Blood Incantation's Paul Riedl talks record collecting, record stores & more
Record Store Day is this Saturday (4/20), and in celebration of that, our sister site BrooklynVegan has interviewed a dozen artists about record stores and record collecting for the free digital BV magazine. One person they talked to is Paul Riedl of Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice, and here's what Paul had to say:
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BV: How important have independent record stores been for you as a listener and consumer of music? Did you have any formative experiences at indie record stores growing up?
Paul: Independent record stores are tremendously important to me, and are still my preferred avenue for discovering new music. Without hyperbole, I’ve been in love with record stores for all of my life. By the time I was a teenager, I’d hung around Ranch Records (in Salem, OR) so much that I was granted a sort of tutelage/internship under my friend David, who was a musical mentor-type of character who’d worked there for many years. Initially I would just help with things when they moved locations or assembled new displays, gradually earning small tasks like re-alphabetizing sections in exchange for store credit, and eventually moving up to processing and stocking inventory. From age 15-24 I was in that store several times a week, and whether I was just loitering or exploring new sounds, I was always trying to absorb as much as I could. Anyway, between all of these seemingly mundane tasks was many years’ worth of immersion into the everyday business side of things for a brick & mortar record shop, as well as being privy to the staff’s varied, curated tastes and their collectively immense musical knowledge, especially the eccentric owner. The shop and everyone there provided me with a lifetime of invaluable insights into the music industry as a whole, but especially the record business itself, at a very young age. At one point, three of the employees were in a band together, who inspired me greatly by self-releasing their own records and getting to see how that worked behind the scenes. Ten years later I finally got the chance to work my dream job, at a record store/bookshop called Black & Read (in Arvada, CO), and I did so with all of my heart for half a decade, until my relentless touring schedules finally became too much. It’s hard to believe that nearly another decade has gone by since then, but it really was a hugely important era of my life. If the timing was right, I would be honored to work there, or any record store again. My wife and I both share the lifelong dream of owning our own record store someday - we even have the name decided - so perhaps one of the best record stores ever is in the cards, but for the foreseeable future, our lifestyles must remain dedicated to another side of records I learned a lot about back in those formative days - making the music itself.
Do you remember the first vinyl record you bought, and the story behind it?
Definitely. It was Iron Maiden’s Live After Death for $7.75 at Ranch Records in Salem, OR. I was 15 and it was an original US pressing in visibly partied-on, but totally playable shape. I still have it, of course, though this is reminding me that it was always missing the booklet…
Since that’s not a very exciting story, I can also say the second record I ever bought was Dystopia’s The Aftermath…, brand new at the time, for $11 sealed at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland. Next up was all the 2002 Earache reissues I could get my hands on - first two Carcass albums, Napalm Death - Scum, Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness, At The Gates, on and on. Earmark had a bunch of classic '70s and '80s reissues back then as well, like Black Sabbath - Sabotage, Venom - Welcome To Hell, Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales, this sick Motorhead box set; it was all very exciting. I was also going to shows all the time, picking up every touring band’s LP I could, and punishing Parasitic Records for the rarest shit when he’d bring his label distro to gigs. I remember I was eager to fill up my first solid record crate, and don’t think it took very long… Clearly, those first few months buying records turned into a huge rabbit hole that quickly got out of hand.
What is your most prized possession in your record collection, and the story behind that?
This is something I would genuinely love to talk about at great length, but out of several thousand records, it’s not possible for me to choose just one, especially in a short interview. I wouldn’t even be able to choose just 5 from each genre, ha. After buying, selling, trading and collecting rare vinyl for over 20 years, even before working at a record store (which is the best and worst thing a record collector can ever do…) I had amassed a large collection and I’ve been very fortunate to come into dozens of seriously crazy grails and deals. There are likewise dozens of cherished gems which are not even particularly valuable or in-demand, but nonetheless are incredibly difficult to come by. Nowadays the collector’s market as well as the economics behind manufacturing vinyl is all so outrageous, it’s easy to get discouraged about records. But, I live for them, and to be honest, I just want to say - the deals are still out there! You just have to be patient at times, and swift at others… Anyway, a small portion of prized possessions in my record collection are: the $15 deadstock/remainder copy of [Emperor's] In The Nightside Eclipse I got in 2003, the complete Paniac - Suicidal Doom Series, 30 titles (not counting doubles/triples) out of the 32 Seraphic Decay releases, white label/promo test pressing of [Morbid Angel's] Altars of Madness with original hype sheet (!), genuine "Thy Kingdom Come" 7" (with insert), Worship/Agathocles split, Strid 7", Weakling’s Dead As Dreams for a seemingly-fatal $100 in 2006, complete Corrupted discography, Thergothon test pressings, Asunder test pressings, all of my own bands’ test pressings - Actually, I specifically collect test pressings, and often make my own covers for them. One of the rarest is definitely the aborted Burning Witch/Goatsnake split, which, for whatever reasons, never made it past the test pressing phase and was only ever released on CD. But, even with all this rambling we can barely scratch the surface of my collecting.
