Retro-Fit Records

You walk into a room, lit mostly by the sunlight behind you. There’s a distant aroma of tobacco and cardboard. The ceiling is high and the back wall is covered with victorian-era black felt. The floors are black & white linoleum tile, laid out in checkerboard formation. In front of you are rows of custom tables with high dividers, made from unfinished wood. Inside these divided bins, and on every wall, are vinyl records, aka LP’s. Some of the covers depict faces, paintings, collages, abstract lines and spatters of color, others are landscapes, hyper-saturated art-house photographs or oversized text in various fonts. Visuals everywhere, arranged in neat rows up high and stacked in front of you at gut level.

We are in Retro-Fit Records: the last remaining record store in Tallahassee.

To the right is a cash register, where Bradley Ellison is checking in new arrivals while the new David Bowie record “The Next Day” churns through the background. Ellison is the co-owner of the store, which he opened with Sharod Bines back in August of 2011.

A few weeks ago, Retro-Fit hosted Record Store Day, an annual event, typically held on a Saturday, Mid-April. Ever since 2008, bands have released exclusive content or special pressings of material, often in very limited numbers. It creates a frenzy, and record stores across the country (actually the world) put in requests for titles they want to sell. There’s an element of randomness to the process, so until shipments arrive at each doorstep, it’s uncertain what albums each store will receive. 

We caught up with Bradley just after the event. He speaks matter-of-factly about almost everything. He’s opinionated, but comfortably soft-spoken... perhaps a by-product of years spent as a DJ for WVFS (aka “The Voice of Florida State”).

How was Record Store Day?
Pretty crazy. There was a line out the door, and we could only let 10 people in at a time. Several hundred people came throughout the day. We even had a couple people camped out overnight. Sharod and (other business partner) Adam were here until about 5 am the night before, just to get stuff ready.
How did it compare to last year?
We were definitely way busier; more people knew about us and we also had more things available.

What were your top sellers?

There were a lot of special titles that came out that day. One that sold really quickly was a new Brian Eno single with Grizzly Bear.

Were there any gems that came in that you set aside for yourself?
Not at all - we didn’t know how many people to expect, so anything that came in we made sure to put on the shelf.
What sells in general?
Some of the biggest selling stuff here are things like Jethro Tull, Hall & Oates, Fleetwood Mac...

Why is that?

I don’t know; I honestly don’t want to think about it... I just need to remember to always remember to have that in stock. I think it’s mostly younger kids that are buying albums they’ve either listened to a lot or their parents had. 

Why is music your art of choice?

Out of all the art forms, I think music might be the easiest to get into, without any training... because you can hear something and it can appeal to you, and you don’t have to think about why or how. If you were to take something like conceptual art, you’d have to have more preparation to fully appreciate it. Or a book... you have to know how to read first. You don’t have to learn anything first to like music.

OK but for arguments sake, let’s say some master chef lays out a perfectly concocted, well-researched and chemically balanced meal for you, and on plate number two you have a chili dog, and let’s say you prefer the chili dog... does that mean you’re underprepared to take in those two art forms?

No, but... it’s easy to like something like a chili dog.

Maybe it wasn’t the best analogy.

I guess because I was exposed to a lot more music growing up; different and broader exposure. Over time I grew to understand a lot of different things about it, so maybe the music I was experiencing when I was younger would be the equivalent to - in using your analogy - some sort of quail.

Another package arrives. He sends Shirod a message and proceeds to check the pricings from a database, while placing an orange sticker on the upper-right corner of each LP. He tries to buy cheap and sell cheap, because he knows he’s in a college town. 

Why do you like vinyl?
There’s always been a record player in my house. I come from a relatively poor family, (so) vinyl was always cheaper to get -- I could go to a thrift store and get whatever I want, for probably less than a dollar. I also like vinyl for the hunt for various things. Most people my age were listening to things like TLC and N’Sync, but I was never going to find those things on vinyl. I often had to listen to radically different things. 

So you would have preferred to buy TLC or N’Sync?

I still like a lot of that stuff. I was impressed by acts like Destiny’s Child even back in middle school. Pop music is pop music: It’s easy to appreciate.
What’s the first record you bought with your own money?
“Bob Dylan” by Bob Dylan. I got it for five dollars.

What’s the most expensive record you’ve ever bought; for you personally?
I paid $40 for a used copy of Alice Coltrane’s “Ptah, the El Daoud” (Impulse!, 1970). I really love that record.

How many customers buy a record because it’s a stand-alone, square piece of art? You can’t buy an LP and rub it against your ear to appreciate its’ contents...

Most of the younger people that come in here buy the records to actively listen to them, but there are others who say ‘it will look great on their wall’. I will say though that the majority want to own the music itself, for the listening experience.

Because the vinyl medium is considered to be more durable, there seems to be a greater breadth of time periods represented. Ellison’s experience has been that CD’s seem to be more tailored to the ‘pop’ market, a narrower field of exposure. Instead, he takes an archaeologists’ approach: searching for old gems, specifically on vinyl.

It sounds like you have to dig For it, before you can ‘Dig It’
It’s awesome. There’s always something new to find that I’ve never heard of before. It’s like a little lost artifact.
So the internet is a great medium for researching music, but you still want to unearth a physical product? 
To me, in terms of people doing research and reference, the internet has held almost exactly the same relationship as music fans did with fanzines (independent publications, small-circulation, fringe topics) anywhere from the 50’s through the 80‘s -- where you may not know who’s running it, but you know they have a certain obsession or devotion (to the subject).

Vinyl sounds like a much more intentional purchase...

