Ian Dewhirst

I'm stunned! Not bad for a record which used to be £1 on Soul Bowl LOL..... And it even looks likes a boot! Ian D

It's only indie rock 7" vinyl that's selling in 500-1000 copy runs unfortunately. For most record companies it's just not viable anymore. As an example, when I started the Salsoul reissues in 2003, we were routinely doing 2-3K of the more popular releases - First Choice, Instant Funk, Joe Bataan, Loleatta Holloway etc, etc. By 2006 we were struggling to sell even 500 units (including export) on some hot new mixes or in-demand re-issues. You'd be hard-pressed to find many companies releasing vinyl outside of indie rock these days (apart from small pressing runs on good Soul/Northern soul gear which generally only amount to a few hundred). Also don't believe all the stats you read - just because there is a slight upward blip on 7" indie rock titles has to measured against the declines of the last 25 years! Both Independent Pressing (Chris King's old company - boy did he get out at the right time LOL) and Simply Vinyl (the UK's largest vinyl reissue company) crashed this year. The UK biggest vinyl dealer - Hard To Find Records in Birmingham is now offering 6p a unit for overstock 12" vinyl - aproximately 54p less than it cost to make! I think there's a message there somehow. Ian D

Things change Chalky. I went to a Summer weekend do in Somerset a couple of years ago and was amazed to see a guy dressed up in a dinner suit playing a wind up victorola player with original 78's in the corner of a marquee with a couple of people watching him. It was very pleasant and a refreshing change and somehow very civilized on a Sunday evening in August. So I went up and had a natter with him. He was obviously an eccentric but totally believed in what he was doing and said that almost all of his bookings were for the quaint novelty value of having him there rather than the actual music he played (which was 30's/40's stuff). He said that he'd always been interested in 'old' things and loved the aesthetic qualities and ethos of utlizing the victorola and 78's and that his main problem was keeping the several victorolas he had in good working order. He said he got most of his 78's free 'cos people chucked 'em out 'cos they couldn't play 'em anymore! It was kinda sad and touching and definitely a throwback to a bygone era. And then I moved down to the main marquee where 500 people were dancing to a regular DJ and realised that you can't hold back change no matter how romantic it may be. I'm optmistic. I don't think a mere format change will be enough to kill a scene. There'll probably be even more good stuff unearthed which has never come out before because of the previous expense of releasing it in a physical format. Kent seem to be unearthing stuff along with a lot of other people, so all that will happen is that the scene will mutate along with peoples attitudes hopefully. Not an easy change though LOL..... Ian D

There's lies the rub.......... Are there even 20 unknown killers still out there? Ian D

No fear mate. I don't wanna get lynched just yet thankyou very much, but it's packed full of 20k killer tunes and ready to go-go baby as soon as the world catches up LOL! Ian D

No.....please.....mercy.....threaten me with anything but whatever you do but DON'T TELL MARY!!! And I've been smelling the sweet aroma of my record room for the last 3 days thankyou very much...cough....sneeze....splutter..... And other people don't have my taste in music thank God! Now where's that FANTASTIC unreleased Dynamics track..........? Ian D

Apparently Brighton has a healthy little scene, parts of Europe and that James Trouble gig in London was OK t'other week wasn't it? Prestatyn was OK too but a distinct lack of youngsters apart from a couple of local Prestatyn girls who 'go to everything that happens @ the holiday camp' LOL.... Ian D

And if you think things are bad on this scene, then look at the implications for the wider music biz. From today's Times:- https://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle4144585.ece The digital age is affecting everybody! Ian D

30 years ago I'd have lynched myself LOL. Records redundant? Forget it mate and screw you would've been my attitude back then! But it's a bit like fiddling whilst Rome burns or sticking a finger in a dyke a hoping the water won't burst through etc, etc. I'm closer to the changes which are going on 'cos I've been making a living in the music biz for the last 35 years and there is absolutely no doubt that a revolution has happened for better or worse with the result that physical formats are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. There is no doubt that vinyl is dead as a format - the stats don't lie and pressing plants aren't closing for no reason. So there's no point is pussyfooting around really. You can either embrace the changes and try and be positive about it or bury your head in the sand and hope it'll all go away, which it won't. My prediction is that the collector's scene will obviously continue in much the same way that serious collectors of any scene continue whether it's Doo-Wop, Rock N' Roll or Psych etc, etc. But it will be a rarified circle of people and probably a very exclusive club for those who can afford to indulge themselves. My concern is really for the future health of a brilliant scene which has existed for the last 40 years. It seems that the scene is not really attracting any new generations of youth apart from some odd pockets around the country that don't seem to carry the same baggage as the rest of the scene. Part of the baggage is undoubtably the hardened attitudes towards certain areas of the scene which I guess is what this thread is all about. The youth of today don't particularly CARE about what format a tune is delivered on. They just want to hear great music coming out of the speakers. If that music is determined by whether someone has a grand or two spare to buy an expensive original or whether a record is actually a lousy record but incredibly rare, then the scene will eventually disappear up it's own arse and implode. Easy for me to say as I don't make a living from the scene and these days I'm merely an observer who can look at things with a degree of objectivity. Plus, as many people keep pointing out, this is a consistantly repeating theme with these threads creeping up every few weeks on here, so obviously many people are considering these issues all the time. So don't shoot the messenger LOL! Maybe it's time to review things. It should always be about the music first and foremost and sometimes it seems that this has been forgotten. OK, where's that ticket to Coventry......... Ian D

