Sound of Music – JB’S Mountain Music Shop

John “JB” Bedson has been running JB’S Mountain Music Shop for three and a half years. Here he explains the wide variety of goods and services he offers to music aficionados, as well as his colourful history with the art.

by Kyle Hitchmough

 

What made you want to open this store?

I was retired and I was looking for a place. This came up. I couldn’t keep all my records in one place, so I thought I’d open this up, and it just grew.

Your main business is in selling CDs and records, correct? How do you source them?

Mainly second-hand. People donate CDs, I’ve got boxes full of them. They’re a dying commodity so people give them to me. I had 12 milk crates full of them on the doorstep when I turned up one day.

You also sell instruments. How do you get your hands on those?

Same way. I go and look around. Someone dropped off a saxophone once. I bought an alto saxophone, a trumpet and a trombone plus a keyboard the other day…

You also repair instruments?

Yes, we’ve been doing that for a while. Duncan moved away but I’ve got Andre doing that now.

You also do lessons?

I teach drum lessons as I’m a drummer. Andre does guitar, keyboard and bass lessons.

What’s your experience in the music industry?

50 years on the Gold Coast. I was drumming at the old man’s restaurant for a jazz trio, then doing some cabaret stuff… I had my own restaurant when I wa

s 19, a curry house at Surfers. All the musos used to play, come in and have a curry, I had my drums set up in a spare room and the drummers would give me some tips. I’m in a few bands. There’s Electric Vortex that’s a jazz fusion band. I’ve got an original band, Omnix, and another, Elma. There’s Topic that’s a jazz band with a girl singer. The Dave Kohler Trio, piano, bass and drums, that’s pretty good.

Do you have a favourite artist or record yourself?

I like Jimi. Electric Ladyland, that’s a good record.

Is there much of a music scene on the mountain?

Not much of one at the moment. There are not many venues. There’s the brewery and the bowls club… There’s the community center, we call it “The Basement”. We’ve done some shows there, there’s videos on YouTube.

You sell merchandise as well?

Yeah, I buy the t-shirts down the coast from here and there, collect them.

What kinds of people do you find are your usual clientele?

Lots of drop-ins from all walks of life. Lots of older people, looking for records. People who are interested in the guitars, how much they are. People just wondering if we’re still here!

What’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?

It’s not too bad. Mainly older people, a few young people. It’s away from the Gold Coast, which is nice. There’s so many things to do. The community changes fairly frequently, so it’s interesting.

What’s your favourite thing about working here?

I’ve always had a bit of a dream to do this, so when this place came up I went for it. You get a lot of people coming in to have a yak, play some music.

What do you think your store provides to the area?

It’s a place for music-oriented people to bring their guitars to get fixed, get lessons. We do livestreams from here to Facebook. A guitarist comes up and we have a bass player. People come in and play. We rehearse here. We have a radio station every Saturday morning, internet radio, too. TMFM. Every Saturday we’ve got a DJ that comes in and does four hours. We play our own stuff, and people who want to bring their own stuff in, we’ll play it for them.

 

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