Keep It Spinning : Music: Former DJ Victor Banakas has more than 10,000 vinyl records at his North Hollywood store.

Vinyl. A fossil of a word that conjures up thoughts of bell-bottoms, pet rocks and the Bee Gees--unless you are a DJ.

“For dance music, vinyl is it,” said Victor Banakas, a former mobile DJ who decided 3 1/2 years ago to dedicate his life to keeping vinyl records alive--a difficult task in an age where vinyl is to CD what AM is to FM. “A street DJ has to have a feeling of control over the record, to speed it up or slow it down according to the vibe on the dance floor. You can’t do that with CDs.”

With this motivation, Banakas launched Behind the Groove, a vinyl record store that recently moved to North Hollywood. The store houses the largest inventory in the San Fernando Valley of dance music, used disco, R & B and Top 40 albums from the ‘70s and ‘80s.

“We’re like an audio library where people can come seven days a week and just kick back and listen to music,” said Banakas, who named the store after the 1980 song by his favorite singer, Teena Marie.

He also stocks what he calls “specialty dance compilations,” reissues of classic dance/funk hits geared to the dance music enthusiast.

Behind the checkout counter is a wall of 100-minute tapes of house, old-school and funk tunes made by Banakas or DJ Charlie Lovestruck, his popular employee. The 200 nonstop mixes are aimed at DJs who practice at a lower level--they pay about $15 for a tape, then pop it in the deck at their next gig.

Of the more than 10,000 records in stock, 30% are used albums from the ‘70s and ‘80s ranging from the widely known (Rick James, Wham, Grace Jones) to the almost forgotten (The Thompson Twins, Ray Parker Jr., Paul Young) to the one-hit wonders (Falco, Chico Debarge). These are shelved in one long bin, while another is filled solely with dance albums. DJ equipment such as lights and fog machines also are available for rent and sale.

There are no headphones to privately sample records before buying, as done in larger record chains and some other vinyl stores.

“Professional DJs need to know how a record will sound on a loud system, and you can’t do that through headphones,” Banakas said. “Also, in the larger chains, they don’t have time to devote to each person individually. I want to take time with each customer. I like the interaction. The most important thing that I’ve done to make this business work is to try and make every person who becomes a regular customer feel that this is their store. I’m just here to oversee, supervise and make sure it all runs smoothly.”

And loudly. Sometimes, the noise was too much for the hair salon that used to be next door. “The old ladies kept thinking the bass was an earthquake, so we waited until they closed their shop at 6 p.m., then turned it up loud,” Banakas said.

Throw a hardwood floor inside and Behind the Groove could double as a small dance club with the planned February debut of a four-way studio sound system, not to mention the two turntables at the checkout counter. DJ Charlie Lovestruck spends most of his time behind the wheels spinning the store’s most popular merchandise, dance music, roughly 70% of Behind the Groove’s income.

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“A few years back, dance music was a taboo word once disco died,” Banakas said. “A lot of companies did away with their dance music departments, but they didn’t understand that dance music starts at the street level with the DJs (in the clubs). The record companies are working at a marketing level. They’re not reaching the person in the deep dance culture. Their job is to provide music for the mass public while the DJs and re-mixers provide sounds for the street level. Record companies should pay more attention to the street DJs because once they know what’s working in the clubs, they can make money by promoting it on a larger scale.”

Six months ago, Banakas moved his vinyl Jurassic Park from San Fernando to North Hollywood to make it more accessible to DJs whose reputation, let alone livelihood, depends on finding those 45s and 33 1/3s to keep the dance floor full.

“This store has everything you need--hip-hop, house, old school, techno--and a much bigger variety than the vinyl stores in Hollywood,” said a customer from San Fernando who goes by DJ Steve G.

Luis Duenas, a 21-year-old mobile DJ from San Fernando, who was in the store looking for some new hip-hop and dance records for a gig later that night, said he relies on Banakas’ connection to underground DJs to find out what’s hot.

“I’ll come in from time to time and ask Victor what’s the latest, and he’ll recommend a few things. If I like it, I know the people I’m playing for will like it,” said Duenas, who also does airbrush art for the store in exchange for free records. In fact, the store sign spray-painted on the front window is a Luis Duenas original.

Banakas says he never intended for Behind the Groove to cater specifically to DJs, even though there are “hundreds of them” in the Valley, when he first opened the store in San Fernando in June, 1991.

“I knew it would be our primary base, but I eventually intended it to cross over and just get people that wanted dance music. We sell a lot of hip-hop, but it’s mostly the popular stuff because of the clientele we have. A lot of the working DJs can’t play the hard-core, underground rap because if you’re working a wedding reception, nobody wants to hear someone bitching about how bad life is,” Banakas said.

In 1981, the 20-year-old Banakas was working in the mail room of a catalogue company while moonlighting as a mobile DJ.

“One day, I went in to buy some DJ equipment from Sound Unlimited Systems (a sound equipment store in North Hollywood) like I always did. I started talking to the owner’s associate about equipment and stuff. I guess the guy liked what he heard.” He offered Banakas a job the next week.

Banakas became “the guy who ran around getting all the sound equipment ready for a gig.” He learned the inner workings of big nightclub sound systems and the effects of multiple speakers and amplifiers.

By 1988, he had been married, divorced and worked briefly for another sound and lighting company before landing at Exodus, a store in the San Gabriel Valley that sold sound and lighting equipment on one side, and vinyl records next door. In 1990, the record store closed, and Banakas and a partner bought the space for $25,000. The two ran Exodus for a year.

“I realized that dance music was getting really big, but there weren’t enough outlets for it in the San Fernando Valley. I grew up in Pacoima and there was only one vinyl record store in the Valley, called Bob’s Records, but it closed down in 1985. No one stepped up to fill that void. Exodus was doing so well, I decided in 1990 to break off with my partner and open my own vinyl record store out here.

“I was met with a challenge. When I left Exodus, some of my co-workers there said behind my back, ‘Victor’s going to crash and burn.’ But all of that talk just drew out this person inside of me I never knew was there. I made a promise to my Mom and Dad, who helped me open the store, if I have to be the first record store to stay open 24 hours a day, I’m going to make this work.”

At his new location, “the vibe is pretty strong. Customers from the old location bring in new customers. During the day we blast music so people on the street can hear us and gravitate toward the music,” Banakas said.

Urb, a Los Angeles monthly underground hip-hop magazine, has called him “the lighthouse of hope in the Valley” because of his dedication to the art of spinning records.

“You can’t find vinyl anywhere,” said Def Jef, a self-described hip-hop activist in North Hollywood who raps and produces remixes for such artists as Teddy Pendergrass, Nas and Boss. “Especially new vinyl. Victor is one out of a few who knows how important it is. The DJ is to hip-hop what a drummer is to a band. We need vinyl so we can manipulate records, fade, scratch and do back spins. Also, vinyl is important for DJ competitions that happen every year in New York during the New Music Seminar. Every year, some DJ comes out spinning a record a different way, using different tricks, and it makes me still want to stay into DJing knowing that there’s someone like him out there keeping it going.”

“I’m trying to keep vinyl alive,” said Banakas, “and the satisfaction I get is from bringing people happiness through music. Music is the last form of pure communication we have.”

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WHERE AND WHEN:

What: Behind the Groove.

Location: 6248 Vantage Ave., North Hollywood.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, till 8 p.m. Saturday, till 6 p.m. Sunday.

Call: (818) 753-4783.