Holiday Records - Joel Woods

May 27, 2021

We caught up with Joel Woods one of the owners of Holiday Records. We proudly work with Joel to create Holiday Records' shop merch & uniforms. We find out more about how they've brought modern vinyl production back to New Zealand. Their record store of the same name is a must visit if you're in Auckland's CBD and stocks everything from new records, turntables, tech, merch & books.

How did you guys get into the vinyl game seeing as it's not exactly on the school curriculum in NZ?

Aside from the fact that we are both into music and records — Ben was looking to get a record pressed himself for his band a few years back and realised you couldn't do this in New Zealand as there wasn't a pressing plant here (the last one closed down in the 80's). He soon realised that there was a gaping hole in the market here in New Zealand which left local artists only offshore options to press records for them. It was at this point he got me involved and we started researching, made a couple trips to USA and Canada to learn and play around on a brand new automated vinyl press that just hit the market and the rest is history (along with a stressful but rewarding installation and training process).

As a consumer, it's sometimes pretty hard to know where products come from, could you tell us why pressing vinyl in NZ is a big deal?

I think the main reason why it is such a big deal is that local artists haven't had an opportunity to get their records pressed in their own country since the late 1980's — and for lots of vinyl heads the location of pressing is a big factor for them. Before Holiday Records, they had always had to go offshore which brought with it its own hassles with service, quality, time zones, taxes etc etc. It has made the process a lot smoother, easier and accessible for artists now since we started to press records locally which we feel has added to the vinyl culture in New Zealand. It also means a lighter carbon footprint with less shipping travel!

Waste is always an issue for any product-based business, could you shed a little light on how you guys limit the amount of waste records can produce?

We do all we can to avoid any waste we have and when we do we do our best to recycle what we can. The best example of this is our ability to grind down unused records and offcuts to PVC granules that we can use again to make records!

How big are your personal record collections? Or are you pretty good at not letting "work" come home with you?

My record collection is pretty modest as we have both transported a lot of our collections to our store/office where we spend most of our time these days! Ben's home collection is probably a bit more impressive. We definitely don't resist letting work come home with us at all — we are here for it!

You've had products printed here at The Print Room in the past, why did you choose The Print Room if you don't mind me asking?

We were firstly recommended to work with The Print Room by our pals and creative geniuses behind our branding (Sunday Best) who said they do a great job and we haven't looked back. Their focus being as sustainable as possbile is also a major draw card for us — along with their high quality work, effective service and quick turnaround times. Also love supporting businesses run by (semi) young people like ourselves.

Looking forward, where do you see Holiday Records going in the future? Expansive plans or are you pretty content with where you're at currently?

We definitely have aspirations to expand — whether it be in capacity as a pressing plant (new machine or new location) or into different areas of the music industry (or both) — there are many opportunities but right now we are content with continuing to nail our bread and butter and provide the highest quality vinyl records to New Zealand and Australia.