Unspun Heroes Turns Three

I’m so late in writing this. Usually I write these in late March and post on 2 April, which is the official anniversary for starting Unspun Heroes. This year, though, I contracted a viral infection and spent just over a week in hospital followed by a week and a half of sleeping late and doing very little. I’m still recovering as May approaches, but this needs to be written so I’m sitting here at my desk and bashing out these words so that the past year is captured and the future can be mapped out.

If you’re interested in historical artefacts, you can read my Year One Retrospective back when it was all shiny and new, and catch up on the Year Two Retrospective when it was exciting and manic.

Right, without further ado, let’s crack on with Year Three.

Stay Healthy
I’ve mentioned above that this blog post has been held up by my being ill. However, there’s a broader story here that I want to address. I don’t talk about my personal health much, as it’s not related to Unspun Heroes, except in a recent email conversation I realised it was very much part of the origin story of this tiny record label project.

You can skip this ‘chapter’ if you don’t want to read some fairly rubbish info about the C-word.

The thought process began when people started posting about 2016 and what a shit show of a year it was for celebrity deaths. Bowie, Prince, Victoria Wood, and so so many more great names seemed to pass that year. It was also the year I was diagnosed with stage three lung cancer. Thankfully, after some major surgery and two years of treatment, I was declared to be cancer-free. Six years on, I was declared to be cured.

I was determined to do something that would leave a legacy of some sort. Not for bragging rights but a way to put something out in the world that might have a lasting impact to some people. That thing ended up being Unspun Heroes.

Around the same time as being freed from the perils of once nasty diagnosis I was given another one. This time a rare non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I don’t want to go into the details, but let’s just say my immune system likes to take a holiday most days and I’m on a variety of fairly nasty medications that make me incredibly tired and/or sick from the side effects. It’s manageable if I don’t overdo things, and with luck it won’t progress too quickly. However, it has had a detrimental effect on my ability to work these past two years. And it’s my earnings from my self-employed work that funds Unspun Heroes.

Turns out my health is very much linked to this project, whether I want to talk about it or not.

And that bit about not overdoing things? Reader, last year I overdid things.

Release The Good News
Okay, the scene is set. Against this backdrop, I did a lot of hard work in organising one of the most audacious releases I’ve ever attempted for The Experimental Pop Band. I had so many ideas when chatting to Davey Woodward that I really should have stepped away from it. These things came back to haunt me (although I wouldn’t change any of it).

One of the most difficult things with Unspun Heroes is it is just me. Simon. The person who does everything. And that person isn’t always very healthy. I think you can see why things ended up where they ended up.

However, despite all this, I pulled together a commissioned piece of art, a brand new piece of sleeve artwork, back and forth with a writer for new liner notes, paper printers, fabric printers, pressing plants, Davey himself (always a joy), a record label and their legal department, and the extensive mastering required to make the tracks sound great on vinyl. In short, I gave a lot of fucks about all the details – big and small – and created a new masterpiece of art to complement the art that I was already working with. Unfortunately, it cost a lot. Not taking into account my travel, the hours I put in, or other miscellaneous spending, the budget wasn’t just busted it was beaten into submission and left for dead in a dumpster behind a disused nightclub before being consigned to a shallow grave just off an obscure junction of a minor motorway. The upshot is that every sale loses me money.

All that said, The Tracksuit Trilogy by The Experimental Pop Band remains one of the best albums I’ve released so far. Even if I am constantly bombarded by people telling me it’s too expensive, some quite angrily suggesting I’m ripping them off.

I wrote three blog posts about the journey to bring this incredible album to vinyl for the first time. Part One talks about the album itself, while Part Two speaks to the new art and commissioned aspects of the release such as the bespoke riso print, and care label, which left Part Three to talk about the cost of doing it.

While I’d love to have sold more – or sell more – it’s almost enough that every single person who has bought one has emailed to me to say how amazing it is and that it’s worth every penny.

That takes me to late July 2025.

At this point I was already starting on the next release. Another one I was really excited to bring out for its vinyl debut. Living and Growing by The Felt Tips. I’d loved this album and the band’s singles for almost 15 years. Never managed to see them live, though. I’d written a blog post about this album and the band got in touch. Could we think about putting it out, they said. Easy answer.

