Approximately once a month from last October through to June, Into the Abyss, a record store on Locke Street South, hosted concerts in its small but cheery space. With autumn back on the horizon, the store is starting up the Shopshows Series once again on September 29.
Store owner Brad Germain had been thinking of the idea long before the record store opened last year. He believes being able to enjoy music with music makers and other music lovers in a close environment is a special experience.
As a friend of musicians and a musician himself, he wanted to provide a unique venue where artists would want to play. The closeness of the shop setting delivers the sort of heightened experience that he knows artists are looking for.
“[A]ny time you can break down the barrier between audience and creator, I think it always makes for better art and always makes for a better experience… I think that it's so much easier to make a connection with the audience and the audience with you when you're all on the same level and… close to one another and able to feel each other's energy,” he explained.
At the same time, he also enjoys the fact that he is able to support hardworking and heartfelt artists by inviting them to play at the shop. The shows last year often included local Hamilton artists, such as improvised noise duet Eschaton and the band, Human Nun, known at the time as Poorage.
Like the music sold at the store, the artists that have played Into the Abyss come from many different places. Last year, there were shows featuring Canadian artists such as Montreal folk singer Corey Gulkin, and Winnipeg-based band Tunic. Internationally known artists, such as British folk act This Is The Kit, also came to play the shop.
Germain is looking forward to bringing some more internationally renowned artists into the store this year, giving his audiences a unique chance to see these larger artists in a smaller venue.
The intimacy of the space was not the only motivator behind Germain’s decision to start the shows. He also liked the idea of providing an alternate small space venue outside of the bar scene, something the Locke Street community didn’t have prior to Into the Abyss.
“I think a lot of music now… is tied to [having] a seat in a bar and then you have to drink. You have to… go out late at night and you know people tend to drink a lot and then it turns into this… party thing where the music becomes a secondary… part of the puzzle,” he explained.
“I felt that it was important to have another space in Hamilton [where] people could have access to live music and connect with it in a very quiet, intimate, small setting where the music is the focus… [It’s about] bringing people together… [and wanting] another space in town where people could go to see music without all that other type of pressure.”
Last year’s Shopshows series included kid-friendly shows and start times as early as four in the afternoon. Distancing the music viewing experience from the party experience gave Shopshows audiences a chance to truly enjoy and interact with the music they came to see.
For Germain, the music is the most important aspect. He loves working in music because he believes in the power that it has to change lives and foster community.
“Well, you know, the power of music is crazy, the power of what music can do to a human being and the effect it has. The effect that music has on plants, the effect that music has on animals… I get… so excited about music when I talk about it... because it changes your life,” he said.
“When you think about all the moments in your life where music impacted you in profound ways and it's like, you know, speech has the power to do that as well, but sometimes tones arranged in the right way, performed by the right person and you listening to them at the right time is…transformative…[I]t's so vital to the human experience.”
The audiences that come out to the shows are able to feel that transformation. The small space breaks down the distance that exists between strangers and allows individuals to feel part of the larger community. By plugging into the music and to each other, the Shopshows give people a chance to unplug and truly feel the power of music.
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An abyss is dark and bottomless. It’s a mysterious place where it’s easy to get lost in nostalgia and deep thoughts. The new record shop on the corner of Locke Street South and Canada Street is just that, but with white walls and friendly faces that will greet you with open arms.
After two years of thinking about opening a record shop, Brad Germain and his wife, Jenni Germain, softly opened Into the Abyss during the Locke Street Festival earlier in September.
Their passion for music and desire to do things their own way while still having fun, drove the couple to open up their own shop.
Brad, who can easily be recognized by record-shopping regulars, worked at Cheapies, the oldest record shop in Hamilton, for 18 years.
“It was a great learning experience… I’ll be forever grateful to the owner at Cheapies for teaching me so much of the business and how to do it… But I think you get to a point in your life when you just want to do your own thing,” said Brad.
Brad’s life revolves around music. He loves listening to records and talking to his customers about different kinds of music.
It’s something others can share with him, so that he can learn about their cultures and experiences, in turn, others can learn about him and his interests.
“In divisive times, any chance that you have to bridge the gap in communication and the gap in understanding between people, you really have to try and take it… That’s why I’m so passionate about music. I can see how important it is… It’s a joyous thing to be able to do. It’s a great way to bring people together,” explained Brad.
Into the Abyss’ selection reflects the message of bringing people together.
The Germains ensure their selection is unique by putting records in their store that have never sold before in the city and focusing on music that is under represented in Hamilton.
While music-lovers can still find popular and sought-out vintage records on the shelves, Into the Abyss also encourages customers to introduce themselves to music beyond Western rock.
