Liverpool’s Indies: Dead Air Records
Where in Liverpool can you find the best vinyl? What’s their story and – of course! – what’s on their playlist? The latest addition to the city’s indie music offer, Dead Air Records, give us the grand tour…
The Double Negative: What is Dead Air Records? Where can we find you?
Jess Fairclough and Marc Walker: We are an independent family-owned record shop on Suffolk Street in Liverpool, just a few minutes walk from Bold Street, the Baltic Triangle and Liverpool One (we’re kind of sandwiched between all three neighbourhoods of the city). We’re fairly new to Liverpool’s record shop map having only opened in June 2023. [map links below]
The green and black branding is sensational… What was the vision behind it?
The neon green was inspired by the flash sale zig-zag stickers you usually find at markets, car boots and corner shops. When we started Dead Air Records, the main thing we wanted to do is keep record collecting affordable and welcoming, so we riffed off the green sale stickers and created a monochromatic brand that we think is fun and friendly.
The Dead Air shop comes across as a mixtape of your own favourite music and recommendations, which we really appreciate. Tell us a bit more about your approach and what you specialise in?
About 80% of what we have in the shop is second hand (ranging from rarities of the past to near mint newer releases) and then the other 20% is brand new records that we curate based on what we’ve discovered, and more importantly, what our visitors have recommended. In the shop you can expect to find a wide mix of records including classic albums for less, first pressings for the keen collectors, and a range of essential albums across all genres. We try to keep the stock fresh so we add new things every day to give everyone an enjoyable record-digging experience.
Rumour has it that you’re planning to install a small coffee/cafe area, and also live events?
We are! One thing we’ve learnt from our first year is that people love to hangout at the shop and there’s a community that is forming around us. It’s something we really value and put a lot of care into so having somewhere people can chill out or watch live music is important to us in the next steps of the shop’s journey.
What’s on the store playlist today?
We’re writing this on a sunny day in the shop so we’ve we’re keeping the mood light and bright with:
Air, Moon Safari
James Holden, Imagine This Is A High Dimension Space of Possibilities
Ezra Collective, Where I’m Meant To Be
Avalanches, We Will Always Love You
Flying Lotus, Cosmogramma
Tell us something we don’t know about Dead Air…
The first time we sold anything in person was at a car boot! We were literally selling records out the back of our car. It was just a couple of boxes made up of albums from our own collection and a few bits we’d picked up over the years. Bit by bit, we’ve steadily grown as a small business thanks to the support of Liverpool’s music community – we honestly believe that we wouldn’t have been able to do that in any other city.
As told to Laura Robertson
Find Dead Air Records at 17 Suffolk St, Liverpool L1 5HS, on Google Maps here, or at what3words ///track.belly.reform
Open Tues-Sat 11am-6pm
Shop online at deadairvinyl.co.uk
