In this offering, we are very pleased to get up close and personal with Sander van den Driesche, heavy music editor at Echoes and Dust.
The first record I ever bought with my own money was…
This is going quite a while back, to the mid-eighties and I remember 2 releases quite clearly that I bought with my own money. I had saved up my weekly pocket money to buy a record and when I had enough saved up and went to the record store I actually didn’t know what to buy. So, I had a good browse and ended up buying the Tokyo Tapes (Live) double LP by the Scorpions. I was hugely into hardrock at the time, and the live shot on the cover really grabbed my attention. I also have fond memories of my first 7” single I bought with my own money, which was Adam and the Ants – Stand and Deliver.
The record that made me want to make music was…
When I was 15 I was playing chess in the Rotterdam coffeeshop (the ones where you don’t actually drink coffee), and they played Primus – Frizzle Fry on the stereo. Hearing Tim Alexander play drums for the first time ever made my jaw drop, and I had to ask the bar staff what the music was they were playing. The next day I bought all Primus CDs I could find, and a few months later I first picked up the drum sticks. This ended with me playing drums in various bands over the next 20 years or so.
The record I’ve played more than any other is…
Probably one of the Amenra releases, and it’s a close call but my guess is I’ve listened to Mass IIII more than any of their other releases.
The record that always make me feel good is…
Play me anything by Motorpsycho and I will smile. To me they are the best band in the world.
The record I turn to when I’m feeling down is…
Amenra again, any of their later Mass releases, so either Mass IIII, Mass V or Mass VI. They just hit all the emotions.
The record with my favorite cover art is…
There are so many great records in my collection with amazing cover art, but the artwork by Mariusz Lewandowski is just stunning. I would probably go with Mirror Reaper by Bell Witch as one of his best works, or at least my favorite one. Marald Art is stunning as well, for example the latest Dvne release Etemen Ænka.
The strangest LP I own is…
Arguably not strange, but definitely slightly weird… I have a pressing of Slayer’s Hell Awaits, and the record sleeve is covered in a black stain that covers about 90% of the front sleeve. The guy in the second-hand record store where I bought this claimed that it was a rare pressing, and the cover was supposed to be like that, which I believed! So, I spent 25 quid on this record, to then find out later that it wasn’t a rare pressing at all, but someone just messed up the cover art with a big, black marker. And to make things worse, the vinyl is warped so badly that I can’t even play the record properly. Admittedly, a mistake I made early on when I started collecting, and would not make a similar mistake again.
The rarest LP I own is…
If you’d define rare as “least amount of copies pressed” then it would be Ortega’s tour edition of The Serpent Stirs, which only had 25 copies made. The one I’m probably most proud of to have in my collection is the first pressing of 100 of Subrosa’s More Constant Than The Gods, which is hand numbered and pressed on beautiful cream with red splatter wax and comes with an exclusive art print that is signed by the band.
The last LP I bought was…
There are actually 2 LPs I last bought, roughly at the same time so I’ll list both of them here. Firstly, I pre-ordered the Counsouling Sounds exclusive version of the new Wolves in the Throne Room release Primordial Arcana, and I also pre-ordered King Gizzard’s Infest the Rats Nest, which will be released by Lay Bare Recordings.
• • • • • • • • • •
Check out Sander’s writing and reviews at Echoes and Dust.
Links
https://twitter.com/SVDD76
https://echoesanddust.com
• • • • • • • • • •
If you are enjoying our content, you can support Inhale the Heavy's coffee fund by clicking here.