Each month, we chat to someone with a passion for collecting: vinyl, CDs, DVDs, blu-ray, dust... or any other type of physical media. This month, we meet Colin: An eclectic and well-rounded record & CD collector whose jet-setting tastes cover just about every genre you can name. Enjoy! (Psst - wanna be featured? Email us! If we feature you on our blog, you’ll get $50 to spend in our store!)

Hey Colin! Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Colin. I was born & raised on the southside of Brisbane, but moved up to the Glasshouse Mountains region north of Brisbane roughly 18 years ago. I’ve been living in Beerwah for the last 10 years. I’m the father of three amazing girls. 

My kids & music are my two greatest obsessions. I’ve been utterly fascinated with music since I was about 13. 

I quit my job a while ago for personal reasons & currently eke out an existence buying, selling & raffling records, CDs & other music memorabilia online for fun & profit. It can be a financial roller-coaster, but I love doing it. I always dreamed of owning my own little record store, but these days it’s just more cost viable to do it online. Maybe one day I’ll open my little shop anyway.

What do you collect and when did it start?

When it comes to records, I collect almost EVERYTHING. 

I’ve been into collecting records since I was a teenager, so I started about 35 years ago. My first collection was a couple of thousand records which I successfully kept with me through countless share-houses, but sadly they ended up being sold in the early 90s. There was a bit of a gap there where I collected CDs instead (just as fanatically) & pretty much stopped buying records. I still own several thousand CDs, but I can barely remember the last time I played one. :)

Roughly ten years ago I started collecting records again, largely due to my (re)obsession with Nick Cave at the time. I first collected all his albums & then after a while, that turned into collecting records in general. I now have roughly 3000 LPs altogether. I've re-collected pretty much everything I ever had in my old collection..and a lot LOT more. There are still a few unusual bits n pieces I have never managed to replace. Yet. 

I have pretty much every genre of music in there,punk, indie, alt, funk, rock, garage, psych, doom, stoner, grunge, hip-hop, rap, ska, reggae, country, jazz, blues, folk, classical and an eclectic collection of world music from countries far & wide. Lots of Maori, Hawaiian, African, Indian, Egyptian, Russian...

I also have children’s records, comedy records, soundtracks & compilations, a collection of records with trucks on the cover, a collection of records that end in A Go-Go... EVERYYYYYYTHING... 

I also collect different sized records. I currently have everything from a 5” record to a 12” record, excluding a 6” record & a 9” record.

And I collect FROM everywhere I can. Wherever records are to be found, whether it’s online or at markets, records shops, record fairs or op shops, I'll be there, looking for a vinyl treasure at a nice price.

How would you describe your tastes? (evolution of, what you LOVE, genre, hates, etc).

I’ve been into punk & alternative stuff since I was 13 & I still love it. But my tastes have definitely broadened & gotten more eclectic as the years have passed. Punk, alternative, psychedelic, indie, garage, rock, funk, pop, blues, soul, jazz, country ...if it’s good & it’s genuine and created & performed by someone who loves what they’re doing, odds are that I will like it. Usually.

I’m a huge fan of Aussie music, largely the more underground stuff and I collect as much of it as I can find (& afford). There's an incredibly rich & diverse pool of talent in Australia's "underground" musical history, the sheer size & depth of which I consider immensely impressive for a fairly isolated country with a relatively tiny population. The vast majority of it flies under the mainstream’s radar but there’s a practically endless treasure trove of great music for those who dig for it.

Radio Birdman, The Saints, Hitmen, New Christs, Powder Monkeys, GOD, Beasts of Bourbon, The Dirty Three, Tumbleweed, Cosmic Psychos, Hard-Ons, Adalita & Magic Dirt, Psychotic Turnbuckles, Go-Betweens & of course Nick Cave with Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party & The Bad Seeds, right up to newer Aussie bands such as Hits, Grieg, Shrewms, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Violent Soho & Some Jerks....The list of quality, original Aussie bands is almost endless & they're all well represented among my record collection.

I also have a passion for female vocalists, of all genres...

Some of my all-time favourites (in no order whatsoever) include Patti Smith, Nina Simone, Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses), Bjork (Sugarcubes), PJ Harvey, Beth Orton, Shilpa Ray, Adalita (Magic Dirt), Suzi Quatro, Billie Holiday, Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls), Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), Marianne Faithfull, Astrid Gilberto, The Slits, Aretha Franklin, Rosetta Tharpe, Etta James, Courtney Love (Hole), Janis Joplin, The Runaways, Debbie Harry (Blondie), Siouxsie & The Banshees, Anita Lane, Eartha Kitt, Yma Sumac, Lydia Lunch, Rykarda Parasol, Francoise Hardy......this list is also practically without end & I collect as many of their records as I can.

I also have two “Holy Trinities” of music.

The Holy Trinity of the Three Cs >> Nick Cave, Johnny Cash & Leonard Cohen.

The Holy Trinity of The 70s >> Lou Reed, Iggy Pop & David Bowie. (Brian Eno is the silent 4th member.)

These guys are all legends to me.

What's your most prized Item/Possession/collection of items?

