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CELERAH HEWES
@celerah
She is a keen traveller meaning she can hit up many record shops across the US when she is away and she told me that she loves to meet up with other record collectors from Instagram to go digging where they shop locally and supporting their local record stores.
Celerah is a huge advocator of Instagram’s Vinyl Community and I think she brings so much to the community with her vinyl challenge posts and of course keeping up with her on #newwavewednesday!
How long have you been a record collector?
I grew up with records as my parents had them. I remember some of my earliest memories would be to take out the anti static brush and clean up their records and then learn how to drop the needle on the record. From then, I began buying some records when I was in high school but then stopped buying in my twenties as I was moving round the country a lot. And then, a few years ago, I picked up the collecting habit again and grabbed my old records from my parents house that they had kept for me. I realised that my daughter didn’t have any physical connection to music and that was one of my favourite things to do as a child, looking at all the great cover artwork, particularly ones designed by Andy Warhol. In the last two years the collecting has become much more serious and once I discovered Instagram it has really taken off. I love being able to interact with other collectors all over the world.
How many records do you have in your collection?
I would say around 800 LPs and very recently I’ve just bought a collection of 200 seven inch singles which I’m just started to get the chance to start going through. My collection is growing day by day.
Was New Wave music the genre you listened to growing up?
Yeah, well I’m a kid of the ‘80s, so I listened to a lot of New Wave and one of my favourite bands is Depeche Mode who fit into the New Wave genre.I also listened to a lot of New Order and Blondie growing up. But I was also listening to Punk and Post Punk. New Wave records can be picked up for a few dollars usually and there are lots of New Wave bands so I found it was the easiest way to start a collection going by picking up records from that genre. But as I said, the collection has now grown into other genres, not just staying within the New Wave bracket.
Do you remember what the first record you bought was?
The first music I bought was “True Blue” by Madonna on cassette but the first record I ever bought was “Led Zeppelin II” by Led Zeppelin. Back in the ‘90s when the CD format came in, shops were selling records off quite cheap so I was picking up great records back then for really good prices.
Do you buy your records locally or from elsewhere?
Well here in New Mexico there are only a couple of record shops, which are ok but they mainly sell Classic Rock. There are a few thrift stores I sometimes pick up some stuff from. Also, I can get in touch with local vendors who are good at tracking some of my wants down! When I started up on Instagram, I began connecting with collectors all over the country and started to dig in their local spots when I was travelling sometimes on my own based on recommendations, or even dig with them if we meet up. My favourite shops are places I’m just discovering for the first time. I love to travel across the US and have dug for records in cities like New York, Chicago and Portland. So the bulk of my collection has come from cities across the US. I’m usually bringing home thirty or so records from my travels! That is of course until the pandemic this year put a stop to travelling.
Do you have a favourite ever record?
That changes on a daily basis so pretty impossible to give an answer. However, I think the record I’ve come back to for most of my life, so from when I was little to now would be “What’s Goin On” by Marvin Gaye. I’ve always had a thing for Marvin Gaye because we share a birthday but it’s a classic record and that album has aged with me. It’s an album I’ve had a connection with for forty years.
Ok so let’s talk about Instagram then. What’s your thoughts on being part of the vinyl community on Instagram?
Instagram has been hugely beneficial to me, allowing me to connect with people in different cities and even nearby where I live. I’ve made some record collector friends locally also which has been great. As we talked about before, I’ve been digging with collectors all over the US and going to their record store with them to dig is an honour really. It’s also great to have other record collectors recommend places to go digging for records in their cities. It’s an incredibly social place for me personally so I love Instagram on the whole. The variety of ways people share their records and put their own personality into their posts is amazing.
Finally then, what will happen to your collection when you pass away do you think?
Hopefully, by the time my time comes, I will have gifted it out or sold it off to someone. Having said that, one of the reasons I collected, being a parent, was to have all these little pieces that could be shared with my daughter and to friends and family also. I’ve seen some collectors that have started Instagram accounts based on inheriting a collection from their parents that have passed on and starting to listen through it and discovering all this great music and experiencing their memories of their loved ones through the music.
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