Michael Daren Offen
Back Story –
Mike has lived in Plymouth all his life and is in love with its naturally  calm and slowed down way.
He went to Grammar school (Devonport High for Boys) and left at the age of 16 not knowing what he wanted to do as a career.
He became and electrician at the Dock Yard, he didn’t like it there, though after 6 years and at age 22 the Dock Yards went from Government owned to privatised. This meant there were a lot of people getting redundancies. Mike jumped at the opportunity and was able to be made redundant with a ‘healthy’ sum of money from it. Using this money, thorough his enthusiasm of vinyl records he opened a record shop. The first one was by the Library Arts Museum though after a number of years he had to move and so be opened his second shop under the (now old) bus station. He was there for around 9 years and 10 at the previous. The second shop though was not meant to last, as the bus station and all shops within it were to be sold on to make way for a new cinema. This meant Mike had to have his third move – where he is now. This shop is above his second place above the bus station. Each shop had its pros and cons but he is happy where he is and loves each and every shop.

Vinyl – when and why do you think it is becoming more popular?
According to Mike, he believes that vinyl went out of use and fashion in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. This was due to the rise of the CD. Then through the years following technology took off at a rapid rate, you became able to download music and have it on a portable music device. There wasn’t a need for vinyls unless you were a collector. Though in terms of recent years, in the last 5/6 years the media have been subliminally messaging us. In films and TV people of influence have been using it. This has made it ‘cool’ to have a record player now. It took time but in the last 3/4 years Mike has noticed an increase in sales. He stated “Fashion is fickle,” meaning that people will get things to seem ‘on trend’. But from that new artists are recording their work onto vinyl and thus making new music more accessible to the public on an ‘old fashioned’ form of listening.
Mike also explains to me that collecting records is a life style choice, it isn’t something you can just do once. It is a lot of money to get all the equipment needed, from a record deck, to the amps, to the speakers. The records are never cheap either.
Unlike back in the 1980’s when it was unusual for people to not have a record deck, today is a “very different time,” where our social structure is forever changing.

What music do you like?
Mike’s favourite period for music was the late 60’s with the rise of psychedelic. This includes music from Pink Floyd. He also is a great fan of blues rock, ‘Love Forever Changes’ by a band called Love was one of his favourites as well as ‘Pretty Thing’ by Bo Diddley.
In the 60’s and 70’s there was suddenly a social freedom with the birth of the Space Race between Russia and America. He stated that this freedom has lead to all that is good and bad in the world today.
This gave rise to new music that he has very much been influenced by – reggae, Jazz, Early Country Blues (post war).
Modern artists wise, he likes Jack White who very much takes influence from Early Blues and follows in the footsteps of 80’s.

Tell me about you job…
A defining comment Mike made about his work is that it isn’t a job, it is what he calls a vocation. By this he means that it isn’t something he sees as a task every day, he loves what he does and feels a strong sense of purpose doing it. He cannot see himself doing anything else. His position in the shop is to provide a service and wants to know what people want.
He is always learning in his line of work. he hears new names of bands, and hears new styles of music. This enables him to constantly build on what he knows and become better informed when advising others.
He chose to follow his heart and not his head; in his words it’s “better than doing a real job,” and to “do what you’re passionate about.”
“Let things happen… Savour things… Enjoy the moment…”

Misc Info…
Mike was a DJ on the side of owning his shop and used to DJ at Ride Cafe, Fandango and Tramps. He would play a lot of Reggae, Blues and Psychedelic.
He doesn’t think the shop he is in needs much work, it is as he would like it.
It took 3 days to completely cover the roof in old music posters and flyers – The posters are a mixture of his own he has gathered for the lat 20 years and things he has picked up along the way. Most modern poster is a contemporary Prince poster, where as the oldest is a 1969 John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.
The ceiling was inspired by a record shop in Torquay called Tangerine Fuzz (a renovated old police station) and though it was closed, a young Mike Offen looked through the window to see the walls and ceiling covered in posters and images. This stuck with him and in his first shop he had a similar thing with a wall. But not to the extent of what the ceiling is now.