The Record Collectors Club Conversations Podcast

This weeks episode of the Record Collectors Club Conversations Podcast is a special one as it features an artist that host Iain, has been working to get onto the podcast for a while. 

But, the stars aligned when the band, Danny & the Champions of the World were touring locally and lead singer Danny Wilson managed to spare an hour to chat to Iain about all things records and music.

Danny has been in a number of bands over the years including Danny & the Champions of the World and Grand Drive and he is also involved in running two fantastic record shops down in the south of the UK called Union Music and Looking for the Magic Records.

Iain and Danny talk records (both rare and common), how the bands current tour is going and what the plans are for the band in the future in this almost hour long conversation. 

It's Record Store Day 2025!

On this weeks episode, Iain talks about how Record Store Day went for him and what he bought from this years list at his local record shop, RPM Music in Newcastle upon Tyne.

He takes you through his day and also catches up with owner of RPM Music, Ritchie Lattimer on how the day went for the shop on what is usually the busiest day of the year for an Independent Record Shop.

On this weeks episode, Iain is joined by his 3 fellow record collecting friends from Leeds having previously set a challenge to them all to pick 5 records to start a record collection with for someone new to record collecting.

The collectors, Kev, Ben and Billy along with Iain, discuss which records they have selected and why, over this bumper episode discussing the merits of their choices and digging into the genres from each selection too.

If you are a new collector to records, this episode is for you and will give you plenty of options to get started on your own record collection!

This week, Iain is joined by Steven "Smoove" Moove on The Record Collectors Club Conversations Podcast for an episode as part of his ongoing Funk and Soul series.

Smoove is one half of Funk and Soul band from the North East, Smoove and Turrell but he also makes his own music and DJ's a number of nights around the UK and Europe too. 

We discuss his insane record collection, making his own music and with the band and we they talk about his history with the music scene in the local area of the North East. 

He speaks about some of his favourite records in his collection and whats in store for 2025 for the band too.

The Record Review is back for another month and Iain focuses on the new releases, reissues and vinyl news for a bumper month that was March.

With fantastic new releases from the likes of The Lathums, Lottery Winners, Andy Bell, The Horrors and many more, vinyl lovers are spoiled for choice this past month.

Reissues and pre-orders are a plenty also, with some great announcements over the last 4 weeks for some great records to look forward to. 

Iain also discusses the upcoming Record Store Day event and gives a sneak preview on some upcoming episodes also in the vinyl news slot. 

So, grab a coffee or beer and dig into this months Record Review on The Record Collectors Club Conversation Podcast.

On this weeks episode of the podcast, Iain is joined by one of the best up and coming singer / songwriters around at the moment, Lissy Taylor. 

Shes been gaining media traction over the past year from the likes of BBC Radio 1 and Radio X and has opened for artists like Miles Kane, The Twang as well as being 
on festival lineups with the likes of Noel Gallagher and The Vaccines. 

Iain and Lissy talk about her career so far, an impressive 2024 for her and her band, talk about her highlights from 2024 and also what 2025 has in store.

Lissy chats about her favourite bands, inspiration for making her music and being rumoured for an Oasis support slot!

On episode 23 of the podcast, Iain is joined by Sunderland music local and lead singer of the band Frankie & the Heartstrings, Frankie Francis. 

Frankie is one of the most recognisable faces around the city of Sunderland, not only for being the lead singer of the aforementioned band, but also so for his DJ nights he puts on around the city, being the pitch side announcer for Sunderland Football Club but most recently being the cities music officer and leading the cities bid for music city status, which they successfully achieved in January 2025.

Iain and Frankie discuss how important this successful bid will be for Sunderland, what is planned for the year in music for the city and chat about some of Sunderland's rich music history.

They talk about the band, the football club, the cities culture and of course dip into Frankie's vinyl collection and his musical influences. 

Welcome back to “The Record Review”, a monthly segment on The Record Collectors Club Conversations Podcast where I run through vinyl news and reviews of what has been released and what has been announced over the last month or so. 

February was a great month for vinyl releases, and new releases in particular with records dropped from Doves, Manic Street Preachers, Brooke Combe, The Murder Capital and a few others!

We also got the Record Store Day list earlier this month so I touch on that and talk other vinyl news, reissues and pre orders too!

I am joined on this weeks podcast episode by a notorious record collector, Steve Ellis who, over the last 35 years or so, has amassed a collection of over thirty thousand records, and it's a record collection to rival collections from DJ's like Carl Cox and Questlove!

Steve has spun records all over including places like Cafe Mambo in Ibiza, bringing his balearic sounds back from the white isle to the clubs of London and his hometown of Brighton.

I approached Steve to come on the podcast after discovering his book "50 at 50" which we discuss at length amongst other record related matters including digging into his vast record collection.

If you are a fan of records, this is an episode not to be missed!

Back in 2001, the band Doves were the first live artist that I ever saw and that kick started my love for live music and eventually vinyl records too! 

I am incredibly excited about this week's podcast episode as I am joined by the drummer from that band, Andy Williams. 

Doves have really been through the ringer over the last couple of years but the band are now back with a new record titled "Constellations of the Lonely" due out at the end of February and it's so great to see them return with new music and an upcoming tour.

Andy and I spoke just before Christmas and chatted about their recording process, the band's new record, their previous albums and loads of other music related stuff too. We touched on Jimi (the band's frontman) not being around for the tour and how it has driven both Andy and other band mate (and his brother) Jez on to get back out on the road.

Andy also has a vinyl record collection of his own so we discussed the vinyl format, how the band go about putting out their music and vinyl and some of his favourite records. 

