Shops / Shop of the Week
Shop of the Week: Idle Hands
Just a little walk away from the madness of the Stokes Croft strip, located next to a barber shop on City Road in St Paul’s, is the tidy and inviting Idle Hands. With a welcoming smell of sweet orange and a large window at the front of the shop filling the space with natural light, it’s not hard to understand why the bright and airy shop is constantly filled with local music fans and DJs eager to get their hands on the latest sounds.
Founded by owner Chris Farrell in 2011, his passion for dance music and selling records has helped Idle Hands to become one of the most influential record shops and labels in the whole of Bristol. “I’m really lucky to have built up a good reputation within this city and then internationally as well,” Chris says. “My purpose is to support a lot of the local dance labels, to bring in music that I like and think other people will like. We have a sort of local focus but a global perspective.”
The view of Idle Hands’ new store on City Rd, St Paul’s after relocating in February 2017.
Originally from Worcester, Chris first moved to Bristol in 2001 to study history at UWE. “I moved here because of university and also the prospect of there being lots of drum and bass raves,” he recalls. Having grown up with parents taking him to record shops and fairs alongside working in a number of record shops, Chris developed a firmly-rooted passion for all types of music.
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“I’m interested in music because within every piece of music you have people’s hopes and dreams,” he says. “You’ve got a link back to a part of history. It fits into social history really interestingly as well: it’s the most immediate art form that can really get you going. It can touch you and yeah, it’s a funny old thing isn’t it, you get a bit suspicious of people who don’t like music.”
The bright and airy shop is lined with plants, artwork and a set of record players allowing for customers to browse the vinyl at their own leisure.
Idle Hands started as a vinyl-based electronic record label in 2010 with his good friend Tom Ford, aka Peverelist, whilst working alongside him at the now-defunct Rooted Records. Rooted Record’s was once a renowned record shop based on Gloucester Rd in Bristol, but sadly closed its doors for the final time in 2010.
It was the closure of this shop that started Chris on his next adventure: “Rooted Records was a very specialist dance music shop and when that closed down there just wasn’t a shop which represented dance music in Bristol. With all the labels and music that were starting up here and especially dance music, I thought it’d kind of be wrong if Bristol didn’t have another shop like that.”
Having initially just been keen to just sell records, Chris ignored ideas to sell coffee and other media in the shop. “I was like, you know what, if we’re gonna do it I just wanna do it by selling records,” he says. “I wanted to keep it really – well, hopefully – good at one thing.”
Chris Farrell’s well stocked record shop is a safe haven for Bristol music lovers.
With Bristol’s music scene as healthy as it is, Chris takes pride in offering a selection of dub-plates and sounds to all walks of life. The shop even puts on events supporting releases from local labels and artists such as Bandulu Records, Sir Hiss and OH91. “There’s a lot of people, the Bandulu lot and myself included who quite like to maintain that kind of village feel,” Chris says.
“Sometimes it’s nice doing things like that. When you go out and see people in clubs you can’t really have proper chats, so the events get a bit of interest in the records but also bring people together to celebrate that we’re lucky to have some good stuff in this city.”
Lined with plants, artwork and a set of vinyl players, Idle Hands has become more than just space for music lovers and musicians: it’s a vital part of Bristol’s creative community and is fast and furiously becoming one of the city’s most trusted music platforms.
The Idle Hand’s Records shop is located on City Rd and often hosts events to support local artists and label releases.
Idle Hands Records, 32a City Road, St Paul’s, Bristol, BS2 8TP
www.idlehandsbristol.com
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