Collecting: Interview with Mike Collino

Mike Collino is a musician in Clawson, MI. His current projects include Dog Lady and Bile & Horseman. I interviewed Mike by email in May 2011 and he sent along some great pictures. Thank you, Mike, for sharing your collection! 

How many records do you have?

Maybe 250.  Things got out of hand a couple years back, and I pared down.

 

Do you remember the first music that you got excited about having on vinyl?

My first purchases were thrift store vinyl.  Pre-internet, it was a cheap way to grab the classics.  I was nostalgic for the bands we jammed as kids.  My cousin Billy would ride his Supergoose and tow me around on the Nash that I found in my parents' garage after we moved, and we'd listen to cassettes on his bike-mounted boombox--Boston, Deep Purple, Motley Crue, Ratt, AC/DC, Van Halen--and later, when I left Monroe and went off to school in Detroit, I started picking up $1 copies of those records to jam in my apartment on Forest.  Until the '90s, I was rocking cassettes exclusively, and then when I moved out of my parents' house back in 1992, my first apartment was at the Forest Arms--later the first home of People's Records, before the fire.  Outside of damaged thrift store finds, my collection began with recommendations from Brad and Steve when they worked at Encore in Ann Arbor, and then later when they were running People's.

 

What kind of records are in your collection?

Mostly jazz, goth/industrial, noise LPS, weird folk, David Lee Roth.  

 

Do you spend a lot of time shopping for records? How often do you go out in search of something you want?  

None and almost never.  Record stores and post offices give me panic attacks.

 

Do you have any records or group of records that you treasure most? 

I do.  I have a special section.  I can't say there's an organizing principle exactly.  It includes my copy of "Nekronology" by Hermann Kopp, Coltrane's "Meditations" and "Stellar Regions," Throbbing Gristle "Dimensia in Excelsis," a record called "We Made It Happen" by Engelbert Humperdinck, and some others.  I jam the Kopp LP weekly at least.  Kopp is an amazing composer whose violin and electronics work has been an enormous influence.

What are some recent things you've picked up and how did you find them? 

A few weeks ago, I visited Ron Lessard at RRR in Lowell, Massachusetts, and had an amazing time.  Walked out with a C. Spencer Yeh LP and a copy of the RRR-1000 Lock Grooves LP.  I think my favorite tracks are Dilloway's and Spencer's.  What else?  I picked up a copy of the Suicide re-issue in Cincy.  I just pulled down an LP on eBay, something my friend Luke found when we were driving around on the East Coast, which is this instructional LP release that explains all of these signal processing secrets like how to turn your TEAC reel-to-reel into a delay or a phaser.  I bought a copy of "Dolphin Smiles" in Pittsburgh, and it's not good.

Is there anything particularly rare or exotic or bizarre in your collection? Or something that you think another record collector would really love to have?

The rare stuff consists of friends mostly.  Jaks, especially the "Damn Bloodsucker" 7" that came out on Makoto back in '96.  A good number of recent American Tapes LPs that I've gripped from Olson.

 

What records are you looking for right now? 

My friend Khristopher turned me on to Rusted Shut, and I've been looking for their vinyl and lathe releases recently.  Trying to pad my Bauhaus and Birthday Party sections.  Joy Division boots.  Looking for a clean copy of the Search Party LP and the Kriegshog 7"s.  I'm all over the place.