Interview with Nico Welmer : Record Collector
Ah. The wonders of social media. I first "met" Nico via instagram. I remember seeing post after post of bullshit-good vinyl and being slightly jealous. No, not jealous. Envious? No, not envy. Maybe both. Either way, we've kept in touch and we've even sent each other records. He's a solid dude and i'm stoked to have him featured here.
Best show you've ever seen?
That is a really hard question to start with, I have been going to shows for twenty-five years now and I must have seen close to a thousand shows. So, narrowing it down to a single show is somewhat impossible and probably inhumane.
But if I have to name a few shows that have stuck with me over the years, I would choose these ones:
Positive Numbers Fest 2004 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA. This hardcore festival had the best line up of contemporary bands all cramped into three days. The vibe of the weekend was so exciting and music wise it was impossible to create a better line up at the time. Go find the Youtube video that documented this festival and see how crazy the moshing was at this festival. Sadly quite a few bands never made it to Europe due to various reasons, but I am glad I did see them there.
A few years later the best band ever to come out of Belgium and probably the first band that showed us that European hardcore bands can outperform American bands, the almighty Dead Stop called it quits. Their farewell show was pure mayhem with uncontrolled participation from the crowd and a band that was on fire.
Same can be said about the first Negative Approach show on the European mainland back in 2007 that was nothing short of pandemonium. I was shocked to find blood splatters and several foot prints on my white Bad Brains shirt after the show, just to give you an idea what kind of madness has ensued.
In more recent years I love some of the shows Dag Nasty has played here in Europe. The thing I love about Dag Nasty is the wall of emotions being poured out on the crowd and the resonates with some many people in some many age groups. The shows I think about are only a few months and two years ago, but I am certain these will end up being two of the best shows I have ever been too.
What is your "White Whale" album?
The fun thing about white whale albums are, as soon as you have it, another one becomes a white while. Since you are asking about an album, I will disregard all those hardcore 7”s, I am still after.
The one thing that comes to mind that I will probably never find, but if the stars align, I might get one, one day, is the test press for the Minor Threat Out Of Step EP test press with silkscreened sleeve.
Top 5 artists?
Minor Threat
The Smiths
Dag Nasty
Bruce Springsteen
Bloc Party
I reckon i know the answer (tie between The Smiths & Minor Threat). Who is your most collect artist?
You guessed it right The Smiths, obviously I have a lot of Minor Threat stuff, but the output of The Smiths has been a lot more and thus end up my collection being bigger too. For the same reason, I have a reasonable Springsteen collection too despite not being a real collector, but he has released so many albums over the years.
Variants - yes or no and why?
Variants depends on the artist, some bands I love to get variants if it was released on different colored vinyl, different countries, different sleeves etc. Some artists, I am totally fine with just one of each albums and I don’t care about what pressing it is, as long as I can play it.
Why you ask? That depends a bit on the artist and how much I feel connected to the music and message. I don’t have a rule of thumb for this, it just happens.