Vinyl Conflict Record Store Archives

For Richmond record store Vinyl Conflict, surviving the COVID-19 outbreak has meant taking their business online.

When the coronavirus outbreak hit, Vinyl Conflict owners Bobby Egger and Melissa Mazula were out of the country. They’d had a buying trip to the UK scheduled for March 4 through 18, and as they traveled, things began to escalate.

“When the travel ban went into effect, we were watching the news very carefully each day, trying to make a decision about how we would be returning,” said Egger. “We were quite far away from our return flight date, and on the other side of the country.”

From another country, they had to make important decisions about what would happen with Vinyl Conflict’s retail store in Oregon Hill, which specializes in new and used punk, hardcore, and metal albums — on vinyl, of course — as well as related merchandise. And when they returned, they voluntarily put themselves into quarantine.

“Me and Melissa went on self quarantine for two full weeks, and my employees continued to up our online presence in social media,” Egger said. The shop switched to a curbside-pickup model, at first allowing browsing by appointment only and then ending even that out of concerns for the safety of customers and employees. And they immediately focused on online sales, working hard to ensure that their entire inventory was accessible on the store’s website and the record-sales site Discogs.com.

This was a huge adjustment for Egger, who’d previously focused on the in-person shopping experience. “For the entirety of the shop’s existence, we have kept our newest and freshest stock only available for walk-in customers, so we could keep a unique and fresh experience which is worth making the venture into the physical store,” he said. “The biggest adjustment we had to make was turning our entire inventory to be available for web order.”

Making Vinyl Conflict an online-focused business has been a challenge, but with quarantine remaining the order of the day, Egger knew that the transition was essential for the store’s survival. It’s a big transition, though, one that has kept everyone at the store busy for weeks. “It took a few weeks to try to adjust to the new way of business,” he said. “At first we were only listing items which were in shop, but previously had not been available online. Now we are going through items which had previously not been for sale at all, and listing them directly for sale online.”

Local customers are still able to order from the store without having to worry about shipping; while placing and paying for orders is handled online, Vinyl Conflict still offers curbside pickup, as well as delivery for customers in the city. Meanwhile, they’re shipping out online orders six days a week, in an effort to ensure that nothing gets backed up.

As part of the adjustment, Egger has had to change some fundamental aspects of Vinyl Conflict’s business model. “We had to put a freeze on new ordering… which is unfortunate, as new titles are continuing to be released each week,” he said. “We’re focusing on moving the inventory we have already purchased.”

In order to keep the shop’s profile high even while customers can’t visit, Egger launched an Instagram Live interview series called “Now That I’ve Got Your Attention,” in which he’s interviewed a variety of people within the music industry. Guests have included well-known musical figures including Roger Miret of Agnostic Front, Brian Gorsenger from Night Birds, and Jeremy Bolm of Touche Amore, as well as locals like rapper Nickelus F, fellow Richmond record store owner Marty Key of Steady Sounds, and musician Julie Karr of the band Sensual World. “Keep an eye on Instagram for new episodes very soon,” said Egger, who is also currently editing the interviews for eventual upload to IGTV and YouTube.

Vinyl Conflict is also looking beyond questions of their own survival in order to help out other organizations that are working to help out with the coronavirus outbreak. They are currently in the process of creating two shirts for sale to benefit Richmond’s Studio Two Three and Mutual Aid Distribution RVA. The Studio Two Three donations will go towards their efforts in making durable and reusable masks for essential workers that will be additionally donated and distributed as they are funded. Mutual Aid Distribution RVA is a resource of redistribution for locals in need, collecting and distributing food, baby supplies, cleaning and sanitary goods, and more. Funds will go towards the purchase of essential items for distribution to low-income Richmonders. The shirts are currently available for pre-order from Vinyl Conflict’s Storenvy site.

Like many local businesses in Richmond and everywhere around the world, Vinyl Conflict is doing what they can to survive the outbreak and ensure that they’re still here when we’re all able to leave our homes and interact with the world once again. For now, they’re doing what they can to ensure that, while we’re all locked down, we can at least enjoy some new tunes.

To check out Vinyl Conflict’s full online inventory of over 4000 items, go to their Discogs page. To place a local order, give them a call at (804)644-2555, or email [email protected] For updates and to keep up with the “Now That I’ve Got Your Attention” interview series, follow them on Instagram @vinylconflict.

