Obscura’s Kummerer on Lineup Changes: “I am Not the Right Person for Compromises”
When three-fourths of Obscura quit the band “due to musical differences” and launched a new outfit together a couple of weeks back, not too many fans of the German progressive death metal outfit were shocked: it’s not the first time there’s been a mass exodus of members from the band, and their list of former members is a veritable pastel painting.
I gotta hand it to band founder Steffen Kummerer, though: at least he knows he’s difficult to work with, and he has no qualms about admitting it.
In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, Kummerer was asked to elaborate on what happened with the three members who just left, and here’s how he answered:
“The members who left the band follow an alternate direction and rather want to write different music with a setting that has not much in common with Obscura. I received an email from the departing members with their decision to leave the band and form their own group a few days after our recent tour. Within Obscura I am the sole founding member since around 15 years and brought the band to life back in 2002. Decisions are made on my table, including the musical direction. I am not the right person for compromises.”
It’s a story as old as time: a band’s hired guns begin to want to flex their creative muscles, founder isn’t about that, and the members leave to do their own thing. I can’t say I blame Rafael Trujillo, Linus Klausenitzer and Sebastian Lanser for leaving, but I also can’t blame Kummerer for sticking to his creative vision. It’s his right, just as it is theirs.
Kummerer added that Obscura’s new lineup has already been locked into place and that it’ll be announced in the coming weeks. Jeroen Paul Thesseling has already rejoined the band on fretless bass; he performed on Cosmogenesis (2009) and Omnivium (2011) before leaving the band in 2011.
The departed members’ new project has a very Obscura-esque name, Obsidious. It’ll be interesting to see how Obscura-like they sound and to what extent they’re able to gain traction without the Obscura name.
Read the rest of the interview with Kummerer right here.
