Vinyl Collector of the Day, Derek Fricano

Today, I bring you our Vinyl Collector of the Day, Derek Fricano. Derek resides in East Lansing, Michigan. He was kind enough to answer my questions about why he collects vinyl, his first vinyl purchase, his thoughts on colored vinyl, his recent purchases, his thoughts on trading, and more. He answered the question about trading with a really smart answer for those who are married. He said that, “A healthy, eBay-funded PayPal account is the record-collector’s secret to a happy marriage.” Well put my friend. Thanks Derek for answering my questions.

You, too, can answer our questions and submit your Vinyl Collector of the Day feature. What are you waiting for? You can find the questions here.

Click the link to read more about Derek.

VC: Your name and the city you live in.
Derek Fricano, East Lansing, MI.

VC: Do you catalog your records online? Where are they? Are you on the VC Message board? What is your username? Do you use Limited Pressing? What is your username?
I use Dead Format to catalog stuff but haven’t in a while. It’s probably four or five months out-of-date, which is sort of unfortunate but is what happens when you have a squirmy newborn. If you’d like to gawk at my hot stacks or email to let me know you’re sending me that original copy of Propeller, my handle is heyhamburgerpimp. I’ve stalked the VC message board and Limited Pressing, but have yet to commit to either of them. I’m a stalker that fears commitment.

VC: How many records do you own?
A side-effect of my aforementioned neglect is that I no longer have a to-the-record tally. Factor in that somebody just gave me a box of seven-inchers and I have an even less accurate guess. I think it’s fair to say I’m sitting on around seven hundred records.

VC: How do you sort your records? How do you store your records?
Alphabetical by size, with separate breakouts for splits and comps. Splits are sorted by the band I bought the record for, ‘cuz I’m not afraid to play favorites. I use cardboard seven-inch boxes for seven-inchers, and some tasteful chocolate-colored Ikea shelving for anything 10″ or bigger.

VC: Why do you collect vinyl?
I have always been a sucker for great packaging, and CDs and cassettes don’t cut it, much less MP3s — I mean, what good is a “digital booklet”? I love having big artwork and gatefolds and lyric sheets. I love the surprises that get plopped into the sleeves – the weird trinkets that were stuffed into every seven-inch from Kirbdog Records, the photocopied stickers in Very Small/Too Many Records releases. It’s not like you’ll ever see a bonus seven-inch “tucked inside” a CD release.

VC: What was the first record you remember purchasing with your own money?
K-Tel’s “Rock 80” compilation. I didn’t buy it with my own money, but I begged and pleaded my little four-year-old head off for it for a Christmas present, so I’m counting it. I wanted it for Gary Neuman’s “Cars”, but it had a ton of what became my all-time favorites: The Ramones, Nick Lowe, Blondie… “Pop Muzik” by M… I used to spin it on my plastic Fisher-Price turntable and even personalized the cover with some spaceship stickers. I still have it, scratched and battered though it is.

VC: What is your most prized record in your collection?
Without question, the Nar/Lizards split LP on Very Small Records and Secret Center Records, two of the all-time greatest and most underrated early 90’s punk labels. For me, it’s the perfect example of “right record at the right time”: I was learning guitar and starting my first punk band, and I was just discovering punk music in general, when I plopped a fiver and a dollar into an envelope and sent it to David Hayes. That Nar side… everybody should know that band. Such great hooks. “Spacesuit” is just perfection. That record opened the whole of the punk culture to me, whether it was mailing my money to the label to buy my music, to forging a friendship with a band through the mail, to playing in a punk band and setting up shows (eventually, even one with Nar and one with Scott’s next band, The Bananas). I’m a little chagrined to say that, almost twenty years later, I’ve only spun the Lizards side twice. Whoops.

VC: What release would you like to see come out on vinyl that hasn’t yet been released?
“The Unsustainable Lifestyle” by Beauty Pill. Such a fantastic record. C’mon, Dischord… open up the war chest and put that thing out!

VC: What is the most you have spent for a record?
For one record? Boy. I seem to remember “For All Good Kids” and “Benefit For Winos” soaking me during the onset of my Guided By Voices fandom, though the Unrest/Stereolab split 7″ is also a perfect example of an eBay experiment gone horribly wrong (but a great record nonetheless). I’ve never spent more than $30 on a single record, though, so I’m considering myself pretty lucky. Well, I did drop $250 for the Floor boxed set. But god, have you seen that thing? It’s a total labor of love. So worth it.

VC: What has been your greatest vinyl score (least amount of money spent for a valued record)?
I also collect concert posters, and I really like Jay Ryan’s artwork. I was whiffling through some of my friend’s records and saw he had a Hubcap 7″ with a cover that was hand-lettered and had a funny little pencil drawing of a lawnmower. Of course, Hubcap’s bassist was Jay Ryan. I lusted over that record for a long time — I mean, obviously, this thing was one of a kind! — and then one day my friend tells me he was going to put it up on eBay. I started checking for listings and then one day it showed up in my mailbox! Awww… what a sweetheart.

VC: What record(s) have you regretted not buying? (Not one you should have ordered – but actually had in your hand at a record fair, seen in a shop, had in your shopping cart, but did not buy.)
I don’t know that I actually have anything for this, for the simple reason that I cannot pass up a record if it’s touched my hand and I want it. I mean, I don’t go totally nutty or anything, and I’ve had the fortune (?) to never be in a store that has super-expensive rarities, but you know how it is. If I can suffer the buyer’s guilt, I will usually walk out with it.

VC: What out of print record would you kill to own?
Oh, I’d love an original Propeller.

VC: What are your thoughts on color variants? Do you collect any artists in particular?
Color variants appeal to both my “sweaty-handed collector nerd” side and my “crumudgeony old complainer” side. I mean, I absolutely love what people can do with the vinyl from an aesthetic standpoint and I won’t deny that there’s a certain pride in knowing I got one of a very limited quantity, but it’s a bummer when the most knock-out looking variant is limited to, like, 35, and is only sold from the bassist’s grandma’s back porch. To borrow a phrase from my comic hero, Paul F. Tompkins, why not go t’ other way with it? Limit the black vinyl to 35 and put the double-dipped-swirly-pants color out as an edition of 500? Besides, it’s the collectors that are always yelling that “black vinyl sounds better” anyway…

As far as current artists I collect, I go a little nutty for Harvey Milk and Torche. But have you heard Statues? What a great band! They’re Canadian and, as far as I can tell, they only have one album distro’d in the US — all their other stuff I had to brave eBay for or buy from a distro in Germany! I’m always watching for records I’ve missed by long-time favorites, too, like J Church, GBV, Unrest, and Boyracer.

VC: Do you sell or trade records?
Oh yes. Yes indeed. A healthy, eBay-funded PayPal account is the record-collector’s secret to a happy marriage. And I am always willing to consider trades, although doing it through the mail is a little sketchy.

VC: Do you have any good record stores in your home town? Which ones do you frequent?
We’ve got two very good ones — The Record Lounge and Flat, Black, and Circular. There’s a third — Uncle Sam’s Record Emporium — but I’ve only been there once or twice. The stacks were kind of disorganized, and I need structure.

VC: Your last 5 records that you purchased?
Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
A first pressing of the Nuisance/Bitchcraft split 7″
Bottomless Pit – Blood Under The Bridge
Statues – Holiday Cops
Torche – Songs For Singles