Across three decades, Kevin Poindexter has played a crucial role at the heart of the Guided by Voices operation — one that life’s demands can only hinder for so long.
Back in 1994, he and close friend Matt Davis caught a GBV gig that knocked them both sideways. One thing led to another — and via Pete Jamison, Davis, then Poindexter, became increasingly drawn into the Rockathon Records’ core workings, working alongside third partner Mike “The Heed” Lipps.
Therein, Poindexter became a dependable extra set of hands — handling orders, packing records, and getting shipments out the door. He also helped sort and digitize the tapes that became 2000’s Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft, a fascinating sprawl of primordial Pollard recordings that led to three sequels.
By the middle of the 2010s, Poindexter’s growing family dominated his day-to-day, and he decided to step back from Rockathon as a result. In the last year and change, he’s found himself in a position to give the label his all again.
These days, he’s helping package and ship GBV’s newest album, Thick Rich and Delicious, released October 31 via GBV, Inc. (Click here to order.)
I sat down with Poindexter to discuss his history with Rockathon and his facilitation of the music he loves. To read the Excited Ones! interview with Davis, click here. For Lipps’ interview, click here.
What’s up, Kevin?
It’s been busy. I work for the University of Dayton. I’m the Course Materials Manager at the bookstore, and right now I’m working on getting everything ready to go for the spring semester. It’s a flurry of activity trying to get all that stuff ready to go so that when students are back in January, you know they’re set.
What does that look like up close?
So, I’ve actually been at UD for almost 25 years now. The course materials have kind of changed a lot over even the past few years.
One of the things I like about the job is that it’s evolving so quickly that it’s never the same from semester to semester. Whereas when I first started, every semester was exactly the same as the semester before it, and the semester that was coming next. But now, it’s all evolving so rapidly that it’s always something new.
Like, we started a program this fall semester where we lowered the price of all the materials for the students that are undergrads. So, they each pay $299.99 and they get everything they need for the semester. When you price it out, a chemistry book’s almost $400 now with the software they use and things like that, so it’s a really cool deal.
We’re at the forefront of the industry trying stuff like this, and it makes it exciting; it kind of keeps me going back every day.
It’s one of those things where I hope after I’m gone from there, that people will say, “Yeah, Kevin — he did a pretty good job for us. He really set the university up in a cool way, and saved students and their families money — and also saved the university a lot of money, because we’re spending less.”
What led you to this vocation?
I was in automotive parts sales for six or seven years right out of college. I took a job — and it was a good job — but I used to have to work 60 hours a week to really make some good money. And it got to the point where I’m like, Man, this is getting old.
There were two parts-houses in town that sold [most of the] auto parts to the entire Dayton and surrounding area. They covered a big area. By the time I left six years later, there were, like, seven or eight. So the pie kept getting cut into smaller and smaller slices, and it became harder and harder to really make a lot of money.
So, I was looking for something different — and I graduated from UD in ‘94, and I’m like, If I get a job at the university, I can get a second degree, and then I can do something entirely new. So I took the job at the bookstore that was opening. It was shipping and receiving at the time — and that ties into Rockathon, too. But I was thinking, I’ll get another degree, and then I’ll move on.
But a funny thing happened, which is — man, I really liked it. It was a cool place to work. I worked with cool people. My boss was great, and I just kind of fell into this career that I never imagined. It’s wild, really. Nobody stays at a place for 25 years anymore.
What did you excel at in school?
I was an English major in college. In high school, I excelled at goofing off and playing sports. Football and basketball, primarily.
Where did you shine in those sports?
I knew I was never the best, right? And I knew I was never going to be the best, so I would do the dirty work to help others succeed.
In basketball, I would guard their biggest player and foul them and push them around and play hard. And just really wear them out — get rebounds, block shots, make passes. If a ball fell into my hands and I was under the basket, great, I’d score — but I didn’t really worry about scoring. That wasn’t my thing. I knew that wasn’t what made the team good, right?
