diablo175 Posted April 22, 2012 Posted April 22, 2012 Was browsing thru some of the old guitar rags I still have laying around and there was this Kahler ad on the back of a few that featured Jeff Loven and Obsession. Seems he won the Kahler national competition back in the 80's. The photo featured him holding a white Hamer Steve Stevens (?) with a black Kahler on it. Rumor has it that his winning submission was actually done on a Floyd. The ad on eBay So, 30 years later I decide to look him up and see what he was all about. Turns out that in most of the Obsession videos he's playing a Charvel Star equipped with an early model Floyd (think Brad Gillis style with no fine tuners.) Then I heard his playing and frankly, was a little disappointed. Van Halen wanna be? You decide. Anyone from the Twin Cities ever catch Obsession live?
coolfeel Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 His playing definitely has some Eddie written on it...lolThe band reminds me a little of Vandenberg. Sounds like the singer is struggling a bit tho...
coolfeel Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 Looks like he has since ditched the Kahler... http://www.youtube.c...v=pKP4w26oyFM#!
sledhead44 Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 The name sounded familiar... I sold him a guitar a while back.
hikarateboy Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 HFC founder Ted Martin knows him. Tis true. I actually was the one that recorded that winning solo with him the night before it was due to be post marked to make it in to the contest. You can hear my voice saying "Oh my god its an air raid quick get in the car" on it too. I think that little dramatization was part of what helped set it apart from the other entries and ultimately helped win it for him. The solo was on his site but looks like he took it down I will try to find a copy. I think its a much better representation of how he plays than the video above. Re: Obsession, To be honest I didn't love a lot of their songs but they did do a really good show. Brynn the guy in the long t-shirt (dress) did go on to some success with his band Flipp and played Woodstock 99(?) and his brother who was the other guitar in the band did the artwork for one of the later cheap trick cd covers and has gone on to be a successful graphic artist. you can see them here: Currently jeff makes a pretty good living as a one man band (for real) playing to really great pre recorded tracks that he creates 100% by himself. Last time I went to a show he made me get up and play while walking off to another room and singing thru the wireless headset leaving me as the sole person on stage. Now that's pressure! The star guitar had a floyd with fine tuners but he did the solo on that and a focus with floyd. I had it for at least 6 months when I was with out a guitar of my own. Jeff is a guy that will do that for a friend and he deserves more than he gets. Pete Alenov of petes guitar, semi famous for being friends with clapton and harrison called hamer and got him the steve stevens with the kahler for the namm show trip and ad cause he didnt have a guitar with one. Trivia, he was called for a post slash audition for gnr and he said nah. Probably smart.
diablo175 Posted April 23, 2012 Author Posted April 23, 2012 Cool! Thanks for the info. I was looking at the video(s) very closely and for the life of me, I could NOT see any fine tuners on the Floyd. Might have to chalk that up to my advancing years, a recent eye doctor visit and or the quality of the video from back then.If you do get a copy of the winning submission by Jeff, let me know. I'd love to hear it!
tombo Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 As I was a "hanger on" with Ted, I went with him to Jeff's house a time or two. Just yesterday while sifting through old concert tickets, ads, etc. I found two Obsession picks given to me by Jeff. I still have the name card he gave me with "Thanks for letting me borrow your harem" written on the back
earachemyeye Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 Eric and I went to see him play at a local bar several years back. He spied us out as being a couple of musicians and came over to ask if we wanted to play. He also soloed in our face with a big grin. I'd had a few beers (only a few) so I declined. Eric jumped in and tore it up on Jeffs V while he did the singing. He has a really good act for just one guy. He's funny, moves all over the place and plays like it's nothing, very entertaining. He does come across as a very nice guy to me. There's also another kahler champ that lives here named Brian Bart of Dare Force fame also an incredible player.
Eric Weston Posted April 23, 2012 Posted April 23, 2012 That was a BLAST......he IS a really nice guy.......and can sing his ass off (in addition to shredding up guitars).
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.