Gaelen Johnson, age 12, rocks out on a B.C. Rich guitar at Re-Animated Music on Jan. 13 in Seattle. Johnson, who comes to Re-Animated Music after doctor’s appointments at Seattle Children’s, likes the shop because of the many skeletons posted around on the walls and the “cool shaped guitars.” (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
By
Eric Olson
Special to The Seattle Times
Joel Myers, a manager at the newly opened Re-Animated Music in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood, sums up the shop’s ethos with a story about The Trading Musician, where he worked for five years prior to its closing in 2024. “When we wrote tickets for guitar sales back there,” he said, “we’d often put little notes on them. And if the customer looked like the right age, and they were buying a beginner guitar, we’d write, ‘Go start a band!’”
For 33 years, The Trading Musician occupied an irreplaceable role in Seattle’s day-to-day musical ecosystem. It wasn’t the sort of boutique collectors space where you’d gush over a 1950s Les Paul Junior, nor was it Guitar Center (which opened up the street in 2019), which stocks gobs of new gear at market rates. Instead, The Trading Musician was a shop where gigging artists could find instruments and noises that worked within their budget.
Got $40 and need a phaser pedal to cover The Smashing Pumpkins? Sure, they’d have that. A tom drum for tomorrow’s gig? The stacks were literally falling over. The gear might’ve been a bit dinged up, but that was practically the point. It all sounded fine. And in Seattle’s dark, dingy venues — where most local musicians ply their trade for negligible pay — no one’s looking too closely at the instruments.
Co-owners, from left: Joel Myers, Sam Smallidge, Geoff Joynes and Steve Lykken at Re-Animated Music on Jan. 13. All four used to be managers at the former Trading Musician and have come together to open Re-Animated Music three blocks away from the former store. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Co-owners, from left: Joel Myers, Sam Smallidge, Geoff Joynes and Steve Lykken at Re-Animated Music on Jan. 13. All four used to be managers at the former Trading Musician and have come… (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)More
Situated three blocks east of the shuttered Trading Musician, Re-Animated Music, at 1217 N.E. Ravenna Blvd., will be seen as a continuation of that storied shop, especially because all of the co-owners logged time behind the Trading Musician counter. But Geoff Joynes, another of Re-Animated’s managers, explained, “We’re doing a new thing here, too.”
Joynes and Myers said that the creative bona fides at Re-Animated Music will be even stronger than at Trading Musician, because while the old shop employed gigging artists as salespeople, the new shop is owned by gigging artists. “It’s a big vision that all of us embraced,” said Joynes. “We all felt like we had ownership over the last spot, but only in spirit. Now, it’s a tangible thing.”
With its maze of hanging guitars and musty practice room smell, The Trading Musician seemed ageless. But the writing appeared on the proverbial wall when longtime owner Robin Bartlett-Smith put the building on the market back in 2023. “There was always this dangling carrot of, maybe (the workers) can save it,” said Myers. “But eventually, it became obvious that it was actually going to close. During the whole process, everybody working there would say, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we started our own store?’ But no one knew what capacity we had or how we would do it. It felt like a pipe dream.”
Drumsticks at Re-Animated Music in Seattle. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Joynes agreed. “I didn’t even consider it as a possibility, really,” he said. “The only way I thought it would work was if we could somehow get together and make an offer on the existing business and stay where we were. Anything else felt insanely ambitious and overwhelming.”
Overwhelming as it was, a team of co-workers felt the need to respond to the closure and took exploratory steps as the store emptied its inventory for the final time. Former Trading Musician employee Sam Smallidge, who would help found the new store, returned from Olympia when the news broke. “I came back in the twilight of things when I heard it was closing,” he said. “It seemed like an unacceptable loss for the community. Along with Keegan (Metcalf, another Re-Animated Music founder), we envisioned starting a little hole-in-the-wall place.”
Smallidge and a few other employees began looking at storefronts and commercial leases around this time. They soon realized that a “hole in the wall” concept wouldn’t fit their plans. “There was this 600-square-foot spot on the Ave,” said Joynes. “It was kind of ramshackle. And I thought, ‘This is only going to work if we do it bigger.’”
“If we were just going to sell guitars and synths and amps in a small storefront,” said Myers, “it wouldn’t have the same appeal or vision. It wouldn’t work without trying to serve the whole community.”
Sam Smallidge, left, chats with Justin Martin as they discuss repair work on Martin’s guitar at Re-Animated Music. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Sam Smallidge, left, chats with Justin Martin as they discuss repair work on Martin’s guitar at Re-Animated Music. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Over those same months, the owners of nearby Sunfresh Market were quietly deciding on the future of their building. They wanted to develop eventually, but encountered delays during COVID. The Trading Musician’s longest tenured manager, John Herman, approached them about a possible interim lease, and then shared the idea with the junior employees, even as he left to start Burien’s Double Dare Records & Collectibles.
“We were really familiar with the (Sunfresh) space because we would always come over and get food,” said Joynes. After some discussion with the owners, he and his fellow Re-Animated founders signed an initial two-year lease with options to expand up to four more. “I think it couldn’t be more perfect,” said Joynes
The lease began last April, after which the Re-Animated Music team hurriedly overhauled the building along with their own commercial savvy. Accountants were hired, contractors called in and family members mined for expertise. “We had lots of advice and some free volunteers,” said Myers. “Also, a lot of dads helping out.”
The store finally opened on Nov. 13. Thus far, profits have exceeded expectations, even as Joynes admitted, “We did just have the busiest retail month of the year. We’re not expecting to do December 12 times in a row.”
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Myers.
Co-owner Geoff Joynes repairs a guitar at Re-Animated Music. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Co-owner Geoff Joynes repairs a guitar at Re-Animated Music. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
With the store open for business, much of the early work has involved purchasing inventory and getting the instruments ready for resale. The shop prefers to buy used instruments outright rather than run on consignment. “It’s logistically cleaner,” said Myers. When word-of-mouth spread that the guys were loading up the retail stock, sellers (and buyers) came in droves. But profit, though it’s clearly important, is only part of the appeal.
“The whole vibe here is, it’s a hang,” said fellow manager Steve Lykken, who runs the store’s drum shop. “Over 13 years working at Trading Musician, I watched so many bands form. I saw so many friendships and connections made there.”
This community focus is key to understanding Re-Animated Music’s character. The folks behind the counter know exactly what you’ll need for that upcoming Sunset Tavern gig, because in all likelihood, they’ll be taking the stage soon themselves. Myers plays in the band Afterlife Giftshop, Joynes in Fell Off and Boy Problems, and Metcalf in Beefeetees. Lykken drums in too many groups to list here — to name one, the managers said, would invoke jealousy from the rest.
Repair tech Calvin Burns, left, and co-owner Geoff Joynes work in the backroom at Re-Animated Music as they repair guitars. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Repair tech Calvin Burns, left, and co-owner Geoff Joynes work in the backroom at Re-Animated Music as they repair guitars. (Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Expanding on the role of The Trading Musician, Re-Animated Music will channel a renewed energy into selling local instruments (including pedals, guitar straps and so on) and Seattle band merchandise and posting upcoming concert flyers. There are plans to offer music workshops down the road. For now, with The Trading Musician’s Flying-V guitar logo peeking over an abandoned lot and construction fence a few blocks away, it feels special to have a music store back on this section of Ravenna Boulevard. “The biggest thing we offer is just a space, seven days a week,” said Joynes. “I’ve already seen music connections happening here. And it’s awesome.”
Eric Olson: Eric Olson is a novelist and journalist living in Seattle’s Central District. You can learn about him and his work at ericolsonwriting.com.