There’s always been something special about vinyl records, but with music available as freely as tap water in this day and age, we can’t help but feel that a rare pressing carries even more weight these days.
Record label and all-round Aussie music over-achievers UNFD clearly agree, today launching a very cool initiative: an exclusive club for collectors of rare vinyl.
Known as the UNFD Vinyl Club (of course), it’s a rather exclusive affair that will offer membership to a select number of eager collectors who will then be able to get their hands on limited runs of each UNFD record that gets released, with 100 special copies made for each.
Each member will be able to buy a single copy of each release, and there is strictly no on-selling allowed – although, in the spirit of record collecting, trades are fine. Meanwhile, extra goodies like test pressings will also be up for grabs from time to time.
Josh Smith and Jake Taylor of UNFD acts Northlane and In Hearts Wake respectively each weighed in on the club.
“Two or three collectors of Northlane stuff that I’ve seen have literally every release we’ve ever made in every edition, more stuff than even I have!” Josh says. “I think it’s really cool that UNFD actually seeks these people out and rewards them with Test Presses for supporting us which is really cool.”
“It’s an opportunity to have a band’s piece of history,” Jake adds, “it’s something you can touch and feel and even see a band’s music through the grooves of the record.”
To celebrate the launch, UNFD have also released a nice mini-doco about UNFD and its special connection with vinyl. The documentary features the insane collection of mega-collector James Williamson, who we’re told once rocked up to a Hellions show, only to ask the band to sign 19 separate items – now that’s a dedicated crate-digger.
To find out more about this very exclusive club, we had a chat with UNFD’s Luke Logemann about how it started, what we can expect to hear – and how you can hopefully get in. Head over to the site to apply, and good luck!
Inside The UNFD Vinyl Club
So, what prompted UNFD to start up the vinyl club?
Luke Logemann: As a label, we’ve ended up with an incredible vinyl culture that surrounds our brand and our artists. Its something that we’ve really enjoyed doing, and has helped us form many friendships and connections in the past. Its become something our label is known for, and we wanted to make a bigger deal about it and reward the people who have become such keen collectors of our records.
Do UNFD bands generally have pretty dedicated vinyl enthusiasts collecting their work?
One of the most exciting days I can remember is when one of our junior staff showed me a group on Facebook called “UNFD Merch Swap” which has like 6000-7000 members and is mostly people discussing our records. I had somehow not been aware of it, as it was created by fans. But that illustrates pretty effectively how much of a culture our vinyl has behind it.
UNFD artists have some of the most insane collectors you can imagine. Because our artists often have fanbases all over the world, there is different pressings for different territories and all kinds of variants out there. We’ve had fans show off full collections with material we didn’t even know existed.
Is there a particular connection between the hardcore community and vinyl?
Absolutely. I grew up in the hardcore scene and I was an avid collector of vinyl in the late 90s and early 2000s. The albums I love, I have 5-20 copies of, and many of my friends who grew up in that time period are the same. It’s an amazing hobby, and I’ve met people all over the world through it.
We take a similar approach to UNFD, even if we aren’t a traditional hardcore label – but we do exciting stuff with the records and treat them like a special item. Everything we do is influenced by the hardcore scene in some way.
What are some of the vinyl records the UNFD team treasure most?
The first album we ever pressed on vinyl was Amity’s Youngbloods, and there is the red version which has only 100 copies – I’ve got a sealed copy which I am stoked on. Northlane’s Discoveries vinyl – we only made 150 originally of the ‘Nebula’ colourway, and that is incredible – five colours all swirled together to replicate the album cover. We had to get a bunch of test versions done to get that right.
Does the complete ubiquity of digital music now make a limited edition physical copy even more special than it once was?
As awesome as digital music is, I think people enjoy having something to represent their love for music. They want to hold something and cherish something and thats where vinyl has such staying power.
What’s involved in the application/invite process – gotta show off your tatts? How do we get on the list?
It’s pretty simple – basically tell us about yourself and your collection, and show us that you’re someone who cares deeply about the UNFD artists and their vinyl records.
And what’s involved in the review process? Do you have to buy a certain amount of vinyl or risk getting the boot?
The main thing that will get people the boot is trying to sell these records and rip people off. But it’s limited membership, so we want people to be as active as possible.
Sales are prohibited, but trades are welcome. What was the thinking behind this, what’s the punishment for being caught selling?
We created this club with the community in mind. We want to give everyone a chance to expand their collections, but we don’t want to see members profiting by selling these editions to people in or outside the group for inflated prices.
We know people pay crazy amounts for some UNFD vinyl online, and we don’t want to encourage that. Anyone caught engaging in that behaviour will be removed from the vinyl club permanently.
What sort of variations can we expect? Anything particularly elaborate on the cards?
Thats information only the vinyl club members will get to know!
