The independent record store has served many purposes - curator and supporter of the latest new music, as well as a space for like-minded individuals to gather and discuss issues relevant to music while sampling new releases. It is out of this need for the community that New and Used Records was born, encompassing a record label, a music blog/website, and a concert series.

The record label showcases the finest indie rock we can find. The music blog and website are our space to promote all the music we love, while providing resources for artists and other labels. The concerts are our showcase for the music we love and are happening in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

New and Used Records continues to evolve with the ever-changing music industry. Here is a the history of N&UR as told by its founder, Will Benham.

History

I knew I wanted to be involved in music, but I was not sure what aspect of the industry I wanted to be a part of. I am not a musician, though I did sing in a "joke" band called 2Scoop which practiced only once, but played two shows including one opening for We Are Scientists. Failures at rock stardum aside, I knew this project would be called New and Used Records. For all my life, record stores had played an integral role - Village Music in Mill Valley, Rhino Records in Claremont, Amoeba Records in San Francisco, just to name a few - that the name seemed appropriate.

On January 1, 2006, in dire need of a new creative project, I launched the New and Used Records blog. This would not have been possible without the help of my girlfriend, Hillary Baker, who set up the blogger account while I was bed ridden recovering from illness. My early efforts in blogging were somewhat freeform - my brother and I counted down our top ten favorite records of 2007, I wrote a fictional script where I rap battled Kevin Federline while Diddy served as a moderator, and I wrote about my other interests of baseball and independent film. After a couple months, I decided I wanted to expand and focus. I began filming and interviewing bands for the New and Used Records Video Podcast, whose featured artists included the Boy Least Likely To, the Little Ones, Howlin Rain, and Kelley Stoltz.

It was through the latter podcast that I received contact from the Passionistas. The Passionistas were looking to be featured in a podcast, but I was eager to try something new. My experiences in podcasting had opened new doors in the music business, namely the help of Birdman Records owner David Katznelson, who was featured in one of our early episodes. David encouraged me to start a record label, and it so happened that the Passionistas had a brilliant finished record with no label releasing it. I decided I wanted to release the Passionistas' album, God's Boat, while documenting them for a video series.

For several months I conducted thorough interviews with the Passionistas and filmed nearly every show in anticipation of the album's release. The series concluded at the band's CD release party, which took place June 8, 2007 at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. With the release of NUR001 (God's Boat) New and Used was officially a record label.

Once we were a record label, I found myself with less time to blog and more time needed to perform accounting and admin work. Over the next year or so, I would team up with other blogs to co-present shows featuring the likes of Geographer, the Dont's, Rock N Roll Adventure Kids, Fulton Lights and Brian Glaze, but I wasn't sure just what the next phase was going to be. And then everything kind of fell into place...

Almost serendipitously, I was in talks with three bands at the same time - Tigers Can Bite You, Shiloe and Kid Mud - who all ended up signing with in weeks of each other. Subequently, our next four releases happened in a succession of four weeks. Releasing albums from TCBY and Shiloe gave us a presence in the Los Angeles music scene, while working with Kid Mud strengthened my desire to develop artists in the Bay Area. And it was working with these three artists that helped define and continues to articulate my goals for New and Used and its future.

Future/Mission Statement

It was always my goal that New and Used would be about discovering great music and providing a resource to musicians, and I realized that this was something we could accomplish through our blog, website and live shows. With the New and Used Records blog, I wanted to provide a news source for the two scenes in which we are most present - Los Angeles and the Bay Area. I started focus the reporting on bands in both areas. Of course, while that remains a focus, I cannot escape the fact that great underground music comes from all of the world and I want the blog to showcase those artists who are not receiving proper attention. For artists living in LA or the Bay Area, I did want to provide any extra service - providing information about what venues are best to play, what artists may be looking for show trades, what record stores might carry their album, and what studios will help them record. New and Used Records is not about competition - it is about sharing knowledge and creating a community that extends beyond the label.

With the help of TCBY drummer Andrew Platts, we redesigned NewAndUsedRecords.com with these same goals of commumity in mind. A new Features section provides articles about and opinion on the music industry - both from our perspective and from that of insiders. The Radio page allows us to stream all our releases in full in high quality at no charge; it is also an invitation to other artists to stream their work on our page, allowing for even more discovery in the New and Used Records experience. And all of this informed our two concert series - New and Used Records Presents and LA[Heart]SF. Our frequent live shows showcase both our bands, their friends, and new bands who come to our attention.

As the industry evolves, so does New and Used Records. It is our goal that no matter the state of music, we always provide a space to discover new bands, while providing a resource to help artists navigate the challenges presented by that evolution.

The Toaster Logo

Ever since we were a blog, the vintage toaster has been the logo of New and Used Records. The logo was designed by my girlfriend back in 2005 when we were planning to start a production company (which would later evolve into N&UR). She designed the toaster based on a 1950s model, and also established our company's aesthetic of 1950s advertising.

-Will Benham