“I worked at a record store for a few years. Did a number of things there, but kinda ended up being the de-facto “Trade” guy for a while which basically meant that I spent my days digging through old Tracy Chapman CDs, stolen DVDs, and box upon box of dusty old vinyl. There are worse ways to make a living, I guess.”
“Anyway, a common question while alternately sneezing and passing up on that “super-rare” copy of Sticky Fingers was, “So, you a collector…?” Now, in the moment I typically deflected the question or used some line like, “Ah, I’ve got a small collection at home…nothing serious,” but while thinking about what to write for this piece, I came to realize just how big a part of my life vinyl, and music in general, is to my life.
As a kid, music was always around—my mother seemed to date nothing BUT musicians. She was always playing some hair metal or early alt-rock record or TAPE (?!) through the apartment, and we spent a lot of time at various venues and practice spaces throughout town. But, it was always peripheral; it hadn’t yet taken ahold of me. I was busy running around, going to the beach with my buddy Chad, or watching Transformers: Beast Wars…y’know, the good life.
Then, I found Jane’s Addiction’s first record, Nothing’s Shocking, sitting on my mom’s bed. The cover immediately drew me in, the picture of the band on the back sleeve seemed so foreign, mystical—and, the music—well, don’t even get me started. At that moment, music had me. The comics I had read were no longer as important, Transformers took a back seat. Suddenly, music, and my mom’s record collection in particular, was my top priority. It wasn’t a huge collection by any means, but I would spend my afternoons poring over the liner notes, staring at the cover art, immersing myself in this newfound passion. It was righteous.
Now, I wish I could say that the singleminded determination and thirst for musical/recorded knowledge I had in those early days stuck with me, but it didn’t. Family upheaval, puberty/teen angst, the overwhelming desire to make a “living” for “Da Man” and various other external factors seemed to prevent me from wading too deep into the waters of vinyl super-fandom. But, I do have those early musical experiences to thank for the life I now lead.
I’m a working musician who has appeared on some records that maaaaybe people have played on their own record players, Steff and the Articles just put out a new record which we hope to press to vinyl soon, and I’ve got a fairly healthy lil’ record collection of my own. I don’t know what it is exactly, but there’s something really special about holding a tangible piece of art. I hope it never goes away because there’s just no way that looking at a digital picture on your pocket computer is as cool as cracking open an old record.”
—Chris Pierce
Steff and the Articles’ brand new, full-length release, Timekeeper is in stores now.
