Vinyl Records + Environmental Innovation – Billy Bones, Clampdown Records Ep. 14

Billy Bones is the owner and founder of Clampdown Record Pressing, one of the greenest vinyl record pressing plants in the world. He joins One Step Beyond at Cadence HQ to discuss his part in making vinyl records in a sustainable and environmental innovative way. We go deep into Billy’s intriguing past – He shares how he first got into vinyl records, his adventures touring with his bands and his entrepreneurial history, which stretches back to his high school years, running a bus depot before and after school. We glean some insight into how his past, as a rule breaker and disruptor, has influenced his push to innovate in a traditional industry and making sustainability top of mind when pressing records. He shares how his business is doing this today and lets us in on new areas of innovation he’s working towards.

On this episode we talk about:
• His full legal name.
• Where the entrepreneurial spirit in him comes from and the many businesses he created.
• Shares stories of resilience and not waiting for permission.
• Why he started Clampdown.
• How records are typically made.
• Shared interesting stories about copper masters and Japanese lacquer discs
• His personal views around environmental sustainability.
• Future innovation to replace PVC with a bio-degradable material.
• The environmental advantage of his pressing equipment.
• Recycling old records into new product.
• How he pursues happiness through following what feels true to him.
• Authenticity as part of the value proposition.
• 24 hours in the Hammer story.

About our guest:
Billy Bones is the owner and founder of Clampdown Records. Clampdown is a boutique record pressing plant in Vancouver, Canada. Specializing in short runs and custom colour vinyl including splatter, pressing both 7” and 12” records, they are also one of the greenest record pressing plants in the world. Their closed-circuit system uses recycled water. While other plants use gas-burning hot water boilers to heat their molds, Clampdown’s steam-less hot water unit runs on electricity. Even their electricity is clean, it’s produced using hydro power (rather than gas, nuclear or coal). They are also committed to providing environmentally friendly packages with vinyl pressed from recycled records and our record jackets are printed on recycled paper.

Connect with Billy and Clampdown through the following channels:
• Instagram:@Clampdownpressing
• Twitter: @ClampdownPress
• Website: Clampdown Record Pressing

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