Profile: Lance Wille, Record Collector
Born: October 19, 1963
Education: Art studies at Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL
Avocation: Fairview resident Lance Wille is a busy man with diverse interests. He maintains a hand-cranked letterpress studio. He plays drums with underground legends Reigning Sound. He’s married to renowned local artist Sue Million. And he has an extensive collection of LP records.
What’s more, rather than being a mere collector, he actually listens to those records. “I’ve got [turntables] pretty much everywhere that I am,” he explains. He has a record player in his downtown art studio where he “listens to most of the records,” plus a “turntable at home, and I’ve got a little portable one at my office job that I play when I can.”
In fact, he rarely listens to CDs: “I have one CD player, and my car has one, but I really don’t listen to much other than records.” Lance first got into music by listening to his older brother’s Deep Purple and Rick Derringer albums. “We got an offer to join the Columbia House Record Club — ‘eight records for a penny’ or something,” he recalls. “The first record that was actually mine was Endless Summer [1974] by the Beach Boys.”
Over the years, he got rid of a few records and added many others. Lance’s collection now numbers well over a thousand vinyl discs. He and Sue “married” their record collections before getting married themselves; Lance jokes that this let Sue know that “a commitment was involved.” Their vast collection spans rock, country, New Orleans R&B and soul.
Besides the greater “warmth” of vinyl, Lance values the sleeve graphics on those old records: “That was half the allure when I was a kid: looking at the album art.” Lance knows how much records weigh: he joked to a fellow collector, “remind me to be out of town if you move!'”
About the Author
Bill Kopp
With a background in marketing and advertising, Bill Kopp got his professional start writing for Trouser Press. After a stint as Editor-in-chief for a national music magazine, Bill launched Musoscribe in 2009, and has published new content every business day since then (and every single day since 2018). The 4500-plus interviews, essays, and reviews on Musoscribe reflect Bill's keen interest in American musical forms, most notably rock, jazz, and soul. His work features a special emphasis on reissues and vinyl. Bill's work also appears in many other outlets both online and in print. He regularly hosts lecture/discussions on artists and albums of historical importance (including monthly events Music to Your Ears and Music Movie Mondays), and is a frequent guest on music-focused radio programs and podcasts. In Spring 2023 he taught a history of Rock 'n' Roll at UNC Asheville's College for Seniors. He also researches and authors liner notes for album reissues -- more than 30 to date -- and co-produced a reissue of jazz legend Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's final album. His first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2018, and in paperback in 2019. His second book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave, was published in 2021 by HoZac Books. His third book, What's the Big Idea: Great Concept Albums will be published in 2024. Read even more about him here.