And so, October’s release came about. It was a really full-on schedule that involved two gigs and a whole bunch of milestones that made it a little bit stressful. I was working on a huge piece of sustainability work for an entire industry (fashion, in case you cared) and on my evenings and weekends, and lunch breaks, I was organising stuff. I then drove to Scotland and back – twice – to get everything finished off and to see the band live in Glasgow.

While it was quite stressful, it was also brilliant fun. The band were just fucking ace humans from start to finish. I also got to commission my friend, Sean, of Hey Kids Rock ’n Roll fame. Every single piece of this release worked out exactly as I’d hoped. I am immensely proud of every album I’ve put out, but this one really brought a smile to my face from the moment I got a call with the band. It sounds amazing and the reviews really showed that together we’d excelled as a makeshift team. I also got to see them live twice, met some wonderful people along the way, and was showered with love by them and their friends and family.

By the time the year wrapped up, I was starting to feel the strain. I wasn’t well across most of December and January, so a needed a break. I made a decision that I would put out one album in 2026, to try and catch up on finding and delivering paid work and also to ensure I could afford to take a holiday. More on that release shortly.

Boxes, Boxes And More Boxes
Pressing and selling vinyl records means boxes. Lots of them. Each big box has three other boxes inside that contain the final records. Often I get a delivery of 10 or more boxes of vinyl which I have to haul in from the road to my house. Remember I tire easily and only have one lung to work with. It’s hard work. Enjoyable but hard.

Sales of all the releases have been good, but we haven’t sold out of anything. This is an issue. Why? Well, I pay everyone involved as soon as they’ve done their bit. Sometimes before. I put up a considerable amount of my own money. It’s quite a huge risk. The rewards come from selling every copy, so if I don’t sell every single copy then I don’t get my money back and there is no profit to share – or in my case, to put towards the next release.

Two releases are close to making a small profit. The third isn’t far off. One will never make me money. I’m playing the long game, which I knew would always be the case. However, I don’t have a warehouse (and I pay for a distributor to warehouse some copies). My home is filled with boxes inside boxes. And then there is the packaging required. Cardboard mailers of various types, envelopes, cards, ink stamps, tape… the list of things you need to ship stuff is mind-boggling. All of it takes up space.

Thankfully, my wife is very understanding.

Always Be Shipping At What Cost?
Now, I don’t want you to think that I’m not happy with Unspun Heroes. I love it. The money is not the motivating factor. There is no money in this game, particularly short-run vinyl releases that aren’t super expensive. I try my very best to keep prices low. Shipping is my biggest bugbear, because there is little I can do with that. However, I’ve been experimenting with a different provider and, well, I think I may soon be able to offer cheaper shipping to the US and Worldwide.

The EU remains a pain as some countries seem to add import and taxes even when it’s clear they’ve been paid, and Royal Mail makes that happen less often than others so it would be with caveats that I shift my shipping over to a new provider. If I do, that’ll probably be via Ampwall because of how they’re set up compared to the Unspun Heroes Bandcamp store.

As ever, anyone can get in touch and I will work out the most cost-effective way to ship to them. While I know it’s frustrating to be told you need to pay more for shipping than the album itself, I do not mark up the cost and I don’t include the cost of the ancillary items like mailers and tape, or the time it takes to haul parcels to the post office and queue up to send them.

What’s Coming Up?
Okay, this is the important part for many of you. When’s the next release?

This is a whole blog post in itself. I know what the release is. I wanted to press 500 copies, which would be a massive risk and probably the undoing of this whole venture (or the unspunning, if I can be allowed to invent the word!) and the end of this project. Instead I settled for a smaller run, but which increases the unit cost exponentially. Under 500 copies pressed not only invites a fee from the pressing plant, it makes the cost prohibitive for distribution.

This next release is to be a double album with a fancy pressing (marbled) in a gatefold sleeve. Already a bigger undertaking than any other Unspun Heroes release.

I’ve been very lucky that the label who put this music out have been super helpful. In fact, they’ve gone out of their way to remove as many barriers as possible. Sadly, at the time of writing there is one barrier than makes the reward so small it’s not worth doing. There is also a contractual element that increases the risk. Together they’ve made the release difficult to justify.

What does this mean?

I spent the time in hospital thinking about this. The easy decision is to stop. It’s been really good fun and I’ve brought five phenomenal albums out for their debut on vinyl. I can’t ignore the fact that finding albums that almost everyone doesn’t know and manufacturing it on a media that’s the most expensive on which to do it makes my business model dangerous. That’s always been the risk I’m willing to take. I bet on the long game. It’s the slow path that cares about the quality, the details and the end result. I’m still very good with that.