Is there a record you're on the hunt for/have always dreamed of finding, and if so, can you talk about that?
It’s an endless hunt, as there’s still hundreds of records I’m actively searching for - not even counting the inevitable new discoveries which just adds to the endless queue, of course - but the sensation when you do finally stumble upon something like that in the wild is one of the great treasures in life. I did just cross off a huge one from that list though, thanks to a fellow absolute prog/vinyl maniac in Berlin: He helped me find Sergius Golowin’s immense Lord Krishna Von Goloka, the original 1973 pressing on Ohr/Die Kosmischen Kuriere, which I have been actively searching for since 2006! Ostensibly pure kosmische/krautrock, it is an extremely psychedelic album that prefigured the ominous, dreamlike sound of dark/experimental folk by well over a decade, and was recorded in the Swiss countryside where his path crossed with Timothy Leary, H.R. Giger and Klaus Schulze. And it is as cosmic, strange and intriguing as one could hope that to be, at least to my ears. There have been a handful of reissues over the years, including one when I worked at the record store and had it right there in front of me, but the genuine article has always eluded me until just a few months ago. This was legitimately one of my biggest dreams to find for the last 18 years - Eternal hails, Rezy!
How has the importance of physical music changed or evolved for you as music consumption becomes increasingly dominated by streaming services?
Taking in the full aesthetic presentation of an album is just not physically possible in a streaming context, so physical media has always been my priority, both as a listener and in the context of all of my bands. It’s definitely a chore to move them from house to house, they never take up any less space, and they’re remarkably wasteful/terrible for the environment, but in my opinion there’s still no better experience of a recorded work than to just sit there with it in front of you while you listen; holding it in your hands and looking over the liner notes, reading all of the lyrics along with the music, really just focusing on it and taking it all in. That’s been my M.O. for listening to music since day one, so streaming doesn’t appeal to me despite appreciating its obvious convenience; I do like when records come with download codes, but if they don’t I’ll try to buy their stuff on Bandcamp instead so I can listen to it while driving or on the plane, etc. But at the end of the day, vinyl records are what it’s all about; they’re the ultimate artifacts of what we’re all here for when it comes to shows and bands and the songs and just the whole power of music’s transcendental ability to define and change people’s lives. Without great records - physical vinyl records - none of what streaming services ultimately take for granted would even happen in the first place. It’s not being nostalgic; we have to cherish them.
Do you have a favorite record store, and if so, what makes it special?
So many! I’m glad you asked. In no particular order, of course: Whispers Records (Leipzig), Face Records (NYC), Nostalgi Palatset (Stockholm), The Searchers (Melbourne), Galactic Supermarket (Berlin), Ragged Records (Davenport, IA), Daybreak Records (Seattle), Extremely Rotten (Copenhagen), End Of An Ear (Austin), Recollect Records (Denver), Rhino Records (Claremont, CA), Musique Plastique (Portland), Reanimated Records (San Diego), Amoeba (Berkeley), Randy’s Record Shop (SLC), Eastern Front (Austin), Vinyl Conflict (Richmond), Lyle’s Records (Victoria, BC), The Record Exchange (Boise), aQuarius Records (SF), on and on. I am definitely forgetting another dozen of the regular spots we try to hit on tour. But all of these shops have killer, curated selections of incredibly sick, rare, and well-kept records for your enjoyment. My sincere apologies to every great record store I love and didn’t have time to write!
Do you have any of your own stories of hunting down a particular exclusive Record Store Day release?
Nothing too crazy I was hunting for, but in 2013 I did come into work after the RSD weekend and found a sealed copy of Dust - Dust/Hard Attack still in the bins that was machine-numerated 00001 under the shrinkwrap. I only have a handful of RSD titles, but my absolute favorite is the Florian Fricke - Spielt Mozart 2LP! A recording from the early '90s featuring the Popol Vuh main man playing some of his favorite Mozart pieces - Unpretentiously simple, yet stunning. It is also 45rpm, so you can get a little PV Slowzart experience, as a bonus. It was originally only a limited CD, which has remained expensive, but the 2018 RSD vinyl debut is still a $10 record and comes with my highest recommendations.
Anything else you want to add about vinyl or Record Store Day that we haven't discussed?
Support your local record stores, and go out of your way to check out new ones whenever you come across them - you never know what you may find. Thanks to you for the interview, and greetings to anyone who finds a record they’ve been looking for for ages anytime soon.
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For more interviews like this and a big guide to this year's RSD releases (metal included), read the entire BV digital magazine. It's free and available instantly, in exchange for your email address.
Blood Incantation also just put out a new music video and confirmed that their next album is "coming soon."
