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“This is supposed to be a hobby,” said Peter Howard from behind his counter at Sifters Records in Burnage. “The last two weeks have been no hobby, trust me, it’s been mayhem.
“They’ve been queuing out the door and down the street, and I’ve just sat here selling with my head down, ‘Don’t look up, if you look up you panic’. I’ve had no chance to play with my box of 45s.”
Sifters Records
A musical Mecca for many
When Peter set up Sifters in April 1977, his ambitions were much the same as they are now: a place to buy in collections and sell them to local record lovers.
“We started with bugger all to be honest,” Peter explained. “Then we went round the houses, collected some more LPs and stuck them in, and that was the start. We got cheap rent because we had a plumber upstairs, and we had to answer his phone.
“We were very happy with the rent, but then when people were ringing up while we were busy on a Saturday, saying they’ve got a burst pipe and giving us a load of abuse, the novelty wore off a bit,” he said with a chuckle.
It would be at least another ten years before Sifters’ most famous customer, Noel Gallagher, would walk in to spend his roadie wages (or his dole) on second-hand records. Another five years followed before this slim and unassuming shop on Fog Lane would be immortalised on Shakermaker, the second single on Definitely Maybe, and one of a collection of songs written in building site prefabs and then performed to millions across the world.
Which Oasis song mentions Sifters Records?
Cain and Abel
Thanks to Noel’s nod to Mr Sifter, this local spot in a quiet suburb of South Manchester then became part of a mythology still adored 30 years later, especially in the last year alongside the media circus that has surrounded the band’s return to the stage.
“He mentioned at the time that the song was already in the pipeline, and then we were waiting with bated breath for it to come on the radio,” remembers Peter. “It’s a bit of the runt of the pack compared to the other singles but he said it’s grown on him since. We had people coming in for autographs and to take pictures, no selfies then but the same sort of thing.”
Musical pilgrimages from around the world
Even in the fifteen years between the band’s sudden but not unexpected split in 2009 and the sudden, and very much unexpected, announcement of a reunion last summer, Sifters still saw regular pilgrimages by fans from all over the world. But while the steady stream of Japanese and South American tourists became a part of life for Peter, the interest in his shop skyrocketed on 27 August 2024.
“The day they announced the reunion it was even worse in here. We had the press and TV lot waiting for me outside, and I don’t open til 1 o’clock,” laughed Peter.
“I could see them as I drove past, checking their watches and moaning, a fella from the Evening News saying ‘What time do you call this?’ I said, ‘I’m prolonging my career’. Two hours of tedious interviews, we could’ve just done a press conference.”
Oasismania returns to Manchester
In the weeks running up to the Heaton Park gigs, the sense of Oasismania building across the city centre could be seen in Burnage as fans descended on Sifters in a bid to get a glimpse of the Oasis origin story.
“It’s been an event,” he said. “People have come from Australia, America, South Korea, Japan, it’s like a holiday with Oasis performing in the middle of it.
“It’s been great, they’ve all come in with bags of merch and clothes, they must have spent loads. And the band will be making billions, so they don’t really need to do anything else unless they want to. They wanted to do it for fun, and they certainly don’t need the money now.”
While the association with rock ‘n’ roll’s Cain and Abel has no doubt helped keep the Sifters till in operation, Peter has no plans to cash in on his part in the band’s mythology, instead opening up at 1 pm every day for the same reasons he did back in 1977.
What does the future hold for Mr Sifter?
Mr Sifter
“I don’t need much money,” he said. “I’ve got my pension. I just need to make a bit, which I’m quite happy with. If I last another three years, that’d be good. I’ll be 80 in three years, so I’m aiming for that, and then anything after that will be a bit of a bonus.
“I’ll be quite happy to return to normality. I don’t even like playing Oasis in here because I don’t want people thinking, ‘Bloody Sifter, does he ever let up? He’s obsessed.”
You can see what’s happening at Sifters Records by clicking here
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