Q&A Remix With Chris Payne

The Q&A Remix is a frequent column on IHTOV in which people from all walks of life answer a set of pre-written questions about their vinyl collection. Today we welcome author Chris Payne.

Have you ever bought a record just for the artwork?

The closest I ever came to buying a record for its art has to be M83’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. I do really like the album, but the album cover is my favorite of all-time. 

That being said, I love pulling open the plastic of a new album and uncovering some really cool piece of artwork, packaging, or liner notes I wasn’t expecting on the inside. I remember Armor For Sleep’s album What to Do When You Are Dead coming with this little illustrated guidebook, which just impressed the hell out of me when I was a kid. Speedy Ortiz’s 2015 album Foil Deer came with a little stapled book with all the lyrics and more artwork. I always remember that stuff. 

What’s the first area you head for in a record store?

New releases. I like to keep up with what’s coming out, and this is a neat spot for stores to show their identity. Maybe it’s highlighting the big indie new releases people are talking about, maybe it’s some hyper-curated staff selections with little hand-written notes. Either way, it’s all really informative. 

What’s the most treasured album in your collection and why?

Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers. Maybe my all-time favorite album, and it took forever to get a wide release on vinyl. When they finally did, they made it count: double red vinyl, thick gatefold packaging, all the imagery from the original CD transposed to the inner gatefold. Plus, it comes with the killer b-side, “Elevator Up.”

Are you a completionist when it comes to artists? Which artist do you have the most records from?

No, ha ha. I think I spent too much money as a kid on being a completionist with CDs (and also on things like trading cards and action figures) and now I live in New York and space and rent money are at a premium, so I’ve learned to curb my habits. I’m probably the closest to a completionist with Jimmy Eat World, which is to say, I own five albums: Static Prevails, Clarity, Bleed American, Integrity Blues, and Clarity: Phoenix Sessions. I really should at least get Futures, too, one of these days. 

What is your greatest “score;” could be on value or just rarity or something you were looking for the longest?

I’ve never really sought out rare records. You know, if a record I knew sold for ten thousand dollars I found on sale for $29.99, I’d get it, but you know what I mean. Record collecting for me has always been more about my favorite albums, being able to hold them forever. 

Now that I think about it though, I bought Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange on vinyl back around 2014 (I think it was at Other Music in the East Village) and I always wondered if it was rare, since I never saw it in stores again. The wax is this pale rose color. There’s no liner notes, no mention of a label, or much of any small print on the packaging besides the artist’s name and album title, so I’m not even sure if it’s official or not. I looked it up just now and it goes for $90 on Discogs. How about that. 

Who/what got you hooked on records?

Wanting to have a tangible connection to my favorite music by owning it in physical form. Having all the lyrics right there when you listen, without having to stare at a screen. And that thrill of opening up new vinyl packaging and—sometimes—getting surprised with a gorgeous interior design or cool liner notes you weren’t expecting. 

I experienced this as an avid CD collector during my high school and college years, but by the time I moved to New York in 2013, I was barely driving anymore and I don’t think I’ve owned a computer with a disc drive since 2014. As much as I treasure my CD collection, it just doesn’t hold a practical role in my life anymore. Vinyl was the next logical move. 

What are your first memories of listening to records?

They’re mostly bad, haha. My first record player was a Crosley, you know the deal. I didn’t know what I was getting into, and I couldn’t figure out why all of my brand new records kept skipping or making weird sounds. 

And yeah, I never really heard records growing up. My dad had a huge vinyl collection of classic rock and folk, but by the time I was around, he was well on to CDs and just totally over the hassles of playing vinyl. He doesn’t romanticize it at all; to him vinyl is just memories of records skipping, finicky machinery, which I totally get. When vinyl made its comeback during the late aughts, I pretty much didn’t know what playing a record even sounded like. 

After the Crosley mishaps, my buddy and old roommate Matthew Ismael Ruiz put me onto my current setup: an Audio-Technica turntable, with a nice speaker/subwoofer combo. We were roommates for about a year—I’d play my records on his system, and by the time he moved out, he helped me through the process of getting my own gear, how to space the speakers around the room, all that good stuff. I’ve been using that setup ever since. 

Tell us a little about your favorite record store

It’s always gonna be Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey, same as a lot of people who grew up into punk and emo in that area. It’s funny—I used to go there constantly starting around 2003, but for years I barely entered the vinyl section because back then, at least for high school kids, CDs were the priority. This was a real dead period for vinyl, when kids were all about digital music, downloading leaks and hard-to-find songs on Limewire, blogs, stuff like that. 

Vintage Vinyl, though, was known for a lot more than their record collection. They always had an awesome schedule of in-store signings and performances pegged to new releases. Some big ones for me were Alkaline Trio in 2005, Blood Brothers in 2006, and Gaslight Anthem for the ‘59 Sound release show in 2008. For that one, I remember vinyl pre-orders sold out immediately and for the signing, CDs were the only option. That was one of the first times I noticed the whole vinyl comeback. 

Vintage Vinyl’s owner decided to close up shop in 2021, but it’s hard for me to think of any other record store as my favorite. Some other important ones, though, throughout my life: Princeton Record Exchange during my college years at TCNJ, Other Music in the East Village near where the Billboard office used to be when I worked there, and Rough Trade in Williamsburg, where I used to walk to all the time from where I lived, before they moved it to Rockefeller Center. I feel like so much of being into record stores is mourning their closings and movings, haha.  

How has your record collection and appreciation for vinyl evolved over the years, and what has influenced your tastes?

When I started out, I had a lot of old vinyl from the ‘70s and ‘80s, records like Rumours and Parallel Lines, because you could get those albums used for really cheap. New vinyl was a lot more expensive to start a collection with, but over time, new vinyl was what I gravitated to. Sometimes it replaced the excitement I used to get from buying a new CD the day it came out, and sometimes it was from that rush of seeing a great live set and wanting to run to the merch stand and support the artist. New vinyl is also very shiny and new, so there’s that.

I also went through this weird phase, in the mid 2010s, of buying really popular albums from the ‘90s and early aughts that never came out on vinyl as they finally got released. Major label stuff like Goo Goo Dolls’ Dizzy Up the Girl, Shania Twain’s Come on Over, and Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View. It’s me, I’m the guy who spent $26.99 on Cracked Rear View in 2017. 

What’s the last record you played?

Daft Punk, Homework 

Chris Payne is a Brooklyn-based writer. His first book, “Where Are Your Boys Tonight: The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion, 1999-2008,” is out now on Dey Street. He is the co-host of the podcast Desperate For Attention, where he and fellow emo author Leslie Simon talk shit about alt music and pop culture every Wednesday.  

Bluesky: cpayneonaplane.bsky.social

Instagram: @cpayneonaplane

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