Plateprat med Olaf Jens

If someone buys you a drink, what do you drink? Beer, but I just now quit! (True!)

Photo: LIZZY LEE SAVAGE & OLAF JENS

Describe yourself in at least five words.
“I can’t live without music.”

If you were to choose a pseudonym/artist name?
“The Vinyl Avenger”

If you were to write an autobiography one day, what would it be called?
“Can You Play Something I Can Dance To?”

If you want to get people on the dance floor, what song do you play? Don Gardner, “My Baby Likes To Boogaloo”.

What is your relationship with libraries?
I never go, don’t have a subscription, but I love books and still buy them.

Five favorite albums?
Cramps “Psychedelic Jungle”

Gun Club “Fire Of Love”

Back From The Grave, Volume 1

Hasil Adkins “Moon Over Madison”

A Fortune Of Blues, Volume 1

Five favorite songs?
Howlin’ Wolf “Smokestack Lightning”

Lee Hazlewood “Pour Man”

Link Wray “Fat Back”

DMZ “Guilty Child”

Capt. Beefheart “Zig Zag Wanderer”

What have you been listening to in the past few days?

Desperate Rock N Roll, Vol. 3.

Cheater Slicks “Walk Into The Sea”

Garage punk Unknowns vol. 1

Scientists “A Place Called Bad”

Guitar Mood, Vol. 1

Underrated album? Speedball Baby “The Blackout”

A classic that you've never understood? Beatles “Abbey Road”

Three favorite album covers?

Yma Sumac “Legend Of The Sun Virgin”

Martin Denny “Primitiva”

Arthur Lyman “Taboo, Vol. 2”

Do you collect records? Why?
Since the early 80’s. I never saw a reason to stop. I love music and have something physical in my hands. I love album covers too. CDS not so much, but I stream a lot as well.

What is the most important difference from when you started collecting records and how it is now?
The internet changed how people connect. It used to be a record store, a bar or club, or someone’s apartment: back then important spots us music nerds people traded knowledge and taste.

Favorite physical record store?

Kicksville in Sacramento.

Last purchased record?

Art Blakey And His Jazz Messengers “Cu-Bop”

Your best record purchase ever? Ramones S/T

Three records at the top of your want list? Mel Smith “Pretty Plaid Skirt”

Queers “Kicked Out Of The Webelos” EP

Miles Davis “ Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud”

The best guitar solo ever recorded? First Gear “Leave My Kitten Alone”

Favourite song in another language or dialect? Big Brown “Menin Aeide Thea”

The best lyricist? (Your favourite) Lux Interior

Favourite movie/TV series? Detour

Vinyl, CD, Cassette, or Streaming. What do you prefer? Vinyl

Are you an audio freak/audiophile? No

What do you play music on at home? Record player and streaming

A mixtape/Spotify playlist to celebrate love, what three songs must be included? Knight. Bros. “Love, Can’t You Hear Me”

Eddie Kirkland “I Love You”

Lulu “Love Loves To Love”

Which three records have influenced/inspired you the most in the past three years? Gabor Szabo “The Best Of Gabor Szabo”

Diggin’ For Gold “Vol. 11”

Blurt “Blurt + Singles”

A great playlist you want to share, why?
https://officenaps.com/ shares amazing 45s you never heard of, mainly lounge, exotica, weird country, beatnik jazz and what not.

Music books you would recommend and why?

“Secret Life Of A Satanist” by Blanche Barton. Important biography of everybody’s favorite Satanist: Anton LaVey.

A novel that made an impression on you?

“Journey To The End Of The Night”, Louis Ferdinand Celine.

Other you would recommend?

The Complete Tales And Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Favourite quote?
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -Hunter S Thompson

A Favourite musician?

Don Howland

A memorable music moment?

Hearing Howlin’ Wolf for the 1st time.

Which concertwill you never forget? Seeing ARTHUR LEE live in 2001.

Favourite festival? Not a festival fan. One or 2 bands is plenty.

Where would you like to travel to experience music?
A tiny unknown speakeasy in The South that nobody heard of that still has authentic electric blues.

Dream job now and when you were 13? Artist / Artist

Do you have any hobbies or interests besides music? No.

How do you think your friends perceive your taste in music? “Impeccable”

Is there a music genre you wish you spent more time on? “Musique Concrete”

Is there a genre of music that you would like to get to know better? See above

How old were you when you "discovered" music and what made you hooked?

4, hearing FRANCOISE HARDY, played by our baby sitter.

What kind of music did you listen to in your teenage years?
Post Punk (Wire, Pere Ubu, Magazine, etc.) and Neue Deutsche Welle (Palais Schaumburg, DAF, etc.)

Has your taste in music changed?
Yes, after discovering older music in the early 80’s.

Which record can you still put on when you're tired of music? Lou Reed “Metal Machine Music”

A musical decade you would travel to if you had a time machine? 1950’s

Are you nostalgic? No

Is there something you want to learn?
No, I’d rather un-learn a lot of things and become more intuitive.

The best-dressed musician? 50’s Elvis

Are you vain?

Yes

Will you show us a tattoo?

Yep

Are you a maximalist or minimalist? Mini

Are you introverted or extroverted? Both

Are you a Type A or Type B person? Both

Mental age? 21

What excites you?

Seeing a box of sleeveless 45s at a flea market

What are you afraid of? Fascist authority

Have you had an interesting dream lately? About what? I forget them

Which plant, tree, or animal would you like to be reincarnated as? A BRA

Is there a sound you strongly dislike? Cars with loud techno passing by

Do you have a favorite word? DISCOMBOBULATED

Is there a word you hate? “NO BIGGIE”

Favorite food? Tomates Farcies (Stuffed Tomatoes)

Favorite sport?

Wrestling

Favorite vehicle/means of transportation? Bicycle

If you were to define yourself as a car, which model are you?

1965 Dodge Dart (also my year of birth)

Your life philosophy? None

Do you have a relationship with religion?
Organized religion will be the end the world as we know it.

If there is a God, what do you think he would say to you when you meet?

Jesus resurrects and says “Love that Back From The Grave album cover you did!”

What would you want him to say? Him? Why not “her”?

Is there something that annoys you? Long goodbyes

Something you regret? Not making art for almost 20 years.

What is your relationship with music journalism? How do you update yourself on music?

There’s a few good writers. Nick Tosches being the best.
Other than that I get updated via social media.

Do you have any relationship with the record industry?
Yes: Sympathy For The Record Industry.

Are there people who have been important to your taste in music?

Yes: My 1st babysitter, my first crush in high school, my first girlfriend: all women with impeccable taste.

Your role model, or a mentor from whom you have learned something special?
Hasil Adkins. True DIY R&R attitude who didn’t care about other people’s opinions.

What inspires you? Rock ’N’ Roll

Favorite instrument? Nose flute

Favorite producer? Joe Meek

Favorite studio? Fortune

Favorite record label? Same

Best/most beautiful song for a funeral?

Link Wray “Genocide”

Is there a musician or band that has received far too little attention?

Morty Shann And The Morticians

Do you have something you want to ask yourself?
Yes. When will this interview be over with?

Who should I have the next record chat with?
Mark Lee Allen