"There is something better about actually seeing a record..."

What is it you regret?

Losing the enjoyment of music, the love of making. I tried to justify the time I used to put into it, the expense and the sacrifices you have to make to make good music. I did identify a lot with Domu- I got the impression he got to the point where he was pretty fed up with it and was starting to hate what he was doing, what the business about. I was reaching that point and I kind of took a step back. And I knew I wanted to carry on working in music.

What is it you found frustrating?

The people in power, their knowledge and enthusiasm for music, the way the financial structure and distribution is set up, the way the promotion is set up, to a certain extent. And in electronic music has always been faceless more or less, so we struggle more than most to get to a certain point.

You've obviously kept up with it?

Yeah, I mean I live it week in, week out. I know it's an old cliche but I do live and love my music and I envisage carrying on for another 20 years at least. But who knows? It's changing on a weekly basis. The actual format has been dying for quite a while but I still think there's people out there who want to buy music and on a vinyl format as well.

I was going to ask you about that. How has your business been changing over the years?

To be honest the internet's affected it, especially eBay and Discogs and net sales, etc. The iphone has affected it, mp3 as a format has affected it. And also the younger generation- they're getting used to just wearing the white leads with white headphones and listening to music in that way. And they're also used to getting music for free as well, which is another bad thing.
There is something better about actually seeing a record, holding it, looking at it, reading it, playing with it....and even reading the credits on the back. It's having a real tangible item in your hand you can hold, y'know? Rather than just an invisible file that's just binary, or whatever. And also the quality, the way we hear music- you're missing quite a lot 'cos digital has a tendency to cut the top and the bottom off and just leave you with a certain amount in the middle.

Do you sell on the internet?

I do, from Monday to Friday I do mainly eBay and Discogs here and at the weekends I still like to get out and interact with human beings, not just sit there in front of the screen.

Where do you sell most records, the internet?

That's the way forward but it's boring, it's long-winded and sometimes you have to deal with....It's quite a long process from listing a record, sound-clipping it, taking a picture of it, describing it, answering emails, packaging it...y'know it's not as straight forward as it seems and that's when it goes well. When it doesn't go well then there's problems and once you start listing a large amount of stuff it gets complicated sometimes.