OK, so maybe no one else remembers that old ’90s show —
Two Guys, a GIRL and a Pizza Place. But it was my favorite show as a 16-year-old girl with a huge crush on Ryan Reynolds.
You know what else is my favorite? Guestroom Records. And it all
started with two guys who loved music and worked at Pizza Shuttle.
Check out our interview below with Guestroom Records co-owner Travis
Searle.
When and how did Guestroom get started?
We opened our first shop in July of 2003 in downtown Norman.
For a year and a half previous to opening, we ran a small
distribution/door-to-door record shop. We would collect names and phone
numbers and call folks when we got in monthly orders and take them
around various homes.
Justin Sowers and I met while living in the dorms at OU and worked up
our business plan while driving pizza for Pizza Shuttle. Decided that
we both had the same good idea — and that two intelligent music fanatics
would have a better chance to succeed than one. When the shop was
ready to open, we pu
t our entire personal music collections (Justin had
about 1,200 LPs and 400 CDs, I had about 1,500 CDs and 400 LPs) into the
shop to give us a great opening used stock. It’s been fairly uphill
since then.
What made you decide to expand to Oklahoma City?
From the onset, we had the belief that at some point we would outgrow
our Norman location and need to open a second store. We didn’t really
want to move to Tulsa, Denton, etc. Fortunately for us, the current
location of Guestroom OKC (3701 N. Western) came up for rent in February
2007. The price was right, the location was fantastic and the space
was just what we needed. We sort of hit a plateau in Norman and knew
that the needs of music lovers and collectors were not being met 100
percent in Oklahoma City. Made sense to us then and our sales numbers
(roughly 25-35 percent larger than Norman store) show us that it still
makes sense.
What are your top five favorite albums of all time?
It changes pretty regularly. I could narrow it to 30-ish that
would stay the same. As of today my favorite albums are something like
this:
Neutral Milk Hotel — In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Ramones — Rocket to Russia
Thee Oh Sees — Help!
Mika Miko — We Be XUXA
The Replacements — Let It Be
What new music are you listening to right now?
Again, it changes every day. This week, I’m digging the new
albums by The Black Keys, LCD Soundsystem, Ty Segall, David Cross,
Tobacco, Thee Oh Sees, Rainbows are Free, Woods, Roky Erickson, The
National… geez too many to list. Come ask me in person and I’ll give
you an updated rundown of what’s worth hearing.
What are some of your favorite local bands?
There are so many great local bands in Norman and OKC! Here’s
what I can think of off the top of my head — The Boom Bang, Rainbows are
Free, Brother Gruesome, Shi**y/Awesome, Mayola, Student Film, Gang
Starr Museum, Penny Hill, Jacob Abello, The Starlight Mints, Gentle
Ghost, Depth & Current, Evangelicals, Early Beat… there are lots
more but I don’t want to take up a gigabyte.
What’s in the future for Guestroom?
More of the same… but with mustard! We’re holding pat on
opening another shop for the meantime. We’re concentrating on
maintaining quality in the stores and working on our record label
(Guestroom Records Records). Future plans include hosting more shows,
throwing more parties and figuring out time travel.
What do you love most about Oklahoma?
Tough one to answer. It’s definitely NOT the weather. I’d say it’s
probably the number of awesome people I get to see on a daily and weekly
basis. The scene is pretty fun currently. I wish there were more
independent businesses to support, but they’ll come with time. Thanks
for keeping it local.
We’ve been working with Nice People and several of our favorite local bands for the past few months on this project and are super stoked today to provide a free download… AND free vinyl copies… AND to announce a free holiday concert on December 11th.
