Origami Vinyl celebrated its 2 year birthday this past weekend. The small Echo Park record shop has become both a neighborhood and LA Indie Music scene staple in a very short amount of time. Allowing weekly in-store performances has increased the amount of music lovers that hang at OV. Their flourishing partnership with The Echo/Echoplex has made this area of Sunset blvd hip. Whether supporting local festivals, starting record clubs, at near by eateries, or finding a new band for OV’s Indie music label, this shop has it’s hand on the pulse of music scene.
“I discovered LA at a very young age. I loved coming here to check out the arts and music scene.” Neil Schield, owner of OV . Growing up in the suburb of Walnut, Schield learned about a different kind of life by riding into the city with his father, whom worked in LA. After moving around to Crested Butte and San Francisco, he landed back in LA. After working in the record industry for a number of years, the desire to pursue his dreams kicked in and OV was born.
The in store performances started as a way to honor local bands for finishing a record. “There are record release parties that reward the bands for putting their work out on vinyl. Smaller bands don’t have anywhere else in LA to do that, so we started DIY bands [playing] up in the loft.” Schield explains. Word of mouth spread and soon bands traveling through LA also wanted to play in the OV loft. Since the only requirement to play is to have your music on vinyl, many bands meet the criteria.
A local label called “I am sound” brought their newest artist and her latest EP record to Schield. She sat and signed 5 copies and gave them to fans and asked Schield if she could play in store next time she was in LA. Since she met the requirements, he agreed and then didn’t hear from the band for awhile. When Florence and The Machine came back as a huge success and was asked to appear on the MTV music awards, Vevo wanted to record a performance of theirs, and not forgetting her promise, she chose to do it at OV.
Ben Harper also played at OV because he loves Two Boots pizza, which is next door to the record shop. Harper strolled in and saw a live performance and asked “Can I play here?” In awe, Schield responded, “Yes” and a week later his show, which was “heavily promoted on his website like it was Bonnaroo” occurred. 350 people also and the fire marshal showed up making it “crazy”. Harper played an hour and a half set which was memorable for everyone.
The in store performances began the first day the store opened and the bands that played were all on Origami Vinyl’s recording label. The label came first, in 2007, then the store. These days it has switched gears. Shield remains very focused on one band a year and helps them with vinyl and digital releases on a strictly DIY basis. He began the label when he was working in the industry on the digital side of things. All his friends were unsigned musicians that needed help putting their music out into digital releases. With no intention of fostering burgeoning careers in the industry, OV originally was a functional way for his bands to get digital distribution. Now the point of the label is to help a band start and then move on to the next level.
Having had been asked by musicians many questions about vinyl production, Schield took matters into his own hands to round up a panel and to teach people about the entire process of making a record. The response of people was too great for the store to handle and now May 18th, the Grammy Museum will be hosting the panel at their facility downtown.
The Grammy Museum also hosted a Record Store panel last year. The discussion was geared towards discussing the bigger record stores business’s demise and how the local stores have survived and continue a communal experience for music lovers.
Schield feels fortunate that he has a different opportunity then the stores of yesterday combining the old niche of vinyl with modern technology. OV's Record Club on Tuesday nights “Tweet” out musical selections so if you can’t make the party, you can still be a part of the party.
The stores biggest day of the year is Record Store Day which is this Saturday, April 16th. “Last year when I showed up at 9am to open, there were already 35 people in line.” Four bands will be playing during the day and there will be a SECRET BAND at 2pm that “shouldn’t be playing a store this small.” Other performances are 4pm Nick from Islands and 8pm The Growlers. “It’s just a great day to celebrate Independent Record stores.” states Schield.
Combining a passion for fresh music and old school ways, Neil Schield and Origami Vinyl are breathing life into a industry in transition. Helping new musicians get out into the world while creating a fun environment for music lovers to join together in seems to be a successful formula for this Indie Music entrepreneur.
Origami Vinyl Presents Record Club Every Tuesday Night
9pm 'til 1am @ El Prado
1805 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park
Origami Vinyl
213.413.3030
1816 W. Sunset Blvd Echo Park, CA 90026
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