Banquet Records on how to keep your music store alive
- Text by Huck HQ / Megan Smith
- Photography by Jordan Stephens
#23 – Banquet Records
Sometimes a shop is not really a shop. Sometimes a shop is the heart of a local scene, without which an entire subculture would be lost. Such is Banquet Records, an independent record store in Kingston, just outside London, owned by music aficionados Jon Tolley and Mike Smith. The store’s continuing success – when others are closing down at an alarming rate – stems from their multifaceted approach to the business; they also run club nights, put on gigs and have their own record label, which started from Jon’s bedroom.
So, what’s next for the store in the age of streaming?
“The important thing is just being able to adapt to your customer’s demands and wants. Whatever happens, people are going to need music in their lives… As patronising as it sounds, making mistakes is fine. It’s how you deal with them once they’ve been made. The other thing is to believe in what you do. Don’t waste your life. Whatever you do, give it 100 per cent. That ethos is really relevant here. Everyone who works here cares about this thing that we’re involved with and it’s brilliant.”
This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives.
Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.
You might like
Grainy, yearning memories of Europe’s ’90s free rave heyday
Never Alone — A new photobook from Cheyenne Clementi and Valentina Morandi presents pictures they made over seven years while touring the continent as part of the Tekno Mobil Squad soundsystem crew. It archives parties, people and a lifestyle largely consigned to the past.
Written by: Isaac Muk
As Hanoi’s nightlife faces raids & repression, its underground scene modulates
Spaces Between the Beats — Tensions between nightlife and authorities have grown in recent times, as police target venues and their patrons with increasingly frequent drug testing and searches. With clubs becoming hostile spaces as a result, Hanoi’s electronic music community is finding new spaces and forms of expression, reports Martin Guttridge-Hewitt.
Written by: Martin Guttridge-Hewitt
American Football: The One With The Feelings
Many moons — The Midwest emo architects transformed a college experiment into a coming-of-age soundtrack. 25 years on, their latest iteration sees them bottle the same magic for the ups and downs of middle life.
Written by: Tracy Kawalik
Joe James: “I will never be absent in my children’s lives because I know it doesn’t feel nice”
Hard Feelings — As the silky MC prepares to release his debut album ‘The Ends Never Ends’, he joins our column on fatherhood and masculinity to discuss leaving his childhood home at 16, the manosphere and his risk-embracing approach to life.
Written by: Robert Kazandjian
Analogue Appreciation: mary in the junkyard
Role Model Hermit — In an ever more digital, online world, we ask our favourite artists about their most cherished pieces of physical culture. Today, it’s art rock fabulists mary in the junkyard.
Written by: mary in the junkyard
Kibo’s compendium of Kwengletarianism
Kwengletaria:Ragamyff — As UK rap’s latest prodigious MC announces his most ambitious project to date, Rob Kazandjian spends time with Kibo in a north London pub to chat about his rise, as well as the inspirations and ideologies underpinning his music.
Written by: Robert Kazandjian