Written by Aviance Hawkes and Marilyn Drew Necci. Top Image by Sommer (@diewithyourhoopson), via Vinyl Conflict/Facebook

It’s no secret that hardcore punk rock has played a major role in shaping Richmond’s music rich scene and contributed to its culture, evolving and growing over time with more and more bands, and a steadfast fanbase that followed it from its early underground days at small house shows and DIY spaces, to larger venues in town. In September, Richmond photographer Cindy Hicks gave us a glimpse into the fans behind the genre back in the early 80s, and this Friday, Chris Boarts Larson will showcase the Richmond hardcore punk scene from the late 90s to the early 2000s in a photo exhibit at Vinyl Conflict.

The RVA Hardcore Punk Photo Show will run through the end of March and features in-depth archived photos and memorabilia of bands dating back to 1997-2002, the golden years of Richmond hardcore punk. The photo showcase will feature prominent bands such as Avail, Strike Anywhere, Darkest Hour, Ann Berreta, Hatebreed, Municipal Waste, plus many more. Larson, the veteran punk nomad behind the exhibit, has documented the scene in Richmond since the late 80s.

“Most of the bands are from Richmond but also included are international touring bands that played in Richmond,” said Larson. “This is by no means all the bands that played in Richmond, nor all the bands that I photographed in Richmond during this time. But it’s a selection of some favorites that represent those here in RVA.”

The photo show will feature handpicked photos from Larson’s beat in Richmond, from zip disks to floppy disks, the material featured are recherché Larson personally handpicked while scouring through the various confines of outdated technology, providing rare interview columns, zine reviews, and timeless live band photography otherwise lost to the dead space of time. And after talking with Vinyl Conflict owner Bobby Egger, she knew the local record store would be the perfect place to showcase the photos.

Four Hundred Years, Twisters {Strange Matter} June 2000

“Bobby and I have been talking about doing a photo exhibit of some of my band photos at Vinyl Conflict for awhile now and we decided to focus on just Richmond,” she said. “Because it’s a small space and I have deep archives of photos, we needed to start with a narrow focus.”

Larson is behind punk fanzine Slug & Lettuce, which was based out of Richmond and captured the DIY punk scene and the community that loved it, along with band photography and punk art from 1987 until 2007. She began to foster the idea of creating a zine while attending State College in Pennsylvania around the late 80s, finding a passion with the talent-heavy area of the time and inspiration by earlier works like Maximum Rocknroll and Profane Existence. After a trip to England, Larson came across a pub named “Slug & Lettuce”, and the rest is history.

The free quarterly zine focused around the punk scenes all along the east coast, with Larson making trips to shows in Pittsburgh and New York, seeing bands like Agnostic Front, the Descendents, Fugazi, JFA, and other punk legends still amidst their salad days.

Avail at Twisters {Strange Matter} April 1999

Bouncing around living situations in Boston and Pennsylvania, Larson eventually settled in New York, where the zine took the next step in its own evolution. The fanzine evolved into a ‘newsprint tabloid’, dropping the glue stick and scissors for feature interviews with upcoming bands and endless material from the non-stop punk scene in a sleepless city.But by the mid-90s, Larson was itching to get out of NYC.

“I did a lot of traveling and touring with bands. I met the Avail guys, traveled with them, and had a few other good friends living in Richmond. After visiting a few times I kinda fell in love with Richmond,” she said.

Larson moved shop to Richmond in 1997 and continued publishing Slug & Lettuce for another 10 years until the final release in 2007 with its 20-year anniversary issue, the 90th edition. Since then, Larson has solely focused on archiving the excess of historical treasures online, compiling years of timeless punk history into formatted archives accessible for anyone with WiFi to indulge.

And with this RVA Hardcore Punk Exhibit, fans of the genre and fans of those bands and those that were there for all those shows and sweaty, gritty nights over the years in Richmond will get to relive their younger years through these archived photos.

“I spent the last decade reflecting on my years in NYC and my years with Slug & Lettuce, only to realize that I’ve been in Richmond for 20 years, which is longer than anywhere else, so, 20 years of Richmond seemed like the perfect focus for my next project,” she said, reflecting on her project. “Hopefully, this is the first of several exhibits to cover the years since.”

The show is free and open to the public, premiering at the Vinyl Conflict record store at 324 S. Pine St. Prints of the featured photos will be for sale to order, with the first 10 of each being signed and numbered by Larson.

Photos By: Chris Boarts Larson, Top Photo: Strike Anywhere

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

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Photos: A Glimpse into Richmond’s Hardcore Punk Scene Ahead of Exhibit at Vinyl Conflict