Tributes paid to "Teesside legend" behind beloved record shop Sound it Out

12 June 2023, 00:00 | Written by The Line of Best Fit

(News)

(Benefits)

Tributes have been paid to Tom Butchart, the owner of much loved record store Sound it Out, who died suddenly last week.

Butchart’s store in Stockton-on-Tees rose to fame as the subject of Jeanie Finlay's 2010 documentary which spotlighted the resilience of independent record shops and the people who keep them alive.

A linchpin of the Tesside music scene, Butchart started out with a part-time job at another Stockton record shop Off The Tracks, before it went out of business in October 1996. Two years later, he took over Sound it Out from former owner Brian Alfred and was preparing to celebrate 25 years behind the counter.

Filmmaker Finlay was friends with Butchart since her teens, she explained in a public post: “He was my true friend, my bones-deep friend… He was the DJ at our wedding and my last birthday, he’d send me links to random music he thought I’d like - he soundtracked my life.”

Kingsley Hall, frontman of Teesside noiseband Benefits noted how Butchart supported “every musical project” he was involved with, even putting out the first ever release from Hall’s earlier band The Chapman Family on his own label. “‘Is Tom in?’ were were the first words said when we’d walk through the door past the mountain of knackered old 70s hits vinyl. Pretty much every record I bought in SIO has been from a recommendation by Tom. I say ‘pretty much’ as he’d rib me endlessly when I’d buy 80s hair metal or Queen records… his passion and knowledge was infectious, I trusted him on every suggestion he gave and he never let me down.”

London promoter/label Sonic Cathedral added: "Despite lots of emails over the years, I never got to meet him in person. The one time I visited the shop back in 2018 he wasn’t there. Clearly one of the good guys. RIP, Tom."