Interview with Gramaphone

Of all the record stores famous throughout the world, few carry so much weight as Chicago’s Gramaphone. One of the premier outlets for house music since it first existed, Gramaphone has been instrumental in developing the sound, helping to make a name for seminal labels such as Trax and Dancemania, and giving a jumping platform for many of the city’s DJ’s and producers. Expanding into the music of Detroit and Europe as these scenes developed, it nevertheless has stayed true to the Chicago sound. Throughout the years it has built up its reputation across the globe, with many Europeans making the pilgrimage over the Atlantic to claim those tunes that never seemed to be available on their side.

Today it still continues this tradition, but the advent of internet use has allowed it to spread the reach of its distribution whilst maintaining the same in store culture (and allowing many people to stay at home!).

With more and more effort going into the online aspect of the store, we spoke to two of Gramaphone’s major players to give us some insight into their history, and plans for the future – Joe Dale, the store’s owner, and Mani Miglani, the Webmaster for their online division, and one of the techno buyers for the store.

11th-hour How and when was Gramaphone Records set up?

Joe It opened in May of 1969. The store was an extension of friends working at record shops and constantly buying music personally.

11th-hour What music policy do you operate?

Joe In no particular order - House, Techno, Hip-Hop / Rap, Downtempo, and Drum & Bass.

11th-hour Who had been involved with the shops development over the years?

Joe Excluding myself, as from 1969 to 1984, I was the only buyer, the big influences on the shop were Andy Mixin' Moy, Josh Werner, Derrick Carter, G Most, and J.R. a/k/a DJ PNS of the Molemen. Although many wonderful DJ's/ artists are associated with us. For the most part, a complete listing of all those that currently work for us and our past family is available on the "Family" page of Gramaphone Online.

Mani Working at Gramaphone for me is purely to give back to the store and a scene that has given me so much. I saw something pretty unique when I used to comb the crates for records years ago, as Gramaphone is a center point, or fulcrum for electronic music in Chicago. All the artists visit the store for their tools, and as a result the "community" that has arisen here is invaluable when it comes to looking for advice, encouragement, and general support for what you are trying to accomplish as a DJ. If I could give anything back to this place that has given me so much, it is a high caliber web presence for as long as I work on it, and a personal goal to keep Gramaphone in the 21st century with its technological processes. I want the vibe here to extend worldwide, as Gramaphone tries to extend this "community" online.

11th-hour How do you feel the store has been caught up in the development of the music scene in Chicago?

Joe Hopefully, we played a small part in the evolution of all music Chicago has been noted for: blues, jazz, now house.

Mani Working under Josh [Werner] in the techno department (also a DJ I have seen play since I was a teenager), I can personally say that eventually Chicago will get known for its techno, and electro production. The music I hear out of many of my friend's / customer's studios is unbelievable. I would say, in my opinion, the store never had to catch up to the development of the scene in Chicago, as it often defined it. Listening and learning from many of the past employees and family of the store, like Mark Farina, Derrick Carter, Josh Werner, Oscar McMillan, Bad Boy Bill, Spencer Kinsey, Sneak, Justin Long, Sativa, etc. (the list is endless), one realizes that this store produces some of the finest talent in the city, and the world.

11th-hour Do you concentrate more on local music or imports?

Joe We do both. We carry huge amounts of imports due to the fact that dance music is "above-ground" in Europe.

11th-hour Do you have records available by mail order, or shop only?

Joe Both

Mani The site URL is: www.gramaphonerecords.com, where we have many extras that help you gain more of an insight into our culture. We post events, real audio samples, pictures, and many other things. We carry many styles and formats of music, while not forgetting the accessories that are crucial to the DJ, bedroom or traveling. My goal is to make this site like that of an Amazon.com, where live inventory is kept online, to ensure 100% order fills, and the site is dynamic, in nature, recommending titles based on your preferences, and past history. My goal, while I complete my degree, is to continually work on the website to ensure that it becomes what it truly is as a brick and mortar store, but online!

11th-hour What competition do you have within Chicago?

Joe There are a few other stores. This helps us keep on the ball. I think we have the strongest presence in House, Techno, and Rap/ Hip Hop.

11th-hour What other projects is the store involved with?

Joe Keeping the local DJs supplied with good music. We also sponsor several not-for-profit college radio programs since commercial radio sucks.

Mani We also run Gramaphone Techno Showcases that have been also coordinated with Antenna International (www.antennaintl.com), Interrupt-Media, Material, and Covalent in Chicago. Recently we have had the following artists here: Advent, Surgeon, Function, Hyperactive, Derrick Carter for a rare techno set, Peter (Baby) Ford, Tetric, Mercedez Ben, Ken and Karl Meier (Interrupt-Media), Dave Siska, George David, and Marko Katic (Antenna). We have planned upcoming shows with Material that include Oliver Ho (Meta, UK), and G-Flame (live). For us, it is about bringing the real heads we have met along the way that represent top quality techno. It tends to be largely from the UK because we (Josh, Karl, Ken, myself, and the Gramaphone Techno Family) have met some true techno pioneers, who have understood what we deal with in Chicago to further techno. We support the people that support us. That is one of the most valuable lessons that anyone that works at Gramaphone should quickly learn. However, our plans for 2002 plan to include many more events in collaboration with Material, bringing in quality techno from all over the world.

11th-hour How strong is the electronic music scene within Chicago these days, and what are your most successful artists/ labels?

Joe It is small, but a following is always growing.

Mani There are so many... I feel the true professionals are people like DJ Rush, Derrick Carter, Sneak, Mark Farina, Mike Dearborn, Phantom 45, Josh Werner, Justin Long, Heather, Sativa, and many, many others. What is often the case is that our city loses many artists born and bred here when other cities learn of the talent they have attained whilst working in Chicago clubs. I.E. Halo, Sneak, Collette, Angel Alanis, Hyperactive, etc. I feel in Chicago, the standard has been raised by many of the people who have DJ'ed in the scene. With people like Derrick Carter, Mark Farina, etc., this city expects the really long blends. I see out of town artists come in with 8 beat mixes, slamming the crossfader over quickly. In Chicago, you have to be able to let those mixes ride, or you won't be playing very often. The standards have been raised and Chicago continues to push further.

11th-hour What plans are there for the future of the store?

Joe We'd love to gain a little more space to better serve our clientele. We would also like to help organize and support various club nights and live shows.

Many thanks to Joe Dale and Mani Miglani for taking the time out to speak with us!