This new complication requires a rethink of how I finance releases. Certainly this next release.

I don’t have an answer to that. Can I find 150 people willing to pay for something that hasn’t even been manufactured? It’s a massive ask. I could do a ‘Kickstarter’ but I would lose 20% of the money raised in fees, making it more expensive and potentially loss-making before I even get to making the thing.

I’m working on some alternative ideas. Each has its pros and cons. What I’m trying to do is decrease the risk so that the final 80p per sale I’d likely make (yep, it’s that low) is worth it because I will have sold out (or got close to it and my upfront costs are covered).

I’ve also started looking at another release that I am more confident in. I can’t say what that is, but I’ll be having a meeting in early May about the possibility of licensing it from the artist. I think this might provide the catalyst for better sales. I will have an answer in May. Which brings me to my final thing to note about Year Three.

I’ve also got some ‘Unspundles’ available that mean you can walk away with two albums for what I think makes for a patently silly price. It’s like a sale but not one.

Oh, I also mentioned a zine some time back for Post 50 on this blog. I haven’t forgotten that, I just didn’t feel well or have the capacity to make it happen. I will do something but it’s not a priority right now.

Shout About It
I’m terrible at selling. I’m too nice. I don’t do enough promotion. I don’t hassle people at every opportunity. I don’t make videos and reels and ‘content’ that shouts at people across ‘every consumer journey touchpoint’. I know this.

PR is a difficult game. It costs. Sometimes about 15% of my overall budget. It often has very little effect on sales. In fact, reviews bring in more sales and all my reviews have been very positive. Yet, getting reviews is harder work – often I get told that a small reissue label isn’t going to sell magazines or bring eyeballs to a website. Not for artists that aren’t household names. There is also a lot of music being released that’s new and fresh and, well, there’s also another boxset from a massive worldwide superstar coming out.

I totally get that.

Over time I’ve seen sales increase. People often buy one album and come back for more. On many an occasion they’ve bought a copy of every release, or every special edition. I have a small and incredibly wonderful set of people who buy an Unspun Heroes release no matter what. I love this. I’m appreciative of anyone and everyone who buys, listens, shares and interacts with me. It’s always been about being part of a community than making a fortune shifting single discs in a cheap cardboard sleeve. It’s always been about caring about the music, having new liner notes written, quality inserts and decent mailers that protect the investment customers make.

That won’t change. It mustn’t. I might get more ‘salesman’ than I’d like to be now and again on my social media. I apologise now.

Looking Ahead
Aside from trying to work out what the next release will be and when, I’m thinking about new ways to finance this mad project. I’m open to conversations, for sure. Ideas, too. Maybe it is the end, but only when I’ve run out of possibilities – and there would be the likelihood that I’d resurrect things later anyway. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while. I’ve met some wonderful people, even if it’s only over email or via social media feeds. I would call many of these people friends.

I realise that large swathes of this post are a bit of a downer. But I think being transparent is the right way to go about it and, well, life isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes it’s shit. Recognising that, and sharing the hurdles as much as the successes, shows I care. I hope so.

Finally, I want to thank The Experimental Pop Band and The Felt Tips for making Year Three of Unspun Heroes a success in so many ways. The fact that these people allowed some interloper to come in and take their art, trusted him to treat it well and never ask more of me than to get on with doing what I promised them I would. Which is, quite simply, to bring out their music on vinyl for the first time.

Thanks for reading.

1 April 20251 April 2025

Year Two: A Retrospective

24 months. Sounds grand, almost impressive. Certainly for someone who hasn’t held a full-time job, ever, that exceeds this time frame or – if I’m honest – even comes close to getting there. I’m congratulating myself on still being here and doing this two years on. Yep, it’s another annual self-indulgent post. You can read the first year’s post if you fancy it.

This year has been quite different. What started as one thing quickly dissolved and resolved to become another. What began as a bit of a winding road has crystallised into a focused beam. Only two things remain that began as that idea back in March 2023. Me, and the brand.

The first year was all empty promises. Talk and no obvious action. It was all happening behind the scenes, but also in plain sight, which meant a lot of people didn’t see it. I was learning the hard way, in public, though. Releasing records on vinyl for the first time isn’t as easy as I thought it might be. I have support in terms of cheerleaders, but it’s just me here working to make this happen. And this shit takes time if you want to do it properly.

