“Libraries are for records, that’s what I thought. I grew up hitting the garage sale circuit every weekend with a mother who was obsessed with collecting old 45s. The 3,000 or so that fill the library shelves still rotate through the 1957 Seeburg Jukebox in the living room.”
“Can you imagine growing up with one of those things? It is magical—chrome with blinking lights and heavy as the Chevy with winged tail lights it was impersonating. The loud CLACK of the buttons as I selected “Hound Dog” or “Everyday” or “Ballad of New Orleans.”
In the evening we wouldn’t gather around the fire. We’d gather around the jukebox. It might as well have been a time machine. Mesmerizing to behold. David Bromberg, my father’s cousin, would come by when he played town and show me how he would comb through all the Motown B sides, looking for that overlooked beauty he could cover. When my dad died he sent my mom a particular 45 for the jukebox.
Garage sales lead to my infatuation with the music of Bob Dylan, that vinyl would change my life. One of my most cherished LPs is Dylan’s double disc Blonde on Blonde I picked up from a vintage shop in Nyack, NY when I was a teenager. When you open it up the mothereffen record is SIGNED “To my Sad Eyed Lady, love always and forever, Bob.” Holy cow. I don’t know if that’s his handwriting, but I took it as a sign that I was on the right path.
That path led back in time, all the way to the well of American Music—to records you couldn’t find anymore. They weren’t reissued on CD, they certainly weren’t on YouTube. Then in college I worked the Blues Show at WKCR in New York—the oldest FM station in America. Opening the doors to the station’s “Blues Closet” was like opening the Ark of the Covenant. Records that I’d seen written about or mentioned were there. I brought Mance Lipscomb, John Jackson, Reverend Gary Davis and Mississippi Fred McDowell to my dorm room and put them on cassettes that I still have.
There’s a lot of music coming out now that BELONGS on vinyl. And the War Came (Shakey Graves) and Negativity (Deer Tick) are duking it out on my turntable. Pretty soon they’re going to have to reckon with the new one from The Tallest Man on Earth, and once again Dylan and David Bromberg. Not only is their music suited towards the turntable, but these days a real “disconnect” from the binary grind is healing. Crudely transcending the physical realm with a needle and disc, it’s ritualistic, it’s fetishistic, and it has restorative powers.
In the future, scientists will figure out exactly why it’s good for you. Until then, you can follow your instincts.”
—Andrew Vladeck
Fireships’ self titled debut arrives in stores on April 21. The band’s Record Release Tour begins with a show at Rough Trade NYC on April 25.
Fireships Official | Facebook | Twitter
Fireships Tour Dates:
April 25 – Rough Trade – Brooklyn, NY (free, all-ages record release event)
May 2 – North Star Bar – Philadelphia, PA
May 14 – Tree House Lounge – Washington, DC
May 15 – Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC
May 17 – Bywater Brewery – Asheville, NC
May 18 – Smith’s Olde Bar – Atlanta, GA
May 21 – Uncommon Ground – Chicago, IL
May 23 – Melody Inn – Indianapolis, IN
May 25 – MOTR – Cincinnati, OH
May 26 – Kafe Kerouac – Columbus, OH
May 27 – Mahall’s 20 – Cleveland, OH
