The Right On! Records owner Garin Pappas pulls a selection from his collection to play in the store (from left): Bo Diddley, Charles Mingus Jr., Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band and Bob Dylan. Photo by Fallon Forbush.
Herndon — Among the old buildings of the Herndon Historic District sit the town’s Depot Museum, the Washington and Old Dominion Caboose and the Old Town Hall. Nearby, a new store has opened across the street that sells an invention that would seem to fit in, since it was conceived during the late 1800s.
Next to the Roaches in the Attic antique store on Elden Street is a new vinyl
record store. While listening to music from the spiral grooves of a vinyl is a timeworn occurrence, the young proprietor of the small store does not consider his wares to be antiquities.
Garin Pappas, 23, opened Right On! Records and started selling, buying and exchanging 12-inch albums in a small space on the second floor of 731 Elden St. on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. A ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony took place on Sunday, March 12.
A lot of people his age listen to tunes on their smartphones or MP3 players, but vinyl records have always been a part of this millennial’s life.
“It’s really the perfect format,” Pappas said. “Physical format in general — whether it’s cassettes, CDs, eight tracks — is preferred rather than MP3 digital files. Vinyl itself is just such an experience to listen to. People describe it as a warmer sound and I agree. My ear though, I think it’s more of a deeper sound. Like the drums and the base is just a deeper sound. You can hear the snare and the kick.”
His dad, who plays harmonica in a blues band, kept records in the house. This means he grew up listening to late ’70s era classics like Eric Clapton, Ten Years After, Ramones, The Stranglers and Blondie, Pappas said.
It wasn’t until recently that he mixed his pleasure with business.
Pappas started working at the Record & Tape Exchange in Fairfax while he was studying English and philosophy at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
“I would go and work there every summer break and some weekends and every winter break,” he said. “I liked working there and loved being around records and collecting them on my own.”
He also worked at Caribou Coffee to save up money to put towards opening his own business.
When it was time to break out on his own, he could focus on developing a music collection of his own tastes: Jazz, rhythm and blues and soul music.
“I really got into a lot of different genres, but those specifically,” he said.
And it’s all sorts of people who have come into the store to peruse through his music selections.
“It’s all ages, really,” he said. “There’s some older ladies and gentlemen getting back into it and buying things they remember, but there’s also younger people.”
Vinyl may be coming back, but Pappas said it never went anywhere.
“It’s always had a really strong cult following,” he said. “Though it dwindled at certain points, record stores remained opened in the ‘90s.”
ANOTHER DATED CHARM of the medium is the shopping experience, Pappas said.
Online streaming music services like Pandora and Spotify are popular ways for people to find new artists and music, but Pappas is wary of the algorithms behind the shuffling of their tracks. He said you can get a better sampling with records.
This is because people who are looking for albums must go the brick and mortar route in their search for particular discography.
“A lot of these things, you can’t access digitally or online, you have to seek out the record,” he said.
Along the way, shoppers may find something unexpected.
“It’s a great way to discover music,” he said. “It’s a way better experience to go into a shop and see what new arrivals they have.”
It’s not just music of old. The increased demand for vinyl has some artists pressing their new work into records once again.
In Pappas’s collection at his store, shoppers can find newer releases, like Adele and The White Stripes, for purchase.
For people looking to go vinyl, Pappas recommends investing in a decent record player.
“You can get a nice set up for $300 or $500, or even less,” he said. “The key is having a nice counterbalance, something that puts a little weight on it.”
Some of the big box stores will sell cheaper systems that have light-weight turntables (that holds the record) and tone arms (that holds the stylus), which will result in skipping and clicking, he said.
Pappas is also more than willing to share his passion for the deep sound of records with enthusiasts over a slice of pizza.
He DJs at the Mellow Mushroom restaurant a half a mile down the street from his shop on Elden Street on Thursday nights from 8-10 p.m.
“I’m there spinning all vinyl — different genres, a lot of soul, funk, R&B and jazz, but I try to mix in some rock and all sorts of things,” he said.