Opened in 2016, a stone’s throw away from Adelaide’s sun-kissed Glenelg Beach, Australia’s Closer Record Store may have started life as a barbers, but these days it also has an international reputation for its rare vinyl and live DJ sets. It still boasts a thriving barbers but owner Glenn October says the passion for music fuels something even more important.

“We have created a space that nurtures creativity, promotes progressive thinking, and provides a safe space for people to connect and grow with each other,” he says on the opening page of the Closer Record Store fanzine. “What I have witnessed in this time are friendships forming and people growing from shy, withdrawn individuals into larger-than-life members of the music community. I have seen music experienced in new ways and people's passions grow. All this is possible when we come together and lift each other up.”

[Photos by Ryan Cantwell]

It wasn’t always like this. The pandemic became the catalyst for the creation of Closer Record Store, which began as a platform to help local DJs like Glenn build a digital presence and connect with like-minded music lovers. When the record store opened its doors in 2021, it carried that same spirit into the real world and has spent the past four years amplifying it. Even its name is a nod to this ethos.

“We opened the barbershop in 2016 and that led us down a successful path but Covid hit us pretty hard,” says Glenn. “It gave me the distance to step back and recalculate. For me, electronic music was always something that was experienced in a club but the limitations around Covid meant people were listening to more music at home and getting together in smaller groups.

"For someone who has had issues with anxiety, playing in front of smaller groups of people that were really passionate about the music played to my strengths and I think Covid empowered a lot of new people to be part of the scene. The whole premise behind it was to bring people back together, bringing people closer. It has given us that deeper connection with people that I was searching for.”

Around the same time, Glenn started filming his own DJ sets from his home, working on his audio and film prowess and developing a steady following. The recordings started to gain traction with other local DJs and artists, and as restrictions lifted it proved a strategy that has paid dividends.

“As I started importing more music, I needed to find a way to showcase it and because I wasn't an active DJ anymore I needed to try to find a way to get people to come into my world, my busy little barbershop,” says Glenn. “The live streams were almost a byproduct of that but they have become a way to create a comfortable, nurturing experience for everyone - for listeners and DJs alike.”

Today, Closer Records Store continues to live stream DJ sets at a blistering pace, growing its audience with regular in-store sets broadcast on Twitch. To date, Closer has amassed close to 500 DJ sets on its YouTube channel, as well as multiple playlists on Spotify and Soundcloud. With an in-house barista and a barbershop in the same store, creating the right experience for visiting artists and DJs needed some consideration.

“We needed an audio ecosystem that created a welcoming environment for everyone,” says Glenn. The answer came with a Funktion-One system from local audio specialist Inside Out Audio, comprising four F101 speakers, a BR118 bass reflex speaker, D80Q-DSP amplifier, plus a pair of F5s for DJ monitoring.

“Getting the Funktion-One system was a huge step for us," says Glenn. "There was a well-known nightclub here run by some good friends that was renowned for its Funktion-One sound system and all the local heads remember how good those speakers were.

"We wanted to play homage to that but we also wanted to offer our DJs the experience of playing on a Funktion-One setup and the opportunity to get comfortable with it. They sound so different to any other speaker out there and playing on our system might be very different for someone who's just left their bedroom studio. They sound beautiful and I wouldn't change them for the world.”

More recently, Closer has been shifting its focus in the wider community too, delivering an eight-hour house and minimal techno soundtrack at an outdoor Big Day Out event in March this year, as well as hosting a takeover of Adelaide's central business district as part of the city’s 2025 Fringe Festival, the second-biggest arts festival in the world.

Looking ahead, Glenn's focus is on continuing to develop the Closer Records Store experience, leaving a positive impact and providing a space for good music and good conversations.

“I quickly realised that I can't keep everyone happy,” he says. “But I love our little group of misfits who like that weird, obscure music and want something a bit different. I tell everyone that comes in that I hope they don't recognise anything they see in the crates, because it means they have to listen. Have a coffee, take a stool, and just sit and enjoy it.

“We’ve created our own little space, and as long as people want to keep listening to good music, as long as people want to keep playing the music, I'm happy to stick around.”

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