“In the scene where I came from, your vinyl collection was like a personality test on display for everyone to see. I had a record player from the time I was really young, about 5 years old, and started my first collection mostly from records my parents gave me…so lots of kids records (Free To Be You And Me anyone?) I loved that record player and my records and famously almost took off my younger bother’s fingers with my bedroom door for trying to get to them.”
“They were my first entry into understanding music and developing my love for it. I would sit for hours listening and looking at the covers and the images and photos on the inserts then later reading all the lyrics and credits. I was officially obsessed and knew I had to become a musician just so I could make one of these amazing things.
Later when I was about 11, I started begging my mom to drive me to the local punk record shop in Tucson, AZ. It was called Toxic Ranch. (How cool is that?) I had discovered punk and hardcore music through skateboarding and this was a place we all went to get educated by the older kids behind the counter about all the important records and read the fanzines. It was a huge part of our world and we would spend hours there talking, listening, and learning about music.
What was amazing is that you could get vinyl by all these national and international bands that we all heard about, but you could also pick up a 7″ single from the newest local band who had just made 250 copies to sell at their shows and around town. No matter what you would always discover something new—it was really like getting and education. Most importantly though, we realized that the “music business” and making records was something that was accessible to us too…if kids just like us in Boston, Chicago, LA and Washington, D.C. could start their own labels and release records then so could we. We all immediately bought guitars and drum kits and started bands…
I figured out how to get a record made and started my first record label, Ghost Town at age 14. Subsequently I started White Iris Records (Best Coast, FIDLAR) and now Ring The Alarm, all of which only release vinyl as a physical format. It will always be an essential part of my life.”
—Daron Hollowell
Nights & Weekends’ debut record, Music for Marriage arrives in stores on April 28, 2017.
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PHOTO: ALICE BAXLEY