I have a lot of “most prized” items, but as far as records go, the records I own which are autographed by people like John Cooper Clarke, the Inca Babies, Ray & Blackie (Hard-ons & Nunchukka Superfly) and Amanda Palmer are right up there. A hand-lathed, hand painted 7”, of a limited run of only 33 from Brisbane band Grieg is pretty special to me.
The Mark Lanegan box-set I cheekily “crowd-funded” one night holds special significance to me & always makes me smile. :) The Neutral Milk Hotel box-set I got for $25 is pretty prized too.
And last but certainly not least, my collection of Nick Cave vinyl from Boys Next Door to Grinderman includes around 100 LPs & 12”s, eight 10"s & roughly forty 7”s & is very special to me & highly prized. And kept on the top shelf, of course.

Non-vinyl, music-related prized possessions include Patti Smith’s book "Just Kids" which a US friend got autographed for me. Kristin Hersh’s book "Rat Girl", which the same friend got autographed for me & then I ALSO got Kristin to sign when I met her this year. (Bucket list TICKED!) Both amazing books. READ THEM.
... The Christmas card that a mutual friend got all the members of Grinderman to sign to me. Apparently, the first thing Nick did was cross out the “Merry Christmas”. This is framed & on my wall.
An electric guitar signed by a bunch of Brisbands (including Hits) that I won is pretty spesh too. I’m probably forgetting things.

And of course, the vinyl I've been gifted over the years by friends & fellow music collectors holds a very special place in my heart.

SO many prized items.

Tell us about your love of music and what it means to you.

I think the first time that I REALLY realised that music was magic & it could actually take you places was when, as a 13 year old kid into punk, I borrowed the Mutiny E.P. by the Birthday Party off a mate at school. I took it home & put it on & those 4 songs blew my tiny teenage fragile eggshell mind into a million pieces. I’d never heard anything like it. It showed me worlds I’d never dreamed could exist. And from that moment on, I was in a love affair with music that would only get more & more intense as the years rolled by. The thing I love about collecting music is the things you discover along the way. The sea of music out there is endless & you can surf it forever, discovering new things & new sounds. It really is magic. The best kind of magic. Magic to immerse yourself in.

Give us your top 10 albums of all time:

For any true music lover, this list will probably change each time they write it. I tried to write my top 15 once. gave up & tried to write my Top 100. Gave up & wrote my Top 500!! And there were still SO many albums I wanted to add. So with that in mind, my Top 10 records that have had a profound affect on me at the time ( & that I’ve played a million times!) are>>>

1. Birthday Party - Junkyard
2. Lou Reed - Transformer
3. Iggy Pop - New Values
4. The Sound - From The Lion’s Mouth
5. Patti Smith - Easter
6. Tom Waits - Heartattack & Vine
7. Pixies - Doolittle
8. Hits - Living With You Is Killing Me
9. Cramps - Psychedelic Jungle
10. Public Image, Ltd - First Issue

** Honorary 11th place goes to Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs, which was my favourite record in my dad’s collection when I was a kid & I know every word of every song. I currently have 16 copies on vinyl & 3 on CD. I buy every copy I see (if it's $2 or under :) )

Give us some cool fact/trivia that we don't already know.

The first records I ever remember buying for myself were two 7”s I bought on the same day. “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and “Shoop Shoop Diddy Wop Cumma Cumma Wang Dang” by Monte Video & the Cassettes. The latter is now my ringtone on my phone when I get texts. :)
The first record I remember being bought for me was “The Number Of The Beast” by Iron Maiden. My sister gave it to me for my 13the birthday. I had little to no interest in Iron Maiden then & 35 years later that hasn’t changed much.

How do you store your collection?

I have a 3 x 4 cube shelf which holds the majority of my main collection, plus some in other shelves, a huge old TV unit that holds another thousand or so albums and then the rest are currently all over the floor in crates & boxes. It’s a special kind of controlled chaos that I am slowly but surely drowning in. But what a way to go. drowned by records. :)

What are you coveting? What’s your holy grail? Do you own it yet?

I’ve actually scored a few of my mini-Grails lately.
I got Adalita’s two solo albums on vinyl a few weeks ago, both of which I’d been wanting for quite some time. The Dresden Dolls RSD Virginia Monologues 3LP was another one I'd been craving which arrived last week.
Beth Orton’s Central Reservation has been high on my Vinyl Wantlist for years & I finally won an original pressing on ebay... yesterday, in fact. So that one will be spending a LOT of time on my turntable in the very near future.

It's been a good month for vinyl Grails. 

My next minor vinyl Grail I’d love to get ASAP is Evelyn Evelyn by Evelyn Evelyn (A duo consisting of fictional identical twins Evelyn and Evelyn Neville, portrayed by Amanda Palmer & Jason Webley). But it doesn’t come up for sale very often.

My major Holy Grail at the moment is the 7LP Tom Waits box-set "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards". Owning that would make my heart sing. But nothing short of a miracle, etc etc..
I also HIGHLY covet original Boys Next Door 7”s as well, to complete my Nick Cave collection, but they are also out of my current fiscal comfort zone. Donations always welcome. :D

Anything else you’d like to tell us?

Records have come back around [pun intended] & are popular again for a reason. Because they are THE best format. The sound, the artwork in its full-sized magnificence, the tangible experience of laying a platter on a turntable and setting the needle down...This all adds to the experience & it’s not one that can equalled by the convenient but ultimately less satisfying digital file or CD.

Vive Le Revolution!


Massive thanks to Colin for sharing his collection & stories with us.

Hey, we're searching or our next Cool Collector. You interested? Email us and let us know! If we feature you on our blog, you’ll get $50 to spend in our store!