A new record label from London, as well as a record shop and a club night, Love Vinyl is the ambitious new project led by Zaf Chowdhry and 3 of his mates!
Love Vinyl is at the same time a record shop, a record label and a club night. Can you explain how you make everything works together?
Nothing is easy, but we have many years of experience between us and it’s just the love of music that drives us to keep on keepin’ on. We need to work harder on the club nights though, that’s the hardest part, we have some plans this year to do some killer club nights with some special Dj’s.
Your shop sells both new and second hand records, do you think this is the only way to make a record shop working these days?
When we started it just made sense to offer the best of both worlds to our customers. The best record shops are the ones with the most choices and variety.
Who’s buying your label records? DJ’s, collectors or just music lovers?
DJ’s, collectors are music Lovers!
On a more personal tip, when did you start digging records?
Simple answer to that question is around 10 years old. My first digging trip as a record dealer was in the late 80s.
What LP’s did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
I started collecting singles first, then 12’s and Lp’s and my tastes changed as I got older, but I love all the first records I bought and always will.
Do you have a particular style or favourite period?
I love all styles of music but my fave period would be the 1970’s if I had to pick one.
Are you still diggin’, buying vinyl, visiting other record shops?
When I go abroad yes I love to check other record shops, not so much in the UK. I buy records most days of the week.
What was your first release on Love Vinyl?
It was Eugene Record-Overdose Of Joy on 7’.
What could be your editorial/esthetic line?
Love Vinyl is synonymous with quality music whether that’s new or vintage vinyl.
We offer the best from the fields of soul, funk, disco, house, techno, jazz, hip hop and even pop in a warm and friendly environment. Why not pop in for a perusal whilst you’re in London!
What could be the label’s leitmotif?
We believe that our beauty is that the four partners love music and that we hope that our enthusiasm comes across with the stock that we hold on site.
LP’s, 7’’ or 12’’, do you have a favorite format, and will you publish all formats on your label?
Plan is to do all formats…
You just reissue the fabulous Wally Badarou ‘Back To Scales To-Night’ LP! Any plans to focus on african/tropical disco sounds or just a one-off?
Our tastes in the shop cover a wide variety of genres and limiting ourselves by focussing in on one style isn’t in our plans and doesn’t tell our story.
There’s a huge competition on the reissue market and getting the rights to reissue LP’s getting harder and harder…
Yes, everybody is doing it now… It’s sometimes a problem as you have an idea to possibly release a record but then find out some other label is doing it.
There are more and more reissues of old LP’s, and more and more record labels (major or indie) now release their new artists on LP, or EP. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
Like most sectors everything has a peak before declines. We like to think that we’ll be ahead of any curves whilst maintaining our approach for high quality releases.
What are your other next releases ? And could you give us your feeling about each?
We have a number of releases in the pipeline which focus in on quality across all musical genres some of which are re-issues and some of which are unissued that haven’t been heard for decades. We are also working with current artists that we believe in. Quality is the key of all.
What is the LP you dream of issuing/reissuing?
An unissued recording from the 1960s of a Siberian modern jazz quartet that’s sat in a can unheard of until its release. One that wows all with a majestical spell for all upon first listens.
