Toronto based (via London) Elephant 12 debut their new track “Renegade” with us today, and while we’re at it, we got them on the record—on records.
“The earliest experience with records that I can remember is being six years old and listening to my Dad’s collection every Sunday morning in Jamaica. He would place his speakers on the balcony and play these great records from the Skatalites, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Marvin Gaye, The Wailers—just great Ska, Reggae, and Soul records.”
“Moving to Canada and finding Hip Hop, I purchased my first Tribe Called Quest record to early Busta Rhymes, and my best friend at the time had all these great tapes of Boot Camp Click, Helta Skelta, and Camp Lo.
Now older and able to travel, one of my favorite experiences is going to market stalls and finding great records. I found an album once of Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye duets in Berlin, of all places. I still find myself venturing to record shops to this day. I once was travelling to rehearsal and this gentleman had 2 boxes of records he was bringing to the market and I ask him why he’s selling it, and he told me he has no room for it he saw the disappointment on my face and asked me if I like Primal Scream, I told him yeah—he then gave me 2 records..SWEET..”
—Jerome
“In my case, my experience with record shops is still going, I’ve never grown up and I still buy loads of vinyl.”
“Record Store Day is a great day for me – like Halloween. I get up early and volunteer at my favorite record shop in London, Rough Trade. It’s a big event and one big party. I do have a funny story though, when I was 14 I got caught stealing an Iron Maiden album and I had to make a run. Looking back, it’s quite funny…”
—Robbie
“I was into music from a very young age because my father used to buy a lot of records, so the first record I bought for myself was MJ’s Bad when I was 9, then a lot of grunge, passing from Dirt by Alice in Chains, to Rise by Bad Brains, and Stain by Living Colour. Rock crossovers are my favorites records.”
“From the 90’s, along with Chemical Brothers’ Dig Your Own Hole and Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy. Kind of Blue by Miles is a milestone in my music library.”
—Manilo
