A Conversation With Vinyl Head Al Morris About His Crate-Digging Experience For Airbnb

The Nail Shop Records boss broke down his 'Record Diggers Delight' experience in London.

Airbnb   Al Morris
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Airbnb   Al Morris

At the end of last year, holiday rental company Airbnb added a whole new arm to their services. Where in the past, the Airbnb site or app was used to book accommodation and nothing more, now they’re aiming for something more all-encompassing. Airbnb users can now sign themselves up for two things: 'immersions' and 'experiences'. The former usually run over several days and involve a range of activities, while experiences tend to run for just a day or an afternoon. Both immersions and experiences are held in cities all over the world and give you the chance to see that particular city from the perspective of a local. One such local, who is offering a one-day experience called Record Diggers' Delight in London, is Al Morris. Al's day job is running his record label The Nail Shop, as well as DJing around London, so he's pretty well-acquainted with what London has to offer.

After a successful start to Al's Record Diggers' Delight, we caught up with him to discuss the project and it's progress so far. We also ended up veering off towards the subjects of Record Store Day and the renewed interest in vinyl. The jury may be out on how real the vinyl resurgence actually is, but Al remains optimistic. The more we spoke, the clearer it became that the so-called resurgence is at an awkward state of purgatory—caught between a short-term bust and long-term sustainability—where there's not quite the level of demand to bring more pressing plants into existence, but too much for existing plants. Still, with seasoned crate diggers like Al doing his bit to fan the flames of vinyl interest (in a way that's perhaps more long-lasting than Record Store Day), here's hoping the vinyl market can find a more secure footing.

How did you get started collecting vinyl? What was your first record?

Basically, I moved around a lot when I was younger. I lived in Asia, the Middle East, Canada and the UK, so as you can imagine growing up I was left to my own devices a lot. I moved every couple of years so I always found a home in record stores. You knew where you were with most record stores around the world being pretty much the same. So I spent a lot of time buying records and then I got into DJing and what have you. My first record, if I'm going all the way back, would be the Ninja Turtles Soundtrack that I got on 7" when I was about 4. When I really started buying records, it was a lot of Stevie Wonder, stuff like that. Over my short life I've been over every music genre pretty much. I was just influenced entirely by my environment and the shops I was going in. I think the first one I actually went out when I was properly digging was "Jammin" by Stevie Wonder. That was in a shop that I still frequent when I go home. It's an amazing shop—it's been there for 20 plus years called X Records. It's in Bolton, and you look at it now and it looks like a Kiss memorabilia shop or something like that. But you go upstairs and you realise they've acquired a lot of stuff over their long life. There was a few years ago when I used to go digging there on the weekends, spend eight hours in there, spend £50 but walk away with £6,000 worth of stuff. It's always been the case. I've built up a great relationship with those guys over the years. They've always looked out for me, kept things aside. I mean, Bolton doesn't have as much as a music scene but the one record shop they've got has always done really well.

Do you ever go across to Manchester for crate-digging?

Manchester was the place to go. When I moved back to the UK I exhausted Bolton very quickly. Manchester was my home for a good ten plus years. There's iconic record stores in Manchester and I was lucky enough to get a job in a physical shop which then turned into an online store. I was about 23 when I started there. I walked in there thinking I knew everything, and I think I knew about one percent of what I do now. I had open ears, an open mind and learnt so much. It was invaluable. The wage was almost secondary.

How have things changed over the years? We hear a lot about the "vinyl revival", but what does that really mean for small, independent record shops?

Ultimately… I've worked in that world. I work in releasing records and what have you, and it's not as straightforward as you think. Vinyl never went away for the people who've supported the industry. So that world of DJs and whatever has always supported. There's always been singles and there's always been albums in the independent market. But in the past five or so years, with the introduction of Record Store Day and things like that, it's boomed. Then you have the majors coming back into it and now they're pressing vinyl again. With the sale of things, it's an interesting one. It's not as black and white as the press make it out to be because sales of digital music have subsided because people listen to digital music on their phones or whatever. Where Spotify has come in and said you don't have to own these albums to listen to them; you don’t have to make a full investment. The cost of an album is the same as a monthly subscription. So it's a very strange one. Figures-wise, I don't exactly know but vinyl sales have definitely gone up because vinyl's being produced on a major label scale but it's a very tricky one.

How do you feel about Record Store Day? There’s certain arguments about jamming up pressing plants and ruining release schedules for smaller independent labels.

Well, it does and it doesn't because the majors have got back into it and it's not just one day per year; they've seen the benefit of constantly pushing out vinyl as a medium to sell their product. The whole thing's just jammed at the minute. Six years ago you could look forward to having your finished product in four to six weeks. Now it's more like eight to twelve to 12. That's year-long. Everyone's a bit more prepared for it and there's more pressing plants coming into fruition. Everything's moving, it's just a lot slower than it once was. The product is getting better, ultimately. I don't have to return as many or ask for a recut as much anymore. It's a lot tighter. When it first happened it used to drive me insane. You shouldn't only support a record store once a year. It is a luxury thing, being into buying records, but the people who do really buy records will shop all year round. They do great parties to get them in like the one in Soho—which is phenomenal, it's like a little festival in April. I really rate that side of things but on a professional level, working as a business, it kinda grinds you a bit. When people are queuing up for three days to buy a special, one-off record just to sell, that's when people lost the whole idea of it. I must sound like a real cynical person!

Not at all. You look on places like Discogs and some of the reselling is outrageous.

It's astronomical! It's funny. I remember the first time I got caught up in Record Store Day. It was only like five years ago. I had a gig in Manchester the night before and I went to town really early in the morning to go to Piccadilly Records and there was a queue there like two days beforehand. I wanted something that wasn't even going to sell out that day but it was impossible. I walked round the corner and there was another shop that wasn't quite as centrally located. I walked in, went straight to the counter, walked out with it, and I'm still enjoying it. It's a funny one but everyone has to play the game. It is a good thing, though. It's getting people in the shops and they know they're going to be able to pay the bills that month. It does, however, knock it for people who can't do an RSD-specific release but want to sell records that week.

Is your experience with Airbnb going to involve this sort of discussion about the industry? 

It’s about record shopping. I got asked to come and do it and I went through a lot of different ideas. This one was the most… Well, you're not going to be out until 6am partying! It's a nice day. Everyone can enjoy the day whether they're a seasoned veteran or a newbie to the whole thing wanting to start building a collection. What I do is I hit them up, figure out what they're looking for in the morning and then meet in a central location in London and pick an area of the city that best fits what they're after. Then we go and get our hands dirty.

Say if you had someone who didn't know what they wanted, what would you suggest you all do for the day?

I had that. I had someone who didn't really have a clue, he just thought the day sounded good. Meeting in central London, you can walk around and see some very iconic things. Soho, for example, is where everything happens. You walk down various streets and you see the cover of the Oasis album or Abbey Road and people get really excited. If you live in London and you already know that stuff's there, you don't really see it. I mean, the experience doesn't begin and end with records. I had a guy from China, for example, who'd never had fish and chips so we went to a good chippy. That was an experience for him. He loved it. I've met some really interesting people; it's been great so far.

What's it been like working with Airbnb? What's been their involvement?

Airbnb basically have been pushing the idea out to the people. I got my first booking within 10 minutes of it being active. They're great. They've really helped me out. They're great with everything. I go into the office regularly to talk to them and I've got a really good relationship with them. Anything I need or if something's not right, they're really great with it. They've been really, really good to me. It's really nice to be a part of something like this.

Take a look at some of the experiences on offer with Airbnb on their website.

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