Record Store Day ambassador Ross Wilson is a vinyl hound … We asked him about record stores past and present, and for this thoughts about records. This is what he had to say:
In my youth (the 60s) I became a dedicated vinyl hound. My haunts included the Disc Shop, Tony Standish’s esoteric blues attic at Frank Trayners, Batmans, Coles 200 store for the great mint R&B 45s in the cut out bin, opp shops and garage sales.
Sound familiar? Once you start it’s hard to give it up. Finding a second hand gem is always exciting but for the new stuff and hard to get stuff the Disc Shop, Discurio and Batmans were the regular haunts. Serendipitous finds of unwanted doo wop compilations at Batmans kick-started Daddy Cool while the Disc Shop had the latest rock, soul and classic blues imports. Now I’ve got a modern Sound Leisure jukebox for my collection of 45s – it’s awesome, made for vinyl from the jukebox era, it really pumps. Streaming is convenient but if ‘the medium is the message’ then streaming translates as ‘boring’. Record stores still exist because mankind is a tactile sensory species. We like to hold things, look at them, push buttons, listen on good gear and wonder at the awesomeness of a needle in a microgroove that somehow becomes full spectrum sound – it is magic – how the heck does that work? We also like to hang and communicate with likeminded dudes in the community space of the record store. So I am very pleased to have been anointed as a 2020’s Record Store Day Ambassador. April 18 is the big day – Record Store Day