“I’ve always been a music collector. When I was a little kid, it was cassettes—I’d take my cassette case and my Walkman with me everywhere I went. Then it was CDs. So many CDs. In junior high and high school, I would ride my bike to Best Buy every Tuesday to check out the new releases. In college, my friends and I would go to Tower Records most Mondays at midnight to see what new music was coming out.”
“It wasn’t until my junior year of college that I first started collecting vinyl. It just made sense to me. I had always loved owning the physical product. Holding the CD case in my hands, looking at the artwork, reading through the booklet. Vinyl was like that but on a whole other level—the artwork was bigger, the music sounded warmer, you had to put the needle on the grooves. When you purchase vinyl, you feel like you really own a part of the band or artist—you get a real sense of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making the album.
I have a very specific memory that sticks out to me of listening to TV On The Radio’s album Dear Science back in 2008. The whole album just consumed me. For whatever reason, it just blindsided me, in the best way possible. It sounded SO good on vinyl. The whole experience felt very out-of-body. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite albums. I won’t start that list, though. We’d be here for a very long time.”
—Daniel Ellsworth, lead vox, keys
“One of the things about record stores, for the most part, is that they are one of a few businesses out there that will have a different inventory from one another.”
“We stop at as many as possible while we’re on tour. Most times I feel like I’m walking into someone’s personal collection that happens to be for sale. It’s that difference—different from the racks at all the Urban Outfitters. Don’t get me wrong, that’s good too. There are people buying vinyl from places like that who otherwise might not get their hands on it. But the local record shop usually keeps it interesting by having something you wouldn’t expect. You might have to dig for it but it’s worth it. The hunt is part of it.
I could easily order certain rare 45s or 33s on the internet and just be happy that I finally got them. Instead I’m sort of waiting for them to find me. It’s that right-place, right-time thing that makes me love record stores. A record is also something you can hold, keep, carry around, put on display. I can let a friend borrow it. I’ll wait until they give it back. We’ll talk about it. That’s a good way to share music, I think.”
—Timon Lance, guitar
“I love Peter Gabriel. His first four solo records are some of my favorites of all time.”
“Whenever I find them in record stores, although I don’t buy multiple copies, I at least pull them out, check ’em out, and at least carry them around for a while. I just wanna make sure everyone else in the store knows what the hell is up.”
—Joel Wren, drums
”My memories of vinyl started when I was very young. My dad had stacks and stacks of records in our basement. He used to go to old book stores or record stores and bring back a few records here and there. Then they would end up filed away downstairs.”
“Sometimes I would pull random records out and my dad would tell me all the musicians who played on them. Or where he bought it. We ended up listening to a lot of music together, and for me it was my first time hearing a lot of it. I listened to everything from Al Green to Warren Zevon on vinyl.
Today, I enjoy vinyl for the sound quality. It’s also an experience I like to share with friends when they come to my home. Sometimes people will listen to something at my house they’ve never heard before, and in a cool way I’ve passed on something that my dad passed on to me.”
—Marshall Skinner, bass
“Bemidji,” the new EP from Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes is in stores now via Deer Head Music.
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