And what does properly even mean? In the context of Unspun Heroes I always wanted it to be rooted in experience. The listening to a vinyl album you’d probably never heard before. To read words full of emotion that connected you to that album, that belonged to that listening experience, therefore making it hard to separate the two. To be about the anticipation before you played and read, and to be the longing after it was done for the first time. To attempt, in some small way, to stick two fingers up at the law of diminishing returns by producing something that got better the more you listened and the more you read.

I had a mission for the label and I wasn’t going to waver.

A quick recap
The end of Year one was an obvious highlight. James Varda’s Chance And Time was always going to deliver. The story, which is tragic on its own, is made more so when accompanied by his tender voice and heart-wrenching songs. And yet it is an album that lifts, that points to the light at the darkest of hours.

At the time of writing it is almost sold out in its singular album format, although anyone wanting even more of an experience can snag a copy of the deluxe version with James’s handwritten lyrics and a handmade outer sleeve created by an artisan bookbinder who plays guitar for the Jasmine Minks.

That release cemented the shift in Unspun Heroes. It made me realise that the experience really was everything. From ensuring mastering was properly taken care of through to understanding how it would be ‘un-sleeved’. Mostly it was a shift away from being ‘just’ a reissue label. It became about finding albums that had never been on vinyl, that deserved to be put on that format because the music would sound glorious.

It was about introductions. Like a vinyl dating agency, perhaps? No, that sounds too facile. I found myself talking about the idea of cherishing the album and the music it contained. In that word, cherish – which has its roots in the meaning to “treat with affection” – I worked out what Unspun Heroes was all about.

Sowing the seeds of the follow-up release
The second release was always going to happen. It was the first to be agreed but took the longest time to bring out. These things cannot, and should not, be rushed. Friendship Is Deep became an obsession for me. I’d loved the album for almost 20 years and so I wanted to make sure it was as close to perfect as it could be – and to make its 20^th anniversary an occasion.

This meant working closely with the pressing plant to create something extra special and unique. It meant a lot of trust being given by Adam Kline from Golden Shoulders who, I fear, at some points wondered what the actual fuck he’d said yes to, on a whim, to some idiot British bloke who had no idea about vinyl production but had tagged him on social media. I like to think that I did okay on my promise, and the album has sold well and continues to bring me joy every time I play it. Which is often. Copies – both the signed and standard variants – are still available.

The third release was the opposite. From listening to it for the first time ever to having a copy in my hand took under six months. Stephen Simmons has become a good friend in that period of time. We talked for hours on video calls, exchanged many texts and emails. I don’t have favourite releases because Unspun Heroes is not genre-specific and so each release is different. However, Drink Ring Jesus has opened me up to music I would otherwise not consider listening to. My life would have been poorer had I dismissed Stephen’s 2006 album and I am so pleased I pressed play. It’s an album that has changed me as a person – although that may also be Stephen’s influence.

I went hard on making sure that Stephen would be happy when he received his album over in Nashville. I knew he had experienced the cutting of corners in previous moments and I think I sourced about 20 different cardboard sleeves and created a number of different options before we settled on a simple Kraft sleeve and inner. But we went full-on for the insert. All those decisions we made together paid off.

That’s the second year of Unspun Heroes in two distinct records. Both different, yet all the releases are united by the fact they made their vinyl debut – and proved that it’s a medium they always deserved to be on. Each one has its own personality. They do not compete in that sense, although it’s clear they are all from the same label.

All have received rave reviews, too.

The blog that almost never happens but somehow does – and the future
I haven’t been able to write as much as I’d have liked about music that deserves to be given wider attention. Now it is me on my own (although ably helped by designer extraordinaire, Anthony Oram) and I have to deal with the fairly shitty things that most people don’t know I deal with on a regular basis due to my health, so the time and effort has meant a slowing down. That’s unlikely to change any time soon – and asking people to write for free doesn’t sit well with me, although I’d happily accept submissions if you want to write something that sits well with the Unspun Heroes ethos.

However, let’s not ponder the blog. Instead, let’s look to the year ahead.

Two releases upcoming. The first is like some art project that’s full of mistakes and twists and turns and mad decisions that somehow seem to pay off. It’s cost me more than it should. Much more. Not just financially, but in terms of pulling it off and putting it all together. But the experience that anyone buying it will have will be rich and deep and quite odd (in a good way). And the first Unspun Heroes release on bio vinyl, more of which shortly.

