“My first records were metal: Judas Priest, AC/DC, Ozzy. It was the music that my friend’s big brothers listened to and therefore, so did we. It was the entire universe, as far as I was concerned. “
“I spent hours listening and wondering what it would be like to go to a concert. Ozzy and AC/DC frightened me at first.. but the more I listened the more I wanted get closer to all of it. I was obsessed.
The first time I heard the Ramones, I was all in. It was the coolest thing I could imagine. It sounded like the ’60s (another obsession that came later) but LOUD and FAST. It was catchy, weird, and simple enough for me to think I could try playing my own music someday.
I gave away all of my metal records the next day. It felt like a line in the sand. I started collecting Ramones records, then the Clash. That led to the Cure and the Smiths—it went on from there and branched out.
I love how vinyl creates its own time and space—it feels like an event. As a kid, I’d study the artwork while listening. It was all so other-worldly, so completely different from anything I knew about in my neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas.
Music was pretty much the only thing I was ever interested in (still is), and records convinced me there were exciting things going on outside my block. Art was being made—weird, noisy, perfect art. I needed to find out how and where and when. The funny thing I didn’t realize until much later is that most of the records I love were made exactly the same way that I was listening to them—someone was alone in a room, dreaming.
I’ve never had the same experience with cassettes, CDs, or streaming. Don’t get me wrong, driving around blasting I Should Coco in my car is a great, great thing. But a different thing.
Lately I’ve been listening to ’60s jazz (Stan Getz, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck) I’ve got a turntable in my kitchen that seems to get a lot of attention. I’m still studying the artwork and the liner notes, and dreaming.”
—John Dufilho
Time Well Wasted, the new full-length release from The Deathray Davies arrives in stores February 12th, 2021.
