As part of the on-going Leeds International Film Festival and to celebrate the 40th birthday of Jumbo Records, a special screening of ‘Sound It Out’ – a documentary about the last surviving independent record store in Teeside – took place at the Hyde Park Picture House this week. The event was accompanied by a live performance from The Chapman Family (no relation) whose music features in the film, and a question and answer session with the director and members of the cast. I was lucky enough to be invited along as a CV contributor and it was indeed a very special evening.
Jeanie Finlay (director and music obsessive) was moved to make the documentary after growing up in Stockton and witnessing the gradual demise of the high street and independent record stores in the area. The film is 18 months in the world of shop owner Tom, his staff and loyal customers, and takes an often intimate look at their (vinyl) loves and lives. The men (yes it is mostly males who obsessively collect records apparently) that feature are a mixed bunch: a massive Quo fan, an insurance auditor, unemployed makina* -loving wannabe DJs and MCs, two young metal-heads, a perpetually drunk old man and his long-suffering wife… all united by Sound It Out and Tom’s unceasing devotion to collecting, listening to and recommending records. All of the cast are amazing characters seemingly straight out of Royston Vasey, yet the film delves deeper than their physical appearances and personality quirks as Jeanie sympathetically uncovers their individual circumstances and personal histories.
‘Sound It Out’ is more than just a story of a music store in Stockton: the people and their situations are typical of many smaller Northern towns that offer a lack of employment opportunities and where the only hope for the future lies in the security and reassurance of music. On a personal note, I remember when X Records in Bolton went from having three stores on Bridge Street to occupying one very cramped outlet with a reduced stock, and how much it seemed like an appalling affront to my sensibilities! As a teenager many a weekend was spent searching the shop for rare Manic Street Preachers picture-discs; my vinyl collection isn’t huge but every purchase meant the world to me. In an often grey world of financial uncertainty and dismal prospects, it is the little things that mean the most and ‘Sound It Out’ brought home to me how much of a life-line independent record stores can be: Tom’s place in Stockton offers customers a sense of community, friendship, respect for individual tastes and most of all opens up a whole world of musical experiences.
If you get the chance to go see the documentary I would heartily recommend it; warm, funny and life affirming, ‘Sound It Out’ reflects the lives of everyone that cares about music and values the independent retailers in their area. Please shop local and keep the likes of Jumbo and Crash going well into the future. Oh, and don’t laugh at the Status Quo fan as he may just be sat behind you at the screening!
*a type of Spanish techno popular in Teeside.
Thank you for the review, it’s a much more eloquent version than I could have written and will be making friends across the country request a screening. I was there (thanks to Culture Vulture!) and I found it to be the finest documentary I’ve ever seen. I know many people who work or run independent stores and regardless of shop content, they do all collect their ‘family’. My husband worked at OK Comics for years and commented afterwards that it could have been set in there. A predominantly male environment with a mixture of legacy collectors, obsessives and passers by each with their own reason to find the independent store more accessible and comfortable than a chain. Totally heartwarming!
I congratulate Jeanie (who seemed overwhelmed at the reception) and a massive thank you to the Tom and the staff and customers of Sound It Out for opening the doors and making such a beautiful film possible.
Gx