Great Record Shops - Sound it Out in Stockton

Sound It Out                             *The subject of an award-winning documentary*

15a Yarm Street, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham TS18 3DR

01642 860068

info@sounditoutrecords.co.uk; sounditout@yahoo.com; @-sounditout

Monday-Friday 10am-5pm 

Saturday 9am-5:30pm

Established 1996

Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Books, Cassettes

Sound It Out was the subject of a hit worldwide documentary Sound it out in 2011 (see feature in Chapter 4, record shop movies). Since then Tom Butchart’s shop has gone from strength to strength and now employs seven staff, with a dedicated online and finance department run by Kelly Laybourne and Chris Smith respectively, aided by Graham Seaman and newest recruit Dan Briggs. At the front of house, the shop has Tom along with Stuart Willoughby, who has worked there for seven years and recently wrote a book about his musical hero, Prince. The youngest member of the shop team is Natalie Chapman. Each member of staff brings a unique strength to the business, and as a unit they are a formidable team. Year-on-year profits are up and Sound It Out wins new customers every day.

The shop has free in-store gigs on Saturday afternoons. Recent acts to perform there include Public Service Broadcasting, Ethan Johns, TV Smith, Charlie Simpson from Busted (who pulled the largest crowd ever seen in the shop), Maximo, Claire Hamill and Cattle & Cane. Tom was surprised and honoured when 150 copies of Goat's World Music album were specially pressed on never-to-be-repeated coloured vinyl by the band's label, in recognition of Sound It Out selling more copies of the album than any other shop in the country.

From time to time rarities have turned up in the shop, including letters handwritten by U2 guitarist The Edge in 1980; the world's rarest Status Quo single, worth £5,000; and a signed Beatles album that eventually made £22,000.

The Sound it out documentary film features lots of the shop’s charismatic regulars. Not featured was Graeme, who comes in once a week and only buys records by Stock Aitken and Waterman artists, along with Simple Minds and Hugh Cornwell. He asks Tom to order stuff online for him as he doesn't trust the internet and thinks the government is spying on him. He always takes 10 minutes to say goodbye and writes letters to Hollywood film studios with suggestions for new Star Trek and Terminator films. None of his suggestions have yet been taken up. Another customer who calls himself Paul McCartwheel, believes he is the son of Paul McCartney and spends his time re-arranging all the Beatles albums in the shop. He despises Sting, and hides singles by the Police in random locations throughout the shop. Then there's Dennis, aged 68, who collects Italian dance music and 1980s disco. He only buys CDs and often pays hundreds of pounds for one CD, which they order online for him on a weekly basis.

Located behind a pub and a job centre, Sound It Out is an oasis of culture in a desert of charity and pound shops. The shop doubled in size in 2013 and stocks around 70,000 records. Sales are currently at an all-time peak, which is good news as none of the staff want to go back to a proper job.

Sound it out (2011; 75 minutes)

Sound it out is a delightful fly-on-the-wall documentary film directed by Jeanie Finlay which provides much laughter and a feel-good dividend.

Sound It Out Records is tucked just off the high street in Stockton-on-Tees, one of Britain’s most deprived towns. The shop is situated next door to the job centre and opposite a pub. It is an oasis of culture in a desert of charity shops and pound stores. Many other shops in the area have passed away to the great high street in the sky. Struggling to keep afloat in the face of recession and changes in technology, Sound It Out Records is the last record shop standing in Teesside - an old-fashioned enclave in an old-fashioned town.

Tom Butchart, the shop’s owner in this distinctly male environment, is our guide through the film. “I sell hard music, it’s a hard area,” he says. A shop-counter philosopher, whose clients hang on his every word, he seems to know each of the 70,000 records in his shop. “When I look at the records on the walls, I can hear them all in my head,” Tom says. “It’s memories, all of them, every single one.”

Shot over a period of 18 months, the film gives an insight into today’s vinyl addict as well as offering a window into life in modern day Teesside. The camera follows an eclectic stream of customers out of the shop and accompanies them as they go home to listen to their new purchases, or play them as part of a DJ set.

“I met Tom at school and decided to make the film when I discovered that his shop was the very last vinyl record shop in Teesside,” Jeanie says. “My mum was very ill, and I was spending a lot of time at home. The shop became a haven for me, and when I looked around I realised it was also a haven for many other people.  Making a film offered me an opportunity to explore a musical community, as well as what ‘home’ means and the emotions and memories wrapped up in vinyl discs.”

Tom is the star of the film. No matter how messy the shop, he knows where every single CD or record is. Woe betide any member of staff who tidies the racks without informing him of any stock they have moved.

The DJs, the lone female customer, the junkies, the blaggers with carrier bags of stolen goods and the Makina fans (Makina is a subgenre of hardcore techno, popular in Spain and Stockton) make this a fascinating film that anybody who has visited or worked in a record shop can empathise with. 

Some of the most enjoyable scenes feature Status Quo superfan Shane Healy. Shane is a B&Q employee who boasts that he has seen the Quo 354 times and has bought everything the band has ever released including European, American and Japanese versions of the same album, many with the same track listings. Despite all this he insists he is “not obsessive”. This argument falls flat, however, when he reveals that after he dies he wants his Status Quo record collection to be melted down and turned into a vinyl coffin in which he is to be buried.

I am glad to report that the film gave the shop a huge boost and customers now travel from all over the world to visit Sound It Out. As soon as you finish this book, you should go and buy the DVD or watch it online at sounditoutdoc.com – unless you have already seen it.

Sound it out was the official film of Record Store Day in 2011.

Check out 220 more independent record shops in the book  'The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen' 

 

The books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops that Made it Happen has been turned in to a film. It has just been released on DVD and is available in record shops or online. Distributed by Proper Music.

Each week I record The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast. It contains lots of funny tales from the crazy world of record retailing. It is also available on Spotify.

Twitter: @Revival_Vinyl

My blog has over 100 features on record shops and vinyl.

grahamjonesvinylrevival.blogspot.com

For film screenings and talks contact Graham. 

As the person who has visited more record shops than any other human, I often get asked my advice on buying turntables. I always say do not purchase a budget model. What is the point of buying one that costs the price of a few albums? The sound will not do the recordings justice. For a long time, I have recommended Rega Turntables as they are superb quality at great prices. They got more brownie points for sponsoring 'Record Store Day' and manufacturing limited editions just for record shops.