(local magazine interview with Mr Sifters from ~2003)
As I walk into Sifters Records, I am greeted enthusiastically by Peter Howard, who is so jolly that he almost twinkles while telling me: "After you rang yesterday I put the phone down andthought 'how bizarre'. Someone rings and wants to interview me and I behave like it happens every day of my life."
Peter is being modest. Because while it may not happen every day, it does happen. And over the years he seems to have grown quietly accustomed to intermittent media attention. Granada Reports, The Sunday Show and The Daily Mirror are just a few of the illustrious names to have beaten a path to the door of Sifters on Fog Lane. Why? Because of a certain couple of regulars who decided to pay tribute to Peter in a little ditty they composed way back in 1994. The regulars were Noel and Liam Gallagher, the ditty was a song called Shakermaker and the last verse goes something like this: "Mr Sifter sold me songs, when I was just 16, now he stops at traffic lights, but only when they're green." I want to get the Oasis bit out of the way early on, conscious that Peter, or Mr Sifter to his rock'n'roll friends, is probably sick to death of talking about it. "They came in and asked me if they could put me in it," he says. "They had wanted to put a line about 'I want to buy the world a Coke', but had been told they would be sued if they did. So they asked if they could put my line in instead and I said, 'oh, go on then, if you must'. I'm just surprised anyone's still interested," he adds. "It was nearly ten years ago and it still rears itshead every now and again. The most recent was when Liquid Assets turned up. They filmed in here and I had to cue up the track for when they walked in -- it was quite embarrassing." Liam and Noel were regulars at Sifters before hitting the really big time and leaving Burnage for the bright lights of London.
They would come in a lot, from when they were really young," says Peter. "But it was only when the first single came out that I realised 'oh that's Liam'. It gave us something to chat about." I ask what kind of music they bought. "Mainly melodic stuff, from the 60s like The Beatles. They were never into anything very heavy or very trendy. That's why we got on -it's the same stuff I like. They came in a few times after they made it big. We would always try to get out of Liam about all the models he was supposed to be dating and he would deny everything. It used to amuse me the questions people would ask; I am forever being asked 'Did they fight in your shop?' They never came in as a duo. People talk about them like they're joined at the hip."
Scrapping superstars aside, it's easy to see why Sifters should be immortalised. Behind the faded signage that hints at the longevity of Peter's shop, there lies a world of vintage vinyl and fascinating characters that could come straight from the pages of a Nick Hornby novel. He says:"That book, High Fidelity, is my life. Or at least it was until the Americans got hold of it and made it into nobody's life. I liked it when it was about a normal grubby second-hand record shop owner, like me!"
Being a second-hand record shop proprietor is something Peter knows a lot about. He set up his first shop opposite the cricket ground on Mauldeth Road in 1977, at the age of 29, after building up a massive record collection during lunch-time visits to Shude Hill market. "I used to work in the accounts department of the water board in the town hall and would go to the market in my dinner break to buy old records. I was starting to build up a big collection and then I suddenly thought about selling them. It seemed like a good idea because there weren't any second-hand record shops in Manchester then.
"The day we opened was a Saturday. I had 600 records and thought the shop would look full, but instead it looked embarrassingly bare. But people flocked in and I remember thinking 'Wah hey, this is the life'. The following Monday the place was deserted. I think people thought it was a one-day market."
Sifters, so called because of its customers' tendency to sift through every last record in the shop, moved to its current site on Fog Lane in 1983. In the 26 years that have since passed, Peter and his understated vinyl heaven have built up a loyal following. "We get mainly regulars in here. In fact nothing really changes much in Sifters. You do the same thing, see the same people. It's just everything else that changes. You realise that when kids come in with their mums and ask what the records are. Some of them think they are calendars -- it's terrifying."
To fill his shop, Peter buys entire record collections from people, who for one reason or another, no longer want them. "It's usually that they are moving or want more room. Almost every day I get someone in whose wife has said to them 'get rid of those records, you never play them'. Everyone regrets it when they've sold them, but at the time I suppose it raises a few pennies. It's really a case of one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. We manage to sell everything eventually."
Like most small traders Sifters has come under increasing pressure from the onslaught of the big retailers, and now comes the added pressure of the internet with its free downloads and on-line auction houses. "Competition is everywhere now," adds Peter "You don't notice it immediately, it is more of a drip, drip, drip. And Fog Lane isn't the bustling shopping centre it once was. I keep threatening to retire but I know I never will. I enjoy being here, in fact I'll probably still be here in 20 years' time,saying things aren't what they used to be. I might have to set traps outside to get the punters in by then."
If there is any justice in the world, that won't happen. And after just half an hour spent in the wonderful world of Sifters Records I step out into the cruel world armed with a warm glow and a reminder to myself to go back on Saturday for that Cure album I used to listen to at school.
With #sifters at #portfringe2017 you gotta get creative with the #programshot yay @ermurph22 and @hannahkdaly and Lei-Lei!! #TAMfam (at Bright Star World Dance)
This seemingly mundane kitchen tool has a long history of magical use. An old-fashioned term for a sieve is a riddle, as in riddled with holes.
The term does not refer only to the modern metal strainer, but to any type of sifter, including grain winnows. An example of ancient multi-tasking—frame drums may have tiny perforations, so that they may be used to finely sift henna and herbs, in addition to their musical uses.
Sieves have fallen out of fashion, exiled to the kitchen cabinets, but they were once considered common magical fare. The sieve is sacred to Isis; she collected Osiris’ limbs in a sieve. The sieve is also featured on many Gnostic engraved gems. The Roman Catholic Church would later ascribe the symbol to Satan.
Sieves are used in many spells, especially for fertility, influencing the weather, and divination.
(from The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells by Judika Illes)
Over thirteen years of adoring this song. I used to skip class and lie on my bed in my shitty little basement rental bedroom and cry while this song played on repeat on my iPod nano.
