"Best advice was to listen without prejudice."

Eilon Paz: Dust, Grooves & Vinyl

Born in Israel, now residing in Brooklyn, NY, photographer Eilon Paz has traveled the world, from Australia to Cuba and Argentina to Ghana, in pursuit of intriguing and memorable subjects. He has shot for Israel’s top cultural publications (Pnai Plus, Blazer, Al Hashulchan, Masa Acher) and for the acclaimed cookbook “The Book of New Israeli Food” (Janna Gur, 2008 Schocken/Random House). Eilon’s work has appeared in worldwide publications such as Wax Poetics, Saveur, Monocle, Conde Nast Traveler, Delta Airlines’ Sky magazine, and the French music magazine Vibrations.

Eilon Paz’s Dust & Grooves is a 416-page coffee-table book illuminates over 130 vinyl collectors and their collections in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. Dust & Grooves maintains the integrity and history of vinyl, as well as the musical heritage that goes along with every record in these collections. Dust & Grooves is the only project of its kind that documents vinyl lovers and their collections in this most intimate way. The project will continue to help preserve the integrity of vinyl records as well as the many colorful personalities that collect them. As technology moves forward and many music formats go digital, Dust & Grooves helps keep the rich, warm, analog life of vinyl spinning.

Interview by Michael Limnios

When was your first desire to become involved in photographic art? How do you describe Eilon’s philosophy?

I was 16 years old and I was living in a really small town in the desert in Israel. There wasn’t much to do over there. I picked up my dad’s camera and started taking a few photos. Then I started taking photos of all the beautiful girls in my school that worked really nice for me.

What has been the relationship between music in your life and art? How important was music in your life?

I was always a record collector. I grew up with them back in Israel. Music was always important in my life; I was always that boy in school—people would ask me to find out what was good. And in the 80s, vinyl was the only format, until it slowly switched to CDs. But I remained a vinyl person, and as time passed, it started to become associated with nostalgia for me, and with special attention paid to music. That’s also the reason I keep collecting now—the fact that it makes music special.

I always wanted to combine these two passions, and for some time back in Israel, I was doing just that. Photographing artists and musicians for album covers and magazines. I really enjoyed that work, but there was an element of it that was not that enjoyable, which is working for someone else.

This book project in that aspect is a dream come true. I do what I want the way I want. No one is telling me what to do.

"A vinyl record collection is a window into a person’s entire life. That’s it, I guess. You don’t need words; it’s just the music. Through the albums, you can see how a person developed, how they grew up. I don’t think you could do this with a bunch of MP3." (Photo © by Eilon Paz) 

How started the thought of Dust & Grooves? Which vinyl collector has been the most important experience?

I moved to NYC in 2008, at the beginning of the big recession, and was jobless for a while. So instead of being busy with work, I found myself spending a lot of time in record stores. In these periods in life when you have a lot of time, when you’re in a new country, there’s a strong drive to justify the sacrifice you made by leaving your family and friends and coming to a new place; I felt a real drive to do something worthwhile. And I was impressed by the abundance of records here and by the vinyl community: people talking about records, buying and selling—even in the streets. So my interest in vinyl perked up when I came here. But what really ignited the flame was reading this article in the Village Voice about this German guy, Frank Gossner, who digs for records in Africa. It was a mind-blowing story. I found out he was living in Brooklyn and asked him if we could meet, and I told him about this new idea I had to document the vinyl community here. He was supportive, he liked the idea, so he took me to some record stores and I met Joel Olivera of Tropicalia in Furs, who was great. And that’s where it all started.

I never thought this would be a website or a book. I only wanted to work on a personal photography project, and I found that my unemployment was a good opportunity to do something that I really cared about—to combine these elements of my life that I really loved: music, photography, and vinyl.

As for my important experience…you know, it really varies by the stage I was in at the time; what depth I was at with the project when something happened. At first I was excited by every meeting; every interview got me super amped. But when you do things over and over, it dilutes the experience. So over time, it’s the ones that were really hard to get, or the ones that took me by surprise, that stand out. Definitely the opportunity to shadow Frank Gossner in Ghana, just being in on that process of chasing records, following them with him; that was amazing. And on that trip, meeting Philip, an 80-year-old guy who hadn’t listened to his records in 30 years—that was a mind-blowing experience. In that case, we were really able to give him something too, as we brought the turntable he listened to them on. So it was incredibly cool that we were really able to give each other something, to exchange these great experiences. Also traveling up the Mississippi Delta on our road trip last year—meeting David Caldwell in his broken-down store and spending the day with him listening to stories and talking about old records.

"Music was always important in my life; I was always that boy in school—people would ask me to find out what was good. And in the 80s, vinyl was the only format, until it slowly switched to CDs. But I remained a vinyl person, and as time passed, it started to become associated with nostalgia for me, and with special attention paid to music. (Photo © by Eilon Paz)   

From whom have you have learned the most secrets about the music? What is the best advice ever given you?

I learn from each collector I visit. I try to pick up at least one album from each collector that I visit, and it doesn’t matter if they are music scholars or just drive a truck for a living.

Best advice was to listen without prejudice.

Why did you think that the “vinyl music culture” continues to generate such a devoted following?

A vinyl record collection is a window into a person’s entire life. That’s it, I guess. You don’t need words; it’s just the music. Through the albums, you can see how a person developed, how they grew up.

I don’t think you could do this with a bunch of MP3.

What from your memorabilia (books, records, photos etc.) would you put in a "time capsule"?

A few good records. For sure. Maybe a Miles Davis one.

Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go for a whole day..?

I wanna go to a James Brown concert, before he became huge. In a small club somewhere in Harlem.

Dust & Grooves - official website

Photo © by John Sciulli / Getty Images for Sonos Studio