Demand Records

Demand Records

This was a record shop which I owned from 1984 to 2005. This was the next step from car boots which I was doing weekly. I moved into a kiosk sized place which was found by a friend of mine as I only had so much stock and rent money.  This all started up in Parson Street, Banbury.  It was a small place and I wanted to see how it did. I always wanted to run my own record shop. This ended up running for two and a half years.

After that time I had to move to a new location because the business owner who owned the property where we were paying rent to was selling up.  We found a place double the size down George Street.  It turned out that I had enough stock to fill it.  I hadn’t realised I was cramming that much in the space I had been in.

After I settled down and a while later, the most significant shift in business was drum and bass vinyl. The market was growing because of major events at the Sanctuary, Milton Keynes.  I can't remember how I found it ( Someone will jog my memory no doubt ) but I found a distribution company SRD out of London ( Who are still going )  This was the best move I had made since opening because they kept acquiring more dnb labels including Metalheadz, (their distributor closed down I can't remember the details). That was one label I had been wanting to buy music from as it was and still is one of the most well-known labels in Drum and Bass

During this time I had other related business ideas.  I began a printed a magazine with three other talent people.  Some band interviews were recorded onto cassette and were transcribed into print.  Although short-lived, it was fun. Got to meet some local bands and one in particular The Growlers, who I will never EVER forget partly due to one of the members Hannah,  who had the thickest blonde hair I have ever seen.  I credit her friend and band member Melle, for her contacts. She was the one who put me into indie label Sugarshack Records if memory serves. I wish I still had the audio interviews I conducted.  

The next phase was a great experiment.

With the growing power of the internet, the printed magazine evolved into a radio station.  I got offered the chance to be a part of it within the shop premises and an interior redesign.  It had its ups and downs as at this point the way the system was built it was one of the first internet radio stations as far as I was aware. It was ahead of its time.  I found my radio legs and interviewed many bands.