
GIVE US THE BACKGROUND - WHEN AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO OPEN A RECORD SHOP?
Tell us a little bit about your store? What's the vibe?
The store has been around for over 35 years and I’ve been involved for just over 10 years – the thing i loved and still love about Crash is we aren’t precious in what we do – everyone who works here has pretty diverse tastes in music (and we champion what we enjoy) so some days its death metal on the stereo , some days funk some days the latest Indie banger and nothing is really off limits – the Soundtrack section has grown ridiculously since i started ordering them in
Can you remember the first record you sold in the shop? And the last?
I wasn’t there for the first – but i can say today we have just had a restock on Daft Punks last album – Random Access Memories and have sold a few of them today
Do you remember the first record shop you went to? And you do you remember the first record you bought?
As a child i remember the excitement of visiting Record Shops around the country when on Holidays with my family fondest – pre dating the internet the excitement of stumbling upon a shop by accident and then finding a big metal section to look at was amazing – due to my age i was very much a CD buyer in my youth so bought my first true record quite late on – it was Nile – In Their Darkened Shrines on Green Vinyl bought from one of my favour shops for Metal in Leeds (Hellraiser Records, no longer in Leeds but do still have a shop in Wakefield)
What is your favourite record shop (apart from your own!) and why?
Don’t have a favourite but will like most owners enjoy a bus mans holiday and make a point of visiting any shops you can when in a different city – if not to see if they are doing any different to us but to also be surprised at what stock they may have on offer be it New or Second-hand
What’s your most memorable record store experience?
There’s so many memories of music / record stores that i couldn’t pick just one – but what I will say every time I’m back on the counter it’s still the best feeling to be playing something ace on the stereo and then having a conversation with a customer about it and them taking it away in their hands
What's the best gig you've ever been to?
Rob Zombie at O2 Academy Leeds in 2011 – this was his first visit to the UK in a long time and my First time seeing him – the set list was perfect and how he managed to fit everything on the stage i don’t know – got to meet him briefly afterwards amazing
What's your all-time favourite book?
I'm not a reader so would normally say one of the Ian Fleming James bond novels – but in recent years i have very much enjoyed Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – a perfect love letter to all things Geek
What's your all-time favourite film?
Mallrats – Directed and Written by Kevin Smith ive watched this more than any other film and still notice something new every time – the Soundtrack hits all the right notes also – Includes my favourite Weezer track Susanne
What would make up your desert island discs?
Weezer – Blue album
Gwar – This Toilet Earth
Church Of Misery – Houses of the Unholy
Daft Punk – Tron Soundtrack
Who would form your all-time Festival line-up? (past & present)
There’s a handful of Artists I’ve never seen that i would love to and would drop everything if they were to announce a show – Like Tom Waits for example , he's not played a gig since i got into him so would love to experience his music live.
What's your all-time favourite record?
Lots come close but would be Weezer – Blue album – i have over x10 copies of it and im still after a true original – a genuine perfect album that i can listen to over and over again.