2 weeks wages back then Simon. But hey we're highjacking this thread........ Ian D

LOL, you're right! It's hard to get the vinyl thing out of your system especially since I've just spent the best part of 2 days filing the buggers........ Got to admit that 90% of my home listening is via computer these days though. I just save the vinyl for playing out and those special occasions now...... Ian D

Can't disagree with that Kevin. In fact I spent 5 years as Head Of A&R for a company called Simply Vinyl and did over 700 high-quality vinyl album re-issues between 1997-2002 but saw declining sales every year until I left. Needless to say the company is now no longer in existence along with most of the vinyl pressing plants. Time has moved on mate. Unfortunately. Ian D

Well, it's a rare record and I think he's a high-earning city lad isn't he? But God I'd hate to be seriously collecting now - I wouldn't be able to sleep at night paying the kind of prices I see these days. One of the greatest records ever made though innit? One of those I HAD to have the first time I heard it and boy was it a monster! I guess I'll just have to play my UK demo then. Funnily enough it still sounds EXACTLY the same.......... Ian D

Why? Ian D

Johhny M mate! I was always a cheapskate LOL. I even moaned about spending £40 on the Tomangoes when there were only two of 'em.... Ian D

LOL, not the kind of kids you wanna meet on a pissing down night in North Allerton! Ian D

Hey, talking of Sheridan's whatever happened to Rod? Is he still around? He was one of the one's responsible for getting me into it all in the first place......... Ian D

I'd be embarassed to spend £1K on a record! I've had some of the rarest records of all time and hardly ever paid more than a few cents or a few quid for most of 'em. Mind you easy to say that some 40 years later LOL...... Nowt like being smug is there? Ian D

That's my whole point! Technically I could turn up with a portable hard-drive in my shirt pocket with 20k tunes on, play for several months if need be and then get out in a hurry from the baying mob! I can remember having to escape from North Allerton Working Men's Club once and staggering under the weight of my 400 x singles box whilst dodging a hail of bricks! And no it wasn't because of my tunes LOL. It was barbed-up soulies v very hard miners! Ian D

But then that limits you to a) how much vinyl you can carry and how much vinyl you can afford. And supposing I had a bunch of digital files which were musically superior and rarer than any vinyl which anyone else had? Should people not be allowed to hear some incredible music just because a few people want to hear them on an outdated format? People used to think the world was flat! And techically you can't actually have 110% 'cos 100% is the whole enchilda if you see what I mean............ Just having a bit of fun here but it always pays to have an open mind about these things. I actually love vinyl - I just think that some people are unduly fixated by what is just a format at the end of the day..... Ian D

Which is cool Mischief, and I understand the respect angle totally but if I were deejaying with Ginger or any other DJ there would be no possibility whatsoever of me replicating any tunes 'cos I'd have 20k tunes at my disposal on my lappy! My only problem would be in getting out of the venue without being lynched by the 'vinyl-only' mob LOL...... Ian D

Hang on Ken, I can buy an actual record for that price! Ian D

OK, time to stop dicking around. Let's do a Northern Soul-A-Thon spanning a couple of weeks, find another few hundred DJ's, get the Guinness people down and set a new record for the most DJ's ever at a single event. And no need for needles - I'll be playing a WAV file of the Dynamics in my set LOL....... Ian D

Yeah, but surely they've got to be real 'soul' spoons haven't they? Ian 'Spoony' D

Now why would I need to do that unless it was to satisfy some bizarre fixation with plastic? I can play anything anything I want from a superior WAV file and select any one of 20k tunes direct from my lappy to the speakers. Why would I want to degrade the process by shlepping down to a vinyl carver place and spending £25 getting something that will be inferior to the file on my lappy? Unless I was trying to PRETEND that I was playing a record LOL. But that would be a bit hypocritical wouldn't it? I mean, why bother...........? Ian D