Seattle’s Easy Street Records Store Culture is the Model
Matt Vaughan, owner of Easy Street Records in the West Seattle Junction, has evolved personally and professionally as the music industry has changed over the last 34 years.
photos by Patrick Robinson
Westside Seattle – Mon, 01/30/2023
By Patrick Robinson
Matt Vaughan has owned Easy Street Records,in the West Seattle Junction seemingly forever, since he has been part of the Seattle music industry for over four decades. Westside Seattle spoke with him recently about his career, how he’s become friends with so many music stars and how he and the store have evolved over time. For a dozen years, Easy Street had a second location in lower Queen Anne but rent increases and lease terms forced its closure. Today the store in the junction continues to thrive with its popular cafe, vast collection of vinyl and CD’s and numerous in-store live performances. In the past those performances have included such luminaries as Pearl Jam. Macklemore, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Kings of Leon, Brandi Carlile, Patti Smith, Paul Westerberg, Franz Ferdinand, Lana Del Rey, Dierks Bentley, Robyn, Jack Johnson, Jurassic 5, Wanda Jackson, Steve Earle, Regina Spektor, John Doe, Dick Dale, My Morning Jacket and many others.
Yeah, my mom had been an independent radio promoter in the 70s and into the 80s, and as she was moving out of that, she wanted to stake her own claim, do something on her own in the music business. And she took my sister and I to the Lake Hills Skating Rink, which was near Bel Red Road, and they had a battle of the bands there and there was one band called Myth that was playing that had a phenomenal 5 octave singer and another band called The Mob that had this twin guitar attack, and one amazing drummer. They were all young, 17 years old. They were on the same baseball team so they had been friends since they were kids and this other guy he was a little bit older was from Tacoma. Somehow my mom got him in the parking lot and got him talking about maybe he could go with that band and she basically formed the band Queensryche. I think they knew each other through some older brothers and knew the scene a little bit, but the short story is that she ended up getting them a record deal with EMI Records before they’d even played their first show.
