FLAWES, The TVD First Date

Josh Carruthers: Alongside the obvious HMV, I used to love going to Bradley’s Records in Halifax, West Yorkshire growing up. I remember when I was 16 I plucked up enough courage and asked the owner if they would consider selling my band at the time’s debut EP. To my amazement they said yes and took a handful of CDs off me—I thought I’d won the lottery!

Freddie Edwards: I personally love Banquet Records in Kingston Upon Thames. They’ve grown over the years into much more than just a record store, constantly finding cool new bands to play intimate in-store gigs. I grew up nearby and can honestly say that they added huge amounts to the local music scene.

Part of the reason I love Banquet is that it’s not too big, you don’t have to walk for miles or ask countless shop assistants to find the genre you’re looking for. The selection of music they have is always really well-chosen and normally supportive of upcoming talent which is great.

JC: I would have to disagree, I love getting lost and losing all sense of time in the huge city centre record stores.

I have my top 4 albums framed in my bedroom. Grace by Jeff Buckley leads the way. I know its one of those cliché “favourite albums” but it really is an amazing piece of work. Also up there on my wall is Radiohead’s OK Computer, Ben Folds Five’s Ben Folds Five, and Coldplay’s Parachutes.

FE: One of the first albums that really made me fall in love with the guitar was a Jimi Hendrix compilation album, The Essential Jimi Hendrix. I was self-taught and quite literally spent days on end pressing rewind trying to figure out the intro to “Purple Haze.”

Revolver by The Beatles is in my top 5 albums of all time. It blows my mind to think how creative the songs were, especially for the time they were written. I’m a huge fan of the band, but this album is a standout for me. My favourite tracks are probably “And Your Bird Can Sing” and “For No One.”

JC: I went through a phase of renting albums at the library as a kid and then onto buying one album every week for a good number of years more recently. So my collection is pretty vast. It’s all currently sitting dormant under my bed in my dad’s house though unfortunately until I have a place to present them all nicely.

FE: Visually my record collection is not much to look at! I’m pretty bad at putting CDs back into their cases. I keep them all in a massive cupboard in my lounge. Musically it’s pretty eclectic—classic rock is how I first got into music and have been a huge blues fan for the past 10 years or so. My brother loved ’90s hip hop growing up, so that’s crept into my collection too. I think it’s important not to rule out genres—I find myself liking things I never imagined I would.

I love the effort that goes in to the artwork of a physical album, the same goes for vinyl. People used to put a real focus on the visuals for a front cover, and that’s often what makes me pick something up off the shelf. As much as I love digital for finding new and old music, I find that I tend to immerse myself a lot more into a physical album, listening from start to finish instead of dipping in and out.

JC: I would have to agree. There is also something so satisfying about ripping the cellophane off a brand new album too.