So, I feel like being a team player is really what I excelled at. It’s kind of carried me through life, that same philosophy. Like, I had been on teams where I was the best player — and quite honestly, we sucked, right? Like, if I’m your best player, then you’ve got some problems.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Yeah, exactly. You learn a lot of valuable life lessons that way. I try to share it with my kids. And I coached for a while as well, and tried to share it with them as well.
How did that value extend outward in your life?
I think a lot of it, too, is just solid Midwestern meat-and-potatoes values, right? You put your head down and you just grind it out and do what needs to be done — and you just get it done.
I feel like that’s kind of the way my career has progressed, where I’m just like, OK, this needs to be done. Let’s do it. Yet at the same time trying to be supportive of the rest of the team that maybe aren’t in my division. How can I help you as well? What can I do to make your job easier at your busy times of the year?
How did you first intersect with Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices?
First of all, I’m an avid student of rock. That’s going back to when I was a little kid — always fascinated by album covers and all that stuff. Every week on Friday, the Dayton Daily News would have a review of five movies and a couple of albums that were coming out that week. Sometimes they’d tie it into a local thing.
This was in ‘93 — and I remember seeing “Guided by Voices is having an album release party for the release of Vampire on Titus.” I’m like, What the hell is Vampire on Titus? What is Guided by Voices?
I wasn’t really involved in the local music scene at that point; it wasn’t something that was really on my radar. But alternative music had hit really big in late ‘91, early ‘92, so there was a growing interest in underground music.
But I remember seeing it and thinking, Oh, that sounds cool. And then I saw a CD copy of it at the record store, and I’m like, Man, this has got 30, 40 songs on it — because it was the double that had Vampire on Titus and Propeller.
The yellow cover looked super cool. I didn’t buy it, but I always thought about it. So, I was familiar with the name.
Fast forward to ‘94, and some of my buddies and I got into Pavement. We learned Pavement was playing the Southgate house [in Newport, Kentucky], and I’m like, “Look, this band Guided by Voices from Dayton is opening. The 3Ds from New Zealand are on the bill. This is going to be a great show.” I’d never seen or heard of any of these bands but Pavement — but we’ve got to get there early, right? Not knowing what any of them look like.
I remember there ended up being a local band from Cincinnati that opened the show, so it ended up being a four-act bill. I elbow Matt: These are the guys from Dayton. We’ve got to check these guys out. And they put on this stage show like they were the Rolling Stones playing at Riverfront Stadium to 60,000 people. It was the most amazing thing I ever saw.
Bob’s doing kicks; [Greg] Demos is spinning around, holding his bass up in the air; [guitarist] Mitch [Mitchell] is standing there, cool, smoking. And it’s just this wall of music coming at you. I’ve never heard anything like that.
I remember there was a back way you could get up in the balcony, and Stephen Malkmus was sitting off in the corner, kind of bouncing his head, smiling and grooving to it. And then I think he saw people kind of recognizing him, so he turned around and ran off and went back down to the green room or whatever.
It was one of those things where, at least in Dayton, the critics would always say, “Yes, these records are amazing, but you have to see them live to really experience what this band is. I think it was a perfect collection of influences and personalities — and, obviously, amazing songwriting and powerful vocals — just all coming together for this giant rock ‘n’ roll machine that would blow you away every night, every time. I never saw a bad show.
Which also ties into those Midwestern values. Giving every show 1,000%.
I definitely think that’s a huge part of it. They’re older than I am, but they all came from a similar background as I did. Some of them are into sports; some of them played sports. And they really had that mentality of, Let’s go out and win this one! Let’s go kick some ass!
The Beatles famously dreamed of being “the toppermost of the poppermost.” But there’s climbing the pop charts, and there’s spiking the football.
Yeah, and that’s what GBV did. They would spike it right in the other bands’ faces: “Beat that.” They were bringing it harder than most bands were, for sure. And if you look at the list of some of the artists who were big fans, they were big rock stars — and even they were blown away by this small band from Dayton. It was just this thing that was really catching fire — lightning in a bottle.
The mid-’90s were a magical time in music. Things like that could happen in rock ‘n’ roll. I feel like it’s not as common anymore. There are not a lot of great rock bands right now. I mean, there’s still tons of great music — don’t get me wrong. There are good bands, but there aren’t a lot of big star, huge rock bands.
