“Growing up in Los Angeles with 2 older brothers in the ’90s, I was thrust into the then-thriving ska punk world. Bands like Rancid (of which I’m still a fan), NOFX, Save Ferris, local heroes the Hippos, and others were a huge influence. Compact disc was the popular format, though that didn’t stop my brothers from constantly giving me their old cassette tapes as Christmas and birthday gifts, which I wasn’t mad at. I was a typical So-Cal punk rock kid with spiked hair and a skateboard!”
“It wasn’t until my early 20s that I was introduced to vinyl records. I had a long distance girlfriend in New York City that gave me my first vinyl record, Blood On The Tracks by Bob Dylan. What a heavy title for such a romantic record. I needed something to play it on. I happened to get a record player from my good friend as a gift for my birthday that year and “borrowed” some old speakers from another friend, which I still use today. I put that sucker on and my whole world was flipped upside down.
There is something about looking at an old record, seeing the wear, the scratches on the record itself that determine the amount of hiss and playability when listening to the music, the history of the physical record itself. The ritual of putting the needle to the groove, flipping the record over as it gets to the end of side A without you even realizing it. Listening all the way through to a piece of music, the way it was intended to be heard.
This was the beginning of my record collection. It’s great being a part of the community that supports and listens to vinyl records. I always have a place to go at Flea Markets, it’s a great form of meditation in today’s modern world of frustratingly short attention spans, and a way to support bands as they come through town to give them a couple bucks to get to the next city. In Los Angeles, my favorite record store is Sick City Records in Silverlake, I’ll find myself browsing through that store for hours.
In a sense, you could credit vinyl records for the beginning of the Grand Southern. Jesse and I musically first bonded over going to see Wilco live together, during “The Whole Love” tour. I bought that vinyl at the show and that was our starting point for a piece of music and a band we totally agreed upon, pulling a strong influence from their songwriting and fearless production, even today.
There is nothing quite like listening to music on vinyl. It’s come back into fashion and is one of the remaining pastimes of the good old days, when things were simpler and we could sit still for a few minutes and truly digest a recording. Let’s support our local record stores and keep it alive!”
—Dash Hutton
The Grand Southern’s new EP “Traded Heaven” is in stores now.
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