Record Store Day: Spinning Around Records, in Wellington get ready for the event.

Shropshire Star

We meet Emma Perks and find out about her Vinyl shop: Spinning Around Records, in Wellington. She's in game on mode, as she gets ready for Record Store Day on the 12th April.

Transcript

00:00Welcome folks to Spinning Around Wellington. Hello. What's your name? I'm

00:05Emma. Emma, fill us in. You used to work for BT and you don't work for BT

00:11anymore. You run this fantastic little record shop here. Yeah I was at BT for a

00:15very long time and when they decided to send my job role overseas I decided to

00:20take the enhanced redundancy, get a start-up grant from the local council

00:24and open a record shop. Where did record shop, you know, where did it come

00:28from? Were you listening to vinyl at home anyway? Have you always been a fan or

00:33where did that come from? I've been collecting this time around for 10 years and I think

00:38because I've got such a love for pop music I never really found any record

00:42shops that catered for it and had a big selection in so I just sort of decided

00:46that I wanted to do something with a difference and open a pop-focused record shop.

00:50Yeah so we was having a little chinwag off-camera and you were saying like, I

00:55mean that's where the name Carly Minogue, Spinning Around, if anyone hasn't got

00:58that clue already. We got the nice bit of pink on the front as well. So yeah

01:04pop music's your bag so that's kind of, like you say, it's a bit of a niche isn't

01:08it in terms of vinyl shops because it tends to be old rock and classic rock.

01:12It is, it's either a lot of record shops or either sort of, you know, more your indie

01:17contemporary sort of music or they are like you said, you know, your music

01:22from 30, 40 years ago. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it's just that I

01:27specialise in pop music and obviously, when I say pop, a lot of the contemporary

01:31stuff as well. Yeah. A lot of the people, Leve, Conan Gray, the ones that other

01:37record shops might not have heard of. Yeah and we don't want to put anyone off,

01:41you know, you've got a lot of stock. If you do like your rock and that and your

01:44indie, there's plenty going on for the customers there as well still.

01:47There is, there's a big big selection in store and I always say never underestimate

01:51the pop girl because I've got older brothers and I was brought up on Led

01:54Zeppelin, the States Club and ACDC. Cool. So it's been about how long since you

01:59opened? 18 months? 18 months now. And how's it been going? Really, really well.

02:04It kind of hit the ground running and I haven't stopped since to be honest.

02:08Everyone loves having a record shop back in town again. I do a lot on my socials

02:14so I sell a lot of records online as well. If people want to find you

02:19on the socials, what do they put in? Is it just spinning around Wellington?

02:22Spinning around records and spinningaroundrecords.com is my main website.

02:26And what sort of customers are you getting in then? We're always hearing

02:31that, you know, it's appealing to a young generation as well now.

02:35What sort of ages are you getting in? Literally from, you know, kids 10-11

02:39years old buying their first record up to people in their 80s and beyond I

02:43think. So it really is across the generations. And this record store

02:49day will be your second one, so it's coming up on the 12th of this month.

02:53What's some of the releases that you've had? You've had your stock come in, it's

02:57always a bit of a gamble isn't it as a trader? You're never 100% sure what

03:01you're gonna get. You can put your wish list in and thankfully your wish list has

03:05pretty much been fulfilled, yeah? It has. I always say by supporting your local

03:09indie store it just means that they're more likely to get good allocations each

03:12record store day. So do remember that. But the big ones this year, it's the Oasis

03:17Time Flies box set. So it's the first time it's been repressed since it first

03:22came out and so you can imagine what an original copy went for. Yeah. So it's a

03:264 LP set, each one's a different colour and it's a proper chunky monkey. I've got

03:31a lot of people after that. Cool. But also a lot of people after the little Taylor Swift here as well.

03:35I was gonna say, what's this, a single, an EP? Yep, so it's a 7-inch of

03:40Fortnight with Post Malone and it's got a different mix on the B-side. And then

03:45the other big one is the ambassador this year which is Sam Fender. Sam Fender,

03:49classic, you can't go wrong with a bit of Sam Fender. So what's the deal?

03:53What timing's in that opening? So on the 12th you'll be open from when

03:58until when? I'll be opening at 8 o'clock. I'll be closing normal time 5 o'clock.

04:04But obviously with Record Store Day, they are limited releases. It's the early

04:08bird catches the vinyl. And obviously normal rules apply. It's first come first

04:14served, no reservations and only one of a line per customer but as many

04:18different lines as you want. Cool. And here's a little few questions then.

04:22So, your favourite album? Go on. Oh, favourite album, Fleetwood Mac, Rumours.

04:26All right, straight in with that. Yeah, yeah. Favourite song? Favourite song? Oh, it's got to be

04:33The Chain from Rumours because I just never get bored of them. It is an absolute classic, isn't it?

04:37Yeah. And who would you say has kind of been most popular at the minute in terms

04:42of on vinyl? I know, I'll come Record Store Day, it'll be the way everyone's

04:46trying to grab. But just generally over the last year or so, any

04:50particular artists you've seen? Yeah, I mean for me, Taylor Swift, she never stops

04:54selling. But also Chapel Rowan, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, all the pop

05:00girls. They just sell so, so well. And here's one for you. I'm picking your brain

05:06here so I haven't pre-empted you with these questions. In terms of, because one

05:10of the beauties of vinyl, of course, is the artwork just looks so great, you know,

05:14rather than it being... On a little phone stand. Yeah, exactly. So any particular favourite albums of, you know, album covers?

05:21Artwork that you've kind of, you've come to mind? I've got to go back to Fleetwood Mac, Rumours again.

05:26Yeah. It's funny though because you get so many albums now that have an

05:29alternative cover. Yeah. And I think, would Rumours have the same impact? Or like

05:33Dark Side of the Moon, so many years on, had it have got three different versions

05:37of cover, like nowadays? Yeah, exactly. Well we wish you all the best on Record Store Day

05:42and good luck for the future. Thank you.

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