Home Grown: “My records are the soundtrack to my life”

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Because every record collection has a story.

Home Grown is our series profiling you lot and your excellent record collections. Taking our cue from the brilliant submissions to the #VFRecordCollections thread on Instagram, we want to share a little of your hard-earned love for vinyl with the world.

Each week, we’ll be profiling a different collector from around the world and finding out what makes them tick. Want in? Send us a pic of your collection and a few words about your collection to [email protected].


Name: Jase Ruffell

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Size of collection: 2000 LPs / 550 7” / 100 12″

How long have you been collecting for?

I started in 2008 when I was in my early 20s. I had been buying CDs since my teens and had approximately 400. I then moved onto MP3s when I bought my first iPod in 2004. Over the proceeding few years, although I loved the convenience and portability of the MP3, I missed having the physical album which I grew up with. I had no interest in getting back into CDs but a mate of mine had recently bought a turntable and I was immediately hooked. Dad then bought me one of my own and gave me his old records (about 90) which he had hung on to. I have been obsessed ever since.

What part of your set-up are you most proud of?

That’s a difficult question to answer. I love the diversity of my collection. It spans almost every genre and every decade since the 1920’s.

I have full discographies of most of my favourite artists and am always on the hunt to complete the discographies of others. My current obsession is the local Melbourne band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I have every single pressing of each of their albums and 7”s (about 35 unique records plus a few duplicates). I am only currently missing their first EP, Willoughby’s Beach, (which is like finding a needle in a haystack, although I was only recently outbid on two copies on eBay) and their RSD 12” single ‘Head On’ / ‘Pill’.

What does your record collection mean to you?

My collection is who I am. My collection is home. The ability to chuck on a record and escape; whether it’s to your childhood with something Mum or Dad used to play like The Beatles, Neil Young & The Rolling Stones or playing Oasis, Pearl Jam & The White Stripes from high school or playing more recent favourites like Otis Redding and Tom Waits. You can go wherever you want to be without ever leaving the lounge room.

Music can make you feel nostalgic. Music can make you feel sad. Music can make you feel happy. My records are the soundtrack to my life.