‘The thrill of the hunt’: Vinyl enthusiasts drawn to ABC record sale

It was like something from a big city post-Christmas sale at the ABC South East record sale fundraiser in Bega last week, as shoppers swarmed towards milk crates loaded with over 50 years worth of musical history.

With the popularity in vinyl making a comeback with the wider public, a variety of qualities caught the eye of record hunters.

“There’s three different kinds of collectors, people who make a quid, people who enjoy the music, and people who enjoy the thrill of the hunt,” Milton’s Geoff Spawlding said.

“For them it’s the thrill of finding something rare.”

His pick of the day was Australian rock singer Alison MacCallum’s 1975 album Excuse Me.

“It’s a pretty rare album that doesn’t come up very often,” he said.

Bega Sound Collective member Ben Deighan said he keeps an eye out for higher quality, heavier records.

“It’s all about the weight for starters, because you get better sound quality in the wax, and they are more stable on the deck,” he said.

The local DJ collective’s James Cook described it as “vinyl mining”.

“I don’t look for one specific thing, I’ve got some spoken word to layer over the beats, and some novelty tunes,” he said.

Meanwhile, for Gary Collins the day was all about “the element of surprise”.

For the ABC’s Simon Lauder, a range of things can trigger his interest in a record.

“It can be anything from a name that’s vaguely familiar, or artwork that really sings out to you,” he said.

“It’s a textural thing, it’s a visual thing, but it has to be good music.”

Cody Hopkins and Leon Wallace travelled from Congo near Moruya to dig through the crates of vinyl.

“It’s the groove man, it’s the groove,” Mr Wallace, who’s known in the music world as DJ $ Dog, said.

Mr Wallace, who’’ll be playing at the upcoming Granite Town Festival, said he has a penchant for African-American artists with mustaches, and “blue-eyed soul”.

Mr Hopkins, who plays drums with local band Noodle Froth White Wash, said he was on the look out for punk rock albums, specifically Hermosa Beach, California’s Black Flag.

“It all depends what mood I’m in,” he said.

“I’m really just here for something to do.”

Moruya’s Toby Whitelaw said radio station record sales are a rare event, and worth visiting because the vinyl is usually in mint condition, and offer unique collections of music.

“That’s what’s so good about radio station collections, because you get all the promo albums,” he said.

“You have stations like this that would only play country, so the funk records for example might still be mint.”