“Brian Cook has been collecting records and making music for over 30 years, since forming seminal – and recently reunited – metalcore band Botch while still in high school to more recent work with Russian Circles and Sumac. A self-taught musician, his innovative bass playing with these bands and others has been hugely influential in the world of heavy music and beyond. And while his record collecting reflects that background, it also reveals a more diverse set of inspiration and influences behind his musical life. We sat down with Cook to talk about record collecting and the albums that influenced each of his musical projects.”

How many records do you own?

“I’d guess I have somewhere in between two and three thousand records, probably closer to three. At least a couple hundred of those are test presses and variants of records I’ve played on. I used to try to keep one of every color and pressing of everything my bands put out, but I’ve started slipping on that in recent years.”

What was the first record you bought?

“My first LP was Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet‘s Savvy Show Stoppers LP, bought for $2 at Jelly’s Comics in Honolulu in the early ‘90s. I was fourteen years old and obsessed with Kids in the Hall, and SMOASP did their theme song. I still have it too. If we’re including cassettes, then I actually had a bunch of ’80s Chicago albums when I was, like, ten years old. I loved Peter Cetera.”

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