Home Grown: The 7″s collector with more gig posters than wall space

Because every record collection has a story.

Home Grown is our series profiling you lot and your excellent record collections. Taking our cue from the brilliant submissions to the #VFRecordCollections thread on Instagram, we want to share a little of your hard-earned love for vinyl with the world.

Each week, we’ll be profiling a different collector from around the world and finding out what makes them tick. Want in? Send us a pic and a few words about your collection to [email protected]

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Name: Scottie Somerville

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Instagram: @scottieboyuk

# of records (approx.): 5,000 12″s, 2,000 7″s

How long have you been collecting for?

I bought my first LP in 1973, and I have got it. It was Sladest by Slade, but I was buying singles before that, for as long as I can remember. Then punk came along and we used to hang about in Bruce’s Records in Rose Street, Edinburgh and Virgin Records around the corner. Saturday afternoon was our time, we’d look at the wall with all the singles on it and buy as many as we could afford. So it’s over 45 years, and I’ve been DJing for over 35 year.

What part of your set-up are you most proud of?

Aside from my punk 45s collection, my gig and music posters. I don’t have enough space at home for them all. I am lucky to have a signed Clash poster from when I met them backstage in 1982. I also have my original Heybrook XP2 speakers from 1982, I saved up and bought them along with a Rega Planar 2 turntable, that I love, the sound on vinyl is just the best. Coupled together with the Technics 1210s and my 1980’s Quad amp, I’m sure the neighbours love it. My music room is a haven, it’s just for me, how I like it, with all my stuff in it.

What record(s) are you most proud of?

I am very proud of my 7″s, which have taken some time to collect. The US is the place for finding funk, soul and the downright rare, but most of my trips around the world have been on the hunt for them, it’s my very favourite thing to play. I have a ‘Black Fire Box’ –s o called as it will be the first to go out with me should there be a fire – with all the rare stuff in it, and this is the one I am definitely proud of.

What does your record collection mean to you?

This is a history of me. When people come to my space they see volume, to me it’s my life story, a story of where I was and what I was doing. Sledgehammer By Peter Gabriel – first dance with my wife, Disappointed – Public Image Limited, our first daughter was born, or dancing with my kids to Bowie, the list is endless….

My collection is a living breathing thing that is evolving all the time. I am in there every day, playing, making up my radio show and generally enjoying them.

One day they will be the kids’ records.