When music is your job, passion, and everything in between
“I remember being in record stores and everyone knew everyone, and you are all sharing this passion for music. It just seemed like this really cool haven.”
Jordan Cossill’s passion for music is obvious. Logan Savory chatted with the Invercargill musician about everything from living out his dream working in a record store, to the need for an entertainment venue in the city centre.
The thought of one day working in a record store was bliss when Jordan Cossill pondered it during his school days.
It’s all the former Verdon College pupil wanted to do.
“I just remember the awe and wonder of the record store when my brother worked there,” Cossill recalls.
“It seemed like the coolest job in the world. You get to hang out and listen to music and people put you on to new music.”
“I remember being in record stores and everyone knew everyone, and you are all sharing this passion for music. It just seemed like this really cool haven.”
The reality is the opportunities in that field were vanishing.
The streaming of music started to take hold. One by one music stores were shutting. Even when people were buying music in the physical form more and more of it was being done online.
Cossill’s dream career took a backseat, for a while, but his passion for music remained.
He’s been part of many bands as a drummer and backup vocalist. He’s part of the prominent Invercargill covers band Jetset, alongside Jason Schmidt and Michelle Lange.
Enough work came in to prompt him to throw himself into becoming a full-time musician, and also chase that dream he had as a school kid - working in a record store.
In February he opened Threes & Sevens Records in Invercargill. A record store on the second floor of the building on Dee St which also houses the Black Shag Cafe.
It’s a unique set up given the second floor of that building was once a flat. Threes & Sevens Records operates out of one of its former bedrooms.
At best estimate, the room is 3.5m by 5m in size. It’s pint-sized, but big on musical passion.
The neighbouring businesses in that upstairs space are a tattoo artist - Cossill’s partner Nicola Oldenhof in fact - and the Black Shag Lounge, which unsurprisingly was the lounge for the former flat.
Cossill says the prospect of a big rental bill elsewhere would have ended the dream of launching his own record store.
He was thankful to both the Black Shag and building owner Mana Davis for making it work. What’s been created is somewhat a hub full of creatives at 136 Dee St.
“Coffee, records, tattoos, we all kind of string together, and everyone’s cliental can sort of cross-credit a little bit.”
It’s made very good use of a space that may have otherwise gone unused, like much of the second-floor space around Invercargill’s CBD.
Cossill’s store doesn’t have a street frontage or any real foot traffic, and it can be a touch challenging to find.
But for Cossill it feels right. The people who arrive at his record store have made an effort.
“It’s been really cool talking about music all day and being able to share this with people, and seeing how stoked they are when they find that record they wanted.”
It’s that human exchange you don’t get sitting at home ordering music online, Cossill says.
He’s pleased with how it is progressing to date, acknowledging he started out with pretty low expectations.
“I thought I’d make it small and affordable as I possibly can and then I’ll sell records to my friends. It’ll be cool selling records a few days a week.
“But there’s been a lot of people I’d never seen in my life, and for Invercargill that’s kind of weird. You genuinely know everyone. But there are a lot of people out there who collect records. It’s cool to meet people that a really enthusiastic about music.”
There’s been a revival in the demand for vinyl over many years. That’s the centrepiece of his store, but interestingly cassettes are now also becoming more sought after.
“It seems to be younger people buying cassettes, I put it down to the Stranger Things series being such a huge phenomenon, I guess. Kids are watching the series and it’s based in the 80s and they’ve all got cassette walkmans.
“That’s suddenly become cool again… to collect cassettes and have some physical format music to listen to. Which is really cool.”
Although Cossill says sourcing good cassette collections has been a challenge.
Saturday is International Record Store Day and Cossill is making sure it’s well celebrated in Invercargill.
He’ll be open from 10am with a unique touch. He’ll have live music playing from 11am, in or just outside his store which we circle back to that fact it was once bedroom.
Touring folk singer Adam McGrath will wrap up the day with a performance at the Blach Shag Lounge.
Cossill doesn’t view the store as simply a place that sells music.
He wants it to play a role in promoting music and a place where people can come and simply talk about music.
Cossill’s passionate about the Southland music scene, although it doesn’t take a lot of digging to uncover some frustration.
He’s thankful for the support the Invercargill Licensing Trust musicians such as him in the form of payment to play at their various venues.
Although that’s covers music, catering for what the cliental at those venues want.
Cossill personally believes there is a large group of people who are not being catered for in central Invercargill.
People who want to listen to original music and want to do so while hanging out with like-minded people, he adds.
“There are all these outlying people who don’t really have anywhere to go.”
He’s loves the Southland Musicians Club venue at Preston St and the role it plays in the music scene.
But the reality is it’s located in suburban Invercargill.
There needs to be some sort of entertainment presence in the inner city, and he’d love for the ILT to take a lead on providing that venue.
A place where people can become more engaged with music. Youngsters can see musicians walking from the venue in central Invercargill with their guitar cases and think, “Can to do that? Is that a thing?”.
Or older people who wonder what that venue in the inner city is about and end up taking in music they otherwise may not have.
“It’s just like any arts, there’s nothing at the forefront in the city centre where people can say; ‘look at that, look at all of those arts people walking in and out’.”
A key factor in adding some life to the music scene would be the size of the venue, Cossill says.
Many touring musicians skip Invercargill because of a lack of a suitable venue, he says.
The likes of the Southland Musician’s Club is too small for some artists, while on the other end of the scale the ILT Stadium Southland is too big.
Something around the 300-capacity mark would work well for the city, Cossill says.
“If it was mid-sized venue, we would get so many more acts through [Invercargill].”
“It just needs to be a room with a stage and a bar. It’s literally the easiest thing.”
What we do know is Cossil’s passionate for music and for it to thrive in Invercargill. That there should be saluted.
Visit Threes & Sevens Records at 136B Dee St on Saturday for Record Store Day from 10am. You’re in for a treat with some live music as an added bonus.