PEOPLE of a certain age (author included), remember the world of vinyl records very well and it appears many younger music fans are returning to it and are clearly enjoying the world of the original (non-digitized) sound in all its glory.
In between extensive festival reporting Warrington Worldwide popped along for a chat with owner Steve Davidson aka ‘Diddy’.
Next time you are in Warrington town centre or sat in the 9 Gallon real ale pub on Legh St enjoying a quiet pint, why not walk another 20 yards on the left to Lizard Records – keep your eyes peeled, you might not see it but you will hear it!
Crossing the threshold you will be greeted enthusiastically by ‘Diddy’, you might even recognize him as he has been a D.J since the age of 13 when he helped out at various shows by playing his own ‘punk’ set at Woolston Leisure Centre and the Cantilever Youth Club and continues to ‘spin’ records today at many of the festivals in town and beyond. During his time on the road Steve had amassed thousands of singles and albums of various musical genres to cater for his increasing D.J spots. To the uninitiated, vinyl records (33 & 45’s) can take up a lot of space and probably contain music you might not play again….. ever! Around 2010 -2012 (ish) the music scene was changing quickly and in Steve’s own words he was “sick of looking at a huge stack of old Dance and Techno” and took approximately 2000 records to various charity shops around town.
Roll forward to 2014, when Mike Wilkie – current owner of the 9 Gallon pub offered Steve a storage unit for his huge vinyl collection it dawned on him that perhaps he shouldn’t have given away all that vinyl after all? Especially as 2 years later in 2016 Steve started officially trading as Lizard Records and had to go to flea markets, boot sales and second hand shops to acquire more stock!!
As a former interior shopfitter Steve knew what was required in his new unit to make it into the authentic ‘record shop’ style that you see today and being a keen artisan he would love to see more environmentally friendly – second hand quirky traders in glass & ceramics, clothing, & furniture in the area – a kind of Afflecks Palace in Warrington. When I was there people were bringing in collections of all music genres for Steve to assess, and although he doesn’t class himself as a business man he considers his venture more of a community service where you can buy or sell old vinyl, purchase re-issues or browse and have a chat whilst being educated about vinyl by Steve himself . Reader beware though, you will disappear down the rabbit hole, indeed a number of youngsters came in the shop to browse and eventually buy quite a few vinyl albums and Steve’s enthusiasm was boundless, he even got excited about a 1980’s carrier bag advertising jeans, that’s passion for you.
So, next time you are in the area swing by and smell the vinyl, soak up the atmosphere and tune in to whatever Steve is playing on his excellent sound system, if you have the kids in tow they might even get a lollipop, now you won’t get that in any of the corporate stores!
They’re open Wednesdays 12pm – 5pm and Thursday-Saturday 10am – 5pm.