A huge thanks to Andy for taking time out to come on and chat music and Doves related stuff with me and they say never meet your heroes but I'm glad I've met one of mine!  

The Record Store Day 2025 list is here!

Join me as I run through the good and the bad on the list and my initial reactions on what is being released on April 12th 2025 for Record Store Day, both here in the UK and in the USA too.

The list is excellent this year with some great diverse titles so grab a coffee, a pen and paper and make a note of what you might be queuing up for outside your local Independent Record Shops.

There are some great titles being released from the likes of Oasis, David Bowie, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell and many more to dig into and look out for! 

Welcome to “The Record Review”, a new monthly segment on The Record Collectors Club Conversations Podcast where I run through vinyl news and reviews of what has been released and what has been announced over the last month or so. 

I will talk new releases, reissues, pre order news and other vinyl related bits so lets kick off with January’s Record Review!

2025 has had some exciting new releases already put out with comebacks from well loved bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Weather Station and Mogwai amongst others, making January a full month of vinyl releases.

There have been some great reissues also from the likes of The Verve, Michael Head and also some Blue Note titles too.

I also talk about big pre order news for the first few months of the year and touch on Record Store Day too which is just around the corner!

 

On this weeks episode of The Record Collectors Club Conversations Podcast, I kick off another new series as I dip into the world of collecting Psych, Prog and Folk records.

My guest this week is a Swedish collector with an incredible collection of the afore mentioned genres, Jonas Samuelsson. Jonas, has been collecting records for around 25 years or so and amassed a collection of first pressings, rare gems and beautiful reissues too. He's also just recently opened an online shop in Sweden, specialising in these genres.

Join us for our chat as we dig into his history with records, where he buys his records and what he has bought into the collection and his shop over the recent months.

On this weeks episode, I am again on my USA trip and in Portland, Oregon visiting the great city, digging for records and meeting up with some friends. One of whom, is this weeks guest on the podcast, Aaron Draplin.

For those that have heard Aaron's name in the design circles, will know how talented he is as a graphic designer but he is also an extremely funny person and very knowledgable about music.

I wanted to get Aaron on the podcast for all the above reasons mentioned but he also has a huge record collection himself and has designed sleeve art for famous artists such as Chris Stapleton and great bands on the Portland music scene too.

Enjoy this 45 (or so) min chat that I had with Aaron about his career in design, his record collection and some hilarious anecdotes from him throughout!

Back in late 2024, I went digging for records (and to see Bruce Springsteen of course) in Canada and the USA for a two weeks trip visiting Vancouver, Seattle and Portland.

Whilst I was in Seattle, I was lucky enough to be invited to visit fellow record collector and Beatles maniac, Norman "Mazzy" Maslov. If you've heard of his name, you will have watched his YouTube videos over on the Vinyl Community on that platform.

We dug through his records, recorded a video for his channel but I also locked down some time with him to chat about his history as a record collector, how he ended up promoting artists and his beloved Beatles.  

Mazzy is a real character and it was amazing to be invited into his home to see his insane record collection and spend time with him. He even took me record shopping in Seattle to the amazing Easy Street Records!

Enjoy this fantastic interview with one of my favourite record collectors in the Vinyl Community!

On the final part of the 2024 Year In Review series, my guests and I reveal our top 5 favourite records we have found during the year of digging in crates, shops and online as collectors. Personally I have found some incredible records in 2024 and it was tough narrowing it down to a Top 5 but I had to do it!

The selections we discuss on this episode are extremely varied across many genres and this was the favourite round table discussion I had personally out of the 3 episodes I recorded with my 3 guests, Kev, Ben and Billy.

So grab some of that leftover Christmas dinner Turkey, Cheese and Chocolate and sit back and enjoy the last part of the 2024 Year in Review!

Happy New Year to everyone and all the best for 2025.

Welcome to the next part of the Year In Review series, dissecting the amazing year in music that was 2024.

Continuing on with the 3 part round table mini series with my guests Kev, Ben and Billy, we discuss our Top 5 favourite vinyl reissues of 2024 across lots of different genres.

It's been an amazing year for reissues in 2024 with some long out of print, or never pressed on vinyl, records released this year, many of which we have added to our own collections. Hopefully, our recommendations will inspire you to buy some new discoveries from this episode.

Welcome to the first in a 3 part mini series as part of the overall 2024 Year in Review series that has been a focus of some of the recent podcast episodes. 

As I had stated on those previous episodes, 2024 has been an amazing year for music and records again and in this mini series I am joined by three record collecting friends from Leeds to discuss the year in music in a round table discussion where they disclose their favourite records, favourite reissues and favourite record finds in 2024. 

This episode focuses on favourite records of the year so lets kick off and welcome along Kev Trotter, Billy Humphries and Ben Leister as we all dive into 2024's amazing new releases on vinyl!

Episode 11 is part 2 of the "2024, A Year in Review" Series where Iain discusses his favourite releases from the second half of the year and the months of July to December.

He discusses releases from lots of bands including Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Wunderhorse, Kasabian, Coldplay, Danny & The Champions of the World, Laura Marling and of course, The Cure!

The second half of 2024 was just as strong as the first half so have a listen and hopefully discover some new artists or records you might have missed from this year!

This week, Iain kicks off his Funk and Soul series on the podcast and welcomes onto it, notorious Funk, Soul and Reggae collector John Downing.

John has collected records all his adult life and whilst he specialises in collecting Funk and Soul stuff, he also digs into other genres too. 

Iain and John chat about the genres he collects, where he buys records, digging across the world for rare Funk and Soul stuff and also dip into the YouTube vinyl community where John shows off his record collection.