“My first favorite record was the Beach Boys’ Christmas Album from 1964. I had to hear it every night to go to sleep.”
“It wasn’t Christmas. And the record player wasn’t even on the same floor of the house as my bedroom. But I had to hear it. Eventually, when the neighborhood had heard enough of ‘Little Saint Nick,’ I got my own own hand-me-down stereo and a U2 cassette from my sister. I found an even less likely lullaby in their version of ‘Helter Skelter.’
My older sister used to play me 33s at 45 rpm, and I honestly believed that albums came with Alvin and the Chipmunks’ versions of all the songs on the flip-side.
My parents are folkies, which is why the Rock & Roll pickings in the house were so slim. They recorded several albums themselves over the years, with the early ones manufactured on vinyl and cassette. There’s no digital player for their recording, but this is a fairly similar version of a song my parents did on their first record. It brings me completely back to early childhood when I hear it:
There were definitely parallels between my parents’ folk scene and the DIY punk stuff my friends and I started to discover as we grew up. The 7″ box at the local record store underlined the fact that anyone, from anywhere, could record and release their own music.
Of course, nowadays everyone from everywhere is streaming everything to everybody all the time. But there is still something exciting about having songs you wrote and played pressed to vinyl.
This song (above) is featured on my first (and so far only) vinyl release. It’s by my old duo The Cinnamon Band, released on Funny / Not Funny Records in 2012.”
—John Harouff
Dead Professional plays Washington, DC’s Rock and Roll Hotel on Wednesday, March 19.
