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RAY BLEV
@rayblev
He is also a huge advocator of independent record stores and loves to show his support by digging through their racks and bins whenever he can looking for another elusive record from his want list. He also enjoys going out on the annual dig for limited edition records on Record Store Day.
Ray has certainly been one of the most interesting collectors I’ve conversed with throughout this project and his Instagram profile is one I’d definitely recommend checking out.
Were there records in your family growing up?
My father was a big music fan and he’s who I got my obsession from. He was a big fan of old Rock ‘n Roll, so early on he instilled in me a love for artists like Chuck Berry, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and then artists like Johnny Cash and The Ventures. My parents always listened to the oldies radio station, and that’s where I got my love of girl groups and Motown and Stax and all the old Soul stuff. My love of music and my musical tastes began developing very early on. Of course growing up when I did, vinyl was still a viable medium, so there was no nostalgia connected to it. Vinyl really has always been in my life.
How long have you been collecting records?
I really began buying records when I was around eleven or twelve, but I didn’t really start collecting in earnest until about the mid ‘90s. As a kid, I had one of those cheap all in one stereos that had a turntable on the top and at the time cassettes and vinyl were really the only two mediums out there. I then joined one of those Columbia House record clubs where you send in a penny and they send you a bunch of records or tapes and that was when the seed was planted. Fast forward a few years and I began to view purchasing vinyl in a more purposeful way. It started with Classic Rock and Soul music, and as my musical tastes began to expand, so did my inclination to get this music on vinyl. Then in summer of 1994 my best friend got a pair of Technics 1200s and a crappy Realistic mixer. That was my introduction to DJing. From that moment on, my path to being a vinyl collector was set.
How many records do you have currently?
We have about 4,000 records in our collection, but that doesn’t include all the seven inches and other random odds and ends. My fiancée Jenn and I are both avid collectors, so the collection grows pretty rapidly! She’s been collecting for a long time too. It’s really fun to be able to share our passion for vinyl together.
Do you have a favourite genre of music you listen to?
I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, so I wouldn’t say I have a favorite genre. My musical tastes are all over the map from Stoner Rock to instrumental Hip Hop, Psychedelic Rock to underground Jazz. From Dub to Doom, John Coltrane to John Carpenter, Madlib to The Misfits, I bounce around the musical spectrum. The seasons and even the weather can dictate what I want to listen to at any given moment.
How big is your wantlist?
My wantlist is definitely bigger than my collection! I feel like my wantlist will always be growing and will likely continue to outpace the growth of my collection. There’s just so much music out there to explore, I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I’d say I’d heard it all. And of course records aren’t cheap, so until I win the lottery the size of my collection will only increase as quickly as my bank account allows!
How do you organise your collection and do you use Discogs at all?
Oh, I absolutely use Discogs. I love Discogs! It can’t be understated how invaluable of a tool it is
for record collecting. I’ve used it to buy, sell and catalog my collection for years. As for how I organise my collection at home, I have everything separated out by genre, then alphabetised by artist.
What’s your thoughts on Instagram as a way for sharing our record collections?
I love it! I think it’s great and I’ve made friends with fellow collectors all over the world and some from not that far away at all. People that I may never have met in real life, but share the same passions for vinyl that I do. We can all come together through a platform like Instagram and share our collections and discuss different records. I even look at the Vinyl Community on Instagram almost as a research tool. I follow accounts from people who post things I’ve never heard of. Things I may never have known about had it not been for their post. When something piques my interest, I’ll hop on YouTube to check it out or go to Discogs and see if it’s something I can get. To me the most rewarding thing about our Vinyl Community other than forming personal relationships is turning people on to music they’ve never heard, and having others turning me on to music I’ve never heard. It affords us a never ending rabbit hole of musical discovery to fall into.
What does your partner think of your record obsession?
Well, she’s just as into it as me, so her obsession is just as strong as mine! We enable each other’s habits!
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