Chippenham music fan salutes record shops in film (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Chippenham music fan salutes record shops in film

2:00pm Friday 17th February 2012 in Chippenham By Alex Winter

A Chippenham music fanatic is celebrating the humble record shop in an hour-long documentary film after the success of his book.

Graham Jones, 52, of Langley Road, who works for independent music distributor Proper Music, wrote Last Shop Standing three years ago after watching the collapse of many record shops.

The book, originally edited by Mr Jones’s neighbour and with artwork by a friend on his football team, was picked up by BBC radio presenters Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, and has now sold more than 15,000 copies.

Now music legends including Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), Richard Hawley, Billy Bragg and Johnny Marr have signed up to speak about record shops in the documentary, which is a collaboration between award-winning feature film company Blue Hippo Media and Proper Music Publishing Ltd.

Mr Jones said: “I wanted to do anything that I might be able to do to help independent shops. When I started out, there were more than 2,000 of them, but now there are just 281 left. For the book, I identified 50 record shops that I thought would be the last ones standing – 46 of those still are. These are often family-run places. I’ve seen people losing their homes.”

The film goes to the record shops of the UK, interviewing the characters who run them and their battle to survive, and it will be screened at music and film festivals this year.

He said: “The film has been funded by music fans. Anybody who contributes can be in the film will not only get an advance copy of the DVD but have their name in the credits.”

For more information, email pip@bluehippomedia.com To see a clip of the film, which will be released in August, log on to www.indiegogo.com and key in ‘Last Shop Standing Phase 2’ in the seatch box.