Customers can explore records from places like Latin America and Africa, whole also being able to pick up ambient and avant-garde records from the likes of Brain Eno and William Basinski.
Into the Abyss is not only a place for music lovers, the space also includes a selection of vintage clothing and trendy Into the Abyss merchandise. Jenni is currently working on designing and manufacturing her own clothing, which will soon hit the shop’s shelves.
A friend of the Germains is also designing tie-dye shirts, hoodies and adult onesies. And the work of other artist friends, such as Sarah Froese, who handcrafts printed matter using an antique press, will also be sold.
“You can mix up the experience, it’s for music fans but it’s also for friends of music fans,” said Brad.
Into the Abyss also aims to be a place Hamiltonians and especially young people, can feel comfortable in.
Brad believes that record stores are a place to make new friends, while also being the kind of place people can get lost in and feed their imagination and sense of wonder.
As for the strange name, Brad chose “Into the Abyss” for many reasons: its uniqueness, its reference to the philosopher Nietzsche, but mostly because it reflects his experience opening up his own shop.
“When you are going out on a limb and going into business for yourself, it really is like going into the unknown, ‘into the abyss’… you are going into a territory that you’ve never been into before and it can be scary and daunting,” explained Brad.
Despite the process being a little scary and the pressure of a profit-driven industry, Brad and Jenni Germain will continue to stay true to themselves, do what they love and run Into the Abyss with a genuine passion for sharing music with others.
Into the Abyss is located on 119 Locke Street South and will be offering a 10 per cent discount to students with a valid McMaster ID on Tuesdays.
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You’d have to be a little crazy to open a record store in 2010. And to open that store on Friday the 13th? That’s like saying, “I hate this stuff called money.”
The store in question is Hammer City Records, which opened two years ago on (Friday) August 13th at 228 James Street North. The place is a dream for anyone who likes their record stores independent, small and punk.
Craig Caron is an owner of Hammer City Records and was involved in its opening. He said that he missed the kind of record stores that he used to spend all his time in when he was a kid, and so he decided to open his own.
“I remember going upstairs to Star Records, on King and James,” said Caron. “You’d open that door and just smell pot. And I though, ‘What the hell is up there?’ This is the early ‘80s, and I thought, ‘Punks - they’re mean, they’re crazy, they’re going to kill us. We have to go up there.’”
I’ll admit that I felt the same way when I first walked up to Hammer City Records. Standing out in front was a classic punk: black leather, chains and a Mohawk. The thought that he’d kill me didn’t cross my mind, but the thought that he might be crazy did. He turned out to be funny and nice.
My first experience with Hammer City Records was definitely less intense than Caron’s first time facing the killer punks of Star Records, but I could relate. It’s like Hammer City Records is the modern reincarnation of Star Records, bringing back the feeling of old record stores.
“I’d be in Star Records, and the guy from Teenage Head would walk in,” said Caron. Teenage Head are legendary local heroes, and in the 1980s they were among the most popular punk bands from Canada. “It was the greatest thing ever. We wanted a place like that, where young bands could come and hang out.”
I had my own mini version of the freak-out that Caron described when he saw Teenage Head as the singer of TV Freaks walked in to Hammer City Records. I’m only a recent fan of the band, but I think their shit-hot punk rock is just about the coolest thing ever.
It might seem like Hammer City Records is built on pure nostalgia, an isolated little basement where rockers can escape the changing outside world, but Caren said that he hopes the store can be part of something new – part of changing the music scene to be more like how it was in the past.
“Once some of the old record stores closed, pieces of the community closed,” said Caren. “I know after Reigning Sound closed, a lot of bands just stopped playing. Or if they were playing, you never heard that they were doing shows.”
For those us who grew up going to HMV, this might be hard to imagine, but record stores used to be a places that did so much more than sell music. They were places where people formed bands, artists and musicians collaborated, and concerts were promoted.
The decline of the music industry is often blamed on us, the people who download music, but maybe it has more to do with independent record stores being replaced by big commercial chains that people would never think about hanging out in.
When people say something is “community-based,” it seems like it’s mostly bullshit. “Community” is so overused that it’s really just a word that people use to describe something that might impact someone somewhere when they are too lazy to consider who those people are specifically. Hammer City Records has given an actual meaning to community.
“One of the biggest highlights for me since we had the store is that we released a local music compilation LP,” said Caren. “It’s all Hamilton bands. A girl that hangs out in the shop painted the front and back covers. For me, that’s the dream come true. It’s this community that creates this amazing product.”
That’s what a community is – real people coming together and interacting in a significant way.
Nolan Matthews, Senior ANDY Editor
