About Me

A blur of pixels as Radiant Records' VCR fast-forwards to a Cramps video. The music is hard, harsh, angry; Warren Prentice, the shop's owner, is loving it. "Bryan the guitarist there became a warlock and disappeared,'' he says. Later Warren produces a DVD of the Cramps playing live at a Napa State mental institution.

He loves the band. Has done for years. They have special pride of place at his store. But, warlocks aside, Radiant Records itself is a truly magical store: a veritable cupboard full of niches creating the hip side of Timaru, where music devotees from all walks of life converge; converse cross-genre, drink coffee, listen to obscure tracks, create atmosphere. At the center of this underground whirlwind of all things music is Warren -- magician, die-hard Cramps fan, lover of all things Elvis. A man for whom being a successful businessman is merely a side effect of loving his job. Warren's life has been a continual intermingling cycle of music and magic, yet often with a nod to the darker volumes of existence. It started with music.

"Ever since I knew them my parents were always playing at dances,'' Warren says. Their dance band's life stretched 30 years, and wave after wave of diverse and popular music washed over young Warren. At Timaru's Waimataitai primary school he became an avid comic book reader. But unlike so many kids of the day, hidden away in backwater New Zealand, at the far chilly end of global cool, Warren liked the ads. He sent off for his pair of x-ray specs (he still has them), joy buzzers and blood capsules.

Jokes mutated to magic. He joined the Magic Circle and later specialised in sleight of hand, winning two national titles as a teenager for his magical abilities. "When I was six-years-old we moved into a house with a large basement. The basement became a ghost train. After school I would push kids through in a pram. There were coffins, ghosts etc. I scared a lot of kids, and parents.'' Musical interests surfaced briefly. The first album he ever bought was Abba's Arrival. "Then I got right into magic about nine or ten and started doing shows around town.''

At Timaru Boys High School his interest in music surged again. He met multi-instrumentalist Paul Fisher whose band of the day was Catholic Taste. Warren began performing magic before the band's performances; a trick which got him national television exposure on the programme Kaleidoscope. More importantly, Paul introduced young Warren to 60's Big Beat. His teen mind sank eagerly into The Pretty Things, Yardbirds, Downliners Sect, Can and the Velvet Underground.
"Paul was a key influence."
The ghost train died, the basement became a band rehearsal room. Warren and sister Rosie joined a band called The Chillian Club which once came second in a local band battle. Warren went back to magic. At least, till he met local music guru Herb Elliott in the mid '80s.

Word around town was that Warren should meet Herb, the man with the massive record collection who had recently returned after eight years in Sydney. Like flicking a switch, Herb turned Warren to rockabilly, roots and blues. Herb now works part time at Radiant Records; part of the dangerously deep well of musical knowledge behind the counter.

At fourteen Warren heard of a new store opening in town, Merlin's Music and Magic. "Why, I used to haunt that Record Store night and day," laughs Warren. You couldn't hold him back. He began working there after school, then left school to be there full-time at age fifteen. About this time his taste was whetted for all things Cramps. Not just albums, he has Cramps memorabilia as well. Enthusiasm intemperate.
"My family toured Europe in a campervan. The family had to put up with non-stop Cramps as I picked up rare bootlegs. I'm still buying Cramps posters etc. Things I had back then are still as good today.''

His enthusiasm for music has never been constrained by geography. While still at school Warren began corresponding with Tom Brown of Rhino Records' mail order service. Tapes of Kiwi garage bands would head Statesward, and in return all sorts of goodies were sent to Godzone. In a wider sense, penpals became a great source of culture. Warren mailed off New Zealand classic films such as Bad Taste, Sleeping Dogs and Goodbye Pork Pie, and loads of clips taped from television music shows Radio With Pictures and Dr Rock. In return he received incredibly strange movies like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill. The mail included music videos and... episodes of Pee Wee Herman.
"I became a big fan of Pee Wee. That sort of reflects in the store; colourful with lots going on.''

In 1988 Warren opened his own shop in the main business area of Timaru. Torn between naming it Rhino Records or Radiant Records he chose the former. With the mainstream market well catered for, Warren opted to specialise. His store offers selections of '50s rockabilly, swing, country, blues; '60s garage; '70s funk; '80s cool.

In 1997 Warren began a pilgrimage to Texas, south by southwest (SXSW). There he attended the best gig of his life: Alejandro Escovedo at La Zona Rosa. He stood next to insurgent country singer/songwriter Neko Case for the whole show. Afterwards he was introduced to some great bands, and has since made a lot of friends in the biz, including Geoffrey Weiss of Hollywood Records, Jonny Shultz of Texas Music Magazine and Suzy at Bomp Records.

A fired-up Warren returned to New Zealand and decided it was time for a change. In 2001 Rhino Records became Radiant Records and moved from the city center to a re-fitted grocery store on the corner of Evans and Trafalgar streets (the Bay Area). New Zealand post-punk prophets The Clean played a gig at the new premises' opening, and also gave Warren some recommendations on shop décor.

Now Radiant Records is a portal to cool. You might walk in to hear English songmeister Robyn Hitchcock's Perspex Island, with songs like She Doesn't Exist or So You Think You're In Love. You might see members of Portland band The Dead Moon wandering around (after all, they crashed at Warren's place while on tour).

There's a coffee cantina in the corner, t-shirts, magic tricks, music and videos playing, posters, local art, LP's, 7" and even 78's for sale. And Warren has other plans.
"We'll be branching out into vintage clothing -- '50s rockabilly gear, Big E, 507XX Levis jackets. And I want to book and tour bands from the US. Al Perry and Robyn Hitchcock may well be the first.''

Between all that he's transferring old music video clips to DVD and still managing a magic show a week.

Warren's philosophy is simple: "Play it loud and have a good time".