Genre:    Heavy Alternative Rock
  R.I.Y.L:  Alice In Chains, Soul Asylum,
            Screaming Trees, STP
  Hometown: Punxsutawney, PA

The Obsidian History:

The Beginning:
Obsidian started before I was a member. The original drummer was Matt Hill, who would later team-up with bassist Joe Mikelonis again in 3 Bean Soup. The opening came as a result of Matt leaving the area to go to school and I was lucky enough to have Joe's long-time girlfriend, (and my neighbor) Amanda Brestovich ask me to try out. I did, with much anxiety and (probably more of necessity than recognition of talent!) was accepted into the ranks. Actually, at that time, the band had no official name and went by whatever name the guys felt like taking on at each performance. Jeff Grose was another recent addition to the band and he and I, especially because we were the same age, immediately became friends.

The Immortal Youth Era:
The band practiced often after I joined and we gradually began to expand our cover song list, as well as working on new originals and polishing the two already-existing originals, Abyss and My Way. The new covers included the songs: "Somebody To Shove" by Soul Asylum, "Plush" by Stone Temple Pilots, "Angry Chair" by Alice In Chains, "Lithium" by Nirvana, and "Bombtrack" by Rage Against The Machine. Another was "Love Is On The Way" by Saigon Kick, which was thrown on on some sort of appeal to the female audience, I think (I had no real decision in it... really!) Older songs that the band played (before I joined) were "3 Little Pigs" by Green Jelly (at the time, Green Jello), "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath, "Unsung" by Helmet, and a heavy version of "Tequila".

In the summer of 1993, we threw a party at my house to officially start-up the band. The problem being that we didn't have a name. I'm not sure who came up with the idea, but the solution was to name the band Immortal Youth. As time passed, we began to dislike the band name and started to look for another name and I constructed a large list of possibilities -of which only Obsidian was not absolutely hated by at least one member. So, Obsidian it was.

Obsidian's Golden Era:
We started to play bars in Punxsutawney, the first gig being an opening spot for the glammy-glam-glam-rockers Skin Games, (!?!) who felt obliged to screw us over by giving us 20 minutes and no cash for the show. I also had to use their drumset and (if you've been to our shows, you might have noticed) my set is arranged in a very untraditional manner. It was a good experience though, I guess. We continued to play up until 1993's Hallowpalooza, after which Joe left the band. This decision had been tossed around for a while and after this show, the idea to leave seemed the most appropriate.

We tried to go on as a three-piece, but without a bassist it was difficult. Then, Jeff moved out of the state, which further complicated the situation. However, upon his arrival nearly a year later, the three of us were all eager to re-start Obsidian.

Obsidian's Dark Age:
Our music had taken, following the lead of Mike Pounds, a turn into the realm of heavier music and our influences now were more along the lines of Sepultura, Anthrax, Mutha's Day Out, and Fight, rather than the alternative rock we had previously played. Of course, we still were operating without a bass player and we were constantly looking for someone to fill the gap left by Joe. We tried out several people for the spot, including former Fire 'N' Ice bassist Ben Vroble, but couldn't find someone that fit the role as well as Joe had. This didn't keep us from continuing to operate as Obsidian, as we knew that sooner or later the right pieces would fall into place. Then, we heard of a guitarist who had some recognition in the area for his playing ability, Bob Brown.

The Beginning of the End:
After seeing him play once, we knew we wanted him in the band. This still didn't solve the problem, however, as we now merely had two guitarists and no bass player. The idea was that Pounds would move to bass, but he changed his mind once Brown joined. Pounds began spending a lot of time practicing with Bob and the two became the decision makers in the band, which before had never been a problem with Jeff and me (we were just glad to be in the band), but now we felt we deserved more consideration.

Another result of Bob's introduction into Obsidian was his attitude toward playing. Whereas Obsidian had always been more about having fun than being successful, Bob thought a band should be much more professional than we were and thought we should be. Granted, he had a good grasp on being professional (e.g. practicing for a long time before taking any gigs), but Jeff and I didn't see the band as something to be taken all that seriously. (In fact, Jeff and I had even taken a gig at -unbeknownst to us at the time we agreed- a bluegrass festival! Bob and Mike were adamantly against the gig, but with help from Joe, we played and it wasn't as bad as everyone expected -and it was the only gig we played with Bob in the band) We just wanted to have some fun with the band and it wasn't happening anymore.

These combined elements had us talking about the future of the band and if there was a reason to stick with it. The last straw was when Pounds talked to me about kicking Jeff out of the band because of his irresponsible attitude and tardiness. I resented the idea, not on whether or not it was true or not, but instead because I didn't think that it would ever come to us kicking each other out of the band. Another thing was that practices had become redundant and ineffective (in my opinion), so what was the difference if Jeff didn't show up on time or at all?

The Birth of Sledge:
Gradually, I cared less and less about practice (Jeff quit for good after we discussed what Pounds had said) and eventually the band Obsidian ceased to exist. Bob and Mike continued to play together for a while, but I don't think that they formed another band with each other after that. Joe, of course, went on to join Kris Gruda's 3 Bean Soup and at the time of the break-up, Jeff and I had already started to take the first steps toward continuing to make music in a band with just the two of us, which would ultimately become SLeDGE.

End note: just because Obsidian broke up doesn't mean we hate each other. We continue to speak to one another when we can, but without the band, we don't see each other all that often... so Mike, Jeff, and Joe (oh yah, and Mandi =) ): if you're reading this, drop me a line sometime, I'm still here!

original material copyright © 1996-1998 David Kauffman