"There's a lot more people making music, not all of it good..."

How do you feel about that?

How do I feel about it....it's made it harder to make a living from it [music]. There's a lot more people making music, not all of it good, there's a lot more categories. It's maybe devalued electronic music to a certain extent. Dunno man, it's deep, but that's the way it is. Technology has always affected things and it'll carry on affecting it.

Do you feel there was a golden period for you?

The mid-'80s, the rare groove scene with people like Norman Jay, through to the acid house thing in the late '80s, the summer of love and all the rest of it. And also jungle, the drum n bass, the hardcore. Say from '86 to about '98 was the golden period for music. After 2000 I think it definitely went [makes international gesture for 'downhill' with his hand]. I think dance music now is...I don't know man...dubstep is very easy to make, very simplistic, it's not my kind of stuff. But the kids are into it and that's what's going on.

Where's your favourite place to sell records?

Definitely Utrecht [record fair] in Holland, twice a year. April and November. It's the biggest record convention I take part in and it's my biggest weekend financially. And it's the most enjoyable. People come from Japan, the States, Scandinavia, UK, it's like the European version of the Miami music conference but for record dealers. I always go there for a week and have a holiday. I drive there in my van, I go there for a week, work for 3 days and enjoy myself for 3 days. It's great.

Do you have a special stash anywhere?

Yeah there's a special box of 100 records under my bed that no-one gets to see. I'll leave them to my brother and sister. These are very special records, high end. These are original drum loops from the '70s mainly, in the original 7 inch format. They're like the holy grail...from the original 'Amen' break, other stuff as well....I've had [DJ] Shadow look at it, I've had a few people look at it and they've all been impressed with the contents. They've offered me money to get rid of them but I wouldn't sell them.

Shadow's been here?

Shadow's been here a few times. He bought a copy of every rap record I've had a spare of, sometimes 2. I've had James Lavelle here, 4 Hero here, Theo Parrish....that flight case over there is Run DMC's. I bought that in 1986. The reason I got into music is my mother used to drag me around record shops and I used to play with the gramophone, that's where I got the bug. She bought me a ghetto blaster when I was 14 and I started listening to pirate radio, writing down the name of records and running looking for them.

What's the most expensive record you've got?

I've got the Mighty Riders album, 'Evil Vibrations', it was £1000, it's now probably worth about £400. It's a classic '70s soul-funk album, never mass produced. The 'Sad Chicken' 7 inch, that's probably worth about £200. That's a crazy record, like a funk/break drumloop thing.

Is that Rufus Thomas?

No, but it's that kind of thing. I dunno, the most expensive item? That's a really hard question [laughs]!

Chris Energy can be found outside Vibe Bar on Brick Lane at the weekends from 10am to 7pm.

You can also email him at chris.energy@ntlworld.com