Ep511: Nick Aguilar - Record Collector
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nick Aguilar of Frankie and the Witch Fingers and Slaughterhouse is a vinyl maniac! Today we discuss his collection, his obsession, the rarities and a life of music & record collecting.
Topics Include:
- Nick Aguilar plays drums in multiple bands including Frankie and the Witch Fingers
- Currently focusing mainly on Frankie due to busy touring schedule ahead
- Extensive tour dates planned through end of year across US and Europe
- Considers himself a music fan first, musician second since childhood
- Dad played tapes during Nick's colic as baby, introducing classic rock
- Father went to San Pedro High School with future Minutemen members
- Dad chose commercial fishing over music after graduation in 1976
- San Pedro's shipping port culture shaped the local music scene
- Nick has surpassed his dad's music knowledge over the years
- Started collecting at age 11 when neighbor gave away record collection
- First records included Rolling Stones "Some Girls" and Led Zeppelin "Physical Graffiti"
- Still regrets not taking Buzzcocks "Singles Going Steady" from that collection
- Casual collecting through school, seriously ramped up after high school graduation
- Pandemic period 2020-2022 massively accelerated his collecting and cataloging habits
- Taught himself DJing during lockdown to play records for people
- Discovered new genres like soul, funk, kraut rock through deep diving
- Got lucky buying expensive records cheap before current inflated market
- Focuses on 45s and 12-inches that work well for DJing
- Extreme organization needed to juggle multiple bands, touring, collecting, DJing
- Record store strategy: always hit new arrivals section first
- Holy grail wants include The Litter and James Knight records
- Uses both Discogs hunting and in-person digging at stores
- Thrift store finds getting much rarer as market knowledge spreads
- Appreciates reissue labels like Numero Group for discovering rare music
- Limited record shopping time while touring due to tight schedules
- Favorite shops include Breakaway in Austin and Academy in NYC
- Most expensive purchase: Helen Smith soul record for $2,900 on credit
- Most sentimental record: The Frighteners, reminds him of deceased friend
- Keeps multiple copies of key records for DJing versus home listening
- Band creates multiple vinyl variants through their Greenway Records label
See Frankie and the Witch Fingers and order their vinyl here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:10.1 | Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer. |
| 0:13.5 | Well, hey, everyone, it's Nate. |
| 0:15.7 | Welcome to episode 511 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:22.5 | And dear people, this week we are welcoming to the show guy I've been always wanting to have on the show. |
| 0:28.1 | Finally sorted out a date to have a chat with him, Mr. Nick Aguilar, who you may know from Frankie and the Witch Fingers or even Slaughterhouse, Nick absolutely destroys the drums |
| 0:41.5 | for those bands and several more as well. But Nick is also a serious record collector. And today |
| 0:48.1 | he takes us through his hobby, his collection, his history with record collecting, his holy grails, |
| 0:53.8 | his focus areas, and a whole lot more. |
| 0:56.5 | Nick is truly a music lover. |
| 0:59.2 | It's in his bones, man. |
| 1:00.5 | And he's really dedicated his life to his art and his passion. |
| 1:04.9 | It's wonderful to see him do his thing. |
| 1:07.0 | And if you want to see Nick in action, grab some tickets for Frankie and the Witch Fingers |
| 1:11.6 | at Frankie and the Witchfingers.com. The band is in Europe in August, and then back to the U.S. |
| 1:18.4 | for a whole slew of dates, and then back over to the EU in the UK, October, November, |
| 1:24.0 | and who knows where they'll end up after that. So check out their latest album Trash Classic. |
| 1:29.3 | There are multiple vinyl variants. Frankie and the Witch Fingers, aside from the killer music, |
| 1:34.4 | they're also a very vinyl-centric band. They know what we love. They have all sorts of killer variants, |
| 1:39.8 | which, of course, you could also see at Frankie and the Witchfingers.com. |
| 1:44.5 | Vinyl, tour dates, tickets, and more can be had there. |
| 1:47.8 | And, oh yeah, I should mention we have a video of today's conversation with Nick up there on the |
... |
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