PRINTThe latest creation, APOP sensation
Local record store raises the roof with experimental rock and an offbeat venue
September 23, 2004 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Tiffany Minx and Dustin Newman, the 24-year-old owners of APOP Records, never know how an in-store concert is going to turn out. The pair opened the record store earlier this year and regularly holds shows inside, outside and on top of the tiny building. Sometimes the crowd is large, sometimes people show up to protest the loud music, and sometimes the cops crash the party.
Minx met Newman through MU’s student-run radio station, KCOU/88.1 FM. Newman sent Minx promotional materials for the shows he was booking at Eastside Live and Central Tap because he wanted her to play the bands on her weekly radio show. The two eventually became friends. Newman had always wanted to own a record shop, Minx says. They had procured a large record collection and wanted to do more than just store it.
Selling the records was their best option. The decision to actually open APOP was quite sudden. “(We) just kind of did it,” Minx says. “We’re just really impulsive.” When the APOP building on Locust Street, formerly home to a psychic, went on the market and was affordable, they jumped at the opportunity.
APOP Records sells more than just vinyl, though. Books, CDs and ’zines can also be found there. The APOP Web site(menschenfeind.com/apoprecords/) has a partial list of the store’s inventory.
I Want Your Six
Vox accosts local music geeks with a very sharp pencil and forces them, under duress, to answer six questions.
This week’s answers are from Tiffany Minx and Dustin Newman, owners of Columbia’s APOP Records. Their store sells more than just records, and it is a venue for local artists.
1. What is your favorite album?
The Banana Splits, Here Come the Banana Splits
2. Which album do you wish would spontaneously combust?
Anything by The Eugenics Consil. They think they are really in your face, but they’re not.
3. What is the best live show you have ever seen?
The Missouri Talent Show last year at the Missouri Theatre. In particular, an all-female gospel group put on a pretty memorable show.
4. What is your favorite make-out album?
We don’t make out.
5. What band is so last year?
Whatever is coming out tomorrow.
6. Build your dream band.
Greg Roberts on attitude, Dave Wilson on hair, John Meyers, Ian Stewart on guitar and John Boyer in the role of chick magnet.
Minx and Newman both have eclectic tastes in music and a desire to sell records that cannot be found through the usual vendors.
The idea of getting bands to play at APOP began as a way to promote the store’s grand opening and has continued to highlight the store’s colorful atmosphere. The two owners wanted to promote not only the shop but also bands they liked, and they thought that their roof would be quite a different place for a band to play.
John Sheffield, Warhammer 24K and Queens chic-a-boo-boo, all local artists, played at the grand opening on April 25. The concert coincided with Columbia’s Earth Day celebration in Peace Park, which meant many people were wandering around in the vicinity of APOP. The owners also had a lot of friends show up, Minx says. After the successful show, Minx and Newman knew their shop could be another local music venue. Naturally, more shows were booked.
Since the grand opening of the shop, they have put on approximately 20 shows. The concerts are free, outside and bouncer-less, all factors that make APOP shows different from other shows in Columbia, Minx says.
The typical band that plays at APOP is noisy and experimental. The No Doctors’ show on Sept. 30 should be no different. The band is part of the underground rock circuit, and the sample of songs on its Web site (nodoctors.com) shows its penchant for punk rock.
Many of Minx’s and Newman’s friends are members of bands, which helps them book shows. Minx and Newman also accept e-mail requests from bands that want to play. If the owners like a band’s demo, they will try to schedule a show. Minx and Newman try to promote local bands, but they have booked bands from as far away as Italy. Unlike most venues, where a performance is expected each week, APOP does not have a set schedule. This makes booking shows easy. The hardest part is finding local opening bands for out-of-town acts because of the limited number of Columbia bands available, Minx says.
Bands have the option of playing on the roof, inside the shop or on a loading dock in the parking lot, depending upon where they are most comfortable. The crowd hangs out all over — in the street, in the store and even on the roof. Minx says that the crowd size has varied at each of the past shows at APOP and has grown to as many as 50 people. She describes the shows as having an overall “friendly, open environment.”
The laid-back atmosphere at the shows means there have been few problems. However, during the Twilight Festival, the cops did have to pull the plug on a second Warhammer 24K show, but Minx says even then the officers were very nice.
Although many bands played downtown during the festival, people complained that the music from APOP was too loud. Children were putting their hands over their ears, Minx says. Each time they have bands play, they apply for temporary noise permits, but when too many people get upset, the cops have to take charge.
Hopefully, upcoming APOP shows will be good-natured and enjoyable and will avoid legal intervention, but regardless, fans can expect a memorable experience.
— Chris Wehling