Like, I joke when I’m at work — we used to play top 40 radio all the time in the store — and I’m like, “Hey, can I just hear a guitar? I would just like to hear a guitar.” When I was a kid, pop songs rocked. The charts rocked. And at some point, they quit rocking.
There’s a saying, and I think our friend Jason from Albuquerque, New Mexico coined this: “Most don’t rock forever.” I think the thought behind that theory was that a lot of people age out of wanting to hear rock, or even caring about rock…
Not me, brother.
Not me. Nobody I know.
I’m rocking ‘til death.
Yeah, me too. I’m rocking ‘til the end. I’ll be on my deathbed, and I’ll be like, “Could somebody play Crystal Nuns Cathedral?” I want that to be the last thing. Let me hear something like that.
Climbing a ramp to the afterlife.
Yeah, exactly. Holy cow, I love that album.
Is that your favorite of this run?
Well, it’s rarified air, right? You’re splitting hairs: What’s the best of the best? It’s like a photo finish. For me, Crystal Nuns Cathedral would be number one.
Number two — although I didn’t understand this record for a little while, especially coming right off the heels of Crystal Nuns — would actually be Tremblers and Goggles by Rank. It’s great, and so different. I guess that’s what keeps it great — that it’s not the same album two or three times in a row. That would be number two, and then maybe Sweating the Plague number three.
My number one, all-time GBV album probably goes between Crystal Nuns and Universal Truths. I don’t know which is number one or number two. But I’ve told Matt this — and I know Bob knows this as well — whichever number one is, it’s also my favorite album of all time. By anybody.
“Storm Vibrations”… man. That might be my favorite song of all time. There’s a couple reasons why. First was the recognition of the genesis of it being an old Suitcase outtake. “Does it hurt you? / To love, I mean.” That’s so fucking deep.
Just his vocal on that, and the way the music builds — and a lot of it’s Doug and the way he’s playing. There’s this release when it gets to that part. And they did it again with “Secret Star” from Earthquake Glue. That release of raw emotion.
And it could have ended right there, right? That could have been the end of the album, right? But it just keeps going with more amazing stuff after that.
Getting back to the story.
So, [the Southgate House show] was how we first came into contact with them, and then it just kind of grew from there. It happened fast. Once we got in and really started getting into the music — it wasn’t just me and Matt, it was all of our group of friends. “There’s all these 7” records — we’ve got to find them! These old records that aren’t even on CD yet — we’ve got to find those!”
Trader Vic put out the Crying Your Knife Away double bootleg album [from 1994], and that, for us, was the ultimate; it was like GBV’s greatest hits, right? ‘Cause you couldn’t get a lot of that stuff. It was like digging for gold, or something; you were always looking for these treasures, trying to find them. So, yeah, it was a fun time to get into the band for sure.
How did you get involved with them?
I’ve been friends with Matt since 1985; we’ve been friends for 40 years. He’s always been the more outgoing and social of the group. So, we would go out and see Bob or Pete Jamison, and whereas we were kind of starstruck, he would go up and talk to them. He got invited to go to the Monument Club, which was the garage at Bob’s house at the time.
And after he settled in and people got comfortable with him, he started inviting us to come around. So, we started showing up at the Monument Club and drinking beer, playing basketball, watching sports, and playing tunes — which is all stuff we would have been doing anyway, right? So we fit in right away.
From there, Matt started helping Pete with old Rockathon. They asked me if I’d have any interest in helping them; I said, “Yeah, absolutely.” So Pete would go on tour with the band — this was after Mag Earwhig! and pre-Do the Collapse, so kind of the Waved Out time period. [Drummer] Jimmy Mac [Jim Macpherson] was in the band; [guitarist] Doug [Gillard] was in the band. He was putting the pieces in place for the Do the Collapse band. So, people would go off on these tours for a while.
