Diabolical Records: The Ebbs And Flows
It’s been just over seven years now since Diabolical Records first opened their doors. In that time, owners Alana Boscan and Adam Tye have created a hub that has become a staple of downtown Salt Lake City. They’ve helped to cultivate an eclectic community of musicians and record junkies, offering some of the rarest records in town and operating as a small DIY venue when they’ve had the chance. Now with precedent of the pandemic, like any small business found around the world, they’ve had to face a new slew of challenges and have had to think of new and creative ways to keep Diabolical in circulation. After shutting down for a few months to re-evaluate and evade the spread of covid-19, they are back in business. Salt Lily caught up Adam and Alana to see how business has been since reopening, what they think of Salt Lake’s music scene and what they see for the future of Diabolical records.
What made you guys want to open a record shop?
Adam: Uh, that’s kinda how we got together, over a mutual love of music and shows and finding new stuff and all that. And just listening to the community. I worked at Slowtrain while they were still around ... I worked there for like three or four years, just part-time… So we always loved record shops and [opening one] was kind of a goal for later that we were kinda planning on.
Is there a band or type of music that really helps define your guys’ relationship and the origin of Diabolical Records?
Alana: Yeah… I really liked harder music. I really like weird music. So when we got together it was just something we immediately bonded over. But actually - specifically - I remember being in the kitchen of [Adam’s] friend, Kelly’s house, and it was the first time I came into contact with Adam. He started talking about the Trail of Dead, and I was really interested in the Trail of Dead at that time. This was like 10 years ago now. And I was just like, “what? He’s talking about the Trail of Dead?” So we just started a conversation that was really cool [laughs].
Adam: Yeah, I think as far as the story goes, there’s, like, the band that we’ve become the most associated with, because we talk about them endlessly - mostly me - is this band called Gnod. They’re this psychedelic band from England. They’re incredible. And we’ve sold more copies of their records than any store in the country. Yeah, so we’re just obsessed with them … But I don’t know… Probably the band that I think of when I think of the store is Sculpture Club, the local band, because they’ve played the store eight-million times [laughs] and they just kind of belong in there. We still have, like, pieces of confetti from the confetti cannons they shoot off at shows-- like in our ceiling. They're the kind of band that I think of when I think of the store.
Alana: And I think that they have a lot of off-shoots within their scene. Like, they knew a lot of fans that would then start contacting us to book shows and, vice-versa, we would introduce people to Sculpture Club and then they’d become part of that bigger scene that exists in Salt Lake.
What do you guys think of the Salt Lake City music scene?
Adam: It… is difficult. I think the biggest struggle with Utah - and we’re just as guilty as anyone else - is that the venues here can’t really pay bands-- or don’t really pay bands … I think some do when they really can. It’s just… it’s a weird place to do business. Like, the bars don’t make as much as other states do off their alcohol and that’s how bands usually get paid. So there’s all sorts of limiting things that everyone faces. Our shows are all donation based and all the donations go to the touring bands.
Alana: If a local band was touring we would give them to the money too.
Adam: Yeah. But I think that’s just statewide. There’s really only like three or four bars in town - like in the state, really - that pay well. And I think that stops a lot of bands from being able to get enough-- even to just get enough funds to go on a real tour or to record professionally… I don’t know. I think there’s a lot of places where we could improve.
Alana: Yeah, and I think how we get there is still up for debate and discussion. And I feel like, with the music scene specifically - like in the past seven years that we’ve had Diabolical open - we’ve seen it at it’s low in a really interesting way. And once it starts, you know, increasing and doing well, which it was I would say about three years ago..? It was reaching kind of this apex, but then dissolved before it could reach this critical mass, and I think it’s just this desire and goal to have it reach a critical mass that we’re still wanting to do.
So you think roughly 2017 was the pinnacle of the scene?
Adam: It depends. It kind of ebbs and flows all the time. When I was in high school - or just out of high school - Form of Rocket was the band, and then three years after that Band of Annuals were the band. And Vile Blue Shades were around. And then it’s like an every-five-year cycle type of thing. [But] even during the ebbs, it’s not bad-- there are still awesome bands. They’re just figuring it out … There’s a bunch of really good newer bands that kinda got knee-capped by this whole covid thing. Like, we never got to have World’s Worst play at the store and I love that band… Yeah, and there’s a bunch of different bands that [were] kind of just starting to get going that we really missed out on.
In a very general sense, how has the pandemic affected you guys? You guys obviously had to shut down for a bit, but you’re obviously still around, too.
Alana: So, we like to give credit to Melinda over at Atelier … She was posting these bags online that you could order and they were just kind of surprise bags… So we reached out to her - we’re friends with her - and we were like, “hey, can we steal your idea [laughs] essentially and do Diabolical drop-bags?” And she’s like, “Sure! Like, definitely.” We did one collaboration with her, and it was just kind of a way to, I think, reach a lot of people where we were kind of stuck with online orders... But I think when everyone’s under pressure they don’t wanna think too much about music they wanna listen to. I think everyone was feeling, you know, stressed and exhausted, so to have a surprise of records to listen to I think took the edge off of a lot of people and gave them something to look forward to. So that kept us going for quite awhile before we reopened…
Adam: Yeah, and I think the cool part about going to a record store is finding something new. So to be able to be like, “this is what I like.” And then we would build a bag for them based on their taste... We’ve been doing that and then we did our collaborative version of that where we teamed up with Normal Ice Cream. We teamed up with Atelier. We teamed up with Ken Sanders Books … We were just trying to reach out to the businesses that we love and that we have a similar feel for and yeah. That kind of got us through. We did budget it at the beginning and we were just like, “ok, this is how long we can go, you know, trying to stay closed and be safe.”
You guys have since reopened. How has that been?
Adam: It’s been good. We are pretty strict .... We have it where people are required to wear a mask, and we have a little station when you walk in with hand sanitizer and put non-latex gloves on, ‘cause you’re touching everything.
Pandemic aside, what are your goals and hopes for Diabolical Records?
Alana: [laughs]
Adam: We talk about that a lot.
Alana: I think we’re still trying to figure out what we should be. There’s still, at the heart of the matter, a desire to really uplift musicians and artists in the community and also be meaningful, like with Black Lives Matter… I think it’s really important to support communities and to be making a difference in a bigger way. So I think that’s still at the heart of what we would like, but how we get there is [being determined].
Adam: We kinda go back and forth. We always wanna do shows and be there for the local music scene. We always wanna do as much as we can for that. We always wanna be a voice for people that need a voice. That’s become more important these past couple of months with all the protests and stuff… All this craziness has kind of made us feel a little bit more community-minded, and I think most people are. We just wanna make sure we keep that in mind with all the choices we make and everything. Think community first.
Anything else you guys want to say?
Adam: Yeah, just come by the shop and see us and say hi and we can listen to music together. It’s pretty fun.
Alana: Wear a mask [laughs].
Diabolical Records is open from 12-4pm Monday through Friday. If that time doesn’t work for you, reach out to Alana and Adam and they can usually accommodate.