After that, something no less brilliant, but definitely more likely to be subdued in its physical presentation. Scottish indiepop with a musical jangle reminiscent of The Smiths and Teenage Fanclub, but with a twist. Oh, and the chance to get your hands on something special from Sean, better known as Hey Kids! Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Both will be on bio vinyl, which is something I’ve wanted to commit to for some time but it comes with constraints. Colour being one. It’s in black only and I always wanted to do a colour option at least once (Golden Shoulders delivered on that wish twice). This decision can also be vetoed by the artist, but it’s the starting point for every release.

Both will be a run of around 200 (The Tracksuit Trilogy will actually be 222 copies) rather than the grander 300 and 500 of previous releases. Partly this is because of the audience numbers for these albums. Partly this is because it’s damn hard to sell these things. Convincing people to spend money on vinyl is hard enough, but to add in the fact that it’s an album and/or band they don’t know makes it even harder. Plus, costs have skyrocketed for print and pressing (Thanks Liz.) And the spectre of not being in a customs arrangement with our nearest trading neighbours makes selling outside the UK harder. In some cases, impossible. Oh, and then there’s packing and postage cost increases.

That’s why I made some t-shirts. The margin is healthier (in most cases, my margin is lower single digit percentages) and I can use any profit to offset the cost of a more expensive, shorter run. That’s the idea. Unspun Heroes was always meant to be about putting my profits back in. When I make some.

Time for a bit of honesty
Right now, if I’m honest, I have very little belief that this project will extend beyond Year Three. I have some records I’m negotiating but the short term financial pain I personally feel makes it harder for me to be able to commit. Yes, this is my own money. Sales have been good, but not really good enough to go mad. Longer term it’ll all be fine, I’m certain. I may just be slowing down to speed up, as they say. Also, I’m really wanting to do a 7-inch single that keeps to the Unspun ethos, and that’s proving to be a tough ask.

I don’t to end on that note, though. So, I will briefly talk about the absolutely best thing Unspun Heroes has given me, the experience that I feel it’s worth stumping up a few thousand pounds to have happen each time.

It’s meeting and chatting to people like James Varda’s widow and his friends and hearing how much a release has brightened their world, or laughing raucously with Adam on a Zoom call about the music business or British accents, or WhatsApp chats and calls with Stephen while I walk my dog and he’s preparing to go record his latest album. Because we don’t talk about the releases much, we chat about each other, our lives, what’s happening in our worlds. Anything. It’s a connection that only Unspun Heroes could have given me.

Then there is the time spent working with Anthony on design, working closely with the Electric Mastering and Press On Vinyl to ensure the final product is as amazing as it can be. The journalists and authors and music people who have kindly provided words for liner notes and obi strips.

The fact that a few hundred or so other people have agreed to come on a small part of that journey with me, as customers, is the icing on that cake. And the cherry is when I get a great review, or a customer emails me (or shares on social media) that they love the record they’ve just bought. Or I see the same names pop up on Bandcamp sales. Never gets old hearing from you all.

It’s an experience. One that goes far beyond the music, or the liner notes, or the arguments about whether or not an obi strip is worthwhile. And it’s worth every penny.

Thank you.

2 April 202427 May 2024

Unspun Heroes, One Year On

This post feels a little self-indulgent. And I suppose it is. However, with little to celebrate these days in the UK, I’m taking this opportunity to give a little ‘whoop’ of delight and to write up the experience of having an idea and then making it happen. So, you’ll have to either indulge me or stop reading! 😊

It’s been a year. A whole 12 months. 366 days.

Wow.

I’ve had to take in a deep breath, as it still feels like yesterday when I had an initial idea and told Danny and Tom, suggesting we got together and did something, perhaps a listening party of some sort. It was a crap idea, though. But the name, Unspun Heroes, seemed great fun and really spoke to me! On the walk into my local town centre about two weeks later, that crap idea became this thing:

To find and highlight music deserving of wider attention. Where possible, to release this music on vinyl, in small batches of no more than 500. And to do that with love.

I wrote that in a Notes file on my phone that day. The mission hasn’t changed. Every single time I listen to something – or someone approaches me about a possible release – I use it as the guiding principle. Because it is the guiding principle. It means I give a shit about every aspect, whether writing a blog post or sourcing paper stock for inserts, to how someone experiences it when they open the parcel in their own home.

