The Full Bug - an Interview with Matt Hewlett, re: One of the Best Record Stores of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is pretty special when it comes to record shopping. There are plenty of cool, music-starved people over there, who can easily bring records back with them from the mainland; but there's not as many people competing for those records once they're over there. The end result is that you can find amazing vinyl in shops. The stuff in your shopping basket might be priced a bit higher than you'd find it for at Red Cat or Neptoon or Audiopile or Zulu... but the thing is, the stuff you find on the island, you probably wouldn't find at Red Cat or Neptoon or Audiopile or Zulu. Between Victoria and Nanaimo, there are a half-dozen shops jam-packed with interesting records: Ditch, who have the biggest floorspace and the best selection of CDs, as well as records; Cavity, who have fewer records but a ton of cool memorabilia and ephemera (and books!); that used shop in Fan Tan Alley, the Turntable, where I found Mike Watt's Contemplating the Engine Room (the only time I have seen it in vinyl; sure, they wanted $40 for it, but the cheapest you're going to get it shipped to you via Discogs is $61.17, all-in, so...). Supreme Echo is most frequently acknowledged as a reissue label, over here, but Jason's shop also nets some amazing finds (I bought my Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing off him during the 2019-2020 Sparks frenzy; it's still the only copy of it I've seen; and Jason is the Dale Wiese of the island, a man with personality and a wealth of knowledge who you can talk about the music with). 

But that's just Victoria... there's also a couple of great shops in Nanaimo (Fascinating Rhythm is my go-to) and probably others that I haven't visited yet. But the shop you would least expect is (for me, very conveniently) located in the town of Duncan (my in-laws live there). In mainland terms, Duncan is kind of like Mission - a bit depressed, a bit of a backwater, far enough away from Victoria that it doesn't really work as a bedroom community, unless you really dig driving the Malahat to-and-fro every day (I imagine some people do that but I wouldn't want to, considering the number of times that road jams up). But hidden on a side-street is a shop that specializes in punk and metal, with an ample collection of punk 7"s, some very unexpected collectibles (my happiest score being Heavens to Murgatroyd It's Thee Headcoats, which I was moments away from just ordering online) and stuff like new copies of Double Nickels on the Dime, which is in print, but getting pretty hard to find on the racks at Red Cat, Neptoon, Audiopile and Zulu. 

They're called the Full Bug, and are run by a guy named Matt Hewlett, who did a brief email interview with me, below. I'm in italics, Matt is not.

Allan: What IS a "Full Bug," anyhow? I have seen a Van Halen tune by that name, but is there an older meaning? Why name the store that?

Matt: I don’t know what a Full Bug actually is. It is a Van Halen song off Diver Down, one of several records I played over and over as a teenager. Not their best album but nevertheless it’s my favourite and "The Full Bug" is my favourite song on it. I wanted a name for the store that didn’t mean anything and had almost zero previous internet presence.

What is your history with selling records? Did your stock begin with your own collection? Were you selling in Vancouver? How did you end up in Duncan?

I don’t have a lot of history selling records, I did a few pop ups in Vancouver prior to moving to Duncan. I do have a long history of buying records, in my late teens and early 20’s I was fortunate to have a fairly high paying job and spent most of my disposable income on records. This was what I started the store with.

My partner and I wanted to get out of the city and decided on Vancouver Island. Duncan seamed like a good enough choice, we were initially going to open a restaurant, that being our previous wheelhouse. As we were looking at spaces to lease I started to feel like Duncan could use a record store, when I found my space it was settled and we moved.

What are the pros and cons of being in Duncan? From a mainalnder's perspective, the pros are pretty striking, because I can find stuff on the island that is long gone on the mainland... But do you find yourself wishing more people from Vancouver would come over? Are there enough local punks to pay the bills?

I definitely don’t get as much traffic as I would in Vancouver or Victoria. Sometimes it frustrating when rad records just sit, but at the same time it’s nice that cool records hang out for a bit. I get a lot of people from all over the island and Vancouver, it’s great to see someone from a bigger city get stoked about something they thought they missed out on. I don’t really need help selling punk and metal collections they always sell, like most stores the bulk of punk and metal records are new or reissued.

Being one of the few places stocking new vinyl, I can cast a pretty wide net and all genres sell. Classic rock and hard rock definitely sell the best which I am happy to sell. There’s an assumption that there aren’t cool records in smaller towns. That just isn’t true, people move to small towns from big cities with their big city collections. Some of us small town folk even make our way to the big city.

In terms of used records, what are the coolest items you have in stock now? Were any of them sourced locally? (Are there island record collectors who bring in cool stuff, or is most of your better used punk stuff from your own collection?).

I have had some surprisingly amazing collections come in from locals. In the first couple of months here I bought a collection of every Nick Cave record from the last three Birthday Party LPs up to The Good Son including the singles, the others in that collection were Gun Club and Cramps. I’ve managed to score a couple of great new wave and post punk collections that disappeared immediately. Right now I have an original mail order copy of Radiohead’s In Rainbows. I am working on convincing myself to sell the original copy of the Germs GI I scored. Both of those were from locals. I’ve also had original Black Flag and D.O.A. sold to me locally.

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What are you personally wishing people would sell you, vinyl- wise? Any grails?

I’m always wanting punk and metal records, but good classic rock collections float my boat here and almost anything 80’s moves very quick. Personally, I would love it if someone brought in surge Overkill’s Exit the Dragon, Cathedral’s Forest of Equilibrium and Diamond Head’s Lightning to the Nations.

Thanks, Matt! Readers wanting more information can check out the Full Bug's Facebook or Instagram pages, or see more photos and such at this webpage.