Meet the Team
Meet The Tall Bird
Hi I'm Maria,
I've worked worked in music retail for most of my adult life, including Beggars Banquet and as a product manager for Virgin Megastores. We moved from London to Chesterfield in 2006 and there were two shops here selling music. Six years later both had closed down leaving the town without a record shop. So in 2013, I took a leap of faith and opened Tallbird Records.
The first record we sold was a secondhand copy of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World. I took this as a good omen; the people of Chesterfield obviously have great taste in music!
Ten years and many Bowie sales later, Tallbird Records is now a well established and successful independent business with lots of loyal customers (thank you!). We've sold thousands of new and secondhand records and CDs, taken part in every Record Store Day since we opened, hosted numerous live events, released titles by some fantastic local acts under our own label and become a destination shop for many visitors to the town.
If you find me behind the counter when you visit I’m likely to be playing classic albums by my favourite acts like Blondie, Beatles, Bowie, Talking Heads, X, Cocteau Twins, Prince and Joni Mitchell but if I’m feeling a bit more up-to-date I'll probably be listening to the likes of Wet Leg, Katy J Pearson, King Hannah, Sprints, The Last Dinner Party, Jungle or Gabriels, – in fact there’s so much good new music around these days it’s hard to keep up!
If there’s anything you’d like to listen to when you visit the shop I’ll be happy to play it for you.
See you soon,
Meet The Beardy Bloke
Hi I'm Simon,
I've worked at Tallbird Records since early 2016, after years of being a chatty customer. Aside from being the beardy one behind the counter, I have worked as a session musician and amateur sound technician, which has been handy when putting on the in-store gigs we have had (such acts as Reverend & The Makers, The Cribs, Honeyblood, Ethan Johns, Bang Bang Romeo, and many more).
Also (as is apparently mandated for record shop employees) I put out my own music under the name May Days in Barcelona. If you're interested in listening to my music here's a link to my Bandcamp page or pick up a copy of my album from the shop next time you're in.
When I have control of the shop stereo you are likely to hear a selection of melancholy music from the likes of REM, The National, Sharon Van Etten, Billie Holiday and Julia Jacklin amongst others. Alternatively you may hear some of the brilliant music by artists from the area including My Pleasure, Tom Nash, Restless Spirits AKA and Ichabod Wolf. I have always enjoyed hearing people talk passionately about the music they love, whatever that may be and we will always do all we can to find the records and CDs people are looking for.
See you in the shop,
