Kara Blakeley

“You get to speak the universal language that is music with everyone that comes in. You get to hear what music means so much to them and why. If you don’t head home with a full heart, I don’t think you’ve done it right.” – Sam

“My Auntie bought me ABBA, The Singles gatefold double LP when I was five or six years old. Many rainy days of my Scottish childhood were spent singing and dancing to that record.” – Kirsty

“So many people have performed here, it’s hard to think of one. Kim Salmon was my favourite. But I can’t mention him twice can I? Oh well – Kim Salmon must’ve been ’95. It’s really easy for people to be a bit polite during in-store performances, but he gave full effort. It was the most energetic one, it was like a proper gig.”

“I’ve got an original Australian pressing of The Zombies – Odessey and Oracle, which is both my most expensive and most cherished record. I love collecting Australian pressings from the 60s, it’s fascinating looking back and seeing which records sold tons of copies here and which ones barely moved!”

“A representative from The Rolling Stones Museum in London popped in after the museum’s curator saw an Instagram post with some rare Rolling Stones EPs. These are now part of the Museums collection!”

“I had some tapes like AC/DC, but most were copies! But my uncle Jack gave me a record player and I went to Wally’s Rock House in Warrnambool and got Bored! self-titled EP after seeing their film clip on Rage and Nirvana’s “Bleach” Wally had to order them in for me. That was in 1988 or 1989 I reckon. Been collecting ever since.”

“I think the music we play in our record store reflects us and the store. We always carry a huge range of titles and genres—something for everyone. You never know what might be playing from day to day. It could be a store classic like Julia Jacklin to Nujabes to local legends Pond or Tame Impala.”

“Still have customers from the first week of opening. Some have gone by the “digital” wayside and others have shuffled off this mortal coil, but at the same time have picked up a younger crew too. A lot more female customers now, record collecting was pretty blokey 20 years ago.”

“We’ve had some pretty interesting customers over the year’s but some memorable ones include Henry Rollins, J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr), Dylan Moran, Stan Grant, Murray Cook from the Wiggles, Jimmy Barnes and Tim Rogers.”

“Everyone knows the first record on the table will set the mood for the day. But it always depends who is on as to what notes you will be hit with…. If it’s me on open, you are likely to hear a mixture of Jazz and Blues…. If the boss-man is in early, then you can expect Led Zeppelin or Beatles”