[Pete’s] like, “Hey, can you guys kind of run the place while I’m gone?” And at the time, that meant, “Can you mail out the mail order stuff?” Which was usually T-shirts; I’m sure you’re familiar with the old, handmade Vampire on Titus and Propeller T-shirts and stuff that [Pete] screened.
Of course.
He got so pissed at me one time because I ruined his Propeller silk screen, so he had to make another one. But so, we would go down and help him do that. Then, time went on, and I kind of fell out of that part of it. Matt kept doing it for a while and still stayed in contact with the guys.
There’d be recording sessions at Cro-Magnon [Studios], which was in Dayton, really close to where Rockathon was. We would all go and hang out with the guys while they were recording. It was awesome.
Then, fast forward to 2009, and word came to Matt, Heed, and myself that Rich was looking to get out of Rockathon, and would we be interested in taking it over. Matt said, “Well, I can’t do it by myself.”
With the three of us, we could each focus on a specific thing that we were good at. Matt’s really good at project management, so he excelled at that. Heed has run his business for a number of years, and he was good at the financials.
I’ve always been the guy who gets his hands dirty — who did the shipping and web and mail orders and all that stuff. Of course, when it was all busy and stuff, we would all do a little bit of everything. But that’s kind of how we set it up, and that’s how it worked for years and years.
So, we got to see so many amazing things that most people can only dream of — seeing the band rehearse, and when they rehearse, they’re at full volume. They play the full concert. If you’re standing next to the drummer and it’s, say, Jim Macpherson — he hits the drums different. You can feel the air move when he’s playing the drums.
And with someone like Doug, you can hear all of the little extra things he puts into the song with his playing, the little riffs and nods to other stuff. All of them through the years are incredible musicians, especially the current lineup.
I almost forgot another thing that kind of brought me back to the Suitcase project — another way that I kind of gained the trust of Bob, that I could be involved in some of this stuff.
Matt and I would go over pre-Monument Club. Monument Club would start at six, and we’d get there at 4:30 on a Wednesday or noon on a Sunday or whatever.
He would bring out the literal suitcase of tapes, and we would listen to them and digitize them. So, we were getting to hear all this incredible music. He would trust us to sometimes take it home — like, I remember having The Power of Suck demo tape: “We’re out of time, so go digitize this.” So I took it home, digitized it, and brought it back. I was hearing all this amazing stuff.
And then it was 2000. I was on vacation. Matt called me and said, “Hey, we’re putting out Suitcase.” “What do you mean?” “Suitcase. It’s coming out.” I’m like, “You’re kidding me.” He’s like, “Yeah.” He gave me all the files, and my brother David worked on it as well. He mastered all of it, and then we gave it to Matt and the Fading Captain guys, and they turned it into Suitcase.
Which is one of the things that I’m proudest of that I’ve ever associated with — to know that my name is on the box: “Compiled by Matt Davis, Robert Pollard, and Kevin Poindexter.” I puffed my chest out. I’m like, This is the greatest thing ever. This is better than The Beatles Anthology or something like that. This is amazing.
So many Pollard songs make me feel that way. I’ll feel out of sorts, then I put on “The Official Ironmen Rally Song” or “Don’t Stop Now,” and nobody can fuck with me.
Yeah, a lot of that stuff is like, We’re going to keep going no matter what. They did it for themselves for so long and probably wanted to stop so many times:
We’re just going to keep going. We’re going to put our heads down. We’re going to rock out. We’re going to make great stuff. If people like it, great. If they don’t: we love it.
Kid Marine is full of big emotional songs. The kind of where you put your fist up and do the slow nod: He gets it. The lyrics can be interpreted so many ways, but it’s the feeling behind it. He gets it, and the band gets it, and when they’re together like that, it’s magic.
Talk about your connection to that one.
If I remember right, that was one that Bob had talked to Matt about putting out, because Matador was like, “You’re putting out too many records, but you can put out stuff on your own. I could be wrong, but I think this was the deal: “You have to run it by us first. If we want it, we’ll take it. But if not, go ahead and put it out.”
So, they did Kid Marine and took the band in, and I got to watch the genesis of it and see them nail these songs. What’s always impressed me about Bob and the band is the efficiency with which they work. I don’t know if there’s some sort of connection or language that I don’t get, not being a musician. But they can get it in a take, and that’s the take.
