It’s been a couple days by now, but I didn’t want to let any more time pass before I marked the 16th anniversary of the site. I don’t have a specific day — it’s “end of January” n my head — because putting the site together was kind of a weekend project with Slevin, who very kindly installed WordPress, registered the domain, and helped set me up so I could login and roll as I’ve done nearly every day in the 16 years since. I guess by “with” there I meant he did all the work and I sat nearby, clueless. At least that’s how I remember it.

16 years.

This post isn’t about today, but I can’t ignore my present circumstances as relevant to the discussion. I’m writing from the airport in Las Vegas, sitting at the gate after spending the last four days basking in music and communal vibes at Planet Desert Rock Weekend V. I just spent one of the best weekends I’ve ever had, hanging out with old friends and new and enjoying bands I’ve never seen before, enriching my life with hugs and riffs alike.

A lot has changed in heavy music since The Obelisk started, and there’s no question in my mind that the international heavy underground is stronger than I’ve ever seen it. And I feel so astonishingly lucky to be aware of it since it still exists in this pocket universe outside the mainstream. To me, this makes it more precious and more a thing worth preserving, evolving as hopefully it will continue to do as a new generation of bands continues to come up and make their mark over the next few years.

Thank you if you’ve followed this site for any stretch of time in the last 16 years. People come and go, of course, but doing this site has allowed me to meet and spend time with countless excellent humans worldwide I’d never otherwise know, and I don’t take that for granted. It’s all part of the adventure, right?, but what I’ve found over time especially in the last few years since the pandemic is that by and large the heavy underground is on its own side.

Am I talking about “scene unity” in an Obelisk anniversary post? Give me a second to pull my head out from up my own ass and I’ll finish the thought. The truth of the matter is I think there are very few, whether it’s in bands, labels, promotional concerns, fans, fests, bookers, etc. — everybody who contributes to THIS THING one way or another, and I believe that everybody who’s part of it contributes — who don’t by 2025 know the deal.

This kind of heavy music, whether you call it stoner, or heavy rock, or psych and prog and doom and noise and sludge and whatever else you want to throw in the pastiche, is never going to break. Bands will get through to broader popular culture, one or two a generation, like early Queens of the Stone Age, but “the scene” is never going to be “the thing.”

And I don’t believe in blessings, but what a blessing that is. It belongs to the people who make it and engage with it. Even when there’s a label involved in the band-fan transaction, there is no intermediary. Everyone is there for love. That’s not universal — somebody out there thinks he’s gonna get rich off his riffs; probs not, chief — but passion is the impetus that underscores so much of what happens in the international heavy underground right now, including this site as I hope comes through, and apart from my marriage it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever been so fortunate to be part of.

So thank you. Inevitably. Thank you for reading, for coming along with me here, for saying hi at the show, any show. For sharing your opinion of a thing I wrote. For finding a fucking typo! Thank you for finding typos! Not only does that tell me you’re reading, but that you give a fuck about this. I do too, I’m just not a perfect typist. So thank you.

I have a list of people I could rattle off, whether it’s press contacts I’ve known for 20 years or dudes like Tony Treetops who I met this past weekend. People are on board for promoting and sharing what they’ve found with each other, and because this happens, and because it happens in a spirit of friendship, community, and again, passion, it is a beautiful foundation for so many relationships.

The Obelisk will continue. I’ll be here. I’m around. But I’ve always said it won’t last forever, and there might come a day where I need to stop to protect my family, but right now I’m here and I value this moment writing this post sitting in friggin’ Harry Reid Airport thinking about what this site’s become in 16 years and wondering where it might still go. 20? I’m 43 now. Will I still want to do The Obelisk at 50? 55?

Not a question I can answer, and that seems all the more reason for me to treasure what it is while it is. Thank you for making that worth doing.

Onward with love,
JJ Koczan

LV NV
02.03.25

Tags: The Obelisk

This entry was posted on Monday, February 3rd, 2025 at 3:26 pm and is filed under The Numbers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.