Q&A Remix With Niko Stratis

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 writer Niko Stratis

Have you ever bought a record just for the artwork?

My dad used to do this! My mom loves to tell me stories about him buying records not because he loved a particular artist, but because he just thought a record looked interesting or weird or whatever, or that the band sounded fun. He loved Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks in his youth, and I firmly believe it’s for this reason. As for me, I’m sure I have, but I’m struggling to remember a specific record. I have a Johnny Cash record called Look At Them Beans, where he’s lying down holding a child surrounded by green beans. I didn’t buy this record so much as I stole it from a record station’s basement, and it was because A - I love Johnny Cash, and B - I thought the cover was very funny.

What is your most memorable vinyl buying experience?

I went to an estate sale with a friend of mine in the Yukon, which is where I grew up. It was in the middle of a trailer park in a totally nondescript trailer. Off-white, rust and brown on the outside. Crumbling into itself. We went inside and the place was immaculate. The guy who had passed away was a collector, and clearly particular about the things he owned. He had a wall of vintage film cameras in perfect condition, and a home entertainment system built into the wall – he built it himself, a custom job – that had two Betamax players. He also had a MASSIVE cabinet of records, and the woman conducting the sale said I had to buy all of it, or fuck off. None of this one at a time bullshit, she told me. I firmly believe she was abiding by the spirit of the collector. I bought the whole thing, all 812 records, for 400 bucks, and then I also bought a vintage Denon turntable for another 200. She threw in an AKAI reel-to-reel machine for free, which the guy had also recorded all his favorite records to tape on. Most of the collection was entirely unplayed, because once he recorded the record to reels, he never spun the wax again. He also had 25 copies of the greatest hits of ABBA Vol.1, and 18 copies of Vol 2. I spent years giving that record away as a gift.

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

Depends on the store and their setup. I usually like to look at the wall of New Releases first, because I often forget what is even new anymore, even though my inbox is basically just PR emails. I like to look through the used bins, and then search for things on my “must own” list. I like to look for weird little hidden gems too, wherever those might be in a store.

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

All of my dad’s Gordon Lightfoot records. I like the memory of where this all comes from. My dad is still alive, but he doesn’t really listen to music like he did when I was young. So I hold onto the relics of what was. I have a lot of records that are “valuable”, but that all kind of means less than where the love and obsession with all of this stems from. Also, I am very proud of my Japanese pressing of the first Presidents of the United States of America album.

What one record in your collection would you be most eager to share with new friends?

TOUGH call. I am always kind of weird about listening to music around people I don’t know, because I’m more anxious than a lot of people think, and I always think everyone hates my taste in music. I always like to play something that’s indicative of me, and something that might spark a conversation. Probably Sumday by Grandaddy, one of my all-time favourite records.

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

Depends on the artist for sure, but there are a lot of my favourites I try and make sure I have everything by. I have every Sleater-Kinney record (up until Janet left the band), every Grandaddy record, every Liz Phair record. I have a LOT of Beck records, and everytime i look through the “B” section of our shared collection (my partner and I have our collections on a massive wall in our apartment, yes it sucks to move) I’m reminded of how many fucking records Beck has put out.

What is/are your white whale records?

I don’t know, and I wish I had a cool answer! It’s funny, I’m a collector, but I’m also not at all. I’m never chasing one specific record, but I’m always on the lookout for a select few. Shake The Sheets by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, which is one of my favourites of all time, and is the only Ted Leo record I don’t have on vinyl.

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

I’ve sold some of my greatest scores to pay bills, etc in the past (My CAKE box set that was a Record Store Day thing from years back paid my rent one month). I think my greatest score is maybe the aforementioned Japanese pressing of the first Presidents of the USA record. 90s stuff is always harder to source unless it’s a repress, the vinyl boom was kinda dead in the 90s and finding some of that stuff is hard. Oh, I have an original pressing of Mellow Gold too. That one I’ll never part with.

Do you have a favorite live record?

Tom Waits Nighthawks at the Diner, because he didn’t actually record it live. The whole thing was done in a studio, he just had them dummy it up for the album to make it sound like it was live in some diner somewhere. I just think that’s very charming in that kind-of-annoying Tom Waits way.

Who/what got you hooked on records?

My dad for sure, but just my love of music in general. I’ve always loved to hoard things, and to hold something physical. I collected VHS tapes, cassettes, CDs. Video games. Everything was a collection to me, it gave me something to organize and catalog and build my life around.

What are your first memories of listening to records?

I have such a terrible memory, stemming from my years of alcoholism, but music is kind of my only tether to places and people. I loved house parties when we still spun records. I loved the party we had at a friend’s apartment above a restaurant where we all had to invent a superhero and show up to the party in costume, choose an alignment and prepare for an epic showdown on the street at midnight. In the lead up to it, we were spinning Pauls Boutique on repeat and that record will always remind me of simpler days, lost friends, old homes. I also love listening to music with my fiancée because she’s a musician and inevitably she’ll pull out a guitar and try and learn a part while we spin.

What’s your favorite record to listen to on headphones?

Elliott Smith, Figure 8. It’s a little too depressing for my partner to listen to, so I like to spare her and listen to it on my own. It reminds me of living in a punk house in Alberta, which is where I lived when he died. Reminds me of headphones as a refuge in my little makeshift bed with a curtain hanging from the roof for a little privacy, and it reminds me of going for walks to smoke cigarettes by myself. I like to think about weird, kind of sad times, because it’s nice to remember getting through it all.

What genre is most represented in your collection?

Indie rock maybe, but that’s also such a generic term it’s hard to really say. I used to organize my collection by genre, and then by vibe, until my partner rightfully suggested we go alphabetical so we knew where things actually were.

Tell us a little about your favorite record store

I found this little record store once in an alleyway in Victoria, British Columbia. I don’t remember the name of it, but I remember asking the guy if he had any copies of Pet Sounds. He laughed at me and said of course not (this was before records like that got repressed once every two weeks) and sold me Surfs Up! Instead, which is such a good weird Beach Boys record. My niece goes to college there now, and I told her to find that little record store and let me tell you, giving directions of “it’s in an alley somewhere” is not helpful.

What’s the weirdest record you own?

The Sonic Youth greatest hits collection, which was a Starbucks-only release on CD that got released on vinyl for Record Store Day many years ago. It’s all songs chosen by celebrities. It’s such a weird decision that turned into what is legitimately a pretty good greatest hits album.

Hi IHTOV, my name is Niko Stratis, I’m a culture writer based in Toronto. I write a newsletter called Anxiety Shark, I co-host a podcast about The OC, and I have a book coming out in May called The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman. I met Gordon Lightfoot once, I told him my dad played his records all the time when I was growing up and he told me “your dad sounds fucking cool.” I’m a cancer, and a former smoker.

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