DAVE CALDWELL

Looking through your collection, is it fair to say you have quite a wide tastes when it comes to music?

Yeah I think that’s quite an understatement really! My collection is spread across loads of different genres of music and I keep falling down rabbit holes of discovering new artists I’ve never listened to. I’m currently having a Grateful Dead phase and have just discovered some of their live records like “Europe 72” which is incredible! But I have a lot of different genres of music in my collection ranging from Folk, Psych, Shoegaze to Indie, Metal and Funk. I think, like everyone did, growing up in the ‘90s I got caught up in the Britpop era and the music that was being released at that time and watched a number of bands live but a lot of that music hasn’t aged well I don’t think. When I was growing up everyone I started to meet people that  owned a record label and I started to experience different types of music from these different labels. They would vary from Indie - Pop to Cosmic - Krautrock and that immersed me in the all the different music available and broadened my musical horizons. I still listen to a lot of Shoegaze like I did when I was growing up so thats bands like Lush, Ride and Slowdive. Some of the first bands I loved were R.E.M, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd and they are still a constant in my life to this day really. Latterly though I’ve started to discover more Ambient musical stuff but in general my music tastes are all over the place. The collection is really varied and eclectic. 

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When did you start putting together your record collection?

I’ve been collecting music itself since around 1992 and I mainly started with CD’s but I was buying records a little bit and because I’m a bit of a completist of certain artists I’d be buying everything they would be releasing on CD or sometimes vinyl and it snowballed from there really. I then started to enjoy vinyl more and really liked the collectability of vinyl and started buying more records than CD’s. I think the vinyl thing really took me when in the late ‘90s bands like Mogwai and Transient Waves started to release limited edition 7 inch singles with fantastic artwork and I realised it was vinyl really from then on in. I also made a lot of friends from the online forum for the band Spiritualized and we all used to meet up at the “Liverpool Psych Festival” and one of them had a very big vinyl collection and I thought that looked much more fun than collecting CD’s. So then I started to replace all my CD’s with vinyl and my collection grew and grew. I’ve started to get rid of the CD’s and make more space in my house for vinyl. I’m not against CD’s and I still listen to them in the car and sometimes in the house but they aren’t records. I kept a lot of CD’s that were limited edition or ones I picked up from bands that I’d been to see on tour and that were live performances of their concerts but really only those made the cut to be kept. It got to the point where I was replacing every band’s CD I had with vinyl if it had been released on vinyl of course. I like listening to CD’s but they aren’t vinyl records are they? There’s just something different about a record I think. 

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What kind of music does your band Hazels Maze play?

It’s more Psych - Alternative - Rock I’d say. We are a four piece band and I’m the singer. I’d say it’s quite melodic but can be quite dark aswell. We have just released a live album on vinyl.

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So why do you collect vinyl records then?

I think the way vinyl has made a return in recent years shows how important vinyl is in the fabric of musical history. I like how a second hand record has been on a journey passed on from collector to collector and I’m fascinated at thinking of where it could have started out and how has it ended up with me? Of course there’s the artwork and how fantastic that has the potential to be. Some people say vinyl sounds better but I’m never so sure? Some of the presses of modern vinyl aren’t that good at all and some sound very poor. Im not a massive audiophile so I wouldn’t say that’s a very important thing for me when it comes to a record. Although with certain artists it makes a difference! For example, Neil Young was supposed to be played on a record. You can just tell that his albums are written for that format and then you can take a band like Oasis and they can be enjoyed on any format as long as it’s played loud! I also think it’s great that you have to get up and turn a record over. It makes you concentrate on the music more I think. And of course I think like most collectors its having a tangible item in your hands rather than just streaming an album.

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Can you recall the first record you bought?

Do you know I really cant remember? I remember my first cassette was Duran Duran “Rio” and I remember the first record I actually heard was Pink Floyd “Dark Side Of The Moon” which my late mother played for me. If I had to hazard a guess at what record it was I bought first I would say it was R.E.M “Drive” on a 7” single.  The b-side was “First We Take Manhattan” which was the Leonard Cohen cover.

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I think it’s great your Instagram shows your family being involved in showing off your records. What do they think of your obsession with vinyl records?

I’m not really sure what they think I suppose. The youngest likes it and thinks it’s cool but I think my eldest appreciates it for what it is and also that I enjoy collecting records. He is starting to come to a few concerts and also see myself and the band rehearse so he is getting an appreciation of music more. I took him to see a band called Deja Vega play in our local record shop and the band signed a setlist for him and he loved that and that was his first gig which I wanted to make a special experience for him. His second concert was Aha so not quite as cool for him! The little one, Ally, is enjoying the new music out right now and his favourite track is “Boys In The Better Land” by Fontaines DC.

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Is there a particular record that sticks out for you that you found cheap somewhere?

The best value records I have been picking up have been on the label I mentioned earlier called “Polytechnic Youth” and that’s mainly because I can pick them up quickly as I normally have a heads up when they are going on sale. There are 111 releases on that label and I only need to add 2 more to the collection which are the first release on that label (they only released 23 copies) and another that only had a minimal release with copies going for £750 so a bit out of my price range! They also release special lathe cut pressings of records which are very collectible and limited numbered so I’m always trying to add all them to the collection. So with regards to that label, if I ever decided to sell it, it would all be classed as a bargain! Other stuff would be when I was buying Shoegaze stuff cheap back in the early ‘90s and picking up some records by Slowdive for as little as £5.

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We can’t talk about where your from, Northwich, without talking about The Charlatans. I’m assuming you are a big fan? What do you think of the stuff Tim Burgess does away from the band?

Tim Burgess is great and always thinks outside the box with stuff and in particular ventures away from The Charlatans. The stuff he does on social media is great for prolonging his career and the bands career but also allows it to become more of his job away from the band. I love The Charlatans though and in particular the records they released from around 1994 with “Up To Our Hips” to 1999 and “Us And Us Only”, the era I like to call their golden period. When they were on it and in their groove. Their later stuff has been ok but I prefer that period of their career. When they did their pop up festival called North by Northwich, it was fantastic for the town and everywhere was packed out with people and it supported local businesses really well. It really was one of the best weeks ever! 

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