Tell us a little bit about your store? What's the vibe?

Having worked in other record shops I tried to take the best things of those shops and then add my own flavour. The most important thing in Flashback is the staff. I like people working in Flashback to be happy, honest, generous folk who have a deep passion for music. This then translates to the customers who find a friendly environment with knowledgeable and approachable people behind the counter. Everyone has their own thing and that diversity is key. But there is no factionist
- everyone gets along on a human level however divergent their musical taste. I know the shop is made by the people working there and the Flashback community is very strong.

Can you remember the first record you sold in the shop? And the last?

I used to take the bus into Darlington from the village I grew up in in Co Durham and go to the Record Shops - The selection was very limited in the 1970s - basically Woolworths, WH Smiths, Boots, Binns (a House of Fraser Store) and Dressers, an independent Stationers. My budget was very limited, but I’d buy what I could and then pore over the sleeves on the bus on the way home, itching to hear them. Even as a pre-teen, I was buying Abba and Wombles records, but my tastes developed. I used to have an old reel to reel tape recorder with a microphone which I’d put up against the speaker of the television so I could record the new tracks on Top of the Pops.

Do you remember the first record shop you went to? And you do you remember the first record you bought?

My mate Nick Saloman has a shop in Bexhill, Platform One, which is lovely as he seems to be able to source amazing records. Another mate David has the Little Record Shop in Crouch End which turns up some great stuff too. I like the vibe of the smaller one man shops as you have a dialogue when you’re there and its as much a social visit as a record shopping spree.

What is your favourite record shop (apart from your own!) and why?

Whilst at Music and Video exchange, a guy turned up for work calling himself Joss. I was convinced he was actually Julian Cope, as he was wearing a World War 2 bomber Jacket and looked just like him. On further investigation, it turned out he was Julian’s brother. 
Morrissey came in one day and some idiot put on a Smiths track. You’ve never seen someone leave a shop so quickly! Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth played an instore and delivered a storming set, climbing over the racks, jamming his guitar against the ceiling and behaving in a far more reckless way than one might expect. Chatting to him afterwards, he said he was aware of my consternation as he was crawling over the record racks, but said not to worry, he’d only put his foot on the hip hop 12” s! Bobby Gillespie is a regular who is absolutely charming. Opeth came in to do a piece for Classic Rock and turned out to be massive record fans, buying loads more than their ‘budget’ of £50, and Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks came in the other day to do a Finnish TV piece. He was a real Rock’n’Roll star, charming and over the top, ending up playing an unaccompanied Sax solo at the end to the delight and bemusement of our regular customers.

What’s your most memorable record store experience?

I am the king of bad puns. I have a real scattergun approach to humour. If I think something is funny, I’ll say it, even if it is in bad taste or likely to offend someone. Every once in a while, I say something that is actually funny. Not often enough though, I’m told!

What's the best gig you've ever been to?

One of the best gigs I went to was Godspeed You Black Emperor at the Scala a few years ago, there were several hundred-leather jacket clad Rock fans in the audience and I’ve never heard a crowd so quiet and in awe of what they were witnessing. You could hear a pin drop. The Butthole Surfers were amazing, filling the lower cymbal of a high hat with lighter fluid and setting it alight, then bashing it so great gouts of flame ascended to the rafters, much to the consternation of the venue. I saw Lydia Lunch play and there was a guy heckling her from the crowd with horrible sexist comments. She waded in and smacked him around the head, after which he was escorted out by security. I don’t espouse violence in general, but I think this guy really deserved it.

What's your all-time favourite book?

Currently I love the Iain M Banks books - such a sad loss to literature along with Terry Pratchett who also died recently. 
Apparently, Iain proposed to his girlfriend of many years standing a few months before he died, by asking her if she would be his widow!

What's your all-time favourite film?

I think Terry Gilliam’s Brazil would be my all-time favourite. Such an astonishing mix of fantasy, black humour and storytelling with a properly bleak ending, which he had to fight the studios to retain.

What would make up your desert island discs?

If it were just three, then they’d have to be long! So Yes - Gates of delirium, ELP - Karn Evil 9 and Van Der Graaf Generator - A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers. All prog I know, but they do long form very well!

Who would form your all-time Festival line-up? (past & present)

The Cure, Butthole Surfers, Van Der Graaf Generator, Bevis Frond, Ozric Tentacles, Kate Bush and Eddie Izzard and Tim Vine in the Comedy tent

What's your all-time favourite record?

The Cure 17 Seconds is a complete album, not a single second wasted!

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