Intuition, muscle memory, listening…
Yeah, I think there’s a lot of that. It’s intuitiveness. These guys had played together for so long that they just got it. They knew what Bob wanted, and Bob knew that they could deliver it, and they made this totally kick-ass album.
It’s just full of those moments where you start thinking about it: “Submarine Teams,” [I think] part of that’s about Jimmy, [Bob’s] brother. “Jumbo stats / Putting up big numbers on the ocean floor.”
I mean, I don’t know if that’s really about him, but Jimmy was putting up these monster basketball stats growing up. It’s like, But you’re in Dayton. Eventually, he went to Arizona State on a scholarship. But it’s like you’re living in a vacuum in a lot of ways. It’s a thing here, but it’s not necessarily a thing everywhere else — so it’s like you’re on the ocean floor, maybe.
It could be his story as well. “Jumbo stats” could be putting out all these great albums. And they don’t sell a lot, but they’re amazing. It’s the old English major in me looking for themes and stuff like that.
Who are your favorite authors?
Probably Kurt Vonnegut and Hemingway. These guys had a unique way with words and telling stories. One was more real in Hemingway, and the other, was — I don’t want to say more absurd or whatever, but certainly more humorous in Vonnegut. I think they’re equally valid and equally amazing.
And, you know — the Beat Generation, beat poetry, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac and all that stuff. The jazz rhythm that you can read with that stuff is amazing. My buddy Dennis, who’s also good friends with Matt, had a box set of Kerouac reading his works over jazz music. The actor-comedian Steve Allen was one of the musicians on it. There’s certainly greatness in a lot of different areas.
Robert’s a beautiful lyricist. Under-appreciated.
Certainly, Bob’s up there. He’s the best rock lyricist I know and I’ve ever heard, for sure. And that’s the thing: if you’re studying literature or poetry, it’s not always obvious what something is about.
If you want to get to the crux of what somebody’s trying to say — it can be beautiful on the surface, right? And you can appreciate it that way. But you can also dig deeper and really try to figure out what they’re saying, and that makes it even more incredible.
The melodies charge the words with electricity.
I think you’re exactly right. It’s a combination of words and music, right? The way they go together, they enhance each other.
Are you a fan of rock ‘n’ roll storytellers like Springsteen?
I do like Bruce, yeah. It’s been a great year for Springsteen fans with a couple of box sets, but he’s not up there with Bob in my book, for sure.
I can name a bunch of global icons who haven’t gotten halfway to the summit of what Robert represents artistically.
Somebody like Springsteen, I think has kind of a similar work ethic as Bob. He’ll never really know how many albums he recorded and scraps, but legend is, it’s tons, right? He’s supposedly sitting on this vault of songs and albums that were completed, that are, like, Hey, you know, it’s not good enough. Prince was the same way. Prince was my Bob before Bob.
You’re a big Prince guy?
Well, not as much anymore, but I certainly was growing up and into my early 20s. When Prince started declining is when I got into a Bob.
But he’s another amazing artist who has this spirituality and duality in his work. You can listen to it on the surface level and think, Yeah, this is fun pop, but man, he’s got some dark stuff. The dude wrestled with spirituality and his religious views, and his conflicting other side, which was this sexual drive — like Dirty Mind, the album. You know, we all have our own conflicts, and his played out on record, which I always thought was fascinating.
But as great as he was, he didn’t have a sustained period of excellence like Bob or Springsteen or really anybody. Bob’s been kicking ass for 40 years now with no signs of decline.
Nowhere to Go but Up, right?
So, I quoted that today. It’s funny, really. I have four kids; my youngest daughter is nine. She was upset because she wasn’t allowed to play with her friend; her friend wasn’t allowed to come out to play.
She came home and she was crying: “This is the worst day of my life.” I’m like, “Really? It’s the worst day of your life? What about when you were sick? What about when you had casts on your feet? What about when you had Covid? That wasn’t the worst day?” She’s like, “This is the worst day.” I’m like, “Well, at least there’s nowhere to go but up.” She’s like, “What are you talking about?” I’m like, “You’re pretty smart…”
“You’ll figure it out when you’re older.”
