Hey Music Mag - Issue 2 - October 2018

THE ART OF SELLING RECORDS
Record stores can be intimidating places.
Rumours abound that the quality of music
you get tipped on depends on your look
and your character. Is that true? We asked
Chris for the lowdown...
Tom Ford, aka Peverelist
“I’ve been in enough record shops over
the years where people think they are
a bit special because they’re behind
the counter. I don’t want Idle Hands to
be like that. If I have something come
in secondhand that I know a regular
has been looking for, I’ll put that by for
them, but there is no elitism in terms of
new releases people get – it’s my job to
make sure I have enough copies so that
everyone who might want one gets one.
“We’ve have had many characters over
the years but these days most people
through the door are vinyl buyers or
curious locals. I still get a kick out of one
of my regulars who I’ve been serving for
10 years or more still calling me Marky.
I’ve completely given up telling him my
name is Chris.”
That might be the thing that’s kept him up
at night most often, but it isn’t how he judges
the success of the records he releases. “If
the artist is happy, I’m happy,” he says. “If
it sells well, even better. If people are still
playing it a few years later better still.”
One record he says was rather slept on,
though, was Kung Funk, a B-side cut on
Rachael’s You’re Driving Me EP in 2012. “I
feel it went a bit unnoticed. It was only ever
Harry Midland who got really excited by it,
which in fairness was enough.”
Running a label is a dark art. Knowing what
to sign and when, and just as importantly
what not to sign, even if the music is good, is
a skill that takes years of practice. “It isn’t a
precise science,” reckons Chris. “I’ve spent
countless hours in the pub chatting with
mates who run other long-standing labels
and we can’t figure it out. I just know when
I know. A tune does need to have that ‘Idle
Hands’ sound though. I did a podcast last
year where they asked it to be all Idle Hands
releases, and I was pleased at how much of
the back catalogue stands up.”
Chris recognises that a lot has changed
since the label’s first release. “Bristol has
changed, the music industry has changed,”
but what hasn’t is his relationship with
Peverelist, so it was always going to be he
who produced the label’s 50th EP.
“Tom is now established as one of the UK’s
most forward-thinking producers of the last
20 years,” beams Chris. “When the first
record came out, we were both working in a
crumbling record shop, maybe smoking too
much, and wouldn’t have thought we would
still be doing music nearly ten years later.”
HEYMUSIC.COM
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