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BANDS: Punk
& Ska INTERESTS: Venues ETC... About LOTD
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David Haussmann and Josh Wright did the unthinkable: they pooled all their resources and racked up a ton of debt to open a one-of-a-kind indie record store in downtown Norfolk, VA. Norfolk is not known for having an underground music scene, but that didn't stop these guys. It just motivated them to create a scene and to bolster the city's hip quotient. The project hasn't been without obstacles, but these guys are in it for the long haul. When I first visited the store, they were hosting one of their regular in-store live performances by local artists. They were actually forced to turn customers away, because the building was at capacity - no small feat for a brand new record store in a city such as Norfolk. Once I was able to go inside, it became clear that Relative Theory was more than just a record store. It was the first step toward accomplishing a mission of its owners: to cultivate a scene in their hometown. And in the process, they seem to be selling some music too. LOTD chats with Dave and Josh about the store's first few months and the new cultural scene they hope to pioneer in downtown Norfolk. LOTD: In an article in The Virginian-Pilot, there was a quote saying that the reaction people have when they enter your store is Oh my God, I cant believe this is in Norfolk. Being from the Norfolk area myself, that was my reaction to your stores opening too. Were you more worried or excited about the fact that you really are breaking new ground in this area by opening an independent record store with a truly wide selection? Dave: Both worried and excited we started pulling our shit together around July 03, which is when we actually started to form the whole idea. This is not some childhood dream where we would stare off into our future dreaming about owning a record store. We both worked in a CD store part-time and felt things needed to change. This area has no inlets for new independent music the only option for kids in this area was to download. Josh: It didnt hit me until much later that we are actually doing something that is far more than your average record store. Towards the end of the summer we wanted to figure out what it would take to actually make this happen and we started coming up with all of this crazy shit: pie-eating contests with Dillinger Escape Plan, scavenger hunts around the city for free music, listening stations called The Midnight Rider which is this model car where you get in and drive with a plasma TV as the windshield and you relax to driving footage around the country. Our record store was turning into more of cultural melting pot. Dave: To tell you the truth we were never worried about failing because we knew our ideas were so sick that we could just go to another city where it would easily take off. We were more worried about the area not taking advantage of what we were offering them. We set everything up in a fashion to be taken apart at no cost. We opened our doors and said if they dont want us in this town, then D.C. is gonna get it in the ass. People thought we were crazy for opening a store downtown; local record store owners gave us a 6-month lifeline. Little did they know we could have gone six months without selling a single CD, and we would have been peachy keen. But now we are selling more records than all other area independent stores combined. We didnt have to be competition, because independent music in itself is starving; if one store does well then they all do well, because the level of awareness for decent music rises. However, no one wanted to keep up with how much we wanted to change things so people just come here instead. Why? Its more fun case in point.
LOTD: In the mid-Atlantic, you serve a niche market that in the past has only been served in cities like DC or in college towns like Chapel Hill. What do you think has held Norfolk back from developing the same kind of demand for independent music? Josh: No one had the balls to do it. Or maybe the energy because when I think about it, our store is open 16 hours a day (minimum), 7 days a week. We are here all the time and always working. Were not gonna lie; this city needed a kick in the ass. We didnt just open our doors and voila, the money came rolling in. Everyone that comes through our doors gets barraged with Underground Hip Hop 101, whos pushing the envelope in modern folk, and what dance rock gets your lady wet. Dave: This city was hungry for something cool, but it wasnt starving. If it was starving, Plan 9 or Virgin Megastore would have been here before us; however for these two stores, the numbers didnt add up, and Norfolk was out of the running (both stores have prospected this area and backed out). But either way, Josh and I knew that if all we did was work at selling records and turning people on, then we would have to at least get back our investment. And for us, the challenge seemed a worthy one. LOTD: The world of independent music really is infinite. How did you know where to start when making your first purchases for inventory? Did you just put in orders at most of the main indie labels and distributors? Or did you go more by your own tastes and judgment? Or did you go on the music you envisioned your prospective customers to be most interested in buying? Dave: If we had to go on what we envisioned our customers might buy, it would be all punk and hardcore because that is where the indie stores of this area specialize. This is probably one of the biggest surprises of opening our record store. After you work in one, you might get a little cocky and think you know something about music, but then you get Touch & Gos 30-page catalog and you recognize 5 bands per page. You realize that maybe its time to do a little research. In the past four months, we have definitely learned about more new music than we did the entire time at the old record store of which we were employed. Josh: Getting back to what Dave was saying about working in a record store, we would see all of these killer titles available that the owner would never stock because it wasnt Dashboard or NOFX. This left us to tell the customers, Sorry we didnt get that in, or I dont think we will be carrying that title maybe you should go try and find it somewhere else like the Internet, because its so much fun to shop for music in your bedroom. We didnt even have another store in the area that we could refer people to try and find something like Breadwinner or Funkaho. Since weve grown so rapidly, labels and smaller distros are now approaching us to push their product and we pick what we like.
