Local duo skewers bad albums in podcast made at Greenwood library

They come from the depths of record album obscurity.

Songs about Abraham Lincoln, missionary life and how to train your dog. Album titles such as “The Goose Girl,” “Be a Better Bowler” and “Karate Moves.” Dreamy — or nightmarish — cover art featuring cartoon clowns, tuxedoed crooners and awkwardly posed photographs.

The risk was that these records would be lost to the trashheap of time, discarded in the name of good taste.

That’s where Steve Beach and Brian Mayer step in.

The duo — Beach from Greenwood, Mayer from the southside of Indianapolis — have spent the past two years unearthing these auditory “gems” for their own podcast, “The Vinyl Word.” In each episode, the pair riff on the terrible nature of the music, the ridiculousness of the album concepts and the poor choices that went into bringing these records to the public.

“There’s a lot of panning, like panning for gold, but panning for trash,” Beach said.

To put the podcast together, Beach and Mayer have taken advantage of the Greenwood Public Library’s recording studio, stocked with professional microphones, mixes, editing equipment and more. The studio’s free services have made the podcasting process much easier — giving them more time to find horrible records.

“It’s been a fabulous place for us to record. Having it be not in one of our homes allows better focus. We don’t have dogs running up to us or other things,” Mayer said.

When Greenwood library officials were planning the second-story maker space known as The Studio, they envisioned a place where patrons could try a variety of creative outlets. People could explore new art and making mediums through access to kits and equipment they might not have at home, for example learning how to use a Cricut machine, watercolor paint or sew.

Included in The Studio is a recording room equipped with professional lighting, microphones, mixing boards, cameras and computers. Library cardholders can reserve a time to use the recording equipment to create podcasts and vlogs.

“We wanted a space where people could come and utilize tools they might not have access to otherwise,” said Sharon Deitz, studio associate for The Studio at Greenwood Public Library. “A library is a place where you can find resources and learn, and we understand that’s more than just books.”

The community has responded. A wide variety of people have come in to take advantage of the studio, from business professionals recording advertisement videos and taking photographs to a local resident using it to make tutorials on American Sign Language.

“We have regular podcasters who come in and record, and then we have people who use the video production or photography side,” Deitz said.

Beach and Mayer discovered the Greenwood recording studio in December. At that point, they had been creating the Vinyl Word podcast for a year and a half, posting their first episode on March 20, 2022.

The idea for the podcast came after Beach stumbled across an odd record —a sex-education tutorial from a doctor named Earl Goldsmith.

“I thought, this is going to be interesting to listen to. At the time, I had an old record player in my garage, and Brian and I were out there listening to it with some friends,” Beach said. “I was making comments about it, about how ridiculous it was.”

Mayer and Beach have been friends for years, united by a common comedic sensibility. They were fans of the show “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” a comedy show which featured characters making fun of old movies while they watched them. They wondered — what if they did a podcast in the same vein, only with old records?

“I had a couple of these records, oddball kind of stuff. I’ve always had a knack for finding these weird, unique records,” Beach said.

Mayer thought it was a fun idea, but he was concerned about finding enough material. Were there really that many strange, quirky records to do shows on?

The answer was yes.

“Rarely have I been more wrong about the amount of material available,” Mayer said.

Their first episode was from an artist named Miss Miggsy, who told stories in rhyme while accompanied by a Hammond organ. From that initial foray, the Vinyl Word has taken off.

Beach and Mayer post new episodes every couple of weeks, whenever they can find time from their jobs and family lives. They search out weird records anywhere they can — thrift stores, garage sales, online. They made friends with the owners of Karma Records, an Indianapolis-based music store, who have offered some of their personal collection to the Vinyl Word.

When they decide on a record to feature, they listen to the album together and write jokes around it.

“Oftentimes, a theme will emerge from there. Once a theme emerges, we try to make a conscious effort to revisit that,” Mayer said. “Not every joke has to tie to it, but it’s helpful to have it.”

Their goal is to keep each episode under 30 minutes.

“We wanted it to be quick, funny, something you can listen to on your way into work or running errands,” Beach said.

While some of the records are by musicians, a large number “The Vinyl Word features are instructional, walking listeners through a certain activity, such as bowling or preparing dinner.

“The variety was what killed me. There is educational, there is instructional, there is informative, there’s people trying to turn kinetic activities into static ones,” Mayer said. “Trying to reconcile those is so interesting.”

At first, “The Vinyl Word” was recorded in their homes, while Beach would spend hours editing and splicing the episode to fit together. That process has been made much easier with the Greenwood library’s recording studio.

“When we record at home, we’d be listening to the record with earphones on. So when I’d edit, I’d have to take the audio from the record and time it up with our back-and-forth,” Beach said. “Now, it’s us talking and the record is playing together. It creates one track.”

The podcast has been a fun diversion for Mayer and Beach, and they plan to keep it up as long as they can — the material is definitely out there, Mayer said.

“I truly enjoy trying to write jokes, and seeing how challenging a process that is, and how rewarding it is when a joke hits,” he said.

AT A GLANCE

“The Vinyl Word”

What: A podcast exploring odd and obsure vinyl records.

Who: Greenwood resident Steve Beach and southside Indianapolis resident Brian Mayer

How to listen: Go to thevinylword.buzzsprout.com or find them on Facebook at facebook.com/thevinylwordpodcast