Horace Panter hits the nail on the head. No, you don't want one. No, you wouldn't use one even if you had it. Still, there's something about a Sony Walkman. Go on, try and think of your first Walkman without a hint of a smile playing on your lips, without a ghost of a memory taking you right back to where you where when you played your first mix tape. A popular internet meme shows a picture of a cassette and a pencil and claims that future generations will never guess the connection between the two. Horace Panter's latest exhibition aims to captures something of the magic of this time of possibility and innocence. The days before live streaming. The days where nothing said "I love you" like a homemade compilation of your favourite pop songs, maybe even with some detailed DIY artwork on the cover, if you had it bad for someone.
In between touring with The Specials, Horace has joined forces with artists Morgan Howell and Chris Barton for the exhibition 'Cassette versus Vinyl'. It showcases spectacular visual representations of these pieces of musical history and is steeped in nostalgia.
"These things, they're more than just artefacts. They're kind of repositories of memory. The number of blokes who come up to me at the openings, nudge me with their elbows, look at the cassettes and go, "I've got a box load of those in my garage" or, "I remember." The number of sentences that start with, "I remember" – it's amazing! I'm really proud that this tiny, stupid disposable piece of early music technology can have such great emotional weight and memory attached."
For a trip down musical memory lane, get thee to The Ebow Gallery for the exhibition which runs until August 23rd. Boombox optional.
Click here for the full interview.