About The Beat and Track
I’m Paul Maskell and I own The Beat & Track in Sherborne, Dorset which has now been open for just over 18 months. I’ve always had a love of music since being a young child and playing my father’s Hendrix and Cream records. It wasn’t until sometime later (in fact after a 30-year career in the motor trade) that I decided to completely change my circumstances and do something that I felt really passionate about.
I love getting up in the morning and going to a job that excites me and puts me in contact with people that have the same passions. The best thing about owning the shop is the customers - the relationships made and the satisfaction in helping people get what they want.
We have a very relaxed store, bright, clean and well organised. Our customers come from all ages - as we do a great mix of new and pre-loved vinyl covering all genres. We consistently see customers who are just starting out on the vinyl collecting journey, and enjoy helping them develop their collection with classics as well as new releases. We also see a lot of people who are rediscovering their old collections or making additions to a collection which has been ongoing for decades. We have a great selection of indie, electronica, soul, jazz, funk, metal, psych and reggae among others. I’m a big fan of soundtracks and film scores, as well as electronica and old skool grunge.
We’re lucky here in Sherborne as we have a strong local music scene which incorporates many different genres. Great ska bands, singer songwriters, punk bands, indie and a big favourite of mine Twilight Sequence and ambient electronica artist on the label Castles in Space. I have some great customers who like a wide range of genres, some avid collectors of Elvis, The Cure, New Wave, old skool reggae/dub. I have one particular customer who comes in weekly literally asking “Anything weird in Paul?”.
One of my funniest moments would have been when an elderly lady came in and I misheard her request. I thought she had asked for some “Satirical” albums and so I directed her to a comedy section with a small selection of Monty Python albums etc. She looked at me with confusion on her face and stated that she was after the latest “Satyricon” album, her favourite Norwegian black metal band. That taught me once and for all to never prejudge people.
The first record I sold in the shop was a first pressing of ‘Help!’ by The Beatles, to a resident who lives above the shop. They came in to see how things were going, a couple of days before our grand opening. They couldn’t resist adding that one to their collection. The last record I sold was a 1983 punk album, ‘Let The Tribe Increase’, by a local band called The Mob.
I’ve sold some heavy hitting first pressings, some huge psych titles etc, but it’s always the records that make people smile that are most memorable. If a customer finds an album that completes their collection, or one that has eluded them for a long time, it is extremely satisfying to help, regardless of what it is.
The very first “record store” I would have visited would have been in my local department store, Harding’s, in Shaftesbury, Dorset. They used to stock stationary, books and sweets. They had a small record department which stocked the top 40 singles, top 20 albums, but mostly jazz and classical titles. I used to spend all my pocket money ordering thrash metal albums that nobody seemed to had heard of.
However, the first record I remember ordering was ‘Pure’ by The Lightning Seeds. My teenage years were spent in a shop called Stand Out in Salisbury. The owner, Colin, was a huge influence on my musical tastes and introduced me to some great electronica. This shop was probably the inspiration to one day do the same.
Since opening, I haven’t had a huge amount of time to visit many other shops. My favourite record store is Vinyl Van in Dorchester. A great vibe and an owner that really knows their reggae/dub and put me on to some great stuff in the past.
Getting the box set of ‘Druckqs’ by Aphex Twin, which Colin at Stand Out put by for me without even being asked! 👍
As we’ve only been open for 18 months, we’ve only participated in one Record Store Day and it was amazing. We’re not a huge shop and as we hadn’t been open long we weren’t sure what to expect. The whole town were surprised to see queues forming at 3am! Customers were really complimentary, and we also had an instore courtesy of local ambient artist Avail Yourself. A very busy but extremely fun day!
Nirvana (Reading, 1991)
‘Everyone Loves Our Town’, Mark Yarm
Lost Highway, (1997)
‘Do you realise?’ - The Flaming Lips / ‘Wildflower’ - The Cult / ‘We’re In This Together’ - Nine Inch Nails / ‘On A Plain’ - Nirvana / ‘My Girl’ - Madness / ‘Crumbling Castle’ - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard / ‘Oh My Lover’ - PJ Harvey / ‘Girl/Boy Song’ – Aphex Twin
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Aphex Twin, Nine Inch Nails, Max Richter, Sisters of Mercy, Slayer, Flaming Lips, City Lake
‘The Downward Spiral’ - Nine Inch Nails
