Of course, during my vinyl DJ years, I was interested in the music, but I didn’t always love it the way I loved the records by my favourite artists, listening in the comfort of my own home. As a DJ, as soon as one track was playing, I was focussed on searching for the next to cue up ready to play – it’s not the same as playing music for your own listening pleasure.

I’ve been a professional DJ for over 30 years and played some songs hundreds of times but still couldn’t be sure of the lyrics to many of them. In fact, my two sons, Henry (seven) and Sebastian (five), can listen to songs and after just a few plays they’ve mastered most of the lyrics. Both of my boys have their own record collection that we periodically add to with their latest favourite songs.
It’s important to me to pass on my love of music in a format that gives them something tangible to look at and listen to. As part of my vinyl DJ days, my Monday ritual involved heading to my local HMV where I would select the records I needed to fill any gaps after listening to the Top 40 countdown on Radio 1 the previous night.

This role would later be fulfilled by my local independent record shop, run by a couple of DJs. We didn’t have to enjoy all the songs we played but we had to have those tracks in our music library – just like we do today!

Those guys knew exactly what another DJ required to bolster their collection. Once the gaps in the Top 40 had been filled, we would listen to a selection of new records including advanced promo tracks. I loved checking out the B-side of a track, as it often threw up a hidden gem. The 12” version would offer a unique version of that track along with bonus tracks, acapellas and instrumentals – it all added to the joy of vinyl.


Vinyl is one form of inspiration that helps me to create digital content for Mastermix. I like nothing more than sifting through my many cases of 7” and 12” vinyl. Each record evokes a memory that in turn gets my creative juices flowing, both as a DJ and a music producer. It used to be the same with CDs until I moved my collection on many years ago.
As well as my own personal record collection, I like nothing more than searching through other collections – and the best place to do that is at a record shop. That may sound obvious, but the record shop has been a sleeping giant for several years, especially with many DJs. As we moved from vinyl to CD and then to digital, we lost the need to visit a record shop to top up our music collections and, as a result, we lost many record shops too.

Thankfully things have changed and vinyl is as popular now as it’s ever been – even more so if the sales figures are to be believed. Record stores are back in the game.

Even high street retailers have embraced the vinyl surge by stocking new pressings. This is a great way of offering great albums in vinyl form (even if the price is something that needs addressing!) and I have no problem with it, but new vinyl pressings don’t interest me. If I’m going to buy a piece of vinyl, then it’s the original pressing every time.

For this reason, it’s the independent record shop that really fascinates me. That’s where you get the passion, the love and the knowledge of the vinyl being sold. I travel around the UK on a regular basis and always...


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