Yeah, “Here, let me give you this album. You’ll figure it out.”
What’s coming up at Rockathon?
Bob has recently been working on a new issue of EAT, and I know that the band is working on a new album. I think 2026 is really starting to take shape. I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s going to be another pretty cool year for sure.
The energy’s there.
Yeah, for sure. It’s good to be a part of it again. You know, I was out of it for a number of years — not because I didn’t love to do it anymore, but I was at a point in my life where I didn’t feel like I was able to give it my all.
This was around Christmas 2017, or January 2018. I was always thinking about how, Man, this is not about me. I’m doing this for Guided by Voices and for Bob, and my excellence is not matching their excellence. I am not giving this the effort that it deserves.
Just because, you know — my nine-year-old was then, at the time, not even two. My 14-year-old was six, or however old he was. One of my daughters was entering high school, and she was super active in sports. We were always traveling, and it became harder and harder to find time to do this. I really felt guilty about the effort I was putting forth: Man, I’m sucking.
So I’m like, I think I need to step away. I told Mike and Matt, “I’ll get you through Space Gun and a little bit after that, but after that, I’ve got to step away. So, it’s been that long since I had really been involved. Obviously, I still talked to those guys all the time.
But then at Heedfest two years ago, Mike let me know that he was really sick. At that point, I didn’t really know, and I got to thinking about it, and I came home and talked to my wife about it.
I’m like, “Hey, I think we’re at a point now where if Matt and Mike are interested, I think I could help.” So I called Matt: “You know, I’m available. Heed’s down for a little while. You don’t need to be doing this all by yourself. If you need me, I’m there.” So that’s been over a year now, and it’s been great to be able to hang out and do this again.
It’s funny: one of the first times I was there, [bassist] Mark Shue and [drummer] Kevin March were there. They were picking up or dropping off equipment. They looked at me at the shipping station, and Mark’s like, “How’s it feel to be in that chair again?” I’m like, “It feels pretty good. Like I never left.”
Even though it had been seven or eight years, it was cool to say that the same names were still ordering. It’s like I know these people — even though it’s been so long, I can remember your address. And then: so many new names, right? Like, Oh, man, it’s really grown. The flock has grown since I’ve been away. I had no idea.
It’s amazing to see that the old fans are still active and interested, and so many more new fans are into it too.
What non-Pollard music has gotten under your skin lately?
Oh my gosh, that’s a loaded question. You have no idea how much I consume. Like I told you, I’m a student of rock and music in general.
When I was a kid, I was the kid who’d be like, “Mom, I’m going down to the basement of the store.” Back when parents would leave their kids to do stuff, I’d be down in the basement: “Come get me when you’re done.” I’d be just looking at all the albums and cassette tapes, imagining what they sounded like.
But what really turns me on lately is: for the past three or four years, I’ve really taken a deep dive into jazz. Which is something that I’d always liked; I had really gotten into it when I was in college. I took a course on it and had a really good instructor, and he turned me on to a lot of good things.
But [it’s really all about] diving into all the lesser-known stuff, right? Even, like, in the Blue Note catalog, there are these lesser-known gems that are ripe for discovery.
Like, I bought two today. I’ve got a bad habit. I’ve been addicted to buying music forever. And one of the things I do is: we’ve got a couple of really good record stores in Dayton, and they’ve got all their inventory online. I don’t have a lot of time to dig anymore, but what I’ll do is, I’ll kind of scroll through and see what they’ve got.
And if they’ve got something — like, this morning, they had a Blue Mitchell Blue Note, a French pressing, for a really good price. And I’m like, I’ve got to have that. And I’m worried that somebody else is going to get it before I can get down there.
So, I ordered online, and I go down there — and Chuck, who works at Omega, is a huge GBV fan. We started talking, and I’m like, “Well, I noticed you have this original mono, 1962 Stanley Turrentine That’s Where It’s At album. I know it’s listed in good condition — but, like, how bad is it? He’s like, “Well, I don’t know, let’s look at it.”
