Gift guide for gig-goers and music-lovers

Christmas is 11 sleeps away! Eleven! There’s really not much time left to get your gifts ready, so I’ve put together another gift guide to spark some inspo. Music related gifts are something I love to both give and receive. Me and my dad’s gifts to each other usually feature a music-based theme.

Some of the following products have been gifted to me for this blog post – these will be marked with an *.

Let’s start with the biggies and work our way down. It’s like internet shopping where you can search by price high to low or low to high (who ever searches high to low though, really?) Read this post from bottom to top if you want stocking filler – big gifts, top to bottom for show stoppers to extra bits.

Crosley Cruiser Turntable

I got my record player back in 2015 and I still love it just as much as I did three Christmases ago. The cruisers are a vintage suitcase style which comes in a wide range of colours. I got turquoise to match my bedroom décor. Not only to they function as a three-speed record player, but you can also connect an aux cable to play your phone through the speakers. You can also connect the record player to other speakers to enhance the volume of your favourite record. I got mine from Urban Outfitters, where you can still pick one up for under £100.

Crosley Harper Bluetooth Speaker

I received this as a gift the year after my record player in 2016. The Crosley Harper speaker is the perfect companion for my cruiser, and when connected to the record player, increases the volume and sound of the records. They have a 1950’s look about them which, as a vintage-lover, I adore. It’s also wireless with six hours of playback and can connect to your mobile with Bluetooth. I can’t actually find these on sale anywhere at the minute, they’re like golddust, but I do highly recommend all of Crosley Radio’s speakers.

Vinyl case

Every vinyl collector needs a vinyl case! I managed to find this one on Amazon for under £30, and the colour is identical to my record player. These help protect vinyls and stop them warping or breaking. It also means all of your music is kept in one place. Speaking of vinyl – those make pretty awesome gifts too.

Gig tickets/festival tickets

Last year, Jake’s mum bought us tickets to Tramlines Festival. Early bird tickets for this festival are around the £30-40 mark, so if you bag them early they’re a fab gift! It gives the receiver an experience, which is something I’m all for this year. A lot of my wish list is experiences where I can spend time doing things I enjoy with people I love and making memories. It also gives the receiver something to look forward to in the summer, so the feeling of the gift lasts a lot longer!

TX-40 Gioteck Stereo Headset*

The TX-40 is actually a gaming headset, compatible with consoles such as the Xbox One and PS4. It also has a regular 3.5mm aux that can be plugged into most devices for listening use. I’ve been testing them out with my laptop and phone this week and I can honestly say they are the best headphones I’ve ever used.

They produce a crystal clear sound and are super comfortable, cancelling out most outside noise. The part that covers the ear is a velvety material and heavily cushioned for comfort. They are easy to adjust to fit your head and their copper detailing design is very stylish. These are certainly going to get their use as I continue to review music as it allows me to hear every component in a track, which is something regular headphones just don’t provide. I can also see Jake stealing these for when he’s on his Xbox but he’ll have to prise them from me first. The headset retails at £34.99 and the price certainly reflects the quality for a pair of headphones.

Oasis Vinyl Clock*

Local indie business The Music Store gifted me a couple of items for this post, with this funky Oasis clock being one of them. The £19.99 clock is an authentic vinyl record that has been fashioned into a cool and quirky clock. The front features an iconic image of the five-piece band, with Liam at the forefront. At the bottom there is a wordcloud of lyrics to Wonderwall, and the ‘hands’ are guitar inspired.

This would look perfect on a ‘music wall’ in someone’s bedroom, featuring posters and prints. Any Oasis fan would love something a bit different like this.

Bowie t-shirt*

I like to try and stick to a bit of a formula when buying gifts, and ‘something to wear’ is one of those categories that I think is good to stick to. This can range from perfume, to accessories, to your classic band tee.

I love this classic Diamond Dogs vintage tshirt as it looks well loved. Its muted colours looks like you’ve had it in your wardrobe since the album came out in ’74.

The Music Store have hundreds of music related tees, with a lot of band tee’s being on their 2 for £25 offer (meaning you can always get one for yourself too!).

The Music Store can be found on the upper mall at intu Potteries, but they’ve recently relocated their Music Store Pro store to the lower mall. The Pro store sells all the gear for the musician in your life, from guitars and keyboards, to pedals and accessories.

Books

I love to read the autobiographies of my favourite musicians. Most recently I loved Johnny Marr’s Set the Boy Free. It provides insight into their life that can’t be done in any other way and who doesn’t want to know the ins and outs of a rock ‘n’ roll stars life? These are two books that I bought my dad last year, one being 1001 Albums you Must Hear Before you Die, and The Beginners Guide to Vinyl.

Wood and Ink prints*

I discovered Wood and Ink earlier in the year when I purchased A4 prints of Liam and Noel Gallagher for Jake, and David Bowie for my dad. Mark often puts on half price deals where you can bag a print for a fiver! I like to put them into £2.50 Wilko A4 frames, and they look fab.

On Black Friday I purchased another print as a gift, alongside three postcard prints for myself. I thought that the package was a bit chunky when it arrived. Mark surprised me with some two extra large prints and the whole collection of A-Z postcard prints.

Wood and Ink are drawing their way through the alphabet of legendary musicians, starting with Alex Turner, and ending with Ziggy Stardust. These hand drawn prints are in pointillism style, it’s Ludacris that he only sells them for £10, let alone dishing out half price codes! The postcard prints are just £1.75, too.

One of the additional prints I was sent is of Bob Marley, and I have decided to donate this to Cardiac Risk in the Young to raise money for the Jordan Burndred Memorial Fund. Jordan was a close friend of mine and he tragically lost his life after a series of freak heart attacks on holiday in 2015. He loved Bob Marley, so when this print came I knew I had to do something in his memory with it. I’m hoping his mum, Nicola, can raffle it off to raise money and awareness, and someone can hang it proudly in their home.

Space Oddity Gifts

Space Oddity Gifts is an independent brand I have followed on Instagram since the beginning of the year. In February, I won two music prints from them. Their modern lyric prints are gorgeous and very instagrammable. I have a David Bowie – Moonage Daydream print that says ‘I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin bitch for you’ and Kasabian’s ‘You’re in love with a psycho’.

Prints start at £6.99 and go up to £11 – if you can’t see what you’re looking for though, Space Oddity Gifts also create custom orders from £15! There are also some non-music related prints, from TV and film, to general quotes. I love the style and colours they use and I can’t wait to pick a few more up for the office.

David Bowie heat changing mug*

Heat changing mugs will literally change your life. This Aladdin Sane mug from The Music Store is black when cold, and features Bowie’s eye with the signature lightening flash which I have lovingly inked on my ribcage forever. When hot water is poured in, the mug reveals the rest of bowies face and the mug turns white.

Heat changing mugs remind you before your brew goes cold, and means you don’t have to do the taste test to check if it’s actually cold. You can also see, as the mug cools to black, where the tea/coffee reaches optimum drinking temperature. Told you they were a godsend.

Vinyl coasters

Every good music mug needs a funky coaster to rest on. We can’t buy expensive coasters in our house because Frank eats them (six in the past seven months if you should know. These vinyl record inspired coasters were actually from Poundland! You get four in a pack and they’re each a different colour! These would make an awesome stocking filler or secret Santa gift!