Seniors of the Week:Asa Campbell and Blake Simpson

By JOONYOUNG HEO and ROXANE PARK

The audience is loud, but the music is louder. As the last few bars of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac ring through the Assembly Hall, students break into hoots, whistles, and thunderous applause — and they get rowdier still as another group climbs to the stage and takes their positions for Soundgarden’s Jesus Christ Pose. Here are seniors Blake Simpson and Asa Campbell, basking in the spotlight, ready to put on a show.

B. Simpson was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but he’s since done a great deal of relocating. “I lived in Atlanta for six months before my parents decided the frostbite risk wasn’t high enough, so we moved to Wisconsin,” B. Simpson said. “I lived there for three years. Then we moved to Exeter, New Hampshire, and we’ve been here for about 15 years. I’ve spent a lot of time here just hanging out in town, going to Dunkin’ Donuts, playing on the train tracks.”

Campbell, meanwhile, had wanted to move from her previous home herself. “I moved from New York to Charlottesville, VA when I was eight, but I also missed the city a lot,” she said. “I found that a lot of the people in Charlottesville were not people who appreciated me and my family’s otherness. I didn’t feel at home there, so as soon as I was in middle school, I started figuring out ways to get out of Virginia.”

“My dad actually went to Exeter, so that sparked my interest in boarding schools,” Campbell continued. “I just really wanted to get out: restart, make my life anew, and take more control over it.”

Senior Blake Simpson smiles for the camera. Solei Silva-Carin / The Exonian

Now in his fourth year at the Academy, B. Simpson has developed a rhythm to schoolwork and his classes, especially in Latin. “I decided on a whim when I was 14 that I should take Latin,” he said. “I mean, they don’t let you drive until you’re 16 and drink till you’re 21. I don’t think they should be putting Latin in front of you when you’re 14, but they did. And when Mr. Unger became my advisor, I was really psyched. He’s helped me grow in Latin and Greek. It’s great because we’re both very passionate about the classics.”

Campbell particularly enjoys the diversity of course selections here. “A lot of my classes now have to do with honing in on my interests,” she said. “I’m taking Mr. Perdomo’s Beats, Rhymes, and Narratives, an English class that’s just about hip hop. I’m also taking two advanced art courses where I get to make and design structures, clothing, etcetera. Once you become a senior or a higher- level student at Exeter, you’re able to make your learning your own, and I’ve been very grateful to be able to do that.”

On campus, Campbell also founded the Mycology Club and runs a radio show. In her free time, she enjoys visual art — sewing, painting, and making clothing. B. Simpson, on the other hand, is a cohead of Stand-Up Comedy Club and previously a humor editor for The Exonian.

But it is in the Music Department that B. Simpson and Campbell have really devoted much of their time. As coheads of the Exeter Association of Rock (EAR), they also lead Dorkus Buxter, a small band of musicians just as passionate about the art as they are.

Both B. Simpson and Campbell found a passion for music early on in their lives. “I started playing a lot of music in middle school,” B. Simpson said. “Even before then, I played trumpet for a year in the fourth grade, and then I stopped playing it for the next eight years. That is still the case today. Then I started playing guitar in the sixth grade, and that’s really come to define my life.”

Campbell’s musical journey began even earlier. Throughout her life, she has played the violin, ukulele, and guitar. “My parents have always inspired a lot of artistic passion in me,” she said. “They noticed that it was something I loved to do since I was little, so they encouraged that. They put me in orchestras and singing groups and whatnot.”

At Exeter, B. Simpson and Campbell have further developed their musical passions. “My prep year, I was sort of playing in a lot of different places, trying to get into shows,” B. Simpson said. “Then in lower year I took a big leap of faith in myself and joined the Jazz Ensemble. I knew how to read music on guitar and played a lot of stuff in middle school, but I just didn’t think I’d be good enough. But I went for it [anyway] and it was really fun.”

“Recently, I also started in the contemporary music ensemble and Pep Band — one of the most fun opportunities to play guitar I’ve ever had,” B. Simpson continued. “I’m trying percussion as well. My brother’s the drummer and he’s way better than me, but here I am. I’ve just tried to get out of my comfort zone with music.”

For Campbell, aside from leading EAR and waking her roommate Hannah Vogel up with her singing, her musical passions have taken form in her own free time. “I think right now, the biggest things that I do in terms of extracurriculars are related to band music,” she said. “I’ve worked on my own online music production and written songs.”

“With a lot of my music, I try to put my whole body into it,” B. Simpson said. “I don’t solo a lot in the sense of learning an actual solo. I might just rub a screwdriver against my guitar and just make the worst noises.”

The Exeter experience has largely fueled B. Simpson’s and Campbell’s drive to perform and play music. “It’s relieving,” B. Simpson said. “It’s forcing all of my tension to come out through the music, and it’s a little treat for myself. And it’s my way of expressing the self that’s created in contrast with some of the competitiveness and the feeling that I’m not doing enough, or that I don’t have the right dreams.”

