About Us
Seven by Seven
Seven by Seven was started in July 2019 by Rich and Quest. It was inspired by Quest's experience of taking part in South London Vinyl Experience events in Tooting (run by Garfield Bailey) - and he had the idea of doing something similar when he moved North to Leeds. Rich was keen and Inkwell was initially up for hosting it. The name comes from the B-side of the Hawkwind single Silver Machine - which features in our posters and publicity material.
What we do
Seven by Seven is a friendly open decks vinyl playing session. You can bring along and play seven of your 7” 45rpm vinyl singles* – hence Seven by Seven – or just come and listen to others play. The 7” 45rpm format is the only limitation. We don’t dictate the type of music – you can play whatever you want to, and we relish that variety! We’ll add your name to the list when you arrive, and we play in that order – first come first served. No DJ skills needed, and our ethos is – no pressure, no competition, no egos.
Seven by Seven is a non-commercial operation. We run our sessions purely for the joy of playing records as a shared experience.
* tracks off 7" 45rpm EPs are OK - but no 10", 12" or 33⅓ rpm stuff!
Rich and Quest
Rich and Graeme (aka Quest) are old school friends from Maryport in West Cumbria. Their unlikely alliance was founded in the late 1970s on a common love of music and drinking. Rich was a punk and was the lead singer in legendary Cumbrian group Counter Attack. Quest was a hopeless prog rock fan and Bob Dylan obsessive.
Some history...
Photo by Quest c1980