CALGARY – It’s the only business of its kind in Canada, and it’s opened up in a quiet community in Calgary.
After years of hard work Canada Boy Vinyl is now pumping out records. The only problem now may be keeping up with demand.
At first glance, the untrained eye may think the laid back tracks are being played off a record. Look a little closer and you’ll see that the song is actually being cut in to the mold.
“You’re preserving the sound from the beginning to the end,” said Dillon Romney, general manager of Canada Boy Vinyl.” As musicians that’s just something we personally love.”
This love and passion for music and all things analog has taken Dillon Romney and his friend Dean Reid on quite the journey.
“We both worked in construction for a long time and we were looking for a way we could work with musicians, to be around musicians and at the end of the day just be musicians,” Romney said.
The answer – build Canada’s only vinyl pressing plant, tucked away in northeast Calgary.
The machines were bought in London and Germany — remnants from a time when records were number one. Their rarity only adds to the challenge.
“If something goes wrong, well you can’t call the manufacturer and say can you send me a new part for this? No. You have to get your engineer to try to ‘MacGyver’ something together, then you got to go a machine shop and try to get a part made. So if something goes wrong, well, it could take a long time,” Romney said.
It’s these issues that delayed the opening of Canada Boy Vinyl by several months and had skeptics wondering if the project would ever take off.
“They were a bit doubtful, but that’s it, we’re here and we’re staying.”
Phil East has more than 25 years experience in the industry, and was brought over from the UK to help start up the business.
“This is awesome. I’m still stunned after being here nearly a year with an interest for a pressing plant. I haven’t seen this kind of interest for seven years,” East said.
The goal is to press as many as ten thousand records per day and orders are already coming in, proof that passion has endless possibilities.
“That’s the inspiration, there you know. I always wanted to be a guitar player in a band and that’s really where it started. I followed my dream and it lead to this,” Romney said. “When we got sick and tired of losing band members and trying to get gigs in the city, it was a very frustrating situation and we kind of got sick and tired of it, so we came up with this idea to start a vinyl pressing plant.”
“It’s been very difficult but you have to follow your heart at the end of the day.”
Montreal-based pressing plant ‘Rip V’ ceased operations in January.
WATCH: After years of hard work Canada Boy Vinyl is now pumping out records. As Tracy Nagai reports, the only problem now may be keeping up with demand.
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