“I think we realised in St Kilda how important [the local community] was,” says Maxwell. “It was just so challenging over there because of the venues closing down and the rentals going up. It just really dispersed the local music scene. So coming to Brunswick, it was where we were buying our records, where the bands were located and where we could connect with them. I don’t think we’d be open if we didn’t have these records from local bands here.”
Maxwell is incredibly receptive to local musicians walking in from the street wanting to sell their new independently pressed records. “It’s kids really well educated in music and music history, and wanting to create music. And very aware of the world that they’re living in and engaging with that intelligently, and spitting it out. It’s like, ‘Wow that’s what we used to dig when we were teenagers in the ‘80s.’ ”
Record Paradise lives inside of a small warehouse situated next to Jewell station, and it’s home to an industrial-sized record collection. The vastness of their collection is a product of the owners’ endeavour to combat the environmental impact of discarded vinyl.
“I guess we probably started from almost like a recycling [standpoint]. These records, they’re PVC, they’re not ready to go to landfill,” says Maxwell. “The equipment that plays them, it might be outdated but it still works, it’s still efficient. [So we thought] ‘Let’s exhaust this until we can let it go, maybe, 20, 40 years down the track.”
Throughout their eight-year ownership of Record Paradise, Maxwell and Allen have been active second hand dealers, buying deceased estates and offering a new home for nostalgic collections. It’s an integral function of the store, one that recently paid big dividends.
“We had a huge garage sale and sold over 5000 [one] dollar records, so we recycled them which is great,” says Maxwell. “A lot of them would’ve ended up in landfill, but that meant that we can actually move the horde back a bit. So we’ve added a huge area that we can use as a performance space, that [means] we’re not going to intrude on the diggers so much.”
The store is gearing up for a huge Record Store Day 2016, featuring a live instore from the stirring Jess Ribeiro (whose Kill It Yourself was one of Maxwell’s favourite albums of last year) and a set from RSD ambassador Ella Hooper. General Men and Danny Walsh Banned will both celebrate new releases with live performances, while rounding out the eclectic lineup will be Hi-tec Emotions, who’re Maxwell and Allen’s “pick of the year” for 2016.
Record Paradise is predicated on band empowerment, and aims to directly engage with the local community. “I think it’s the style of record that we’re getting. It’s the stories that those records are telling – it is one of a resistance. It’s not of harking back to nostalgia, but it’s looking at things that were good from the past. Like an ability to use music as a way to connect, an ability to use music as a way that, if you are feeling isolated, you can have empathy with people that you may not necessarily know. A connection.”
BY CHRIS SCOTT
