Resist Records is Australia’s premiere destination for punk and hardcore music. Not only is it a Newtown retail store stocking a large range of vinyl, shirts and cd’s it’s also a record label and touring company. To celebrate Record Store day we caught up with Resist owner Graham Nixon to discuss hardcore music, Parkway drive and the resurgence of vinyl.
SCENEzine
Firstly can you tell us how long Resist has been around and how it started?
Graham Nixon
Resist started in 1996 as a retail music and skate store and a few years later started the label and touring.
SCENEzine
Record Store Day is not too far away. Are you surprised how popular the day has now become?
Graham Nixon
Its definitely grown in popularity and is by far our busiest day of the year.
SCENEzine
The list of Record Store Day exclusive titles has recently been released. Is there any that your hoping to have in stock on the day?
Graham Nixon
I think we’ve managed to get copies of everything we would have wanted, however there’s always titles popping up late that make it impossible to get in time being in Australia. The other difficult thing with RSD is that stores make the orders over a period of time well before the lists are announce, so its often impossible to predict numbers on some lesser known things that a lot of people seem to want once the lists are announced to the public.
SCENEzine
Vinyl has become hugely popular worldwide in the past few years. What are your thoughts on the resurgence of vinyl?
Graham Nixon
Its definitely more popular, however there are also many reasons for this. The main one being that more releases are now available on vinyl and that vinyl releases are available simultaneously with digital and CD, where as years ago, the CD would come out then 6 months later the LP would be available.
SCENEzine
What are some of the rare vinyls you’ve come across over the years?
Graham Nixon
We often get a lot of rare stuff in the store or when you order them you don’t realise they may only be doing the one press and once they have sold thats it. Often your not informed of these things when ordering, you just presume its going to be kept in print. There’s also a lot of titles in the store that are now out of print and would be worth a lot more then what we have them priced at.
SCENEzine
Did you buy much vinyl yourself when you were growing up?
Graham Nixon
I wouldn’t say a lot, but I definitely would buy what I could on vinyl. It was also at a time when CDs were a lot more popular, so it was easy to just buy CDs over records, but I would definitely collect what I could on vinyl. A lot of them I have either given away or sold which looking back, I probably shouldn’t have.
SCENEzine
What are some of your favourite punk/hardcore bands?
Graham Nixon
This list would probably change every week, but some of my all time favourites are Avail, Turning Point, Gorilla Biscuits, A Death In The Family, Sommerset, Have Heart, Rancid, Seaweed, Judge, Rain On The Parade, Against Me!, as well as bands like Public Enemy and Beastie Boys.
SCENEzine
Resist has a long association with Parkway Drive. Can you tell us how the relationship between Resist and Parkway came about?
Graham Nixon
Well before they were a band, those guys were the ones who would be booking the shows for us in Byron Bay, they were also the ones coming to Sydney for shows and doing mail order from us etc, so Ive just known them since they were teenagers. When they did there first EP, they asked if I was interested in putting it out, which I was and at the same time they were getting busier and touring more so I offered to help them with their bookings and managing them which we’re still doing till this day.
SCENEzine
Do you have a favourite Parkway Drive touring memory?
Graham Nixon
Strangely enough it was probably on their Killing With A Smile Tour when no one was selling out shows or doing those numbers. A local band selling out the Annandale Hotel wasn’t heard of and from memory they sold out a lot of the shows on that tour and every tour since has gotten bigger and bigger.
SCENEzine
You’ve brought a lot of overseas bands to Australia to tour. Do you have a favourite tour you’ve presented?
Graham Nixon
I’d probably say the first Gorilla Biscuits Tour was a favourite as they were one of my favourite bands, so to be involved with bringing them to Australia for the first time was cool. Ive been fortunate enough to work with many awesome bands, so along the way there’s been many favourites.
SCENEzine
The punk and hardcore music genres have a very DIY attitude. Do you think it’s that attitude that’s kept the genres underground culture alive?
Graham Nixon
Definitely. I guess the beauty of the DIY attitude is you don’t need someone to be doing it for you, if no ones doing something do it yourself. When we first started doing tours, it was mainly as there were few promoters touring bands that we wanted to see, so we started touring bands. Same with the label.
SCENEzine
Lastly can you leave us with a message to Resist’s loyal customers who are excited for Record Store Day?
Graham Nixon
Its the customers that make RSD work, without there support it’s impossible to make work, so make sure you get out to your favourite stores and show support and remember record stores also trade 365 days of the year, not just on Record Store Day.
http://www.recordstoreday.com.au/
(interview by Christian Ross)