Currently residing in Augusta, GA, Brandon Reilly is a massive fan of hardcore, and really, music in general. An active poster on the vinyl collecting community on Instagram, he's always hunting for his every-growing want list.
It's about time I welcomed Brandon to the site's Record Collector club.
How long have you been collecting records?
Approximately 10 years. My first record was the New Found Glory 7" pic disc of "My Friends Over You." The Hot Topic I worked at at the time was throwing them away due to a pentagram on Steve's shirt. The first record I actually purchased was from Florida band Fallen From the Sky. I booked a show for them in my town, and at the end of the night when I went to go buy merch, they were selling a 7" they had just released before this tour. It came in four colors so I bought every one. That was the beginning of an era.
Where/how do you usually find your records these days?
For a while, the Internet was my main source for purchasing records. A year ago my brother Evan opened a record store called Grantski Records in our city (Augusta, GA) which has made my Internet purchases somewhat dwindle. Other than that I will utilize sources I can to learn about and track down whatever release may be on my mind at that moment. I am a big fan of Discogs due to the Wantlist/Collection features. They make collecting so much easier. I can't tell you how many times I have purchased duplicates because I did not have access to them on my person.
What is the most you paid for a single record, where/how did you obtain it, and what was it?
That is a good question, let's hope my wife does not read this [laughs]. Touche Amore Parting the Sea Australian press on transparent green would be my most expensive single purchase ($91). This happened to be the second time it went up and the price was reasonable, I scored it on eBay. The first auction I lost by $6, I was not going to let that happen again. I bid as high as I could and won. It was a great feeling, especially since I had lost it by such a small margin before.
Of everything in your current collection, what is your most prized record and why?
I have two records that fit the bill. The first one is the test press To the Beat of a Dead Horse by Touche Amore and the second, is the record release Travels by Defeater. I only know of one person who has the TA test press (Josh) and he is the reason I have the record release. I initially purchased it from him via Dead Format along with some other records. Turns out, that copy had been a gift from his wife so he wanted to get it back if he could. I'm a pretty understanding dude so I shipped it back. Go forward to last year and one goes up for bid on eBay and I won it for $17, which is a lot less than I paid for it initially. That made that purchase mean so much more to me in the long run, because karma came back around in a great way. Both releases have played a big part of who I am as a person. Although they are rare, they are irreplaceable due to the meaning behind them.
Is there anything that frustrates you about the current record collecting scene?
Record Store Day is always a complaint. There are less and less releases that catch my eye every year. The prices of those releases are also ridiculous, yet I fall for the hype every time. The surge of reissues are another big problem. Every time I turn around there are another batch hitting the market. Also pricing is getting pretty crazy. Why would I want to pay $25-$30 for a single record in a single sleeve without inserts?
Which albums are still on your want list that you've had a tough time tracking down through the years?
I have been steadily working on handful of collections over the years. My biggest wants right now are the Record Store Day Touche Amore/La Dispute split /48, No Love No Hope test press by Dead Hearts, and The Words You Betray test press by Dead Hearts. Also a Chung King would be nice to have. I would consider these needs more so than wants.
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Follow Brandon on Instagram.
Tagged: record collector
