“No crisp quality of today can compare to the hiss and crackle of vinyl. Music has so much more soul and life when you listen to it on a 45.”
“Growing up, we had mix tapes and soon after CDs, but in my early early years I remember playing Elvis Presley’s Girl Happy record on repeat as well as Dion and Buddy Holly and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Band and so many more. As a kid, all I listened to were the 50s and the 60s. My parents were huge Elvis fans and all artists of the like. As I got to be a little older, I discovered The Doors, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Janis Joplin from stealing my older sister’s boyfriend’s dusty ol’ vinyl collection. I caught a lot of hell for it, but it opened my eyes to music in such a huge way.
I honestly discovered music chronologically in my life… I started in the early decades and worked my way up through the years. I remember trying to sing along like Janis to her Greatest Hits album (which was my favorite album cover). That cover influenced me in 8th grade, as I would rock the bell-bottom jeans, flower power t-shirts, and my own self made beaded necklaces—starting a very short-lived fad in my school.
And then I discovered the 80s and so on. So, much of our writing is influenced from many different amazing artists who paved the road we follow today. We are lucky to have these artists a part of our history, I don’t know where I would be without their music.”
—Katherine Pawlak, Vocals
“Vinyl is how my life in music started.”
“As a small child, living in Michigan, my parents not only had a home studio in our basement, but an extensive vinyl collection to match. Some 300 plus vinyl records spanning some five decades of music lined the walls of our living room in two enormous bookshelves my dad had made to house them. And of course, each in their own plastic sleeve, to preserve the packaging just as much as the licorice pizza inside. (If you grew up in LA circa. 1972-1985, you may understand the reference to Licorice Pizza, a record store chain my mother worked at, pre-me).
My parents would start spinning as early as 8 am on weekends for just about every year I can remember living at home all the way through high school. There would be Poco, Dire Straits, UK, Beatles, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sinatra, etc etc etc… all the way though the day’s events and “chores.” I can remember always having plenty of questions to ask my parents: “What year did this come out?” “Who was in this band?” “How did you hear about this band?” and I would always get answers pertaining to the “Hollywood Music Scene” of the late 70s and early 80s.
For me, that love and interest into the classic art of vinyl records became a reason to go to Amoeba Records in Hollywood as soon as they opened their doors to add to my parent’s collection. I would buy older, hard to find issues of albums that were not in our collection. Or, I would order limited editions of modern artists’ vinyl records online such as Tool’s Lateralus (which is still, by far, some of the coolest packaging I have ever seen) and Thrice’s The Alchemy Index.
I began to grow my own collection of vinyl to spin at my house on Saturday mornings when no one else is home and you can Risky Business yourself around the house. I hope someday, if it’s not 1.0 we can release some Sad Robot on vinyl and add even more to the collection.”
—Jake Hogenson, Drums
“I am somewhat newer to the vinyl game compared to my bandmates, though I have been shopping for used records at Amoeba in Hollywood and Zia Records in Las Vegas once a month for the last couple years, and have fallen into the habit of listening to a record each morning when I wake; it’s become a sort of ritual for me.”
“My high school girlfriend bought me my first record player, though I already had a collection of 7 inches that I had been collecting since grade school and had never been able to listen to. Anything that had an unreleased song on it, or a different version of the same song was something I had to have in my collection. The first time I was actually able to hear these records was very exciting. I couldn’t really believe that these things actually made sound. I even unplugged the speakers and put my ear close to the record and I could still hear it. That amazed me. The technology of records still amazes me.
My first record purchases were Death by Stereo, Thrice, and Stevie Wonder. If you find Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder for less than 5 bucks, you buy it. My most recent purchases were a couple early Jeff Beck and James Taylor LPs. I’ve also inherited a bunch of classic records from my grandfather, The Ventures, Chet Atkins, etc. He was a guitar player too, obviously.
I still have all these records and that same record player my girlfriend bought for me. Collecting and listening to vinyl is always going to be cool. It’s a totally timeless and symbolic part of music. No artwork today compares to an actual album sleeve. All these things make listening to vinyl an experience.”
—Nick Perez, Guitar
Sad Robot’s brand new release 1.0 hits store shelves tomorrow, 10/30.
