Reviving art of reproducing music on vinyl in Northland - band The Surge and Vine Street Vinyl working together

The revival of producing music on vinyl in Northland is being led by a local band and a music shop that released their self-titled debut album The Surge recently.

The album is titled after the three-piece post-punk band The Surge who teamed up with Vine Street Vinyl last year to make their dream of reviving the soul of vinyl music come true.

“And what better way than to release it on World Record Store Day,” band bassist Colin Sheenan said.

The Record Store Day which fell on April 20 started in 2007 to celebrate the unique culture of people who make up the world of record stores – the staff, customers and artists.

Vine Street Vinyl owner Vaughan Gunson said since starting his vinyl store last year, he had been eager to establish a record label featuring local music talent. That’s when he met Sheenan who had come to donate some CDs.

“I liked them and that’s how we got this vinyl project going,” he said.

Sheenan said their album, consisting of 13 songs, was all recorded in an analog process to give a “more true sound.”

Both he and Gunson believed that producing music on vinyl gave it a certain warmth and spatial depth. A difference felt between most music enthusiasts and professionals.

Gunson said his motivation to launch a vinyl album stemmed from the fact that more and more people were interested in owning a record.

“Some of them don’t even have record players. But everyone wants to buy one so that they can at least show off their music collection.

“What’s surprising is that most of my customers are youths under 25. And that 60 per cent from that are females,” he said.

Gunson felt that vinyl revival among youth could be due to their craving to have a physical product of their favourite artists.

He added that the influence of big artists like Taylor Swift who also produce music on vinyl could be another factor of young fans just following the trend.

Sheenan agreed and said that this project was just the first of many for their band The Surge which was formed in 2017.

“Since then, it has been a fantastic journey.”

He said their band name was inspired by the rock band Spedding Road Gibsons and cheekily admitted that the first letter of the band was derived from his stage name Spider.

Only 100 copies of the album are being exclusively sold at The Vine Street Vinyl. Interested buyers can visit the shop’s second floor at 29 Vine St, Whangārei.

Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency services reporter at the Northern Advocate. He was previously at the Gisborne Herald as the arts and environment reporter and is passionate about covering stories that can make a difference. He joined NZME in July 2023.