It all began when Mike – a lifelong vinyl collector, decided to flog some records on a kitchen table in a local summer market.
Every casual browse turned into a conversation; a memory relived of a gig or a club or a holiday or a parent. Mike loved it.
Welcome to Vinyl Vanguard
In 2016, Waltham Forest Council announced that a pop-up shop on Hoe Street had become available and Mike snapped it up. For the next three weeks, a steady stream of curious and often grateful people came through the doors. After the pop-up, Mike and his partner Ruth began to do more vinyl markets including once a month at Spitalfields. It was hard work loading and unloading and the house began to fill with large heavy boxes of vinyl. Ruth got into a conversation one day with a woman who was married to one of the more successful vinyl traders.
“Don’t let them bring the vinyl into the house,” she said.
“Bit late,” replied Ruth.
“We have a shipping container in the garden. Our bed is several feet off the ground. There are boxes of vinyl underneath it.”
Over the next few weeks there were, as politicians say, frank and forthright discussions between Mike and Ruth. Luckily a small unit had become available in Walthamstow’s Wood Street Indoor Market and Mike became a full-time record trader. People who came into the shop realised that vinyl was not just a commodity to sell for Mike. He didn’t pretend to connect with every genre – his formative music was sixties rock and pop, and he got into jazz, blues, old-school R&B, soul, reggae, folk, Cajun, zydeco, Latin, African, and some klezmer, country and classical, but always thirsty to broaden his listening. Mike loved talking about music, learning how it touched someone’s life, or about music he knew little about. Jazz features strongly in the shop and one day a vinyl collector told him that his shop had the best collection of jazz vinyl in London. But Mike frequently quotes jazz legend Duke Ellington who was once asked what his favourite type of music was; Duke replied, “There are only two types of music. Good and bad.”
In 2017 Simon joined. Simon is a good friend, loves his music, has cherished his own collection and quietly wheeled and dealed vinyl for many years. He also adores his jazz, singer songwriters, country, soul, reggae and ska, and is passionate too about folk music. Simon loves it when great music and sound come together with striking cover art/design and sleeve notes…..yes vinyl as a perfect art form! Simon loves introducing local or emerging artists and labels into the shop. And it is Simon who has reminded us that there is one genre that is under-appreciated in vinyl shops – classical music. We now have an extensive collection of some of the finest recordings featuring orchestras and artists from the traditional to the experimental and avant-garde.
In October 2019 we grabbed an opportunity to move to St James Street, Walthamstow, and join an eclectic mix of food outlets, crafts people and shops at CRATE. We loved the thronging crowds at the weekends and the families that congregated. And 2020 was to be the year that we organised small live music events and record sales outside our unit. God laughs at those who make plans.
So, like everyone else we move into a post Covid-19 world where we silently thank whatever deity that has spared us so far and acknowledge those who kept us safe. Our little shop will now be run slightly differently to what we originally planned but the music is still here. Mike and Simon are waiting to engage you in a discussion. It probably won’t just be about music. There might be politics and football too but there will still be a soundtrack to it and a great bit of vinyl to take home.
