We had the good fortune of connecting with Jake Obermiller and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jake, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Like many others who grew up stuck in a small town, I struggled as a child to feel accepted by my community and to feel as if I had a purpose bigger than my surroundings. My hometown’s population is 650 people; as you can imagine, we didn’t have many stars that had come out of our “village” in the middle of Illinois. That, coupled with the typical issues of a young man going through his early teenage years, drove me to find my passion, and ultimately my emotional outlet, which was writing and producing music.
Since the age of 12, I have explored production and performance of multiple genres including (but not limited to): Alternative, Indie Folk, Grunge Rock, Metal, Hip Hop, Dubstep, etc. A majority of my currently released songs are done by myself under the alias’ “ob”, and “ObtheOne.” However, for the last two years I have been working with a drummer from France, Alex Di Pasquale, to put together multiple demos under our two man band “Subtitles.” Our first release “Floating Down” is currently being produced by the great Jojo Centineo of Los Angeles, and we are excited to say it will be out by Fall of 2024.
Having this goal driving me through my life has taken me to some amazing places and has helped me to become the person I aspire to be, as well as a sign to any other person with a dream in a small town. You are able to do it. Trust me when I say it won’t be easy, but it WILL be worth it.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As stated, I started out in a small rural town in Illinois. Starting out it was very difficult to find my voice, genre, even just finding a way to make the music itself. It took a lot of late nights alone, moving multiple states over the past 8 years, failing multiple times, succeeding multiple times, and I still don’t feel as if my true music journey has even begun.
I think one of the coolest things about the last two years has been getting the “Subtitles.” project to the point that it is at now. It’s just been me and my drummer (often either 5 am or 12 pm start time for me due to time change) having Skype calls and essentially producing the songs together through a screen. He has incredible musical talent and he is able to play most of the instrumental parts, while I will have the vision of where the song should go and explain it, then write the lyrics on top of it. I believe it’s a standard way of current bands getting things done, but I think it’s neat being able to say it’s just the two of us over 5,000 miles apart making music.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m Huge into hiking personally, so I would have to say you need to check out Black Star Canyon! It’s a beautiful 7 mile hike that weaves through the mountains of California up to a waterfall point!
Beyond that, its Los Angeles. Essentially anything that you are into, google where to find it that night! A ton of great comedy shows, concerts, great restaurants, and beaches to cover just about anything you’d want to do on a week long vacation.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost I would have to thank all of my family. While not all of them understand the life path of being an artist, they have always been supportive. I think if I were to specifically say who motivated music, my aunt Jenny would have to be the main component. As a grade schooler with an aunt who is 11 years older than you, listening to 311, Sublime, and Eminem was a pretty cool gig. Between her and my father Scott, I would say they gave me my taste in music and showed how someone could Love music.
Beyond that, I would have to thank a multitude of underground artists who were never given the opportunity to be seen by society (at least not as much as they deserved.) I don’t know how many times I came close to quitting on the grind of it all, and then I hear an artist with 37 followers on soundcloud compose the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. If you never release your music, nobody can ever resonate with it and take that spark into their own creation, so thank you to every artist who has been strong enough to put themselves out there.
Website: https://linktr.ee/666ob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capitol_ob/
Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3cIKd7ShlQtauE1Ypzt9Fg?si=yvfF4YA2QBSBfrtemJ1YTQ https://soundcloud.com/666ob