Dave Zero came to Madison to see music. He’s been absorbing and selling it ever since

Madison’s music scene has changed quite a bit since Zero, 47, moved to the city and worked his way up at MadCity Music until becoming its owner in 2007.

So has Zero. Instead of hanging out at the music store and trying to sneak into rock shows at the O’Cayz Corral, Zero now owns MadCity Music and is more likely to sit back and listen to Thelonious Monk.

But it’s all music, and Zero is here for it.

Are you from Madison originally?

I grew up in Sun Prairie. I came to Madison really quickly after graduating high school, and I was able to hang out for a long time. Madison was a great place to be broke and working at a record store in your 20s. So I just kind of rolled with it. And I’ve been here ever since.

Did you originally come to Madison to work at the record store?

No. I had a lease signed, I turned 18, and then on that Friday I moved in. I turned 18 on a Wednesday and moved in on a Friday, or something like that.

What was your plan at that point?

I love that question. There was no such thing, there was no plan. My plan was to go to shows. I was going to get into the O’Cayz Corral. That was my plan. I was going to get into The Chamber, I was going to get into the O’Cayz Corral. It doesn’t matter that I was underage and could not get into either one of those. But my plan was to see lots and lots of shows.

What led you to work at the record store?

Going back to the idea that I needed to absorb as much music as possible, I figured at that time that place was a record store. This was way before streaming, way before YouTube, everything like that. And if you wanted to know what was going on music-wise, it was the record store. If you wanted to learn of any news of music coming out, it was a record store.

You had to go and read all the music magazines, figure out what to do. And then you go to the record store to see what they have and see what the guy behind the counter would talk about. And you’d learn. I learned tons of stuff from the guys behind the counter at MadCity before I worked there. So of course that’s the store I wanted to go to.

I would always, well, skip school and come down to the old location on Willy Street. And there was a skate shop next door, so I would go down with my friends. They would hit the skate shop. I’d go next door and check out CDs and vinyl.

I think I was hired in ’97. It’s kind of blurry, but I’m sure I’ve been with the store for 27 or 28 years at this point. I started as part time, worked part time for a while, worked full time and then bought the store in 2007.

In 1997, were you selling mostly CDs at that point?

Yeah, that was the time, but MadCity was great because they didn’t ever stop selling vinyl. It always had used and new vinyl from day one. Some stores turned into vinyl stores, which is fine, but MadCity, the previous owner Dave Benton was the ultimate music guy. He knew everything and just kept new and used vinyl going.

How did you end up owning the store?

Dave was ready (to retire). You get to a point when you own a small business that you just know it’s time. So he was ready. And my joke — a joke that my wife hates — is that I didn’t want a real job so I decided to buy the store, which was the most work you can ever do. Anyone that owns an independent business knows it’s a lifestyle. I was ready.

What’s your experience been like since buying MadCity?

Anyone that owns an independent business will tell you that it’s your life. It’s just not 40 hours and done. You’re in charge of literally everything, from ordering stock to making the schedules to making sure there’s enough towels in the bathroom. I’ve got a great staff right now and they take on a lot of responsibilities, so that really helps.

Any small business is a lifestyle. You’re always thinking about it. There’s always something going on.

My joke is that I don’t like music anymore. Like, I’m going go look at architecture. No, of course I do. I feel like I’m so far into it, it’s kind of hard to appreciate all the time.

What I enjoy now is just so different. My personal tastes have changed through the years, but that just happens with age too. I’m more likely to get excited by these Blue Note Tone Poet reissues. I’m more excited by some obscure blues musician from the 1940s, and I want to dig into that, as opposed to the latest releases. But music is so part of my DNA it’s kind of hard to tell what I do and don’t like anymore.

Vinyl records seem to be taking off right now — do you think it’ll fall off?

Vinyl is in a spot right now where it’s mainstream but in a good way. Like I mentioned, MadCity always had new and used vinyl, even during the dark days of the 1990s when there wasn’t much coming out.

Why I got into it is because it was so cheap. I remember going and getting my Ramones collection, my Elvis Costello collection all in same day, all for a buck each at a Goodwill because no one wanted it. CDs are actually where vinyl was 30 years ago where it’s not going to go away, but if you’re into CDs you can get a lot of great stuff for really cheap these days.

What are some of your favorite records or bands?

Some of my favorites would be Velvet Underground, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, The Dead Milkmen, Thelonious Monk, I’ve been listening to a lot of The Spinners a lot lately.

The old man in me has been listening to a lot of jazz. I know jazz less, so I still feel it’s more of an emotional attraction to me. It’s easy for me to process rock and pop records these days because I know what’s going on. I understand how it’s put together. I’m still not that well-versed in how jazz is played, so it’s more mystical, and I guess that kind of excites me more than anything else.