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The love felt for the creamy analogue sound of a vinyl record is still in the hearts of many.
The Vinyl Preservation Society of Idaho represents that particular sub-culture of music lovers. The society gathers on a monthly basis in the heart of the linen district near downtown Boise.
The society meets within the dashing Modern Hotel and Bar, welcoming a diverse group to talk, mingle and listen to their favored aural representation of music – the glossy vinyl record.
It all started back in May 2007 when Travis Dryden, his brother Chad and a group of friends started hanging out in Travis’s basement listening to old vinyl records.
“We saw the opportunity to meet more people. We knew there had to be other people interested in vinyl. We wanted to reach out to them and build some community,” Travis, co-founder of VPS said.
Their suspicions were well founded. There is a strong community in Boise that appreciates the aesthetic cleanliness of music when produced via vinyl.
The Vinyl Preservation Society has grown to nearly 100 members in less than a year.
The popularity of the group is logical: individuals who have a strong appreciation for vinyl have an opportunity to interact with those who share a common interest.
The society takes music from an isolated situation and substitutes that for a communal atmosphere which bolsters knowledge and general listening pleasure.
“It’s [listening to music] kind of a solitary activity, right? You put your own music on. You sit in your own home. You listen to it while you’re reading or working or doing whatever. We wanted to take music, in the vinyl format, from a passive activity – where you have it as background and it becomes the white noise of life – by getting together with vinyl in a social setting, we wanted to make it a more active thing,” Travis said.
By meeting on the fourth Wednesday of each month, the VPS is attempting to do exactly that.
The meetings are richly textured with a grand diversity of people as well as a spectacular array of music, all of which begs to be looked at, listened to and touched. The meetings are well structured and plenty of content can keep anyone satisfactorily occupied.
“We put a lot of thought into structuring the meetings because we wanted to keep the heart of the meetings listening. So, two out of the three hours is dedicated just to playing records. We call that open play. From the top of the hour, we wanted to have structure so that it could keep up some interest, you know, enough to fulfill some of our pillars: we want to preserve vinyl, we want to educate and we want to build a social community,” Travis said.
The actual meetings follow a well-defined script that provides for a few hours of genuine entertainment and education.
“From the top, we usually have a DJ who is sometimes a member or is someone in the valley who is interested in vinyl. The DJ comes in and spins some records. So we have a half hour, from 7 to about 7:30 [p.m.], of that ambient stuff while the members start to show up. They can socialize, grab a drink, meet some people, do a little trading or swapping and selling of vinyl. For the next half hour, from 7:30 to 8 [p.m.], we like to fulfill that education pillar by having a brief presentation. We focus on having group members presenting and sometimes we have external presenters. After that half-hour, we go into the open play, which is really the heart of the meeting. It’s where you can bring your records to the meeting and we will throw your name in a hat. If we pull it out you get to play, sometimes you’ll get up two or three times in a night. It’s [a] chance for everybody to get to be the DJ for a few minutes and share a piece of music that they love or has some special meaning. It’s like show and tell for adults,” Travis said.
The meetings are extremely welcoming to anyone interested in attending.
It is not required that participants have vinyl, though it is encouraged. The basic idea is to come out, meet new people, learn about vinyl and music and to enjoy the community and art form.
BOB BEERS
Culture Writer
