“I first grabbed a hold of vinyl at the age of four, and I remember having a deep connection with The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic?” I don’t know why exactly (could have been that autoharp), but maybe it was because I did believe in the magic of vinyl.”
“My prized possession at the time was a Fisher Price record player my parents had bought for me. They are both music lovers, so I had an extensive collection of 45s and LPs at my fingertips. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here writing about my story on vinyl, or playing music for a living.
As a child, my daily ritual was jumping out of bed, sitting on the ground, and rocking back and forth to the mellifluous sounds coming from this black circle spinning in front of me. I started off with 45s before I graduated to LPs. From The Beatles and soul to Motown and the Leaders of the Pack compilation, this was a whole new world to me. Before it was only playgrounds and toy trucks. It was as if my life really began the moment I first used that record player.
I learned how to read with the help of 45 labels. For a while, I had this morning routine of entering my parents’ room with a different record in my hand, and would ask them, “Does that say ‘Tossin’ and Turnin’’ by Bobby Lewis?” They would respond, “Yes, Kev, now go back to bed. It’s 5:00 a.m.”
When I was a full-fledged preschooler, my favorite 45 was “We Are the World,” Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s charity single for Africa. The teacher also had a Fisher Price record player in the classroom. So I would bring this record to school with me every day. While everyone else was playing with blocks before nap time, I was singing “It’s true we’ll make a better day/Just you and me.”
My first memory of hearing The Beatles was through the “White Album.” It was a mystery: the embossed name on the white background; the typewritten lyrics to all thirty tracks; and a song clocking in over eight minutes. But having those pictures of “the Fab Four” spread out on my bedroom floor made me feel I was in this inviolable, even magical, place. I was hooked.
The day I became a drummer was the day I heard The Police’s Reggatta de Blanc. I don’t know where this album came from (maybe it was sent from the vinyl angels). It just appeared one day. As soon as I heard the first four bars of “Message in a Bottle,” I hurriedly ran downstairs and told my mom I wanted to play the drums. The rest is history.
Songs do different things to me on vinyl. The Association’s “Never My Love” puts me in a hypnotic state. Ballads sound sadder, more emotional. “96 Tears” by Question Mark and the Mysterians just rocks harder. And hearing The Soul Survivors’ “Expressway to Your Heart” makes me think of singing along in my room while it was drizzling outside, and the smell of lasagna cooking downstairs in the kitchen. I don’t have those same connections when listening to music any other way.
For me, true music fans are going to purchase vinyl, and I’m excited to be a part of that. Releasing our album on vinyl will be one of the greatest achievements of my music career. Not only for me, but also for the chance some four-year-old kid out there might stumble across our record and believe in that magic.”
—Kevin Bowers, drums
The Feed’s new LP, Outsider will be on store shelves this August. You can preorder that 180 gram gem right here.
