Off The Record – Store
A few weeks, which turned into months, turned into half a year… But yes, some time ago I had the pleasure to meet up with Tjeerd De Jong. The man behind the Off The Record label, Off The Record Store, Stone In Egypt, Phantom Druid and many more projects still to come. Oh, and his very own Off The Record Festival! Which is now because of obvious reasons postponed… Yes, the man exhumes music through all his pores. If he is not working to promote the bands of his label, he is busy promoting the bands and their records in his store or working on new music. Sure, he also takes the time to listen to new music as well. Cause he won’t sell stuff he doesn’t like himself. Only a small section of the store is reserved for the better pop records and different sorts of more mainstream rock. Everything else is metal, doom, stoner and all round heaviness! “I’ve had people wander in asking about a certain popular artist. But if they would have just taken a look at the shirts and all the different kind of metal labels; they could have guessed it themselves.” And by sheer coincidence, only a little while later, (Coincidence? Right, this is how the Great Magnet works.), a Dutch middle aged man enters the store and yells: “Do you have Jannes?” “Do I know Jannes? Who is Jannes?” “Yes, do you have music by Jannes?” “Oooh, you mean that horrible Dutch singer, nope, ofcourse not. Try the store down the road.”
There are ‘secret’ projects in the works and there is already a new
Phantom Druid record underway. And how about a project with
Monolith Deathcult called
Demon Lodge who released a seven inch called
Breaking The Sound of Death on October 1st. Cause every free moment the man can spare he is working on music for himself. Sometimes they end up becoming
Stone In Egypt tracks. But more often than not, they sit on his shelf somewhere, slowly aging and slowly getting that extra twisted bite they need. Until the moment the universe calls out and points out that there is enough ominous energy present now for this record to be released… People who enter the shop with the intend to buy; usually end up going there monthly. Whenever pay-day rolls around, much of it is spent in his shop. And of course a few hours or so of high fidelity talk about what the best records or songs of a band actually are. Best sellers back then were the new
Black Rainbows record, the reissues of
Dozer,
Paradise Lost’s
Obsidian,
My Dying Bride -
The Ghost Of Orion,
Katatonia -
City Burials,
Goden -
Beyond Darkness and of course his own
Phantom Druid and
Stone In Egypt records. Who have their own, highly deserved, honorary shelf.
Off The Record is
Tjeerd and
Tjeerd is always on record about his favorite records. If you are ever in the neighborhood, be sure to visit
Off The Record, have a coffee with the
Phantom Druid and drink in all that is good and heavy!
We are unbelievably stoked, proud and honored to be featured on Phantom Druid's Death & Destiny album! Thanks to Shasta Beast's review! Thank you Phantom Druid! Thank you Tjeerd!