Spiral Scratch Records

I love independent record stores and their respective stories. This one caught my eye because I was born and raised in the Buffalo, NY area for the first 15 years of my life and it is where I bought my first 45 rpm record; which by the way was Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" (I fell in love with the flip side "Birds" as well)

written by Chao Li

Spiral Scratch is a Buffalo record sanctuary, with an amazingly broad selection of vinyl.

Even though Spiral Scratch has a small collection of CDs, this fairly new shop is the king of vinyl. "I just love music," says owner Dave 'Anchovies'. Dave is a soft-spoken guy, oozing with passion for music, especially the big-black-disc kind.

"I've always thought it was a shame that Buffalo, a city with such a great music scene, didn't still have the type of non-intimidating record store that I feel we need."

This is exactly what Dave built. His inspiration comes from music stores that he'd visited and loved spending time in, and Spiral Scratch has all the comforts of a small-city record store.

Spiral Scratch, occupying the space that used to be Sit and Spin Records, is not the first record store in Buffalo, but it's different. One of the most noticeable differences is that all the records are a couple dollars less than the prices one normally finds. Because Dave uses a handful of independent distributors or buys directly from the music labels themselves, the record price can be kept low.

Spiral Scratch is open to special orders. "It may take me a little longer to get the record, but I can sell them for really cheap," Dave says.

The store also buys back old records, and it also has a modest used CD collection. In addition, Dave is involved in promoting local shows and selling tickets for shows. Recently, Dave was moving tickets to the Boris show at Soundlab. Even though Spiral Scratch supports local music, you will not find a segregated section in this store.

"Local music shouldn't be separated into its own thing. Great music is great music, that's why I mix them all in together," Dave explains.

More of a fan than a businessman, Dave's establishment is driven by his passion for music and the rest seems to follow, making Spiral Scratch nearly unique in Buffalo. Dave did not show off the rare items he had on the shelves, neither did he mark up the price to a ridiculous level. They are just there, waiting silently for someone who'll recognize them as treasure--for the love of the music--not the fact that they may be a first pressing.

Introduced to music by his late father, back in the day, Dave believes that vinyl records and the vinyl scene is due for a comeback. "CDs are compact, but they fail after you use them for a couple years," Dave says. "If you take care of your records, they last forever." Vinyl records have large, visually appealing cover art and some come with posters and other fold-outs. Today, in the age of digital music, many vinyl records are released with a code so that people can also download the songs in mp3 formats to put on their digital music player.

"I still don't see myself as a collector. I just have a lot of records," Dave states. "If a record was released with two different album covers, a collector needs to have both. If I just have one--it's probably the cheaper one."

Even though it is still early on in the game, Dave's aim is clear. "I want this store to be broader than any of the other record stores," he says. With the help of his family and close friends, Spiral Scratch imports and sells records from a wide variety of artists. The collection ranges from Sigur Ros, to Sleep, to Nico; anyone can find something to take home. Dave backs that thought up by saying, "I don't want to just sell music I like, I want to have something for everyone that comes into the store."

Spiral Scratch Records
2531 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14216
716.873.1484

SOURCE: http://www.buffalorising.com/2009/01/spiral-scratch-records.html#SlideFrame_1