- Interview
- Summary
- Transcript of interview (to be added)
- Keywords
- Supporting documentation
Interview
Interview of Chris baker (JBP/LA/06) conducted on the 20th August 2024 at Lancaster University Library by David Murphy. In the interview the participant talks about growing up in London and moving to the Lancaster area.
Summary
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 00:00:00-00:00:31 | Interviewer introduces interview, and interviewee states their name, age and hometown, as well as where they currently live. |
| 00:00:31 – 00:01:30 | Participant describes their hometown of Chichester, and their upbringing there. |
| 00:01:30 – 00:04:50 | Interviewer asks participant about what there was to do in Chichester, and participant talks about being outdoors a lot, and then talks about moving to a village to go to high school. Participant also talks about getting a record player and what kind of music they listened to whilst in high school. Also discusses buying records and using listening booths and radio. |
| 00:04:50 – 00:06:10 | Participant discusses places they would listen to music at the time and discusses venues such as youth clubs and coffee bars. Discussed a lack of live music and stated that radio he experienced was mostly through the radio. |
| 00:06:10 – 00:08:46 | Participant discussed their first experiences of live music, such as through variety shows and folk music. Also talked about experiences of music in pubs and clubs, and how this expanded his music taste. |
| 00:08:46 – 00:10:54 | Participant discusses his late teens and finishing school. He discusses getting a motorbike and how this allowed him to go to more festivals and going to live rock and roll. He discusses that that allowed him to gain an interest in rock and roll music more generally. Participant then states they worked as a librarian before moving to London. |
| 00:10:54 – 00:13:50 | Participant discusses moving to London to train as a Librarian, and this meant that they were able to experience more live music within London. He also talks about doing more ballroom dancing in London. Also, discusses meeting his wife, and going dancing with her, whilst in London. |
| 00:13:50 – 00:14:30 | Participant discusses marrying their wife, and moving to Northamptonshire, and how this limited their opportunities to experience music more. However, he does talk about continuing dancing whilst in Northamptonshire. |
| 00:14:30 – 00:20:50 | Interviewer asks follow-up questions to gain more information on how moving to a village from Chichester changed life. Interviewee talks about his father being injured at work, and how this facilitated the move to the village. Interviewer then asks about how social an experience listening to music was in schooldays. Interviewee states it was a social experience, aided by the size of the listening booths. Finally, interviewer asks more about how experiencing live music changed how music was experienced for the interviewee. Interviewee states it massively changed things, and touches on how Lancaster facilitates listening to live music. Talks about live music being an indoor experience, as opposed to modern festivals. Then discusses watching Glastonbury each year to see new music. |
| 00:20:50 – 00:25:00 | Interviewer asks about the influence of rock and roll, and interviewee states that the dance within rock and roll was a lot freer than ballroom dancing. He compares this to Argentine Tango. He then talks about the way in which his wife and he enjoying going to ballrooms in London, and the diversity that was in these spaces, and how this broadened his views, after growing up in a ‘small city’. |
00:25:00 – 00:26:20 | Interviewee discusses moving about, and how these different places provided different experiences. He then returns to dancing, and how this enabled him to make friends. |
| 00:26:20-00:29:20 | Interviewer asks about jukeboxes and how the interviewee interacted with them. Interviewee states that the coffee bars in Chichester didn’t play music at first, but then got a jukebox later on (as well as an expansion of the number of overall coffee bars). He also talks about music being more ‘in the background’ rather than a main feature. Also talks about pubs in London not having jukeboxes but says this may be unusual and says he doesn’t remember anything as grand as the main image of jukeboxes. |
| 00:29:20 –00:32:36 | Post getting married, the interviewee didn’t get to experience as much live music due to raising children, but did experience music through daughter’s dance classes. Also experienced live music in holiday camps, talent shows and holidays abroad and talks about what this was like. |
| 00:32:36 – 00:36:21 | Interviewee discusses the rise of American diners, and that this was where they saw jukeboxes. Then says that many places went from jukeboxes to piped in music, and that jukeboxes ‘didn’t stay around for that long’. Interviewee says they think that this was because places such as pubs and working men’s clubs mainly had live entertainment in them as opposed to jukeboxes. |
| 00:36:21 – 00:38:05 | Interviewee elaborates more on their time in London, where they lived for 30 years, but then talks about moving to Lancaster, and that this was because his son lives here, and they wanted to move into a retirement apartment. |
| 00:38:05 -00:40:30 | Interviewee talks about the music scene in Lancaster, and what they like about it. They discuss the Music Festival, Jazz Festival, and locations such as the Storey and Kanteena as places they frequent to listen to music. Also talks about being part of a drama group at the Dukes called Prime Time, and the research he is doing for this group (the history of punk bands in the local area). |
| 00:40:30 – 00:42:35 | Interviewer asks about jukeboxes from the 70s to the present, and interviewer reaffirms about American diners being the main place to find them. He states that they were not frequently used and became less common to see. Also touches on them becoming something akin to a museum item or novelty. |
| 00:42:35 – 00:47:40 | The interviewee states that his music taste has widened, but states that his favourite is Latin music. Talks about the widening of his taste and talks about using streaming more in the place of physical media and discusses his relationship with changes in physical media over the years. Refers to listening to music and watching Glastonbury to ‘keep up with music’. |
| 00:47:40 – 00:52:40 | Participant expands on changing relationship with music in general, stating that people use it now as ‘wallpaper’, and stating this is a ‘shame’. Talks about taking time out to listen to music, and that this isn’t common now. Also talks about arena concerts, and how this has grown since the 60s, and how this has changed how live music has changed because of this. |
| 00:52:40 – 01:01:35 | Interviewee asked how Chichester and other areas have changed since he lived there. He states that he hasn’t been back to Chichester in a long time. He then talks about London changing, and the loss of ballrooms in London, and the move towards either the large-scale arena events or very small pub music, with the ‘middle ground’ being lost. Northumberland has changed due to having fewer working men’s clubs, and the decline of the mining industry meaning the local area has struggled. States that he is not sure the situation now, but compares it to Lancaster, and the lack of working men’s clubs in Lancaster. |
| 01:01:35 – 01:02:25 | Interviewee is asked if there is anything they wish to discuss they have not already talked about, and they state there is not. The interviewer then thanks the interviewee for their contributions and draws the interview to a close. |
Transcript
00:00:00-00:00:00
To be added when available
Keywords
Places: Chichester; London; Lancaster
Venues: The Storey Institute; The Kanteena
People: [celebrities mentioned in interview (not friends or family]
Organisations: Glastonbury Festival
Subjects: music; ballroom dancing