VINYL

One day Bill discovered that the Number 1 single on the day he was born was Grandad by Clive Dunn – a song so bad, in so many ways, that it is remarkable. VINYL is the natural consequence of that discovery: a track for each year of Bill’s life. As the name suggests, this is an ‘all-vinyl’ show – but be warned: Bill’s record collection is diverse – even perverse. In VINYL, he delves deep into the collection, talking about the tracks and about what the music means to him; about the memories these tracks evoke and the decades that have brought us to where we now are. It is a recalling, a revising and a retelling of what these black plastic discs might be records of.

Aitchison comes across as thoroughly charismatic, and what he has to say is interesting, entertaining and frequently very funny.

London City Nights on VINYL

In the VINYL playlist you can expect anything from the self-styled ‘worst orchestra in the world’ The Portsmouth Sinfonia – to the apocalyptic metal anthem The Final Countdown, via Boy Bands, Buddhist Chants and Bebop. Bill is no normal DJ, and his stories are as diverse, idiosyncratic and pointed as the music he plays.

It’s an ambitious work that tracks the development of British economics and society over the course of five decades … I really enjoyed his British humor, if you like Monty Python’s John Cleese or Rowan Atkinson, you will love Vinyl”

Xiamen Daily on VINYL

VINYL is a show in which Aitchison plays a record from each year of his life and describes personal memories and world events from those years. The show reveals how the individual is both shaped by their society and at the same time navigates their own path through it. He discusses how music is linked with memory and how a song can instantly take us back in time to a particular year of our lives. He does this standing behind a table with two record decks, a mixer and a microphone.

VINYL was created with the support of Arts Council England, New Work Network and Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts (ICIA) Bath. The premiered at ICIA in 2012 and has, since then, been continued to grow with each passing year.

It has been performed at music and theatre venues, in galleries, in bars and clubs, on a bus, at a rock festival and even in a department store. It has travelled around England, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Netherlands, Croatia and China and has been adapted and presented on radio for Resonance FM, Basic FM and Rad Eq.