The guys in Everest love independent record shops and the sound of 180-gram vinyl as much as we do. We’re excited to have the band guest blogging all week about their lifelong love affair with the LP, the culture of vinyl, and why independent record stores mean so much to them.
Guitarist Jason Soda gets a turn on Day 4 of our week with the band. He waxes nostalgic about his early fascination with cover art and starting his own record collection like so many of us did (by stealing our parents’ records). He also explains why he continues to collect vinyl and support the “mom and pop” record stores even when he’s out on tour.
The Day 1 Q&A with Russ Pollard and his Day 2 guest spot, along with Day 3‘s piece by Joel Graves, will get you all caught up on the week with Everest. We’ll cap it off tomorrow with a giveaway for a signed copy of the band’s new LP, Ownerless, and some other pretty awesome swag.
“When I think about records, I’m always reminded of my early childhood years, opening my parent’s record cabinet in the brown walnut colored wall unit, sifting past the Anne Murray and John Denver records until I’m uncontrolably stopped by some interesting cover or impressive packaging design. Sometimes it was the how thick the paper was, like on the Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark record. Or the weird scary deserted castle, guarded by a group of minstrel clad Stones on the cover of their “greatest hits.”
At some point I realized that these records weren’t as precious to my parents as they might once have been. As I fell in love with the covers, I decided to adopt them.
I remember when I was a kid, my mom was in night school and my dad and I would be at home alone. A sort of guys night out. We had a semi-regular routine on those nights. I had a couple hand-me-down jigsaw puzzles that I’d get into on a foldup card table in the living room. Pop would make himself a Chivas Regal on the rocks, do his ironing for the next workday, and put on one of about 10 rotating albums on the family’s Fisher “hi-fi.”
This is where the music of my father’s youth would subliminally infiltrate my mind and plant seeds that would grow to make so much sense to me later. Don McLean’s American Pie, Simon and Garfunkel, Joni, The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Diamond, and The Byrds.
My first record store was this living room. As soon as those father and son home alone nights came to and end and the spinning of the turntable slowed and became dusty, this is when I started collecting my own records. One year I was given a teenage all-in-one department store hi-fi for Christmas. I broke it in by going to the family wall-unit and scavenging the best of this modest assortment in order to start my own personal record collection. I think that’s why the idea of collecting records is so great. It’s a one of a kind, private catalog of records that is yours and yours alone…without compromise.
Throughout my years, accumulating records was pretty inexpensive but not easy. As you all know, before the last 5 to 10 years, vinyl records were a thing of the past. The only place to find them were at garage sales and thrift stores. Every time I walked into a thrift store, I’d make a beeline for the record bin in hopes of completing my Beatles collection or finding that weird, mysterious record by a band I hadn’t heard but heard of. There was never enough in the dusty bins to satisfy my music craving, so I’d still make the trip to the Music Plus or The Warehouse to get my tapes and CD’s of the current rock sensations.
Today my record collection is bigger than ever and those early starter records stolen from my folks still remain. With the vinyl resurgence it’s possible on a retail level again. It’s great to be able to go and buy the new Tame Impala and Dungen albums from your local record store complete with gatefold and poster insert. Let’s hope that stays a posibility for years to come. The only way that will, is to go and support these “mom & pop” retailers.
Whenever our band is in a strange town and we find ourselves with some time to spend, without a doubt, we’ll find ourselves in one of these establishments.
A couple weeks ago I was in a thrift store in Palm Springs and stumbled upon a trashed copy of Harry Nilsson’s Harry album. The cover was intact but the album was completely caked in mud. Even for a dollar it seemed a waste. A friend I was with grabbed it for herself. Later at her house a couple weeks later, I recognized a song playing on her stereo and upon inspection saw she was playing this album. She had cleaned it with soap and water and it appeared spotless as if brand new. Hats off to her. I was envious.
The hunt continues. We are hunters by nature I guess. Isn’t that half the fun?”
—Jason Soda
Everest’s Ownerless is in stores now!
