Sound it Out

Miscellaneous

SOUND-IT-OUT-02256_web

From its humble origins as the portrait of the last independent record shop in Teesside, Jeanie Finlay’s warm and funny documentary has attracted rave reviews and swept the festival circuit all over the world. Catch it in Leeds on the big screen as it embarks on a national tour. A cultural haven in one of the most deprived areas in the UK, Sound It Out Records in Stockton-on- Tees is thriving against the odds and the film pays tribute to the eccentric and enthusiastic Northern community that keeps it alive.

Presented in partnership with Jumbo Records, leading independent record shop in Leeds, celebrating their 40th birthday shortly before the festival – also one of the funders of the film.

The artists with music featuring in the film include acts who hail from the North-East; Saint Saviour, The Chapman Family, Das Wanderlust, Russell and the Wolves, Idiot Savant and JB Butterfield. The film was financed through donations from over 250 members of the public from over nine countries, in return they received a number of perks, including pre-release DVD, signed copies of the poster, badges, stickers, a tour of Sound It Out Records.

It’s so much more than vinyl. As I learnt through making this film, records hold memories. I can still remember the first single I bought with my pocket money and the album that I fell in love to and the tracks that healed my broken heart. I don’t think I’ll ever feel the same about an MP3.
Jeanie Finlay, Director

I tend to sell a lot of hard music, but it’s a hard area. People need an escape and that’s what the shop represents. A record can totally take you away for as long as the record lasts.
Tom Butchart, Owner, Sound It Out Records

Monday 7th November, 9.15pm, Hyde Park Picture House, £6.50 / £5.00. If you are a friend or blogger for The Culture Vulture (how do you determine friendship?) and wish to be our guest we have 20 tickets to extend as we are a partner of Leeds International Film Festival. Stick your name in the box below with an easy way to get back to you ie your twitter ID (don’t if you have ideas you might not be able to come) You can bring a guest with you too. First come first served.

Whilst you are at it perhaps you could tell us ‘What does Independent culture mean to you?’ There’s no right or wrong, just interested.

16 comments

  2. I’m free!

    Can I start with Independent Business? The definition of “Culture” continues to elude me.

    To me, the definition of an Independent Business probably boils down to two things. Size and purpose.

    Purpose: the business would have its own purpose and not have its aims dictated by any other business entity.

    Size: I expect an independent business to be small enough so that its creator or main driving force is still able to have a meaningful impact on the day to day activities, and therefore the quality of its output.

    The product and service are not delivered via a complex chain of people, mission statements, targets and processes, but rather by people, people who believe in their product, and fear that through scale and mechanisation it would loose something.

    Due to there typically small size, its hard for Independent businesses to prosper. That is why they need to stick together and support each other. Strength in numbers. Interdependent.

    I guess its that “sticking together”, and the community that goes with that which builds an “Independent Culture”.

    Im no expert, but I guess this would apply to most of these marvelous, high quality, independent Leeds outfits: http://bit.ly/uFKDun

    @bendenison

  4. I think this would be right up my street… I occasionally visit record shops 😉
    @decknologist

  5. @georgianafleur

    Independent culture to me is the network of likeminded souls that allowed my 17 year old self to pack up and move 250 miles away on my own. Adopted by friends of friends into music, arts, politics who had travelled the country and kept in touch meant I could be walked by a stranger to the Jospehs Well for an obscure punk gig a few days after arriving. It even allowed me a new comic shop to haunt and befriend (and eventually find a husband in!) and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    Terribly cheesey but I wouldn’t be in Leeds if it weren’t for the independent music/arts ‘scene’.

  6. Independent culture means to me a mile-long streetful of shops and bars in Berlin, all self-owned, self-managed, no multinationals, everything from food to records to art to beer to clothes, the whole street buzzing and vibrant, and so very German, very Berlin, lots of local character and soul. Higgledy-piggledy, surprising, unpredictable. Personal, welcoming, fascinating.
    And this in opposition to central Berlin’s shopping area, which could be anywhere in the Western world, same chain stores all in a row, same clothes, same food, same style and look, boring, dull and energy-sapping. Unwelcoming, ruthless, predictable. Could be USA, Britain, Italy, Germany, the homogenous city. Horrible.

  7. You do pose some tricky questions, don’t you? I could tell you what academics say about group norms, individual ownership, globalization, shared values, commercialization, Macdonaldization, individuality, creativity, codification and commodification but… I think the lack of a cohesive definition makes ‘independent culture’ more exciting than any of the above 😉

  8. Um, by ‘any of the above’ I meant my list of academic blah and not any of the other comments! Sorry if any confusion.

  9. I’d love to go see this documentary, it struck a chord (no pun intended) as soon as I found out about it. Not only did it resurrect fond teenage memories of weekends spent meeting with friends at the local record shop. It also brought all the emotions flooding back, which are fresh today when certain tracks from my youth are played.

    I’ve also witnessed the excitement, pain, heartache and joy a record has brought to friends and family, especially if they’ve managed to have a part (however small) in recording/producing an independent record of their own.

    I’m constantly amazed at the DIY ethos to simply ‘make things happen’ – usually on a shoestring budget, or next to no budget at all. My understanding of independent culture is that it is populated by characters that are strong, vibrant, passionate souls, they care about working collaboratively, can spot an opportunity a mile off and have a canny ability to miraculously pull things together at the eleventh hour.

    Of course I might paint a completely different picture of independent culture to you. Being married to a drummer for over 20 years must have shaken my brain somewhat!

    @Calmcalmcalm

  10. I’m very very interested in this documentary!! I’ve always been passionate about records, vinyls and everything related to music, especially independent. I think the idea of “independent culture” is just the product of the passion of people really fond of something, like arts, books, (music in this case), who would do anything to cultivate their passion with like-minded people, regardless to all the difficulties they might go through. And this I think is one of the best thing about it, it brings together people sharing the same spirit.

    @nicoledandy

  11. Third post from me cos I just noticed you need twitter ID. Am I too dim to win these tickets?

    @janeydodge

  12. aye aye, yes please! spent yesterday trawling round record shops in Leeds with a friend. did Crash and Jumbo and had a bit of banter with the staff. went in HMV… awful!
    @nicochapo

Comments are closed.