THERE IS A STORY BEHIND EVERY PIECE OF VINYL IN MY COLLECTION

Chris Baxter Director of Rockit Event Production and former DJ for the legendary Soul II Soul

For me, music is like a treasure chest of lyrical dialogue. Lyrics are stories of love, adventure and situations. I find myself reflecting on lyrics of songs every day in life. With a strong family and supportive friends, you just have to believe in yourself and in my case, believe in the music and everything starts to fall into place.

I grew up in Hornsey, North London in the 1980s. I embraced New York Hip Hop culture and was a dedicated DJ and graffiti artist. In those days, in my mind, you only had four life choices to make - rap, breakdance, Graffiti or be a DJ. During this time, collecting records was a lifestyle and from an early age, I fell in love with music and records.

In these early years, I really started to fall in love with vinyl. I used to be fascinated by the amount of interesting information that an album would have printed on it, from the spine to the inner sleeve and cover. I also loved the fact that new records were sealed. You had to unseal them, which felt like opening a present on Christmas day. I’ve always had a personal connection to every record I’ve ever bought and there is a story behind every piece of vinyl in my collection.

Back then, all DJing was done on vinyl. Rare records were highly valued and sort a er, we also had something amazing that we do not have now - local record shops. We didn’t have to go to the West End to buy records. The first record shop I bought my first record from was Sunshine Records in Turnpike Lane run by a guy called H.

Through secondary school years, I started buying soul music and DJing became a full-time career path. I didn’t know at this stage it would be my first business, I was just buying as many records as I could afford with whatever pocket money and odd job money I could get my hands on. We all had week by week record shop buying routines. These patterns were influenced by iconic DJs who would o en be behind the counter working at the shop. A normal week would always start with Trevor ‘Madhatter’ Nelson’s late night show on Kiss FM. I would listen to the show and hit the record shops and vinyl mail order companies the following morning, which was mainly rare groove and funk at the time, carefully timing my visits to the days when new US imports would arrive as American Soul and Hip Hop was in its golden era.

At the time, I was a member of the Soul II Soul sound system, led by Jazzie B MBE, who hosted the legendary Sunday night sessions at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden whilst also building the Soul II Soul brand at the Camden HQ. Being around the DJs and promotors encouraged and heavily influenced my weekly buying routine. At the Camden HQ, records bought were played, listened to and approved of by the funky dreads, Daddy Harvey, HB, Jazzie Q and Jazzie B. Harvey would ask me to help with the sound, which sparked my passion for the music equipment. Sunday Nights were amazing and Trevor Nelson and Jazzie B became my musical godfathers. A lot of the music I bought back in the day was based around the selection these guys were playing in the clubs and had a massive influence on my music taste. There are so many other DJs who made me understand the importance of vinyl records and DJing rare grooves, boogie, funk and disco which became the core of my record collection. DJs such as Des Parks and Norman Jay especially but also Nicky Holloway, Judge Jules, Pete Tong and Bobby and Steve.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to inherit lots of personal record collections, including my Mum’s Dub and Reggae collection. She also had lots of rare white labels and albums a er working for Caroline Records (part of Virgin Records) which I managed to get my hands on. Collecting vinyl records allows you to go through various styles and genres. At times, I would become obsessed with 7-inch records, to the extent that I would want to play a whole DJ set from just 7 inches. In the 90s, I was buying every rap album I could get my hands on. Tupac, Snoop Dog, B.I.G, Wu-Tang. I also have a large selection of classic artist albums from the 60s and I tried to collect and buy most of the Beatles albums, and really enjoyed buying movie soundtracks on vinyl as well. In those days, you would buy a whole album just for one track, then discover the album was full of gems.

A er college, I had the opportunity to work in Washington DC, USA, for a small independent record label called Hitmaker Records. The owner of the record label, Norma, invited me to her house to stay with them for a few days and when I asked where she lived, to my amazement she said, ‘Rock Creek Park’, the title of one of my favourite songs by the Blackbyrds. Norma gave me so many records, significantly contributing to my collection. Most of my Roy Ayers albums came from her, as well as signed copies of James Brown and Lonnie Liston Smith albums that I will never part with. At the end of the trip, I came home with more than 500 records. It was the first time I had to go through ‘goods to declare’ at an airport and pay duty for records.

With all of this musical energy, I started my first business, a DJ agency called Sounds Good to Me. I had 10 amazing DJs and we specialised in corporate event DJing. We were working for event organisers and early party planners in a fast evolving events industry, which eventually led me into a love for event production and technical equipment. We had contracts at embassies in London, I was a BBC contractor as a DJ for many years - this was a big deal as a young black DJ and business owner - and we worked at London’s top hotels as mobile DJs. We played for celebrities like Graham Norton, Father Ted, Lenny Henry and The Eastenders cast. Every year we would do the Top of the Pops awards a er party and I travelled across Europe, DJing at private parties and weddings.

I must pay tribute to Elliot, a school friend who was o en by my side behind the decks as he introduced me to mixing and DJing in the early years.

I set up Rockit Event Production in 2007 a er working for years in the events industry. I started small and have grown the business into a recognised, reliable AV, sound and lighting hire and technical event production company. Some of our clients include H&M, Somerset House, PlayStation, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Spotify, Google and Tommy Hilfiger to name just a few. My office has a backdrop of vinyl which brings a smile to my face every day. I o en dig out records that have cherished memories attached and go and play them in the office.

During COVID, I decided to sell a selection of records that I felt I could part with. I set up a record store on Discogs called Groove Gem Records and finally became a seller. There is something special about shipping records to Japan, Europe and across the UK, that gives me great satisfaction. Selling your music to other people that value your records is great, but it’s also hard sometimes to part with a record that has a lot of history and memories. But the music is always there Trevor Nelson once said during a radio show: “Believe in yourself, believe in the music, and the music will believe in you. Hearing is believing”. Words that I will never forget...