THE MAGIC TOUCH: “Filthy Phil” Eubanks may have a music addiction, but that’s okay. As the host of “Plastic Magic Radio,” he’s got an excuse.
INTERVIEW / DAVE MORRISPHOTO / KAT WILSON
Plastic Magic is a weekly radio show specializing in “acid rock, garage rock, psychedelic, stoner rock, and garage rock revival, mostly from 1966-1973.” It airs on KXUA 88.3 FM (the University of Arkansas’s radio station) as well as on Area 51 WBCQ 5110 kHz shortwave radio from Monticello, Maine. It’s hosted by “Filthy Phil” aka Phillip Eubanks. The Idle Class recently had the opportunity to discuss the show with him.
It would probably be pretty difficult for you to do your show if you weren’t really into record collecting. How did you get into record collecting?
The first record I can remember buying was either AC/DC’s “For Those About To Rock… We Salute You” or Rush’s “Grace Under Pressure.” Like most of the kids of my generation growing up in the ‘80s, I learned a lot early on from MTV. The community radio station out of Little Rock, KABF, had a really great rap/hip hop show on Saturday afternoon where I learned a lot more from people who were quite obviously above and beyond passionate about what they were playing. Thinking about it now, this is probably where my love for underground radio started. And this was all before the fifth grade. From there the next big thing for me was Prince. And that is probably about the time I decided to stop buying tapes and only buy LPs.
By the sixth grade I started skateboarding and eventually started hanging out with the skaters and looking at skateboard magazines. I started seeing the t-shirts for sale of the punk groups from the ‘80s. Groups like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Cramps, Butthole Surfers and so on. My friend Thomas came back from visiting family in Arizona around this time and came back with a tape of the Dead Kennedy’s “Bedtime For Democracy.” I went to the local record store in Russellville, The Joker, and had them order that for me. I noticed on the record jacket ‘for free catalog write to:…’ and I did. So, I have been ordering records through the mail like that ever since. Most of the punk rock LPs I have were obtained this way from labels like SST, Alternative Tentacles, Touch and Go, etc. I usually would try to get the local record shop to try and order it for me first but if they couldn’t get it, really it was just easier to do it through the mail, especially living in a small town in Arkansas.
One of the benefits of getting into this hobby in the mid-80s was that was when CDs were the next big thing and records were thought of as second rate. People were taking whole collections to the pawn shop where I would buy them for $1 each! I spent every dime I had on records and skateboard parts (before I ever spent any money on beer, cigarettes, gas for the car, dates with girls or whatever).
I spent lunch money my mom gave for school and from mowing lawns. And I was curious then, sort of like I am now, with buying something just because the cover looks cool.
How many records are in your collection and what’s your most prized record?
In my living room I would estimate there are probably around 10,000 to 12,000 LPs and more in the garage. I have lots of records worth $50 to $250. To my knowledge, the most valuable record I have is a VG++ copy of a group called Mary Butterworth. I received an email from a listener from Ohio, I believe, that said he knew of a copy there selling for $1,800! I think there were less than 500 made. I paid 75 cents for my copy.
How did you make the leap from eccentric record collector to eccentric record collector with a radio show?
I have always wanted to do a radio show. I grew up listening to Clyde Clifford’s “Beaker Street” radio show on Magic 105 out of Little Rock in the ‘80s. And decided if I ever got the opportunity I would like to be like that.
Any specific story behind the name “Plastic Magic”?
When the show first went on the air in November 2008, I called it “Cruisin’ With Filthy Phil.” The next morning after the first show I woke up from a dream that my radio show was called “Plastic Magic,” meaning records are made of plastic and well I guess the magic is self-explanatory.
Each episode of “Plastic Magic” is pretty unique in regard to the music played – how do you generally decide on a playlist for each show?
As for a playlist, I pick out songs for the show during the week and I have no idea what order to play them in until I get to the studio. Then I just sort of feel my way through the show as it is happening. Sometimes it is planned around a holiday or something but most of the time I’m just trying to find things I haven’t played yet. A lot of times it is showing something I just found.
The original idea was to never play the same thing twice. That hasn’t remained, but to my credit it is hard to remember now if I have or haven’t played certain things, sometimes someone will request to hear something I’ve already played and some things simply deserve to be heard again.
What made you decide to focus on this ‘60s/’70s/garage/psych/etc. area of rock and roll?
Of all the phases in music from punk to ‘50s doo wop to alt country to outlaw country to jazz to blues to whatever, I decided on the Vietnam-era 1965-73 acid rock because for one it is one of the most artistically interesting and seems almost endless of material. This was actually my first love in music because of my brothers and as far as putting on a radio show this was the deepest well in my collection. So in a way this also brought me back sort of full circle. And also was the hope that I might do for some kid what Clyde Clifford did for me with “Beaker Street.”
How long do you plan to keep doing the show?
The only plan I ever had for how long to do the show was five years. I’ve passed that now.
VISIT: PlasticMagic.blogspot.com
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