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MICHAEL
@youcollectvinylnow
Michael is a big Classic Rock fan and owns a number of copies of many staple Rock records that most collectors will have in their own record collections. He told me he loves the artists from the ‘60s like The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Pink Floyd. He also plays classic piano following in his fathers footsteps who was a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra that toured with many famous recording artists.
I spoke to Michael for couple of hours asking him questions about his collection and where and why he bought records and he spoke about music and vinyl so passionately which was very endearing to hear. I love talking to collectors who love nothing better than spinning records and discovering both new and old music.
How long have you been a vinyl collector?
Well I’ve always been a music lover and I grew up in a very musical household, my father was in the Sydney Orchestra and mother was in the Australian Ballet so my house was always very arts orientated. There was always music being played in the house by my father, The Beatles, Pink Floyd etc, and the fact that music was around from an early age influenced me in wanting to become a musician and I ended up studying to be a classical pianist. That didn’t really work out and I started working and with my first paycheck I bought a wooden boxset of all the albums by The Beatles on CD. That was in 1987 and from then I ferociously began buying CD’s up until around eight or nine years ago when I began buying vinyl which I suppose is when the vinyl revival started really. When my parents retired and downsized, my father gave me his collection which was all the Classic Rock stuff. From then I started to see record shops around more and began going in and exploring them. I love the tangibility and process of vinyl and that made me fall in love with it. I was really lucky as I was able to sell all my CD collection for a decent price and that money was invested in my vinyl collection. I’ve quite an addictive personality so when I start collecting something then I’m into it and committed and go hard. I’ve now been going hard at vinyl for nearly ten years and music is a passion and what I live for essentially.
Do you have an idea how many records you have in your collection?
Well like most collectors I use Discogs and keep track of them on that so at last look I have around 2,700. I don’t catalogue my seven - inch singles and have around 300 of those and I only started collecting seven - inch singles around a year or so ago. The LP album is my go to format mainly.
What made you start collecting seven - inch singles?
Well, as is usually the way with myself, I picked up a small haul of Japanese release singles, I'm a big collector of Japanese pressings of records, and then had the bug for the seven - inch format. I love the perfect thing of that format with it’s size and your buying just the song you are wanting to hear. Sometimes with LP’s there might be fillers on an album but with a seven - inch it’s all killer no filler. There was a time when I’d totally ignore the seven - inch section of a shop but nowadays I always check it out. I just really enjoying collecting songs that I really love. I don’t play seven - inches as much but when I have a party, guests love to wade through them.
Where do you buy records usually?
We are really lucky here in Melbourne as it’s classed as the record store capital of Australia. We have the largest number of stores and also the best stores in my opinion which can be a double edged sword as there are so many places to buy vinyl and so many records to buy. I love to support local independent record stores as much as I can and tend to not mind paying a little more when buying records from them as I can appreciate how expensive it can be to run a bricks and mortar store. I’m wary of buying from online places like Discogs or eBay as I know there are sellers out there looking to flip records for a higher price and also, as I mentioned before, condition of a record is important to me. Visiting record shops is part of my weekly routine really and something I love to do. I’m also lucky to travel with work to some big cities around the world that have great record stores and I’m talking cities like New York, Tokyo, London so I do build in time to do some record shopping when I’m visiting these cities as it would be rude not to. You find lots of different records and varying genres of music when you travel from city to city which is great as a record collector.
What kind of genres of music do you usually like to listen to and buy?
I would say that the collection is mostly Classic Rock from early ‘60s to late ‘70s and I’m also a big fan of Jazz but I would say it’s quite eclectic really. I have lots of Indie & Alternative music as well as a fair bit of Grunge too. Artists wise, the bulk of my collection is The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, that fantastic era of music. I’m a big Electric Light Orchestra fan (I’ve got around 120 records by them) and they only released thirteen albums so that’s different pressings and variants. I buy whatever grabs my attention really and what I may fancy. I’m not a big fan of heavy metal, particularly the new metal scene, is not my bag really and if I’m honest, I’ve not really kept up with the new music scene that much at all. I wouldn’t say I have my finger on the pulse of new music at all really. I like to spend most of my money on what I like to listen to and what I know I will enjoy.
Do you enjoy the live music scene in Melbourne?
I was brought up on live music and the arts scene and of course my father was a musician in an orchestra so he toured with artists like Elton John. Again, we are lucky as a lot of people class Melbourne as the live music capital of Australia. We have some great venues in Melbourne and are lucky that a lot of the bigger artists come out to tour here usually.
Over in the UK the vinyl revival has seen the younger generation get started collecting records. Have you noticed that in Australia?
Yeah totally! When I’ve been out record shopping you do notice the younger collectors in looking for their first copies of “Dark Side Of The Moon” by Pink Floyd or “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac and that’s awesome to see. It’s amazing that music that was released fifty years ago is still so sought after by the current young generation. Even in my personal life, my girlfriend has two younger children, and her daughter who is thirteen is the most Beatles obsessed person you will ever meet. Her knowledge on them is incredible and she runs her own Beatles themed Instagram page which has thousands of followers. It’s so great that the younger generation is discovering music from era’s gone by.
Finally, what will happen to your collection when you pass on?
I’d be hoping my son would show an interest in it later in life and I could share it with him and then him take it when I pass on. That would be my ideal scenario otherwise I’m not sure.
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