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by Jon Scorfina

April 08, 2010 at 4:30 PM 

I should say there is one record I am looking for by this ice cream truck driver in north city in the early '60s who put out a few novelty 45s called Wee Willie Shantz. I would love one if someone wants to give me one (laughs). He put out these kids rockabilly 45s that are incredibly creepy and outsider-y. I've heard the songs online, but I would love to own them. He would sell the 45s out of his truck to kids. It's creepy songs about barnyard animals and he would be playing banjo and making animal noises. The craziest thing you've ever heard. From the viewpoint of a band, do you still think it's viable to put out vinyl records? When Bunnygrunt first started, we released a couple 45s. We were getting a little bit of attention in various magazines and stuff, and we were getting calls from label scouts. Somebody called Karen and asked if we had a CD we could send them. She said "No, we only have records." The scout person told her "I don't even own a turntable," and Karen said, "Well, we probably don't want to sign to your label then." [laughs]

It might have been incredibly snotty, but it pretty much summed it up. We're in it for the thing. The artifact. The cool. We're not in it to move units. We're in it to create little works of art. That kind of sums up the 45s really well. Like on our first record, we hand-painted all the b-sides.

Personally, I don't even have an iPod. I understand that world exists, but I don't tailor music towards it. I like the fact that a record is more than just the songs on it. The record is the statement, or vision, or whatever. I do like the new trend of the LP with the digital download card. Even CDs I've always seen as much more disposable. Records, I've probably sold less than 20 back in my entire life. [laughs]

If it's only twenty, do you remember any that you actually sold back? There was this mid-'80s SST band called Angst. I really loved one song, and I found all the records and bought them all, but most weren't very good. [laughs]

Are you excited for the third national Record Store Day? I think it's an awesome thing. I am generally positive about it. I think there is a little bit of weird speculators that come in to buy the releases not because they like the bands, but because they think these releases are going to go up in value. I don't buy records that I don't play.

There are certainly people who come in to make an investment on these records, but that's a very small percentage. They're gone after the first fifteen minutes. Most people come, though, because they are into what we are doing, and stay the rest of the day. That's awesome!

Are you willing to go on record, then, and say the LP is not dead? The LP is far from dead, despite major labels trying to kill it by putting out 30-dollar Hootie and the Blowfish records. [laughs]


Last Collector Standing

