“Vinyl has connected me to my father all my life.”
“As a young girl, I used to spin around the hardwood floors of our listening room at home in Chicago while my dad played Beatles’ records out of a big old Victrola speaker, the kind that bell out like soft open flowers and fill the whole space with warmth.
He grew up a true fan through Beatlemania and loved music so much that he ran his high school radio station and worked out a deal with a record shop across the street from his school that would let him play Top 40 records on the air if he promoted their store…amazingly, he had collected all of the originals by the time he was a teenager.
Rubber Soul was my favorite and I distinctly remember that when I first heard the harmonies come in on the chorus of “Girl,” I really woke up to the idea of being one, what that meant, and how singing that word in that way could sound so important and special and provoking.
Something that has always stuck with me was when my parents got divorced, my dad decided to sell all of his Beatles’ vinyl to make rent in the transition. Oh, it breaks my heart.
Growing up, he and I would drive all over town to go digging through people’s collections at their garage sales on weekends and find great gems to bring home and try out.
I remember the first time he taught me how to clean a record—by using a special soft carbon fiber brush, but he didn’t have one at the time, so and he took the bottom of his shirt and ever so gently ran it across the spinning record on an angle until all the dust was gone.
As a teenager, I was obsessed with Reckless Records in Chicago. They let you test the vinyl on their players to make sure they were in good condition and they even gave you headphones so you could crank it up and jam out in the middle of the store for a good middle of the day rock-out if you needed it.
The first vinyl I ever bought with my own money was a 1974 copy of “Baby Love” by The Supremes released on Pickwick—the one with the groovy fire engine red disco typeface to match their cherry red dresses—absolutely sublime! I have probably listened to it more than 200 times. The grooves have worn way down and it crackles like a winter fire but I still love it.
I had my name on a waiting list for Joni Mitchell’s Blue album for a whole year before someone came in with a copy—wow, that was an exciting phone call to receive. I still play that album all the way through whenever I need a good reminder of why I moved to California.
When I hear the word “vinyl” I can feel my heartbeat start to ease in my chest, my cheeks get warm and rosy, and my ears start to buzz with excitement. Today, I love to go to Amoeba Records in LA and San Francisco, Attic Records in Pittsburgh, Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, and many more, especially while I’m on tour. If you know of a great place, let me know.
My dad still surprises me with vinyl records he finds whenever I am visiting Chicago and my collection now includes beauties like Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde (mono), Steve Wonder’s Innervision, Bonnie Koloc’s Colors Of The Sun, Brian Eno and Robert Fripp’s (No Pussyfooting), Aretha Franklin’s Gospel, and more modern pressings of Beach House’s Teen Dream, Tame Impala’s Currents, Kurt Vile’s I Believe I’m Goin Down, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, The War On Drugs’ Lost In The Dream, etc etc!”
—Genevieve Schatz
Company of Thieves’ Live @ Audiotree (test pressing!) is available now—on vinyl. The band is presently on the road with Walk the Moon—tour dates are here.
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PHOTO: SHERVIN LAINEZ
