To start with let me say I am a collector of vinyl first and foremost.

My fondest memories of early teenage years started by listening to newly acquired albums and singles purchased from my local record store in Aylesbury (Oven Ready Records) and then later on from the Carnaby Street Mod hang-outs.

The Chords, Purple Hearts, Kinks, Who and Jam records were played to death in my bedroom whilst admiring the front cover of the LP, the liner notes, fonts and studying what each lyric meant.

The Jam's "Snap!" album was an early favourite and as my collection grew so did my musical horizons. "The Gift" turned me onto Northern Soul and Funk, whilst 1983's "Cafe Bleu" introduced me to Jazz.

My knowledge of the Modernist movement grew through fanzines and books with The Small Faces being a go-to band in terms of looks and music. Chess, Sue, Pye R&B, Blue Note and Prestige 45s took hold of me as record fairs and the London shops were devoured.

As I reached my early twenties Britpop was in full flow as the Mod flame went further underground than ever. Monday morning trips to Oven Ready to get the 99p Blur, Elastica, Gene and even Menswear singles became a ritual and then the music I liked stopped getting released on vinyl, or so it seemed, to the extent that in 2006 I decided to have a go myself and with £600 funded the first release by Newbury band The Shake! - sourced from MySpace (remember that!) which was followed by a couple of CD comps and then some 7" E.P.s and singles by Button Up, Aunt Nelly, Sven Hammond Soul and The Electric Mess The only single by Wideboy Generation sparked a fanzine too as the third issue saw the name of the label change from Rowed Out Records to the new Heavy Soul! moniker. That was in 2010 and in the ten years between Heavy Soul! has released over 100 vinyl records and nearly 50 fanzines.

To coin an adverting campaign for online gambling "If the fun stops. Stop" - well I'm having a BALL BABY!!!