For anyone that happened to be pottering out town during last month’s Record Store Day, it’s no secret that we’re experiencing a boom in vinyl consumption. Irish DJ and photographer, Noel Phelan, is no stranger of the allure of (the other) black stuff. Over the last number of months, Phelan has been interviewing and photographing individuals worldwide that share his waxy affliction. All for inclusion in multimedia project, Slaves to the Rhythm. So far the beautifully presented book/website features a slew of big name vinyl enthusiasts like Mr. Scruff and The Herbaliser. If you or somebody you know have a collection worthy of attention or are an illustrator interested in getting involved, Phelan is still on the look out for includees/contributors via phelan_noel@yahoo.com. We spoke with Noel about the project
What would you say is the the origin of your love for vinyl as a format? Can you trace back your passion for record collecting to any particular records or even moments in your life?
I suppose the love of the black stuff began when I was quite young. A good friend of mine at the time had a small record player that sat on top of a wardrobe in his bedroom; for some strange reason it was connected up to the light socket. Man, that place was like a haven away from all the madness of growing up in Finglas. We would hang out there for hours just putting on album after album, anything from The Velvet Underground to Pink Floyd to The Clash… real homework, y’know! There was an added bonus in that my friend’s sister was dating a guy who had a connection with someone working for a record company. He would give us albums that would include a stamped warning ‘For Promotional Use Only – Not for Re-Sale’. One day he came home with Soul Mining by The The, and we were never the same after that! [Laughs] To top it all off EMI had a manufacturing plant just down the road in Glasnevin, and we would go on skip raids for rejected albums, warped records are easily fixed.
Tell me a little about the process of putting the book together. How did you go about deciding who to include?
The basic premise of the project is to be as democratic as possible in terms of choosing the collectors involved, with no preference given to musical taste. Collectors come in different guises, some are complete fiends who might hunt down super rare copies of records, and give you the evil eye when you ask what they paid for them. Others are working DJs who have amassed records over the years – I would include myself in this category – and others are just heads who prefer the vinyl format to others. In terms of giving the project a platform, it’s good to get some people involved who might be well know as producers/artists or whatever, but that’s not the juice. It’s organically evolving as a kind of hats-off to those who are really passionate about something, and that something happens to be vinyl. It’s also quite collaborative in a sense that some really talented people have contributed illustrations around the subject matter, and I have roped in the talents of Keith Dalton from the Groovement Soul Collective to look after the book layout and design. There will only be enough room in the book for so many, so there is also an online element in the pipeline.
As you said yourself, there is a wide array of different tastes represented in the book but do you think there is a particular sensibility/mindset that connects all these collectors of disparate musical backgrounds? In other words, what is the unifying characteristic of record collectors?
The one thing that ties collectors together is the fact that they all seem to be a bit bonkers, or shall we say, left of center! [Laughs]. It could be argued that there is a thin line between collecting and hoarding! Joking aside, in my opinion collectors are those souls who believe that just because something is no longer considered commercially viable, it doesn’t mean it has to be thrown away or rejected in favor of what happens to be new. They understand the true value of something, and not necessarily in a monetary sense. I suppose the most important thing to collectors I have encountered seems to be the joy they actually get from listening to and sharing music with others. Some people do stamps, others do trainers or whatever, but you wont get a room full of strangers jumping for joy in some basement by getting them to look at stamps. Most collectors will tell you who was responsible for the artwork, who produced and mixed the record, what happened during the recording, they have a deep understanding of the time and effort that goes in to releasing a great piece of vinyl.
I noticed you refer to vinyl collecting itself as an ‘art’ can you expand a little on why you make that distinction?
Viewed in the traditional sense of what most people consider art, referring to vinyl collecting as an art form might seem a bit flimsy on my part. But hey, in a post-post-post modern landscape, art has become different things to different people. Who was it that said ‘an aesthetic can now be found on every street corner’? Would Banksy have been considered an artist 30 years ago? Lets just say I consider it a ‘micro’ art form involving preparation, the search for meaning, the curating of artefacts and the importance of presentation when arranging a collection.
Do you think the resurgence in vinyl sales that we hear so much about is a passing fad or here to stay? Obviously the die-hard collectors aren’t going anywhere but how do you suspect vinyl sales in ten years will relate to the numbers we see today?
That’s a hard one to call, when you consider the difference in cost for the punter between downloads and actual records I suppose it doesn’t look good. I think it will inevitably come down to demand. Will there be enough people in ten years time prepared to pay extra for something a lot more tangible, better sounding, and better looking than waveforms on a screen? I would like to think so, but the way in which we have become such a throwaway society, we might have to come back to that one!
What is your most cherished record of your own? Can you tell me a little about it?
That’s even harder! In all honesty, there is not one album that I could say is hands down a favourite. One week its Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, next it’s the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street, next could be Miles Davis or A Tribe Called Quest or Primal Scream. I prefer to just listen to records and enjoy them for what they meant to me when I first heard them, and what they mean to me now.
Words: Danny Wilson
