“My first experiences in record stores would be Tower Records when I was in elementary school. To be honest, my taste in music at this point was as bland as it gets, I think mostly boy bands like NSYNC. And when I started finally developing a taste in music, I was in middle school, contributing to the death of the music industry by torrenting songs with my friends and burning CDs.”
“It wasn’t until I was in college that I got bit by the vinyl bug. I hadn’t dug much into older music until my dad put his foot down. Unlike my mom, he was never much of a musician, but he was one of the most passionate fans. I remember him telling me, “You can take it or leave it, but this is the stuff I grew up with, man.”
He started sending me CDs. The first four were, Led Zeppelin I, Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here, Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited, and The Beatles Abbey Road. I was hooked almost instantly. I went from driving around Miami, listening to the very formulaic music of 2010 Electronic Dance Music, to the soulful, raw and unbound gems of the ’60s and ’70s. I couldn’t believe I had spent my whole life without it. He sent me a CD every month. Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Crosby Stills and Nash (Young came later), Simon and Garfunkel, Donovan, The Doors, Deep Purple, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stone,s and his personal favorite, Traffic.
It’s funny, I still remember the day I told my dad I wanted to drop out of university and move to LA. I was making some money from a song I had released independently. I was terrified of asking him, but it’s funny in hindsight. I wonder how much of my desire to be free and take a chance was inspired by the music he showed me. He gave me his blessing to drop out, and when I got to LA, that’s when the vinyl collection began.
I would go to flea markets and look for all my favorite albums. I was so proud of my collection that I started sliding my vinyl into these racks on my bedroom wall. It was easy to pull them down and listen, and they stuck to the wall like a proud parent driving around with one of those honor student bumper stickers.
A few years later, after finishing and releasing my first album and going on my first tour, I escaped LA and spent a summer in Joshua Tree—a trippy little desert town two hours east of the city. The house I stayed at was this beautiful cabin, owned by this woman Miriam, one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. I think about her all the time—like when I saw her standing with this majestic horse on this dirt road, holding her shoulder almost smiling at me, asking if I could take her to the hospital cause she just fell of her horse. She ended up dislocating her shoulder and breaking her collar bone. Such a badass chick…
Anyway, she had an amazing record collection. I really dug into them while I was there, and I ended up leaving my entire collection with her. I don’t know why, I guess I thought my records would have better company over there and more people would get to hear them. I’m rebuilding my second collection now.”
—Stephen
Akrasia, the new full-length release from Stephen arrives in stores on August 21—on vinyl.
