Ep340: John Foy - Australian Music Legend - Pt 1
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2022
⏱️ 95 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John Foy has played pivotal roles in the development of Australian music and culture. In part 1, we discuss early years, Sydney's record shops and burgeoning punk scene, Australian vinyl, bootleg records, creating extraordinary poster art as shown in his new book "Snaps, Crack, Pop" and lots more.
Topics include:
- John's early years in Sydney – Pop culture, Mad Magazine, Telstar
- Records and music in the house – First albums
- Bootleg records in Australia
- First live shows – early AC/DC shows, seeing Black Sabbath & Buffalo
- Early memories of Rose Tattoo
- John attempting to play an instrument
- John's plans after high school – working at White Light Record Shop
- Transforming the record shop to cater to punk rock
- Why Australian vinyl pressings are considered inferior
- The relationship between independent record shops and major labels
- Bands finding their limits in Australia and moving overseas
- The role of indie record shops in the Australian music scene
- How the indie record shops worked together
- Moving from record shop to a record label – Phantom Records
- Early private pressings – The Saints, Radio Birdman, The Sports
- Creating mail-order artwork for the record shop
- Discovering his strengths in design
- Getting busted for Bootleg records
- The bootleg record industry in Australia
- What were the vinyl pressing plants in Australia?
- Packaging the music once the band is done recording
- "Snaps Crack Pop" Book, John's business card
- John's screen-printed poster art – now highly collectable
- Approx 110 of each poster was created
- People collecting John Foy poster artwork early on
- John's approach for designing a poster
- Where were they generally hung?
- Typical brief he'd get on a poster design
- How many posters survive today?
- His personal favourite posters
- John's design and and production process for the posters
- Are any poster designs missing?
- Making a poster for the Hells Angels
- Working with Michael Chugg
- Other promotional materials and creative projects
- Balancing multiple creative projects
Order "Snaps, Crack, Pop" book here.
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If you like records, just starting a collection or are an uber-nerd with a house-full of vinyl, this is the podcast for you. Nate Goyer is The Vinyl Guide and discusses all things music and record-related
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Groove Washer, the best record cleaners and protective sleeves for your vinyl collection. |
| 0:05.6 | Ask for the Groove washer from your local shop or go to groove washer.com. Discount code, |
| 0:10.6 | Vinyl Guide 10. We're also brought to you by audiophile USA.com. The family owned and operated, used at record shop that only sells excellent and nearint vinyl records. Over 42,000 titles in stock. |
| 0:23.5 | Search, dig, and load up your cart with your final vinyl upgrades at audiophileUSA.com. |
| 0:29.8 | And now, on with the show. |
| 0:33.7 | Oh, well, hey, everyone. |
| 0:35.4 | Welcome to episode 340 of The Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:41.0 | And this week, we have not one but two episodes featuring an extra in-depth conversation with John Foy. |
| 0:50.2 | An absolute legend of the Australian music scene. |
| 0:53.9 | A guy who caught the bug early helped usher in punk and bootleg records into Australia. |
| 0:59.0 | Worked at some renowned record shops in Sydney, created artwork and gig posters that are extraordinarily collectible these days. |
| 1:07.0 | John even started the Red Eye Records record label, as well as the Black Eye Records sublabel, |
| 1:12.3 | and apparently had lots of fun doing it all. |
| 1:14.9 | We go in depth with John over the next few episodes, and he's so interesting and convivial, |
| 1:20.5 | we probably could have done ten more. |
| 1:23.1 | Now, by the way, John has a phenomenal book, Snaps Crack Pop, that you could order at skullprintworks.com. |
| 1:32.1 | Here, I'll say that again, and I'll hold for a moment so you could type it in. |
| 1:37.0 | Skullprintworks.com.com. |
| 1:39.8 | And the book, Snaps Crack Pop, is not just a pretty cover. |
| 1:46.0 | It's got hundreds of pages, full-color beautiful printing, high resolution, gorgeous imagery of his collectible poster art, |
| 1:51.8 | pictures and stories of his well-spent youth in the Sydney music scene, the records, the |
| 1:56.5 | artwork, the stories, the collectibles, the characters, the maniacs, the care, the love, the detail |
... |
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