INDIANAPOLIS — Chris Banta doesn’t just listen to vinyl, he puts stuff inside it. From glitter to sand, snakeskin to candy, and just about any kind of liquid too.
“We always love anytime we do liquid-filled records,” Banta said. “I mean, they just look so good. There’s a thousand other things you could do.”
Unusual things like blood, tears, maggots and even scorpions.
“Scorpions are big, chunky boys,” Banta said. “There's actually some tech development in the height and figuring out how to get those in there.”
Banta describes that process as, “trash engineering.”
“You're just trying to constantly solve these problems that you wouldn't even think would need to exist,” Banta said. “But [when] you do it for nine years, you start to figure some stuff out.”
Figuring stuff out is one of Banta’s strengths. Long before he was loading up LPs, Banta founded Romanus Records, a record label home for his own band, Brother O’ Brother.
“I just wanted the coolest vinyl,” Banta said. “We did a pressing of our very first album. We did a glow-in-the-dark dino bone-filled record. They were like $60 a pop, and I was like, ‘No one's going [to] want to buy this garbage.’”
They sold out in just two minutes.
“It was a big shock,” Banta said. “It made me think, I need to push really hard in this direction.”
Romanus Vinyl Manufacturing was born. But the process behind the press remains a tightly-held secret.
“It's so secret because there's no how-to,” Banta said. “You just have to experiment to figure out how to make these. How are they going to work? How are they going to play? It's this whole balance of form and function.”
A balancing act that’s gotten the attention of some well-known recording artists including Alice & Chains, Motley Crue and Fall Out Boy, who sent Banta a vial of the band members’ actual tears.
“It's absolutely wild being sent that in the mail,” Banta said. “I took their tears and I diluted them across like 50 records. They didn't tell me they were sending it. I almost threw it away because I didn't even know what was in it.”
And Banta wastes no opportunities when it comes to sharing his passion for music with others. Banta’s annual Romanus Fest music festival returns on August 31.
“This year we have our Indiana-only version where I book only Indiana bands and everything's very Indiana-themed,” Banta said. “I really like the music. I'm not just booking somebody because I think they're a good draw.”
40FI Creations is the title sponsor of Romanus Fest 6 and the festival is free for music lovers of all ages.
“[It’s] very important to me that anyone who wants to come to see a lot of these bands can go and there's not a price barrier or anything.”
Click here to learn more about Romanus Records.
