This time around we feature the collection of the kindest person I’ve never met, social media guru extraordinaire Seth Werkheiser.
The first album I ever bought with my own money was…
It was many moons ago, but I think it was Poison’s “Open up and Say Ahhh,” at a Fay’s Drug Store in my hometown. It was the uncensored version, too, which I didn’t even know there was a censored version until recently.
The album that made me want to make music was…
Hands down, GNR Appetite for Destruction. Without question. In fact, that was the first “guitar tab” book I bought. I sucked at guitar, of course, because I was comparing myself to SLASH, but I picked up the bass and started playing the “low notes” and then discovered how amazing Duff “Rose” McKagan really is.
The album I’ve played more than any other is…
Probably Helmet’s “Meantime.” That was around when I started driving, so I had that CD in my car all the time, and it just sounded so good. I love John Stanier’s drumming on that, and I’d constantly focus on his beats and fills throughout and play air drums in my car when at stop lights.
The album that always make me feel good is…
White Zombie’s “La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One” – again, another early 90s album for me, but it was such a youthful time for me – I was a sophomore in high school! I don’t know if I was more impacted by the music or the music videos, but either way, White Zombie has stuck with me over the years, way more than Mr. Zombie’s solo material.
The album I turn to when I’m feeling down is…
Andrew WK’s “I Get Wet,” but to be honest I just listen to “Party Hard” over and over again. I’ve found it’s impossible to have multiple feelings in my brain at once, so if I have bummer feelings, I replace them with party feelings. That doesn’t make the bummer stuff go away, or just wash them away, it just means at that moment I choose to feel better about things, and that’s okay.
The album with my favorite cover art is…
When I was a kid I had to listen to records in the music room, where the stereo was. So that meant focusing on the album in front of you, and I remember being enamored by the cover of “Kick” by INXS. I was 10 or so, and into BMX bikes and skateboards and rock music, and seeing that PsychoStick skateboard on there brought those two worlds together. I mean, I wish I could say it was some thrash band and skate boards or whatever, but it just didn’t work out that way. And “Kick” is still amazing. I listen to it here and there, some 30+ years later.
The strangest album I own is…
Strange only because it varies so much from what I listen to, but probably “The Pious Flats” by Work of Saws. Super minimal alt rock stuff, mono tone, which I’m usually not into. I think I found them on MP3.com way back in the day – I THINK, because that was a long time ago, and maybe I found it somewhere else.
The rarest album I own is…
I wish I held onto the CD, but I have a digital copy of this pre-release from The Mars Volta, with rough mixes and demos on it, sent out to media folk, I think. Got that from my early days of music blogging, and wow, there’s so many of those gems I wish I held onto. I don’t really know how rare it is, but I know a friend excitedly asked me for a copy for his friend who was a devout Mars Volta fan.
The last album I bought was…
Return of the Lazer Viking by An Albatross.
The lyrics for the lead track were written by vocalist Edward B. Gieda III and his late wife Amanda Medina, who left this earth tragically too soon last summer in an accident. It’s like these two songs spit grit and grieving, which is a feeling that weighs on me a lot lately, so this release is a gift.
Seth Werkheiser, Close Mondays
Web, social, back end operations: it’s digital dirty work. I do it, so you can focus on what you do best.
https://www.closemondays.com/
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