LOTD: I know youve been getting some local and regional acts to play shows in your store. Whos played there so far? What kind of response do these shows get from your customers? Have you settled the permit issue you were having with the city of Norfolk? Dave: Actually we just got our permit today, but in our earlier, more anarchist days, we had a couple weathered rock stars pass through our doors. Heres a couple of bands/artists: Emery, Crash Mash Explode, Stephen Brodsky, V8 Love Affair, Bowels of Judas, Aerosmith, Haste the Day, Pink Spiders, Letters Organized, Hookers Asshole. You know just your run of the mill swingers. Our customers love it its funny to actually see 30-something introverts shop through the CD bins while Bowels of Judas yells at you like a stepchild. LOTD: It seems like youve gone the direction of trying to be more than just a music store by hosting bands and art shows, as well as offering coffee and a place to just hang out and even play foosball. Was this mostly for business reasons (coffee having higher margins than CDs) or to create a particular cultural environment that youd envisioned? Josh: Well we dont sell shit for coffee, but our espresso machine was designed by Ferarri, and we feel here at Relative Theory that it all adds to the ambiance. We wondered if our coffee bar would take off and make more money than the CDs, but we are out of the way when it comes to coffee, being on the second floor. As for art shows and hosting bands, we dont really make money off these events directly because there is no fee generated by the record store. However, by setting up a cultural events calendar, customers really get into the idea of stopping in to pick up a CD and getting surprised by an art opening, movie night, or poetry readings. LOTD: How do you see record stores like Relative Theory changing in the next few years with the advent of digital music and the iPod craze? Dave: We are not really sure what direction record stores are moving with the turn of the digital age. We did a little bit of research before opening the store in the subject of how much purchased music will be from Internet downloads, and for the most part industry projections stated that in the next five years, 70% of all music purchased will be downloaded. Weve thought about what lies ahead for this business and if those projections are true, right now we feel our best plan of attack is to keep ourselves well-versed in digital advancements so that were always staying as fresh as possible. We know our way around video and music production to the point where we could easily shift our focus at the record store to providing different services, and we also feel that our store serves as a cultural stimulus so that in the future, we will be able to generate income as an art gallery or venue. However, at this stage, given Norfolks cultural stillness we are forced to work very hard for little pay. LOTD: Tell us about the "unpop" festival (the underground pop music festival) you recently helped promote at the NorVa on April 24th. I was pleasantly surprised to see you all have such a quick presence in promoting/sponsoring such festivals. Do you have plans for more involvement like this with future shows? What will they be? How was your first experience with this one? Dave: The unpop festival was not exactly a success, but this was expected (in my opinion). Not that I decide what ideas are cool and which arent, but I think the unpop fest was a difficult idea to pull off in this area much like our record store. However, so long as we continue to work hard, people will change their lifestyle, more people of similar cultural tastes will stay in the area instead of moving away, or even travel to live here as it earns a reputation as a musical epicenter. I am probably going to be 40 before this place ever becomes cool, but if I can help light the fire that gets this city going just so I can have some decent entertainment when I get off work then right on! Josh: The view from our shop shows the line of concertgoers waiting to get inside the NorVa and for any jugalo fest going on, we get a train of chain wallets armed with faygo, waiting to proclaim their unique independence; not to be judgmental, but it seems silly to contradict the vein of your existence. And whenever we showcase some local talent that may be bad or good but certainly is not formulated or recycled, to see it only enjoyed by a small handful of people can be a little disheartening. But we didnt come here to bitch about the area; we hope our influence is very infectious. Sponsoring events is a stepping stone were already creating our own events, making our name surface in conversation. Our biggest tool is making us something worthwhile to talk about then customers wont forget us when they are looking to pick up new music for whatever their interests may be. LOTD: You've already been prominently featured in PortFolio and The Virginian-Pilot. Has the exposure exceeded your expectations? What does this immediate attention to your business tell you about the current state of music in Hampton Roads? Dave: The exposure tells us that they have been waiting for someone like us to take hold and give them a better alternative. I wouldnt say the exposure has exceeded our expectations because we read the print in this area, and we kind of figured they should have nothing better to write about. Were the most happening thing in this city; we deserve the cover! Josh: No, I dont think the exposure has exceeded my expectations either. All the media around Norfolk should have done something about us. We are two guys taking a huge chance on making our local music scene show up on the map. LOTD: It's been published that you both work hard as owners and spend a lot of time in the behind-the-counter, day-to-day activities at Relative Theory. Knowing that, what has surprised you the most about the types of customers who have frequented the store so far? Dave: I would say the biggest surprise is our cool older crowd. People in their late 30s to 40s who want to come in and rap about The Detroit Cobras or El-P, and we dig it when people older than us are still getting into it the way we do. It gives us hope that well still be cool as the years add on. This one day, a burly bald man came in and slammed his fist down on the sales counter and exclaimed Fuckin A! and walked off he couldnt believe we decided to keep our idea in Norfolk. But even better are the crazies. Josh: Yeah, I also like the older college rock kids that are all grown up, starting families and are excited to see us doing this in their now hometown. We see them pretty regularly picking up old CDs they lost over the years and a lot of them are still really up to date on the newer indie stuff as well. LOTD: Ive heard that you two pooled your personal CD and record collections to represent the stores starting inventory. I cant even imagine how painful it must have been to start selling off your own music. Was it worth it? Dave: This is a tough question, because sometimes you say Hell yeah! I own the hippest record store in town and all I had to do was give up my CDs; they were only material possessions anyway. But then other times you say, Hey, put on that Radiohead EP with that one song, and Josh looks up from the counter to tell you it was sold, and you say Dang! We thought about burning all of our CDs so at least we would have copies of them, but it was just too much work. When youre trying to open up a cool record store, youre not also trying to burn 2500 CDs on the side. You become much more concerned with your inventory at the store rather than your inventory at home. Josh: This may sound selfish, but the only time I ever really hated parting with one of my CDs was when I knew the person who bought it was probably some shithead who wouldnt even appreciate the sentimental value that an out-of-print Goatsnake record on Mans Ruin could give a young radical. Dave: I will say that shopping in record stores other than ours is a lot more fun, because we recognize true gems right out of the bins. Plus you start to look at stuff differently, like I know where I can get that easily, so no need to grab it today.
*Much thanks to LOTD's Bruno Westover for contributing interview questions. Relative Theory is located
at 271 Granby St. in Relative Theory Records Official Website About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
