Michael Campion

Michael Campion has attended the NAMM Show since the late 1970s, first as a wide-eyed musician, then as a retailer and finally as an exhibitor. Tracing his evolving roles at the show mirrors his fascinating career in the music industry. Playing in garage bands led to his involvement with songwriting and composing jingles, which led to working in a music store. Michael formed a team that opened LAB Sound (Home of Tone was their slogan), which branched out into three retail locations in Southern California. The store’s focus was rack systems for heavy metal bands in the 1980s. Teaming with Steve Ridinger, Michael helped produce the very popular QWIK Tune products, which utilized LCD meters. With a shift to guitar pedals, he began using the old Danelectro name and later built a full line of guitars, both those in the traditional style and those with new designs. In recent years Michael formed Music Epicenter, which focuses on song placement in movies and television shows, and he has also been working on a documentary about Danelectro. The focus of the film is to shed new light on the creativity of its founder, Nat Daniel, and the many musicians who have benefited from his innovations.