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

We like to think of our store as inclusive, enthusiastic and maybe a little left of centre.  Really though we like to champion quality music wherever it may be found.  Between the staff here, there’s not much left out in terms of our taste.
We’re lucky to have many regular, devoted customers who’ll call in regularly to check out any new stock and stop for a chat.  Bands like Mogwai, Malcolm Middleton, Aidan Moffat, Teenage Fanclub, The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit to name a few have been hugely supportive and helped shape our identity too.

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

I came in two years into Monorail’s existence and though I wasn’t the first customer, I was certainly down early! 
I’ve asked about the first record sold and no-one can quite remember.  Faust - Patchwork was the first Album of The Month and The Concretes’ 2003 album was one of the first runaway successes of the shop.
The last sale was a set of three Thurston Moore 7”s (which we had signed by Thurston when he called in last).

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

My earliest record shop memories were hanging around Stereo 1 in Paisley, and Avalanche and Missing in Glasgow. The first record I bought with my own money is still quite embarrassing, a Comic Relief novelty 7” (at least it was in a good cause) but now I work in a respected record shop maybe you could put the first Suicide record or something instead? Hahaha

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

I really like Mixed Up in Glasgow’s West End.  Galactic Supermarket in Berlin is fantastic too, though I do try and not spend too much time in record shops on holiday.

What’s your most memorable record store experience?

Well, I met my wife through working in record stores so that must be on top!  She was playing in a band called Sons & Daughters and I was working in Avalanche at the time. We started dating some years later after I started at Monorail.
In terms of exciting ‘scores’, finding an original Icecross on Icecross records was very cool (obscure Icelandic private press/ weirdo rock LP).  The record was sold into Monorail on my day off, not long after me starting there. I got a heads up via text and hot-footed it down there. I remember the text was from Stephen and read something like “Got this record in.  It just LOOKS like something you’d be into!”
I was thrilled to meet Masaki Batoh of Japanese psychedelic band, Ghost who I remember was specifically after Anne Briggs records and gave me his acupuncture card later.  They were playing Mono, the venue we’re attached to, and were terrific that night.

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

Neurosis / Today Is The Day / Voivod at the Cathouse.

What's your all-time favourite book?

The Acid Archives by Patrick Lundborg is my bible for oddball psychedelic artefacts, a constant reference for my collecting. Indispensable.

What's your all-time favourite film?

Chariots of The Gods.

What would make up your desert island discs?

Dead Moon - Unknown Passage, Kool Keith - Sex Style, Hawkwind - Hall of The Mountain Grill, Witch - Lazy Bones, Roky Erickson - s/t (aka The Evil One), Bobby Beausoleil - Lucifer Rising soundtrack, Black Sabbath - s/t, William Sheller - Lux Aeterna, Pedro Santos - Krishnanda, Univers Zero - Heresie.

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

Metallica - Kill ‘Em All.

What's your all-time favourite record?

OTHER RECORD STORES