“I can’t remember exactly when I got interested in vinyl, it was so commonplace in my young life.”
“My parents were always playing something on a record. I think I thought every body listened to music that way. As I got older I got into vinyl just because it was available in my house. My dad has always had such an overwhelming collection of music from every era—from classical to jazz and blues, but my mom had the bulk of the classic rock records that really sparked my interest.
I remember finding a cardboard box in my basement that stunk of mildew. It was full of all my moms records from the ’60s and early ’70s. It was from this pile of old records that I first heard the White Album, Cheap Thrills from Big Brother and the Holding Company, Sly and the Family Stone, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Cream, and John Mayall. I was also lucky since my dad, being such an audiophile, had no less than 2 great turntables in my house at one time. So, I would bounce between “Cinnamon Girl” and “Girl from Ipanema.”
In high school I started to seek out vinyl for the first time. I wanted to build whole catalogues of the bands I loved. I think I liked it because it forced me to listen to albums in their entirety. I wanted to know not just a couple, but every song by these bands. So I would find my self scouring eBay for Aerosmith’s Done with Mirrors and Black Sabbath’s Sabotage.
In college I always had my records and record player in my dorm so I could zone out and listen to music. I loved that I had to just sit in my room and pay attention when I listened to records, I couldn’t just bring it with me like my iPod. I would go to this local record shop and just buy stuff out of the $1 bin or $1.99 bin or I would go to the Salvation Army and get 4 for $1.
It always seemed that they had every Herb Alpert and Andy Williams record or that Barbara Streisand/ Barry Gibb album. It was through this digging that I found things like Tears for Fears, The Police, Duran Duran, Van Halen, Level 42, INXS, The Fixx, Frankie Beverly, Peter Gabriel, and Joao Gilberto, not to mention great conversation pieces like David lee Roth or Steve Perry solo records.
I loved the low risk factor, spend a dollar and maybe get a dud but maybe find your new favorite music. It happened the latter way more often than not. I still do the same thing, I may have calmed down on the $1 bin but I never leave the record shop with less than 3 albums, and it’s the element of discovery that will always keep it fun and interesting for me.”
—Eric “Doc” Mendelsohn
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GHOST BEACH ON TOUR:
2/2 – Washington, DC at Living Social
2/7 – San Francisco at Rickshaw Stop (POPScene)
2/11 – Los Angeles at The Echo
2/13 – Eugene, OR at Univ. Of Oregon
2/14 – Vancouver, BC at The Biltmore
2/15 – Seattle, WA at The Baltic Room
2/18 – Los Angeles, CA at The Satellite
2/21 – San Diego, CA at El Dorado
2/25 – Los Angeles, CA at The Bootleg
2/26 – Los Angeles, CA at Dim Mak Tuesdays (DJ Set)
2/28 – Costa Mesa, CA at Detroit Bar