Yeah, you have to plan what you want, know what you want. You want to buy something you already know you love.

Would you say your market is growing?

It is, for a few reasons... on a very simple level we’ve never advertised, but people are discovering our shop on a daily basis. It’s also growing because people are into the idea of vinyl as a tangible product; like owning a physical copy of their favorite album is a way of expressing their ‘fandom’ or a more authentic way to experience music. The amount of dedicated music fans in town will stay about the same, although more of them are coming into the store.

Where does local music fit in?

Sharod books some shows through his own side-project, Back To The Garage. 

Bradley references a flyer for an upcoming show.

The local musicians that put out actual product sell pretty well, in a couple categories. The D.I.Y. / Punk scene and Folk musicians in town may put out a nice CD or LP that does alright, but the one genre that doesn’t seem to do well whatsoever is local Hip-Hop. They’re usually made in a bedroom or some crappy studio. There doesn’t seem to be much a community here from what I can tell, there’s no advertising... I’ve got some of it here in the store, but no one knows who they are and don’t really care. Most of it doesn’t seem to aspire to any lineage - it’s just aiming for radio play. 

Originally from Melbourne, FL, Ellison came to FSU to study English Literature & Sociology. With the campus at the epicenter, he walked around Tallahassee looking for something cool to do. By this point, previous retailer Vinyl Fever [R.I.P.] was too far away to fit into his trajectory. Instead, he shopped for music in the back room at Avant Garb, the vintage clothing store across the street. He still does.

What is it about Tallahassee that keeps you here?

It’s an interesting little cultural hub, especially around the Gaines Street area. A lot of people compare it to Portland or Austin, although it’s much smaller than that. You won’t find that (type of culture) in a good portion of the South. I like the people that live here -- they’re community-minded.

What bands or musicians would you say really represent the city?

T-Pain is probably the biggest cultural export we have... Cannonball Adderly, who obviously is one of the better known jazz musicians. Patrick McKinney still plays locally; his latest project is Langtry. Also, Frank Lindamood is a damn good musician. 

What’s the first piece of music you remember hearing?

That’s difficult because I grew up in a church, so if wasn’t a gospel hymn of some sort, then it was something my family introduced me to. I remember when I was two I asked my uncle to make a country mix tape for me. It had Bill Monroe and John Prine and things like that on there.

So there was something about Country music you related to, even at the age of two?

It’s played by and for Southern people. It’s poor white-boy soul. Songs about working troubles, trying to escape relationship problems... I didn’t experience any of that myself at such a young age, but...

Did it sound romantic in some way?

It did. I couldn’t understand any of the social stuff about it (yet), but they sounded really beautiful.

What’s your favorite type of music to listen to?

Maybe like a bunch of metal, or some really crazy out-there psychedelic stuff or some old blues... it’s things that the modern ear isn’t necessarily used to. 

Let’s say that NASA has decided to tap you to pick the next gold-plated record to send up into space, a representational piece of Earth culture... what would you pick?

That’s a really interesting question... it would have to be something that culturally resonates with a lot of people, or is historically important ... I’d probably choose a piece of classical music like Charles Ives or something really American like an Elvis Presley single. 

If there was an online, “World-of-Warcraft” equivalent for musicians, who would your avatar be? 

I don’t know, a different combination of ideas from Ravi Shankar or John Fahey

or the dude from Sun City Girls (Richard Bishop) or something like that.

What band or song would play at your wedding?

I’d probably have a lot of old southern soul in the background, like Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, also maybe “Dead Flowers” by The Rolling Stones.

What band or song would play at your funeral?

I’d probably choose a lot of hymns; not necessarily because of their religious connotation, but there’s just a lot of really good ones about dying. There’s one in particular I definitely want to play called “Idumaea”. It’s about going through intense existential despair, wondering what their fate is in the future.

What’s the worst cover song you’ve ever heard?

Lana Del Rey re-did a couple classics recently... “Chelsea Hotel #2” by Leonard Cohen and “Summer Wine” by Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood. She basically stripped any of the emotions and ideas that made the original ones great, and instead you just a have a pretty girl with a pretty voice singing a pretty boring song. The fact that she’s gotten exposure is really bizarre to me, and yet she’s one of the top selling things in the store.

Do you have any guilty pleasures? If you dropped a “song bomb” in the middle of a mix-tape what would it be?

I really love a lot of Steely Dan and stuff like Seals & Crofts, but when people in the punk community hear the ‘incredibly smooth sounds of Steely Dan’ it completely turns them off. 

Are you a music snob? 

Some people think I am, however I don’t usually go around talking trash about what people listen to. I might tear apart the ideas in a song, but I don’t think what a person listens to defines their personality. This may sound pompous or arrogant, but... I’ve got so many different facts about music in my head that I can’t always remember the very basic things. I see it as this long tangled web, so when everyone’s been working off each other’s ideas I forget about the big ones that came from artists like Elvis or Dylan...

Bradley admits that sometimes he ‘sees the gears more than the entire bike’, and the network of music is, like our universe, always expanding. He pauses.

... I've actually been thinking a lot lately about what makes people unique, like if it’s based on what a person consumes. Is that what makes a person who they are?

If you consume media through the web, then big business probably thinks they know who you are, 

because they can track your habits. 

But a turntable sidesteps all that.

Today’s thought: Vinyl is a more definitive way to OWN your collection. It’s much more personal. More often than not, a vinyl purchase is premeditated. It requires us to slow down a little and appreciate music through other senses. One other thing: pop music is chili dogs for your ears.

Random soundbyte (taken from our interview)