Talk, though, is easy, Taking action is quite a big step. Until you tell people what you’re doing. Then you have to get on with it. There is expectation (and probably quite a few people who expect you to fail, are literally waiting for it). There is accountability.

Most of all, though, there is trepidation. I’d never done anything like this before. My day job is as far away from music, or producing and selling physical products, as you can get. Although, music is something I love. I can’t imagine not enjoying it, not listening to new music and to music I’ve enjoyed for decades, music my parents listened to, music I discovered with my friends, music I bought and music gifted to me.

I’ve always loved finding new music – by which I mean, music I’ve not heard before. I’m not someone who harks back to their favourite music of their youth and only plays that (although I should point out if that’s you then I think that’s all good and I hope it brings you plenty of joy). I will, as my family and friends will confirm, listen to just about anything and probably enjoy it. So, the idea of listening to music that deserves wider attention means I have to step outside my usual playlists, to ask a wide and diverse range of people about what they like. To put my judgement to one side for at least 30 minutes.

Then I can write about it, for the blog.

Weekly… nah
I tried to write a blog each week. When there were others helping, in the early weeks, that was possible. But asking people to write stuff for free only works for so long. After a while writing a blog post each week started to feel like a chore, which went against the mission. The love wasn’t there. So, some weeks there is nothing; some weeks you get two or more posts.

The important thing is that the posts match up to the mission.

And because they do, I find it pays dividends. I can get a sense of what other people like, obviously; however, it allows me to start a conversation with musicians and bands. They already know I love what they’ve done and, if the album hasn’t ever been out on vinyl, it helps them consider if they’d be up for pressing some.

Then we have a chat or three. Which is lovely. Who doesn’t like chatting to musicians you admire about music you love? Without exception, every artist I’ve spoken to, even if they’ve said no (or the record company has said no) has been fabulous. The music industry – the part I’m dealing with – has been wonderful. As has ‘music Twitter’. I feel like I’ve made some long-lasting connections in this first year. And I’ve been introduced to so much music I might never have heard, it can feel like a full-time job listening to it all. But what a job!

How does a job like that pay?

Money, money, money…
Someone once said, the best way to lose money is to press vinyl. Quite possibly true.

The business model means I take on all the risk. It’s my money. All of it. Everyone involved gets paid by me. If I sell enough, I’ll make my money back and the rest is shared equally with the artist.

And it is just me.

I will admit that it’s scary. It’s probably not the right way to do it, either. I do think it focuses the mind, and helps with decisions about design and packaging. It helps determine where compromises will be made – which won’t be quality, that’s for sure. I want every release to bring the wow factor for the listening experience and the unpacking. All while trying to keep costs down for the buyer.

Honestly, I think I’ve sunk in somewhere around £10,000 (I could put the actual costs in, but that ballpark is close enough to give you a sense of how invested I’ve become). That includes branding and trademarks, upfront costs for albums that have been and are being manufactured, warehousing, etc. Yikes. However, if I sell them all, I’ll have paid that back and have enough set aside to pay for some extras on the next one.

And now I’m selling the records I’ve pressed, that amount will fall. It already has. Hopefully, I’ll sell them all and I can keep on bringing albums that deserve wider attention to the market and we can all win.

(A little reminder that you can shop at the Unspun Heroes’ Bandcamp store – or ask your local indie store to get you a copy.)

It takes how long?
Making things takes time. More time than you might think. Especially when it’s just one person managing the process. There have been months of discussions with artists, there is the lead time for pressing, design and print to consider, and posting things around the world to be signed (for example)… A lot of threads need to come together at the right time to make sure the distributor has the items ready to get to stores for a pre-agreed release date.

And stuff goes wrong. Print turns up and it’s wrong. Designs need updating and images can’t be found because the album came out twenty years ago. New liner notes need to be written and the first draft is late or doesn’t cut it, or we can’t find the right person to write them. Yet, with that love and some perseverance, somehow it all works out.

Then there is the wait while the wonderful team at the pressing plant pack up the records and ship them to me, and to the distributor.

Yes, there are test pressings, artwork proofs, lots of video calls and phone calls. Lots of the time, though, is just silence. And yet you have to be telling people what they can expect. There are press releases to organise, press packs to send out, photos to take or mock up. There is always something to do and then suddenly your family home is full of boxes and boxes: records, mailers, packing tape, obi strips, inserts, and boxes of boxes. So. Many. Boxes.

