Welcome to Before You Were Punk, an interview feature here on Punks in Vegas where we ask your favorite musicians and music biz aficionados one simple question: what made you the music fan you are today?
This installment comes from Susannah Caviness, General Manager at Paper + Plastick Records. Find out how a Smiths album title and a punk compilation series changed the way Caviness felt about music.
Like all great love affairs, mine with punk was a complete and total accident. There’s this cliché saying, that the best things come to you when you aren’t looking. I’ve found this to be true regarding just about everything, but especially the best things.
I was adopted into a very conservative, super-religious family at a pretty young age. Anything outside of praise music (cringe) was considered satanic and therefore completely foreign to me. I went through most of my adolescent life very alone in this exclusive, strange world. But, I didn’t know any different.
How I found music (the good kind) is much of the reason why I wanted to be involved with Paper + Plastick. It was the art. It was the only thing that could draw me in. I had no other reference points to look to. The very first tape (yes, you read that correctly. Tape. Now, I’m only 24. But remember, CD players were of the devil where I come from and even this I had to hide under my pillow) was The Smiths, Meat is Murder. I’ve been vegetarian most of my life, so the title alone was the only thing that grabbed me. The Smiths were my gateway drug into music. It was the first thing I heard outside of whatever Jesus-y, Eric Clapton jams were coming from my living room. I was 12. After this, I wanted to ingest EVERYTHING. I don’t think I cared too much what it was. It was just a relief to know that something else did exist, something that could move me in a way religion couldn’t.
Epitaph’s Punk-o-Rama comps saved me (I still have and listen to them all. It started with 3.). Bands like Bad Religion, Bouncing Souls, NOFX, Pulley, The Dwarves, and Rancid are all reasons why I’m here, doing what I love. Having so many different bands on one CD gave me lessons in punk rock 101, and led me down the road I’ve had the most fun traveling. I haven’t stopped listening to any of those bands. I can’t imagine I ever will.
I can’t thank my (at the time) local record store enough. Having a place to sift through used punk CD bins (my vinyl obsession didn’t start until college) literally saved my life. Please support yours, so that you can save someone else’s.
– Susannah Caviness is the General Manager at Gainesville-based label Paper + Plastick Records, home to Make Do and Mend, A Wilhelm Scream, Red City Radio, and more. Head over to http://paperandplastick.com/ to get more info on the label and to order a record or two.
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