He pulls it out, and it’s got a lot of scuffs and a couple scratches, but it’s built like a tank. It’s a thick piece of vinyl. And if you’ve ever listened to an old Blue Note, they may look like they’re beat to hell, but they play pretty good. They only wanted 15 bucks for it. It was an original mono, deep groove. The cover was in great shape. I’m like, I’ll buy it just for the cover alone. If a couple songs play, great. Someday, maybe I’ll get a better copy.
He’s checking, and he’s like, “By the way, you have $10 off.” Like, no shit! So, I ended up getting an OG mono Blue Note for five bucks today. You don’t score like that very often.
What’s at the root of your jazz obsession? I write for JazzTimes and places like that.
I saw that. One of the things that I’ve learned through the years is to do a little research before you talk to somebody — about no matter what, like in customer service, or anything. Like, Well, what are some commonalities? Like, obviously, I knew we’d have huge GBV commonalities, and I’m like, Oh, jazz writer. Cool.
I was always looking for something new — in pursuit of something true and great artistically. It was not easy to get into. I don’t know if it was an instant love for you, but I had to work at it.
I probably started with the wrong things, but eventually, I kind of figured it out. Like, I started with Bitches Brew and A Love Supreme, which are admittedly two of the greatest jazz albums of all time. But for somebody who’s never had a jazz album, maybe you’re like, What the hell? I don’t understand. I can’t make sense of this.
But then, I got My Favorite Things, and then I got Giant Steps, and then I got Kind of Blue. Then, those guys started to make sense. And then I branched out. This was when the label in Philadelphia, Evidence, started reissuing all the Sun Ra stuff on CD. So, I picked up a couple of those — and even though some of it was out there, for whatever reason, it just made sense.
It had been something that I had put away for a long time, and would dive back in periodically. But, I don’t know — something a few years ago just made me want to get into it again.
What’s your favorite jazz instrument?
I would say trumpet or sax. My favorite jazz musician is probably Lee Morgan or Donald Byrd. So, I guess I might be a trumpet guy, but I love the sax too.
And, man, it’s been nonstop. Between listening to rock and jazz, there’s always something new to discover. I think the thrill of discovery is kind of what keeps us going as collectors.
What do you connect with in the modern rock landscape?
I’m still an indie guy, tried and true. As I’m getting older, my memory sucks, but that’s what’s so great about technology is that I can read lists. The Sharp Pins record.
Yeah, they’ve been mentioned time and time again here.
Yeah, it’s really good. I think [GBV producer] Travis Harrison worked on this one — I’m not 100% certain, but I know he’s worked with them in the past. But there’s an album called Buyer Beware by the Men — a really fucking strong rock album.
And then the Frankie and the Witch Fingers album Trash Classic [which came out this year] — really good. There’s always something new you can find. The Snocaps album that came out last week clicked right away.
So, that’s where I’m at with rock ‘n’ roll, man. Like I said, there’s still great stuff out there, but you’ve got to look a little bit harder now to find the really good stuff.
How’s your family?
Family life is great. I’ve got a grandson. Now, I’ve got the four kids — 29, 21, 14, and nine. Two of them are out of the house. [At work] I’ve had two launches that were successful, and two more to come, hopefully. But my main focus, before my job or anything like that, is family first and foremost.
What’s behind you? It looks Pollardian.
So, that’s Bad Football by the Takeovers.
I actually bought that from Bob. I’ve also got Tigerbomb next to it. You can’t see it, but it’s a big canvas print of the artwork that he had made up. He’s got a bunch of them — and I guess these had rotated out of his display area or whatever, and they were kind of just sitting around. He’s like, “Hey, does anybody want to buy these?” I’m like, “Hell yeah, I’ll buy them.”
So, he brought them down to Rockathon for me, and they’re perfect in my basement. I love them.
These are so great, Morgan. Listening to Xeno Urban right now! I was hoping you’d ask Kevin about whether Bob’s into jazz at all…
These should be made into a book!