What this means is, I won’t be releasing ten albums a year (at least, not yet!) and will probably limit it to two releases across a 12-month period; one in the spring and one in the late summer or autumn. Build a foundation and work up from there.

(I have 36 34 rolls of branded packing tape, so I think I need to use that up before I even think about stopping.)

Again?
The first release has felt like a baptism of fire. I’ve probably made lots of mistakes, but it’s been a lot of fun. Most of the time. At the time of writing, sales figures haven’t been tallied, but the last two weeks feels like it has been successful – there are records leaving my house every week and I’ve had some wonderful reviews – from stores, from magazines and online sites, and from customers. I’ve loved sending them out, each one with a little bit of personalisation. And the branded tape (probably one of my favourite things).

All this shipping has been happening while I’ve been dealing with the second release, and setting up the third and fourth releases. There are two other possible further releases sat in the sidelines, too.

I have to realise that I’m selling records that people don’t necessarily know, so it’s a tough job but… but I’m doing this with love and I think that caring about the release – how it looks, how it sounds, what the unboxing experience is like, how it unfolds and feels in your hands. Not cutting corners and not pushing for profit alone.

I want to feel proud of the releases that Unspun Heroes puts out. And I do.

I’m even more proud of the second release that’s coming up. There are some aspects of it that haven’t been done before (because they cost more money). It has a signed variant. The insert is really special (which is saying something considering that the insert on the James Varda is almost a metre of print when you open it out). And the band that are involved are amazing. Lovely people who made brilliant music – and continue to make brilliant music – and have trusted me with their art.

>>THANK YOU<<

Here’s to the next release, and the release after that…

28 May 202328 May 2023

Joel’s Vinyl Adoption Agency, Brighter Day Record Shop

As someone who joined Twitter back in the early days and used it to find and learn from individuals whom I’d never have known about without such a service, to see it become the Hellscape of 2023 has been hard. So much so that I left.

The issue is, when it comes to starting something and finding like-minded people, it’s hard to beat. So when Unspun Heroes became a thing, it was a joy to discover that, in the main, ‘Music Twitter’ is a bit like those halcyon days of 2007/2008 where you could find a community and they would embrace you and allow you into their fold and, in many cases, tell other people what you’re doing. All without really knowing much about you.

And it doesn’t even matter if you like different music. Mostly.

It’s been fascinating being on the edges of ‘Music Twitter’ these past few weeks. And as I learn about the community, so I see the moments of beauty that make spaces such as this a delight to be a very small part of.

One of those is Joel’s Vinyl Adoption Agency, which is a service created by Joel from Brighter Day Record Shop. It is, perhaps, one of the loveliest things I’ve ever seen on Twitter, up there with the ‘I’ve found this kid’s teddy on a train and want to reunite it with its owner’ posts that were once a key ingredient of everyone’s Twitter experience.

Now, I don’t know Joel. I’ve not met him. I know he has a magnificent moustache and an eye for great vinyl. I know he used to, until just this week, stay up stupidly late on Thursdays to do a flick-thru of his recent purchases and find new homes for these from paying customers. (Please note, these are now a Sunday Service, the first of which will happen later today!)

But, above all of the usually commercial endeavours of a record shop owner, his freely giving away a record because it has little commercial value but is still deserving of some love is what stands out. Other people do flick-thrus. Others do reviews. Perhaps others do give things away on a regular basis (at least once a week for Joel) but he does it with absolutely panache and without ego. Hard to do on a medium that rewards self-promotion.

And so, in a sideways step from our usual Sunday Unspun Heroes blog posts, this week I wanted to point towards the community of vinyl-loving music nerds (moustache not required) and highlight someone, and something, that deserves our admiration and applause.

Joel’s choices are varied, so you never know what might come up. Today (Sunday, 28 May, 2023), it was Tighten Up. Next time it could be almost anything. What you can be assured of is that it’ll be interesting and offered up with self-effacement and wit.

If you’re not already following Joel, you should do so. Who knows, you might bag yourself a free vinyl records and be able to give it the love it deserves. That kind of kindness is priceless.

Thanks Joel.

Occasionally, we’ll highlight someone in the community we see and enjoy. If you think of someone, drop us a hello in the comments, or via Twitter or Instagram.

12 April 20234 April 2025

The Unspun Heroes Community Playlist

The best ideas are often the ones that appear to be the most daft, right?

