Category: Interviews

The Rising Price of Vinyl

After being away from the vinyl industry for the best part of 15 years, the first thing that struck me when I returned and started 45-rpm was the high prices of vinyl. I discovered quite quickly that in order to make a business out of buying and selling vinyl, I needed to sell at ridiculously high prices, which, of course, wasn’t going to be successful. As an example, recently I was offered a jazz LP for £30 excluding VAT, which was one slab of vinyl. That’s a £45 + LP, so why are vinyl record prices now so expensive?

Continue reading Why has the cost of vinyl gone up so much?

What were your favourite record shops back in the day?

Back in 1985 I used to visit a record shop called Hitsville USA in Newcastle. It was a very small shop that specialised in High Energy & Disco music but also stocked imported hip-hop & soul. The staff had a way of making you feel slightly uncomfortable – like you didn’t belong there, but that didn’t stop me from visiting every week. The shop was very small but extremely cool with an iconic American flag hanging from the window on the fifth floor, even the carrier bags looked super cool – see picture

Continue reading An Interview With Smoove – Producer & DJ – UK

What were your favourite record shops back in the day?

Actual traditional record shops, would have to be Spin Inn in Manchester in the 70’s and 80’s. It had all the latest USA and Japanese imports. You would walk in on a Friday and Saturday and this wee shop would be rham, There were many well know DJs in there either working or buyin’ shit, Les Cokell, Greg Wilson, Colin Curtis, John Grant, Mike Shaft, and Richard Searling could often be seen in there The staff would literally play all the new releases on rotation and folk would jus’ raise their hands, as the folk in front of you grabbed the record and passed it back over the packed, tiny floor. Once they had gone through the new records, they would start again to play stuff to folk that had arrived in the meantime. Dave Withers and Rod Shard’s Out Of The Past in Manchester’s underground market and later Affleks Palace was where I hung out most of the week, jus’ playing records and meeting other soul people. And Tony Just’s stall was where I spent many a Saturday coming down off the gear after an all-nighter.

Continue reading An Interview With Yogi Haughton – DJ, Club Promoter, Journalist & Collector – Scotland

What were your favourite record shops back in the day?

Movement records (Southampton) record shop below M2 clothing (Bournemouth) Uptown records (London) Black Market records (London)

Continue reading An Interview With Olly Salter – DJ & Collector – South Coast

What Year did you buy your first record and what was it, and would you still play it today?

I think the first LP I bought was 7 by Madness in 1981. I would have been ten years old. I probably wouldn’t play that in a club today, but it’s great for a nostalgic home listen. My seven year old son has now become a bit of a Madness fan because of that. It must be something about the childlike melodies and almost carnival or circus feel to some of their tracks, and their sense of humour of course – which often belied somewhat darker subject matter. Madness, of course, were my gateway band to ska, 2-Tone and then reggae and soul. A hugely important and influential band for me. My first 12″ was definitely Solid by Ashford and Simpson (UK pressing) in 1984 and it’s one that I still play. Not the A-side though. I only realised years later that it was all about “Street Corner” on the flip. A great tune to play out to this day. Both records still sit proudly in my collection.

Continue reading An Interview With Dom Servini – Wah Wah 45 – Owner/DJ/Promoter

What were your favourite record shops back in the day?

Back in the day isn’t that far back for us! Our first experiences were for soul records in secondhand/charity shops. Nothing rare or grail worthy. Just solid records! but the most memorable visits to shops for us include London’s Love Vinyl, Brooklyn’s Superior Elevation, Montreal’s Sonorama and Aux 33 Tours and Toronto’s very own Cosmos!

Continue reading An Interview With The Patchouli Brothers – Producers/DJs – Toronto.

A few weeks back, the 45-rpm team was reminiscing about the days when you set off in the morning with a wants list in your pocket, some cash, and a whole heap of excitement about buying some wax. Unfortunately, the retail landscape is now very different for specialist stores, which was mainly but not solely down to the introduction of digital formats. When we started this business, a physical store was discussed but it just wasn’t feasible with today’s shopping habits. So for the time being will we have to get our fix of dusty, noisy, bustling record stores from memories via people we respect. This series of interviews runs over several weeks, and to kick it off we have our very own Adam…

Continue reading In Search Of The Perfect Beat; A Series Of Interviews With Producers, DJ’s and Collectors