OOPS, THERE goes the knighthood! While the rest of England’s been getting itself into a David Beckham-induced lather, Andy Lown is delighted that Glenn Hoddle’s boys came home early from the World Cup.

“Too bloody right,” acknowledges the Tower Europe and Middle East M.D. “Our sales were 20% down on the same period last year, which cost us a huge amount of money. We sold loads of copies of ‘Vindaloo’ but that was about it! I’m sure I’ll get lynched for saying it but David Beckham and David Batty did us a huge favour!”

At 32, Lown is the youngest MD in Tower’s worldwide operation and is what’s known in the industry as a “fast-tracker”. Joining the company in 1986 as a sales assistant in their Kensington store, he made branch manager within two years and immediately upped annual turnover from £14 to £18 million. By 1992 he was general manager of the entire London operation and was promoted to his present post in July 1996.

“I know this is going to sound like me doing my one big happy family bit, but Tower genuinely care about the people that work for them and are quick to reward hard work and initiative. That ethos comes from the bloke who started it all off 30 years ago in Sacramento, Russ Solomon. As far as he’s concerned there’s only one question that matters when taking on staff – ‘do you give a shit about music?’

“I was in California two weeks ago for what they call ‘a convergence’,” Lown continues, “and the first thing Russ asked me was ‘who are these Massive Attack guys?’ He’s aged 72 and he’s getting into trip-hop!”

Solomon is in many ways cut from the same cloth as Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner. He’s a diehard music fan who basically started Tower because he wanted more people to hear Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

“Yeah, and he wants to turn people on to whoever this year’s Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane are. Russ is always going ‘range, range, range’, which is what gives Tower the upper-hand over its rivals.”

If Alan McGee’s to be believed, the likes of Andy Lown will soon be fully au fait with Britain’s social welfare system. Is the UK music industry really heading for its worst recession in 20 years, or is the Creation boss just indulging his penchant for stirring things up?

“Well, if we are heading for recession it’s because people like Alan have been signing too many shit bands,” he laughs. “I remember the same thing being said four or five years ago, and then Britpop came along. Barren periods are invariably followed by an explosion of some sort.

“I was at a big fancy EMI do the other night, at which they presented the new Robbie Williams, Mansun and Supernaturals albums. None of them would be my favourite artists but all three records were bloody brilliant. Shed Seven dying a death says more, I think, about Shed Seven than it does the industry. Words I may regret next year when I’m working in McDonald’s!”

Lown is equally unfazed by that other supposed enemy of the high street record store – the Internet.

“We were on the ‘Net at www.towerrecords.com long before it was the cool thing to do and recognise its almost limitless potential as a marketing tool. You’ve just bought a BB King CD in my store? Okay, I’ll e-mail you when the box-set comes out. You’re an Irvine Welsh fan? We haven’t got a publication date for his new book yet but, when we do, we’ll zap it through along with a list of other authors and titles you might be interested in.

“As for getting rid of all the middle-men by sticking your album on the ‘Net – it’s a lovely idea which’ll probably work for established artists but it’ll leave new bands up the creek without a paddle because no-one will know who they are. I’m not convinced yet that virtual promotion works. You need in-stores, point of sales, rack space and Tower Records staff telling customers how great you are!”

Of more concern to Lown are the supermarket chains that have taken to stocking the top 30 as a loss leader.

“I don’t care what spin they put on it. These arseholes are using an art-form to flog more beans, bacon and bread. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but, as a protest, we stuck a fruit & veg stall in Piccadilly. We had a top 20 chart with aubergines at number one and pineapples the highest new entry, and made our point through the media coverage we generated.

“My worry,” he continues, “is that their share of the market will grow to the point where they start making demands of artists and labels. It’s happened already in the States with the likes of K-Mart refusing to stock records because they object to the artwork or the title of one of the songs. I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interests for Sainsbury’s to be calling the shots.”

Told about Quinnsworth’s recent diversification into the CD business, Lown quips: “We may have to bring our fruit & veg stall over to Ireland for its summer holidays.” That’s not all Maurice Pratt has to worry about. Such is the success of their Dublin megastore – sales rose by over 60% last year – that Tower are planning to open five “Express” outlets in the Republic.

