Record Store Profile: Monster Robot Party QLD

What is your store called? 

Monster Robot Party

Where are you located? 

Red HIll, Brisbane and online here.

Do you cater for a specific niche or genre?

Dance music, all genres, biggest range in the country of a few genres, drum n bass, trance, techno, house, hip hop, breaks. Still have a lot of bread n butter rock/pop stuff, including some uber rares , but its not the primary focus

Tell us about the people behind the scenes?

Jing the owner , djing for 30+ years, won a few dj battles bitd, 1997 Qld ITF, 1998 Qld DMC. we held the 2023 DMC in the store and Yoshidog won QLD, came 2nd in Aus to a button pusher. Worked the corporate and bar/club circuit for many many years. We've had a few identities contribute over the years, DJ Kieron C, who was an old Rocking Horse employee, helped with the fit out and worked for a while when we opened before finding a full time gig. Rohan the Intern, a local jazz and hiphop muso worked here for some time. DJ Toby G is currently pulling a few shifts helping sort and organise the endless newly priced stock hitting the floor each week. We're a small tight outfit and are very much rooted in the underground music scene especially catering to DJs.

When and why did the store open? 

September 2017. I was djing full time for a number of years, including a couple of weekly vinyl gigs and had amassed just too many records. realised that i got paid to play records and i would never get to listen to all the records i had. The late nights and bars and messy ppl was getting tried after 10 years full time, so was looking for something to do. Brisbane had a massive hole in the vinyl scene, at the time i opened there was almost no stores.

What do your customers most know you for?

Dance music. a ridiculous amount of it. and lots of interesting and unusual stuff from japan. currently at around 30,000 used records on floor and gradually getting thru an immense backlog of stock acquired in last few years. almost all of it is stuff you wont find anywhere else

What is the most popular title you stock at the moment? 

We don't really buy new-new stock since covid, shipping costs are too high, and heaps of people started all selling the exact same stuff as JB hifi post-covid. There's only 2 aussie distros of note, Rocket and Inertia, and JB hifi stocked all of it and everyone else was nickel and diming each other over the same reissues. we used to source intresting stuff from US and Europe but its just too cost prohibitive these days. But the 3 titles i have sold the most of over time have been:

Exploko - Mostly They Come at Night. Sonny from brissy hiphop crew the Optimen made an utterly sublime electronic album in 2018, he played the album launch in our store. released on brissy label Drty Shdws Prjkt. absolute cracker of an lp i got the last few copies a little while ago, sold a copy just last week in fact. i cannot recommend this album enough.

DJ Soup - Souperloops. An absolute all time classic instrumental album from Sydney legend DJ Soup. this came out on CD only back in 1997 and the good people at Wax Museum in Melbourne did a deluxe vinyl pressing in 2018, 300 copies i think i've sold about 60 of them. sold one of my few remaining copies just last week also.

High Hopes Volume One. an AMAZING little ep put out by Sydney's Hober Mallow who plays around town, does a radio show in 2SER on friday arvos and runs the "That's Not an Edit" series with J.R.Dynamite. 6 tracker by different artists, that is just incredible. i sold heaps of copies just from having it playing instore and ppl asking what it was. only 180 pressed, i have sold at least 40 or 50 copies. still got a couple left.

What is the most popular evergreen title? 

If i could have just 500 copies of Fleetwood Mac Rumours or any big Pink Floyd album they would sell. i have sold a bunch over the years but they rarely last long. Reissues are expensive. OGORGTFO. the classics are classics for a reason.

What is the best thing about running a record store in 2025?

Helping people discover music they like. Being able to share knowledge and connections based on things people buy that lead them on the path to discovering more. A young lady came in a few weeks ago after stuff by Redman. I was able to introduce her to Erick Sermon who put Redman on and she ended up buying one of his albums too. Or getting to know your customers tastes and just lacing them with surprises when they come in. or having people's white whales and holy grails in stock, which is infrequent but it does happen. It beats selling kebabs to drunk people nahmean.  

What is the hardest thing about running a record store in 2025?

Sourcing and maintaining quality second hand stock is crucial. You're only as good as your last headline. You can source amazing records and once they sell they are gone and you gotta find the next dope thing. A lot of small stores and pop up sellers and facebook sellers and discogs warriors get bits and pieces but unless you have access to large collections or unique stock you're just competing against everyone else for the same customers. Quality stock levels is the molten lava permanently beneath the tightrope of running a record store. So that and the constant threat of the arse falling out of the economy. It's already getting too expensive to breathe air.