Yes, it's true that Andy Szczepanik owns 400-plus Deep Purple albums in every conceivable format, including vinyl, reel-to-reel and eight-track tape.
And yes, it's also true that Szczepanik's business card used to read "Only the Greatest Deep Purple Fan," and that his first-born son is named for a Deep Purple instrumental, Sons of Alerik. (Historical note: Alerik, or Alaric I, was King of the Visigoths around 400 AD and no, Alerik Szczepanik's school chums don't call him "Al" -- or "King" -- for short.)
Deep Purple are Andy Szczepanik's hard rock heroes.
But despite what some might politely term "evidence to the contrary," Szczepanik, a native of Warren, swears he's as normal as the next guy. So long as the next guy's rec room also doubles as a sanctum to a British hard rock outfit best known for the gonzo guitar anthem, Smoke on the Water.
"I've seen some people who are fans of different groups who are absolutely crazy... who have a screw loose. But that's not me -- I'm very level-headed," Szczepanik says, showing off a Laserdisc edition of an in-the-day Deep Purple concert -- an item he level-headedly "had to buy" despite the fact that he, well, doesn't own a Laserdisc player.
On Saturday, May 3, Szczepanik will hook up with fellow Deep Purple zealots at an international convention in Bedford, England. The 12-hour event, featuring a late night air guitar contest and a performance by the band's original bass player, Nick Simper, will mark the 40th anniversary of the group's inception in 1968.
"My sister, Rose, gave me 60,000 of her Air Miles so I could go; I'm still in the recovery-from-shock mode that I'll even be there," Szczepanik says. (Because this is a family newspaper -- read by family types like his ultra-understanding wife, Audra -- Szczepanik won't divulge what his convention souvenir budget is.)
It's only fitting that Szczepanik's sister is the one behind his pilgrimage. After all, it was Rose who first turned her younger brother onto the group, proclaimed 35 years ago by the Guinness Book of World Records as the planet's loudest band.
"She used to have a copy of their live album, Made in Japan, that she'd crank up on an old beater stereo we had," Szczepanik says, mentioning that back then he was more into rock 'n' roll flyweights like the Bee Gees, circa How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.
"So originally I was, like, 'What's with all the screaming?' But after I started to listen more closely, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head.
Before I knew it, I was buying everything I could get my hands on."
"Everything" now includes a surfeit of Deep Purple buttons, songbooks, posters and banners, as well as a shelf-load of rock-umentaries on DVD, VHS and Beta.
"There's such a big realm of Purple stuff available that for a collector, it's almost on the same level as Presley or the Stones," Szczepanik says. "And not to sound conceited or anything, but I know of only one other guy in Canada who has as big a Purple collection as me."
Chief among Szczepanik's store is his vast library of Deep Purple music. The group has only released 18 official albums to date, not counting live packages or best-of compilations, but Szczepanik dutifully collects multiples of each one (he has a dozen vinyl copies of their debut album, Shades of Deep Purple alone) because the song selection tends to vary from one country's pressing to another's. He also purchases all recordings by Deep Purple alumnus like Whitesnake, Rainbow and Captain Beyond.
During a mid-1980s trek through Europe, Szczepanik tortured his travelling companions by purchasing $2,000 worth of impossible-to-find-in-Canada vinyl, which he and his cohorts were forced to lug from one country to another.
For more information on the upcoming Deep Purple convention -- tickets are £25.50 and are going fast -- visit www.moreblackthanpurple.co.uk/convention.htm.
If you'd like to share the story of your collection with our readers -- anything from soup to lug nuts -- please contact David Sanderson at david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca. His column appears bimonthly.
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