“We’re actively looking for sites,” he reveals. “I appointed an agent last week so it’s all systems go. Nothing’s written in stone but I’d imagine us having a couple more outlets in Dublin and two or three in other parts of the country.”

While these will probably be smaller than their existing stores, Lown insists that they’ll carry just as much product.

“When we opened in Glasgow in 1991, it was perceived that we needed about 16,000 square feet to stock what we felt was necessary range-wise. Since then, purchasing techniques, distribution and training have improved to the extent that when we opened our Camden store six months ago, we only needed 4,500 square feet. Not only that but we managed to squeeze in 20% more titles.

“Eight years ago, maybe, we’d have thought ‘we can’t go to Galway ‘cos Galway can’t sustain a 15,000 square feet operation’. Well, maybe Galway can’t, but we can stick in a Tower Express and do exactly the same job. Russ loves the idea and when he’s excited about something, it happens.”

TALES FROM THE TOWER

Stevo Berube, Head of Marketing and Promotions for Tower Ireland, recalls some of the drama and all round weird (in one case, literally) shit that has distinguished the store’s first five years in Ireland. Peter Murphy takes note.

1. The East 17 Riot

“This was back in ’93 as part of our grand opening. East 17 hadn’t quite broken Ireland yet, although they were just making a bit of a buzz in London. Funnily enough, they weren’t even the main act we booked – the headliner as part of our opening festivities was Loudon Wainwright! Needless to say, we had this mob of about 2,000 people outside the doors and the Guards shut us down. The front door was broken with the mob trying to push through.

“But the managing director of Tower Europe at the time, Ken Sockolov, was over for the grand opening, and during the mayhem he went missing. The Guards let us open the door to have 500 people in, so when we regrouped, we were looking out at the crowd from the first floor window, and somebody noticed that Ken was stuck in the middle of the whole thing, effing and blinding and fists in the air. The Guards wouldn’t allow us to open the door even to let him in.”

2. The Great Tower Fire

“The fire happened on July 19th 1994. It was arson. Also that week, a music shop down the road and the Bad Ass Café had fires and they were also closed down. One of the good memories from a negative scenario was that there was such a bonding of the staff, who were all made redundant, that everybody took shifts at night in the store as sentries, because we still had a lot of stock left. You’d be sitting there overnight wearing a hard hat, and because the Fire Brigade had sprayed everywhere, the mould was growing, and it was one big fuzzy shell. Very surreal.”

3. Shoplifters Of The World Unite

“I remember we had the Horny Organ Tribe in once, we let them have a club in the middle of the day and let all the dance heads have a laugh, a real experience. But security at the time wasn’t great, we were very restricted, and a haven for shoplifters. But we had one little camera focused on one of the biggest shoplifters in town, this guy was famous, and he was at it while the Horny Organ Tribe were playing. And just as we got the videotape going, right at the point of where we were gonna catch him, this guy on stilts from the Tribe saw the camera and decided to have a laugh, dancing and movin’ around in front of it, off his head. Needless to say, we lost the guy, who to this day has been all over town shoplifting.”

4. Video Nasty

“One evening this fella who was a bit inebriated, to put it politely, was asking if he could use the toilet. We asked him, as we usually do, to use the nearest pub. Anyway, he left, and we didn’t think much of it. But later that evening, we noticed the smell. In one of the aisles in the video department, he’d left us a little present. So poor Angela, who was the video manager at the time, took responsibility of cleaning it up. Turd duty! We also had another fella who took a bit of offence to the gay video section once and relieved himself all over it.”

5. Paranoid Android

“At the grand re-opening, we had Gavin Friday doing an in-store, and he requested that the lights be turned out, ’cos he wanted a mood, he had candles. So we said ‘Why not?’ Nobody could see a thing, it was complete blackness. But while this was going on, we got a phone call saying that they had a bomb threat at the back of Switzer’s. We couldn’t really evacuate, and anyway, they said we were far enough away. So we saw the controlled robot blowing this thing up 40 yards from our door. Grand openings are becoming a drama, so we’re gonna restrict them!”