Opening anything up to the hordes on the internet is often considered to be a silly idea – have you seen the comments on news articles? – so what could possibly go wrong by creating a collaborative playlist that allows anyone, anywhere, to add songs?

We like to think the music community is a great bunch of people – if it can make Twitter feel like somewhere worth going, then that’s a positive sign! Which is why we decided to create an Unspun Heroes Community Playlist on ~~Spotify~~ Apple Music – and YouTube.

You’ll need an account to add songs, but anyone can put their favourite, under appreciated artists on there. And while we know we will have to moderate it now and again – mostly to stop people adding an artist’s entire discography – we think it’s a great way to beat the algorithm and to bring your favourite music to a bigger audience.

Add your songs here!

We hope this will grow into an amazing playlist – based on the two songs so far, we’re confident of that. We’ll keep this playlist available on this page, too, for everyone to enjoy:

[EDIT: I have moved this playlist from Spotify to Apple Music as that is (slightly) less exploitative of musicians, and a whole lot less R*gan.]

Oh, we’ve also created a YouTube version where the artist appears on that platform. Artists that are not on either platform, well, we will try to find their music on the Web and pop a link on this post.

Feel free to comment with your favourite Unspun Heroes if you’re unable to add via the link!

1 April 202312 December 2023

What’s an Unspun Hero?

It’s a good question. One we refer back to often, too. (By we, I mean the four people who were initially involved in this venture. More on that later.)

While there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to genre, every Unspun Hero is an album or artist who is under-appreciated – at the very least. Usually, their albums are not available on vinyl or have not been reissued previously. Like all rules, there are exceptions.

Everyone has an Unspun Hero in their playlist, or (if you’re of a certain vintage) on their mixtape.

The thing that we’ve discovered about sharing our own Unspun Heroes is that other people are unlikely to have heard these artists and albums, or been aware of later releases but not the seminal slab of plastic (or magnetic tape, if you can get a slab of it).

The other thing that has come out of our own discussions is that one person’s Unspun Hero is also someone else’s, so there is a mutual love of a specific album or particular track.

Who is this ‘we’?

There were four of us involved in kickstarting Unspun Heroes. Simon, Danny, Mark and Tom.

Three of us are from south London, one from the Midlands, here in the UK. We share a lot in common, but we’re also very different. Aside from music, the thing that bonds us is our openness to new things. Oh, and vinyl.

However, it’s now just Simon here running the label day-to-day, and financially supporting its releases. The others cheer loudly from the back and provide much needed encouragement. Without them, it would’ve stopped long ago.

What is Unspun Heroes?

Now we know what an Unspun Hero is, what is Unspun Heroes about?

It started as an idea for a listening party, bringing people together to listen to music that might have been forgotten. A way to find new music to enjoy without relying on an algorithm for discovery. Like vinyl, it’s the old skool way of finding new music.

When the ringleader of this merry band of vinyl-loving music fans (that’s Simon, the one writing this) turned 50, so he realised the idea of it just being a meet-up wasn’t bringing enough joy. That’s when he uttered the words that brought us to where we are right now: “Is it possible to find under-appreciated albums and reissue them on vinyl?”

Three other people said the magic word that kickstarts something that ~~should~~ will bring joy to other people: YES!

Unspun Heroes became a thing.

This site…

Bringing our own Unspun Heroes to the world is the easy bit. Write some words about an album, link to somewhere so others can listen to it. Rinse, repeat. We’ll aim for once a week, but occasionally it might be more, and sometimes it’ll be fewer posts.

…the community…

Finding other people to bring their Unspun Heroes and sit around the campfire we’re looking to build, to chat and share, well that takes time. We hope it’ll be virtual and in-person. We hope it’ll become a vibrant Unspun Heroes community.

We’ve started in the usual social media places – follow us on Instagram and Twitter and Mastodon

…the records

The big thing for us is reissuing albums – or even issuing the first vinyl pressing of an album. We want to do this in conjunction with the artists themselves, to go on that journey together. This is the reason we wanted to do this, to spread the joy. And while we don’t want to lose money, we’re not here to make profits at the expense of those who create the music we love. The money we do make will finance the next release.

We also want this to be as eco-friendly as it can be, bearing in mind that we are making things out of plastic and all that entails.

Who knows where this might go? What’s important is that we’ve put the needle on the record.

Welcome to Unspun Heroes.