“Growing up, my parents had and an old Victrola. I remember being so fascinated by it. It was like this giant mythical beast in our house.”
“Even the records were huge and heavy to me. I was always getting busted for trying to slow down the record (by hand) and hear what the record sounded like backwards. Then I would hear “ELIZABETH!” (you knew shit got real when you heard your full name) and then scamper to my room.
To be honest, the whole process sort of freaked me out. I had a pretty wild imagination when I was little and I was convinced that there was an entire family of tiny musicians inside the Victrola being controlled by the record. I also thought that unicorns traveled at night while we were all sleeping…
My dad loves bagpipe music. Since it was his Victrola and his records, most of what we had to listen to were those records. Except this weird “kids” record that my mom bought from a traveling salesperson. I’m fairly certain it was sold by some cult.
MP3s are convenient. I can carry all of my music with me without needing to be a bodybuilder, but listening to vinyl turns listening to music into an event. It engages more of your senses—hearing, sight, touch, and even smell become part of the experience. Sometimes when you just put your playlist on shuffle and walk away, music becomes the background. When you put on a vinyl record, you are actually committing to listen to that record. I think that is pretty awesome.”
—Liz: Vocals / And stuff
“There was tons of vinyl in my house when I was a kid. My dad had racks of LPs and was in the audio / visual biz so we always had a crazy stereo system with arena-sized PA speakers.”
“There was lots of Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, and Cream records being played… at high volumes. Early on, I remember being scared by how loud it was, and wondering how something that huge-sounding could come from a thin piece of black plastic. It blew my mind. It still kind of does.
I think my first record was the J. Geils Band… followed by Duran Duran…
All the obvious things about vinyl hold true… yes, you can hold it… it’s tactile. Yes, the artwork is big and pretty. Yes, the sound is different. No, it doesn’t get erased when your computer crashes.
When I was fifteen, I decided that I hated Michael Jackson so I launched my copy of Thriller out the bedroom window and into the bushes… it was so satisfying. Try doing that with an Mp3.”
—Zach : Drums / Whatnot
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