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Savour Neon Taste

Neon Taste Records beckons you in. Photo: Nathan Iles

Take a stroll down 3rd Avenue past the white stone Chinese dragons, and you’ll stumble across a black sandwich board pointing you down some mysterious steps. As you descend into the Opulence Centre, you’ll see people grabbing takeout orders from Auntie’s Chinese Burger, smell aromas wafting from the nearby Kwok Tai Chinese Herb Centre… and hear crushing punk rock tinnily blaring out of a nearby speaker. That sound leads to a singular room stacked full of obscure records, vintage band tees, and a wall of pins and leather for your perusal.

The sign still says “Swank Hair Design,” but this is Neon Taste Records, a music label and record shop transplanted from Vancouver to this hidden corner of Chinatown last year. Owned and operated by Josh Nickel, this shop is quickly shaping up to be the new beating heart of counter-culture and loud tunes here in Cowtown.

“I had a hard time having any other kind of DIY label thing, and we just had to do it ourselves, or nothing was gonna get done,” says Nickel, who also fronts the band Chain Whip. “We weren’t able to tour very heavily at the time, so it was tricky for other labels to want to take us on… I had labels that I’d started before fail, but this was the one that stuck. This just took some past mistakes and lessons learned.”

Neon Taste emerged in 2016 as a Vancouver-based record label focusing on “glam, punk, garage, rock, mod, pop, bubblegum and anything else that tastes good.” They’ve put out releases from bands including Anxious Pleasers out of Ontario, Headcheese from Kamloops, and recently collaborated with Conviction Records to release a full-length album from local punk heavyweights Closetalkers. The jump to Calgary just made sense for Nickel.

“I ended up losing my job, and the cost of living [in Vancouver] was just really crazy,” he says. “I met someone out here, moved in with her, and couldn’t find a job in Calgary to save my life, and I was on disability for a while, so I was like, ‘This is running out. I gotta figure something out.’ And I figured, well, I have lots of records and a label with a decent following.”

Practicality also led him to set up shop in an old hair salon. “This [space] just made the most sense for the size compared to the rent for what I was gonna be able to do,” he says. “It’s small, but I think that it’s pretty perfect for a record store that operates the way I plan to operate for now.”

The selection of vinyl goes well beyond Neon Taste’s roster. From used pressings of David Bowie and The B52s to still-sealed records and obscurities like Canadian grindcore legends Massgrave and Sweden’s Isotope Soap, there’s a record for all (neon) tastes at insanely reasonable prices. The book rack contains everything from manifestos to oral biographies near a window covered in local gig posters.

Speaking of gigs, Neon Taste put together a weekend-long shindig of music last fall to properly introduce itself to the city. Bands like Puppet Wipes and Hedonist ripped up the Palomino on October 11 and 12, while Nickel and his pals spun records and wound things down on Sunday at Pinbar. “I want to do shows like I do my store,” says Nickel. “Keep it tight with the stuff that I want to do so that I’m caring about it, too.” He’s also been doing DJ nights at Sweet Loretta dubbed “Neon Sleaze,” featuring himself and DJ Arielle spinning new wave and punk tracks alongside $5 beers.

Whether in the shop or Calgary’s music venues, Neon Taste is about community building. “There’s a couple of things that I’m planning on doing, and I want to do more special stuff,” says Nickel. “What I want to do [in the shop] is have a spot where people can kind of come and hang out, throw up a ‘Need New Guitarist for the Band’ flyer, or even just meet people looking through the bins who have common interests.”

Visit Neon Taste Records at 111 3 Ave. S.E. Follow their Instagram for hours and stock updates (@neon.taste.records) and hit neontasterecords.ca to explore their online store and releases. 

Josh Nickel, owner-operator of Neon Taste Records. Photo: Nathan Iles

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