“I really just enjoy being an entertainer and adding some spice to campus life, adding some vibrancy to the cold heart of Exeter, New Hampshire. There’s just so much to do here, and that sometimes makes it challenging to pursue what you love, especially if it’s an art,” Campbell said. “It makes you feel the need to conform to a certain idea of success. But that made me want to play music even more. I wanted to push back on that and create opportunities for myself. I’d rather push forward and hang out and be around people I enjoy and make music and talk to interesting instructors who want to hear about that stuff, instead of getting bogged down by the fact that I have this paper to do and this test to study for and that my whole life belongs to someone else.”

Senior Asa Campbell poses in The Bowld. Solei Silva-Carin / The Exonian

The two musicians credit much of their success to the faculty in the music department. “Mr. Rabb and Dr. Schultz have been revolutionizing the number of performance opportunities there are in the music department,” B. Simpson said.

“Shoutout to Sir Rabb and Dr. Schultz,” Campbell said.

Likewise, B. Simpson and Campbell’s own work in the Music Department has been widely recognized by their peers. “You’re never going to be able to replace Blake and Asa,” upper Ayaan Akhtar said. “The energy and character they bring to their performances is something unbeatable. They live and breathe music, and that’s something I really admire about them.”

“Blake’s a wizard on the guitar,” Akhtar continued. “Whatever he does with his pedal board is amazing. In one show, he played until his fingers were bleeding. No one else is going to play at that level. And Asa, her stage presence is impeccable. The way she feels the music while she’s singing — she’s just so great.”

In particular, members of EAR have felt their influence on the club. “They’ve done so much to improve the group,” upper Vi Matheos said. “Just the sound setup of the last few performances has been so pristine. They’re also doing a lot of work for the EAR community. The club is being taken much more seriously now because of it. Dr. Schultz let us know at the end of the EAR assembly that faculty members were telling him it felt like a rock show, a real rock show. That was largely thanks to Blake and Asa.”

“I think Blake has set the standard for guitar players in the school astronomically high,” upper Charlie Scales said. “He’s just an amazing player, and he blows every show out of the water. I really feed off his energy when we’re playing. And Asa — whenever she’s involved in an EAR concert, people are going to show up to see her. She’s at her best when she’s onstage, throwing her hair around, singing her heart out. A lot of singers are rigid, but she’s super free with her voice. That’s the spirit of rock, and that’s what she brings.”

B. Simpson and Asa’s dedication to their craft has touched many beyond EAR and the Music Department. “Blake provides so much of the soundtrack of our lives: the side-splitting comedy and the ear-splitting rock,” Instructor in Religion Thomas Simpson, also B. Simpson’s father, said. “I love that I got a chance to play in the new pep band with Blake and Will before they graduate, and Ms. Simpson and I have loved seeing Blake, Asa, Will, and their bandmates play the music that electrifies them. I like to think that Blake and Asa have helped open space for rock, punk, and metal musicians to flourish just a little more at Exeter.”

Director of Jazz, Bands, and Global Rhythm Ensemble Marcus Rabb has worked extensively with both B. Simpson and Campbell over the past two years, and he shared a similarly rewarding experience. “It was clear to me that Blake was a very talented musician who loved playing his guitar,” Rabb said. “And when I first heard Asa sing, I was struck by how prepared she was and how much she really got into and enjoyed the music she was performing. It was really their talent and excitement about playing music that stood out from the start.”

As musicians and as people, B. Simpson and Campbell have certainly developed in their time here. “My hair is better now,” B. Simpson said. “It doesn’t look good today, but in general, it’s better. But more than that, I hadn’t known a hundred percent what I wanted to do or what I was passionate about [before coming here]. Last year, I sort of realized that I want to teach the classics or ancient studies. That’s given me a really solid sense of purpose and a bit less fear about the future.”

Confidence was also a strong theme for Campbell. “I’ve become a lot more confident in my abilities and who I am and who I present myself as,” she said. “That’s translated into my being a bit more confident in making music and performing. That, in turn, has helped me figure out what I want to do in the future. If you’re in the arts, you doubt yourself so much because you think you’re not going to make money, and maybe you’re not good at it and won’t like that life. I’ve always been too scared or worried to pursue my music even to my own standards. But now I know I can make stuff I enjoy, and it’s stuff that I think other people enjoy as well.”

Others around them have noticed their growth in self-assurance. “Asa has never changed so much as grown into herself,” Vogel said. “She has such an infallible sense of self, whether she realizes it or not, and she has become so confident in that. She brings a true authenticity to Exeter that I think is rare to find anywhere.”

“Asa’s much more comfortable as a musician,” Rabb agreed. “Her proficiency has equally skyrocketed. For Blake, he’s reached a level of versatility in what he’s doing that I don’t think he had thought possible. He had himself in somewhat of a musical box. Now he’s broken out of that. He’s really expanded the concept of what he can do on his guitar.”

“Both of them have raised the bar at the Academy, without question,” Rabb continued. “They’ve shown kids what a ‘rock musician’ at Exeter can do. I just wish I had one more year to work with both of them. But I know they’re going out to do great things.”