pretty simple, basic. I use that one mostly for writing. Occasionally I'll
      bring it to a show if I need an extra. At one point it was more for our second guitar player because he had
      only one. In case he broke a string, we had a backup. I also have a Gibson Explorer, an Ibanez Iceman,

  an RG7, a Robin Mechette custom, and a few others.

Daniel Clark
Photo by Kevin Eisenlord Photography

Aurelia Falaize
Photo by Kevin Eisenlord Photography

DK: The dreaded busted string.

JC: It really is. If he broke a string at least we both have an extra. He just recently got a Kiesel custom.
      It's pretty bad ass. He spent a tonne of money on it so it better be worth it. (laughs)

DK: Their custom shop has a solid reputation. They do some beautiful work there. They've really got their
       technique figured out. So you write music and I've heard that you do tracking and recording as well. Do
       you also do sound tech for live? Do you do a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, or do you prefer to focus on
       writing?

JC: That's a tough one. I wanna do it... I just did sound for a gig last weekend. I still do it from time to time but
       it's not something I really want to do right now. It's one of those things where you've either got to commit
       to it 100% and do it, or don't do it at all. There's no middle ground. It's like anything in life. You don't
       want to do anything half-assed. You don't want to go in with a partial commitment. I don't seek it out, but
       it just ends up happening every now and then. Because I have a background of doing it, I'm always
       thinking about the back end of things.

DK: It's not an active thing you look for but can't seem to walk away entirely?

JC: Pretty much. When I see something that needs to be done I just kind of jump in.

DK: Is there someone you've recorded that became a fan of through that exposure? Someone you were
       unfamiliar with prior to recording?

JC: No, I usually try to get to know their music ahead of time. I'll go to their shows and scope them out. If we
       have a conversation about recording I'll go and see what they do live. I wanna see what they're doing,
       what do they want to portray? How do I translate that into the sterile environment of a recording studio?
       It's important to capture the live experience. I like to be prepared. I don't take on a band without knowing
       something abut them. If they're from out of town I want to see a video of  jam session start to finish,
       unedited.  I wanna see how they interact, what they do between songs. All those details are part of their
       sound.

Jason Campbell

DK: Through recording, from the process of someone approaching you, to exploring their music and being
       immersed in it, to finishing an album and forking it over, is there anyone that you've become a fan of,
       that you still listen to and make a point of seeing live?

JC: Yes. I recorded an EP for Sean Lang who was in First Reign, one of his side bands, Subdivision. It's an
       interesting sort of progmetal... not like Dream Theatre, it's definitely death metal but with more singing-
       type vocals. I really liked their songs. I only recorded the drums and mixed the EP, but I've been really
       diggin' it. It was a short-lived project but there's something really cool about what they wrote. I still play
       Sean's solo project , Seven Year Storm, which has Dean Lamb from Archspire doing all the guitar
       stuff, and Brent MacKenzie from Gross Misconduct.

DK: Your album, Into Oblivion, that was released last year?

JC: Yeah, about this time last year.

DK: And the previous album was released about a year-ish prior. That's a pretty quick succession. Are you
       guys looking to keep that momentum?

JC: We wanted to but it's a rough schedule to maintain. We've been playing a lot of shows and had a few
       personal setbacks that have kind of put things behind schedule a bit. We're writing our next album
       now but it won't be released as early as we would have liked.

Image by Visions In Pixels by Derek Carr

DK: Do you have an eta?

JC: Nothing specific. We're working on a precarious balance of writing, recording, and performing. It's
       pretty brutal.

DK: You guys have an obscene amount of shows booked. Is that mostly around the lower mainland, or does
       that include a tour?

JC: We've done a bunch of out of town shows this year. We're pretty limited on how far we can move around.
       We all have jobs so booking time off is kind of challenging. We are hoping to do more next year, step
       things up a bit!

DK: How far into writing the next album are you?

JC: That's top secret. ...We're nearly done!

DK: Oh!

JC: Our first two albums were released within a year of each other. With a first album you've got all
       the time in the world. You have your whole life to write it. As a group you're hanging out and writing
       and one day you realize that you've got an album's worth of material that you've been playing all this time.
       So we started recording it. We'd played all the songs enough times that recording was pretty easy. While
       we were doing that we were still writing more stuff so after the first album was recorded it wasn't long
       before we had enough material for a second one. Coming up to our third, we've got so much material
       that we rotate through when we do show shows that the sheer volume of it has played a part in how the
       writing process has been going. We play a lot of shows and we try to switch up the set lists enough that it's
       not the same show every time.

DK: I guess you don't want any one song to turn into your "Enter Sandman." That would be a special kind of
        hell.

JC: (laughs) I know,right?! We joke about that a lot because we kind of have that with one of the songs from
       the first album. (laughs) It's kind of anthemic and we get requests for it. It's fun to play and the audience
       likes being able to chant along, so that one comes into rotation a lot. We left it out of a set recently and
       a guy told us after the show that he was pretty disappointed. Who knows. We may never play it again. If
       we keep getting requests for it, then yeah, we'll kind of have to.

DK: You gotta take a break and mix it up. You don't
        wanna become only known for that one song. I
        mean, no one goes to see Journey to hear Open
        Arms. They play it, but not because anyone
        requested it. (laughs)

JC: Wow! Ouch! (laughs) To be honest, I'm not really a
       big Journey fan. (laughs)

DK: (laughing) Neither am I. No one is! I had to
       Google that shit to get a song title because I only
       know Don't Stop Believing. (laughing) They
       played here a couple of years ago. Who knew they
       were still going?

JC: Some friends went to that. It's the "We Have A
       Mortgage To Pay" tour. (laughing) Good on them
       for still doing it, though. Credit where credit is due. That's hard to pull off. I hope I have that energy when
       I'm at that point.

DK: That's a weird future to look forward to.

JC: Obsidian playing a greatest hits tour through all the Casinos!

DK: I look forward to a retirement rife with heavy metal and slots!

JC: See you there!



Follow Obsidian on FB or IG.

Listen to their tunes of BandCamp.

For booking information contact them the old fashioned way through email: ObsidianMetal@Shaw.Ca

Photos used in this article were shot by Shane Lang, Derek Carr, and Kevin Eisenlord.

Written by Dink Kickin.