“I struggled to find a shop that is just dedicated to pop punk and alternative”
I caught up with James Woods, one half of Jump On Demand Records to find out what goes into running a UK record store, why choose a pop-punk store and why vinyl is the must have collectable for music fans.
TS: Tom Satchwell, JW: James Woods
TS: What led you guys to creating a record store that focussed solely on pop-punk and alternative rock music?
JW: Well we grew up on a diet of bands like Blink 182, Sum 41, Green Day and we used to cover the likes of Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy in our old bands and we really haven’t grown out of the genre at all over the years. Adam and myself are obviously big on the concept of vinyl and I’m a huge collector I struggled to find a shop that is just dedicated to pop punk and alternative and with vinyl making it’s come back it made perfect sense to us.
TS: So, what goes into running a record store like Jump On Demand?
JW: Great music taste helps, even being so genre specific you need to have broad tastes and be aware of what people want on vinyl and that also requires up to date knowledge of the music scenes and goings on. There is also a vast amount of hard work from web design and graphics, which Adam takes care of, and the day-to-day ordering, stock management and processing, which I cover.
TS: Have you got any plans to expand your inventory?
JW: Right now we are just giving people what they want and hoping they embrace us. We just kicked off our DIY rock shows in Liverpool and at each one of those we have a little pop up store for people to have a good browse and the interest of the first event was great. As interest and sales grow we are keeping our eye out for a more permanent home in the city.
TS: Are pop-punk and alt-rock fans enthusiastic record buyers in your experience?
JW: Absolutely, I’d argue the most enthusiastic of all music fans because often in pop punk and alternative scenes it’s not simply just a genre it’s a lifestyle and having a beautiful and precious piece of plastic produced by your favourite bands is special and that’s before you take into account the magical experience of actually playing a record!
TS: What do you think is behind the vinyl revival?
JW: I think it’s all to do with the desire to own that special physical piece of art. CD’s were always rubbish and you never feel you really own a digital track where as a vinyl is this magical and stunning piece of artwork that you want to cherish. Whilst I appreciate the digital revolution of music I think it took value out of the art of music, vinyl is proving that music is worth time and money.
TS: Do you think vinyl and physical formats are an important part of an artist’s store in 2015?
JW: Absolutely, whether I agree with the ethics of Spotify or not I have all the music I could possibly want on demand if I like an album I will strive to add it to my vinyl collection. Don’t bother with CD’s if you’re a pop punk/alternative band just press some pretty vinyl.
TS: You’ve started promoting live events in Liverpool recently, what’s the idea behind that?
JW: I’ve spent a lot of time in Liverpool as a student, working on music festivals and just as a punter and I’ve always felt it’s a tough city when it comes to pop punk and alternative music, the scene struggles, and it’s only getting worse… so we figured why not try and improve it and bring smaller touring bands of the genres through Liverpool again without the pressures of pay to play or other ridiculous demands. We just want people to come down listen to great music, eat pizza, drink beer and help us build the alternative scene in Liverpool once more.
TS: You’ve recently gone global in terms of delivery, what’s next for Jump On Demand?
JW: We launched with UK only shipping mainly just to give us a chance to pilot the website and the operations but we were getting demand from across the globe and who are we to deny people sweet records?
TS: Can we expect to see further Jump On Demand Mix Tapes?
JW: We did one for the first and second ‘re-stocks’ and we did playlists for Christmas and more recently Valentines Day as they go down really well so I don’t see why not. Pop Punk Easter might be difficult but without a doubt there will be a summer playlist and it’ll be chunky.
With some of the best pop-punk and alternative records ever released in their catalogue, as well as merch and live music, Jump On Demands is the place to be for pop-punk and alternative rock fans. Check them out on one of the many channels on these here interwebs:
http://jumpondemand.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/jumpondemanduk
https://twitter.com/jumpondemanduk
http://instagram.com/jumpondemand