Right time for records

Remember records? The pleasure of going out to buy the latest single, taking it home and sliding it carefully out of its sleeve so as not to scratch it?

It probably seems like ancient history to those who have only ever known music as something you download off a computer.

But to vinyl lovers there will always be something special about those black plastic discs.

Until it comes to storing them.

And if you’re a DJ with 10,000 records in your collection, storage is a major headache.

Which is why Matt Parker has come up with a timeless idea - making them into clocks to sell.

The 34-year-old, of Trent Street, Gainsborough, said: “Everyone has a special song.”

“It could be a birthday song, or the first dance song at a wedding, or the number one when you were born.”

“Making the record into a clock gives someone the chance to have that cherished memory on the wall.”

Matt set up Time4Vinyl just a few weeks ago, but already it is proving popular.

He has set up a Facebook page, but refuses to call it a business just yet.

“At the moment it’s just a way of making a bit of money from a hobby, I want to see how it goes before I think of it in terms of a business.”

The idea came after his partner Nicola Quickfall said he could have part of the living room as a listening area with a turntable.

But only if he got rid of some of the thousands of records currrently being stored by his brother.

Matt said: “I wanted to set up a special area at home for listening to my records, so she was dangling a carrot in front of me.”

“So far it’s going really well, especially with Christmas coming up and people looking for present ideas.”

Matt comes from Huddersfield originally and ended up in Gainsborough after opening the State Club in 2007 - becoming resident DJ for two years.

“When I was at school I was really into drama and went on to study it at A level at college,” he said.

“It was my dad who suggested I could make some money by DJing at my friends’ 18th birthday parties. My birthday is in August so they were all turning 18 before me.”

“I think I only did two in the end, but I started doing weddings as well and I loved it.”

Matt took advantage of his parents’ record collection to provide a wide range of music and, although he took an engineering apprenticeship, soon made DJing his fulltime job.

He won DJ of the Year 2011 through the QBC Agency he works for, and he has DJed alongside Katy B, Danny Dyer and Judge Jules.

He DJs in Manchester and Leeds, and has just started in Lincoln.

“My own DJ heroes are Fatboy Slim, who I’m going to see in Manchester soon, and Judge Jules,” said Matt.

His favourite kind of music is the American side of house music and the voices of the gospel singers it features.

His tall-time favourite records are Underworld’s Born Slippy, Jocelyn Brown’s Believe and Thinking of You by Sister Sledge.

He said: “Every record in my collection has a story behind it.”