“As a kid I was fascinated by the mystery of vinyl.”
“I was mesmerized by the big beautiful covers and shiny black discs. They were like works of art you could actually touch. How did the grooves hold all that music and why couldn’t I see it? There was something about the crackle as the needle touched the surface that swept an overwhelming anticipation through my whole body in those few seconds before the first note.
It’s the same rush you get before a performance, like everything could just go wrong at any moment. I think that may have been what got me hooked.
My parents had a stack of vinyl so I listened to their records long before I had a collection of my own. I selected my favorites mainly by the covers I liked best. The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper was a total winner, I think it was the coolest cover in their collection. The colors were so bright and it also had a palm tree. I didn’t know any of the people on it but I must have spent hours gazing at it.
I started my own collection and I would save up my money to go and buy records at second-hand stores in my neighborhood. I remember a few of them with great affection. Grace Jones and Donna Summer were both on constant rotation. I must have worn those records out and driven my parents crazy listening to them on loop. I still have my favorites stored away waiting to be played, like little pieces of history on a shelf.
I heard the phrase, “be careful, don’t touch the needle—you’ll break the needle” a thousand times … but I just had to run my finger over it and get into trouble. I broke a lot of needles. I never dreamt that I would get the chance to have my music released on vinyl, and I still don’t understand how they fit me into that little groove.”
—JES
