This time around we feature the collection of Kelsey Chapstick, staff writer at Revolver and drummer in the band Cup.
The first record I ever bought with my own money was…
It’s hard for me to remember which came first, but the first two I recall buying were Limp Bizkit’s Three Dolla Bill, Y’all and The Offspring’s Americana. When I was on tour with my band Cup last summer, we actually spun the entirety of the former and, all being around 30-32ish, we had a fucking blast. I’ll still put on Americana sometimes, too, especially for that spaced-out last track: absolute classic bangers on that one.
The record that made me want to make music was…
It’s weird for me because I’ve been making music since before I was really obsessed with music in that way. I started playing drums in a bagpipe band when I was 9, so for nearly all of my life I can recall, I’ve already been making music. The first rock album I was obsessed with was Led Zeppelin’s IV, which I found in my parents’ record collection and wore. The. Fuck. Out. I knew I wanted to transition to being a full kit drummer, and Bonzo’s enormous sound was always one I wanted to emulate once I felt ready to take on that challenge. I still rip him off when I can, despite being in a noisy Brooklyn punk band.
The record I’ve played more than any other is…
Oh god, so many. I’m a repeat listener—I can’t just breeze through records and feel a deep connection; I become obsessed and revisit my favorites hundreds of times. That said, it’s probably Incubus’ “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.” I bought that album the first time when I was in middle school after some of my friends got really into their single “Drive” when it came out in ’99, and I connected so much more deeply with its weirdness and experimentation. Now that I’m older and know more about context, I realize they were using heavy-handed Mr. Bungle influences and infusing nü metal sounds into that one, but I still listen to it a few times a year and am amazed how well it held up compared to some others from that era. My favorite part, on all like, four CD copies I had to buy of it (since I kept losing, scratching, or having them stolen), is eternally the last track “Calgone” transitioning into the hidden track which is a recording from a real autopsy as far as I know. Bonus educational points: I learned what a subdermal hematoma is from that little banger.
The record that always make me feel good is…
Feel-good records are hard for me to recall, mainly because I’ve always been a little sad and angry on the inside and felt my own condition echoed best in music that relays the same. I will say the album I find the most soothing when I’m at a low point is Jeff Buckley’s Grace. It’s the ideal collection of absolutely gutting tracks to remind you of your humanity, for better or worse.
The record I turn to when I’m feeling down is…
This changes all the time, but I like to cheer myself up with excellent dance music. My latest obsession is an electronic duo called Minimal Violence. They just put out a record called InDreams and I have listened to it every other day at the gym for a few weeks—it’s the perfect blend of EBM, coldwave, techno, just all the genres I love in electronic music fused gorgeously and to near-perfection.
The record with my favorite cover art is…
Sisters Of Mercy’s “Floodland” without question. Nobody has ever been cooler than Andrew Eldritch and Patricia Morrison, who didn’t even play on the record, is a fucking goddess. They both look like moonlit perfection on that one.
The strangest LP I own is…
The strangest thing, to me, is this stupid black metal record called Black Goat I bought at a now-closed record store in Columbus, Ohio in like, 2012. The sides are literally titled “Black” and “Goat” and while that’s not intrinsically strange for a shitty, run-of-the-mill BM act, the fact that I had the hardest time figuring out who the hell these dudes were and somehow manage to see this fucking record in every record store in Ohio-to this day!!!-is weird as hell to me .
The rarest LP I own is…
The only rare things I really own are some Sisters Of Mercy and INXS singles and demos, which are like crack to me on eBay. I also have a handful of weird disco records that I honestly don’t recall the origin story of, but I think they’re from my ex-father in law, who went to prison in Kansas for selling coke in the 70s and made friends with the prison DJ named the Axeman or something wild like that—he was def in there for murder. Anyway, he gave my FIL a bunch of records and he passed those onto his son (my now ex-husband) and I found some when I left my house in West Virginia and moved to New York.
The last LP I bought was…
My most recent purchase was the Batman Forever soundtrack on vinyl. There’s a Michael Hutchence cover of “The Passenger” on there that I don’t own and, as an obsessive collector and fan of Hutchence material, I had to own it. PJ Harvey and Nick Cave are on that album too, Massive Attack, The Offspring covering The Damned…it’s a ripper.
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Follow Kelsey on Twitter and peruse her writings at Revolver. Cup’s latest album, Jitter Visions, was released on April 27, 2018. You can download a copy or pick up the “jitter spasm” vinyl edition on Bandcamp.
https://twitter.com/KelseyChapstick
https://cupbandny.bandcamp.com/
https://www.revolvermag.com/users/kelsey-chapstick
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