We’re delighted to feature Billie Egan, one half of Spinner Town Blanks, a UK-based supplier specializing in high-quality blank recordable discs, diamonds, sleeves, and accessories for the lathe-cutting world. With firsthand expertise from running their own cutting and mastering studio, Pressure Mastering, Billie and the team understand the technical demands and product needs of cutters.

Spinner Town Blanks was created to provide reliable, high-quality products. After years of research and testing, their materials help cutters achieve superior sound quality, reduce waste, and produce cuts that rival pressed records. Passionate about elevating the craft, they are dedicated to empowering cutters with the tools and knowledge needed to create exceptional lathe cuts. With more innovative products on the way, they’re committed to supporting the cutting community at every step.

Outside of work Billie is caring for her young son as well as, "I love to go to gigs, soundsystem nights and I make jewellery when I get chance".

How did you get into your industry / What motivated you?

Music has always been a big part of my life and the people I hung round with. Lots of people doing cool things, making music, organising gigs / festivals and running record labels, so just made sense to start getting involved.

Before this I helped run a label called Woodland Records with my partner (who is also the other half of Spinner Town); he started cutting records because we were struggling to find someone to do lathe cut runs for our label. Then we discovered that getting supplies for lathe cutting could be a difficult operation, so we decided to step into that roll.

What is a day in the life like?

Well at the moment we work from home and have an 8 month old baby, so I split my time between the two. I do the businesses accounts and emails, so when our son is napping I get on with that. I also design the Spinner Shape Discs, I was a silversmith before we started the business so its nice to do something a little creative.

In your opinion what has been your favorite / the coolest thing you've worked on?

Making blank discs and diamonds unfortunately isn't the most exiting part of the industry but it does make me feel good being able to supply lathe cutters. I know from witnessing my partner's stress when he was a cutting records, how bad the supply chain was before us and we constantly have people messaging thanking us for helping them, which is a nice bonus!

What has been / is the most difficult part of your job?

We are a very new business (opened in March) so when things go wrong it is still a worry as to wether we can ride the storm. So far so good.

What advice do you have for someone wanting to get into pursuing what you’re doing?

...find your niche and if you're passionate... will be off to a good start.

I think its the same with anything, find your niche and if you're passionate, care about your product and the people you are supplying to, you will be off to a good start. The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls is the best place to get any information you need about getting into any part of the the lathe cutting industry.

Are you a vinyl collector yourself? What drew you to it? If not, why the vinyl industry?

Yes I love collecting vinyl. I am lucky to have parents with good music taste. My mums vinyl collection I suppose would have been my main influence, when i first got a record player she lent me some of her records to get me going, I had Kate Bush, The Kinks, The Cure, The Fall, so I just carried on from there. Now I own those records myself and gave hers back.

What types of things are happening in your industry / with vinyl that you’re excited or worried about? i.e. innovation, or trends you’re seeing.

I am very excited about where the industry is going, it is having a bit of a boom at the moment, new lathes are appearing on the market, suppliers are working together and things are really moving forward. We are also helping to organise a lathe cutters meet up in March in London, which I am especially looking forward to.

Who has been influential to you and your growth as a professional in this industry? 

Mike Dixon, he is the expert in Presto Lathes and embossing. The way he does business and helps people is something that we admired and are hopefully emulating. We are lucky to be working with him now.

Anything else you’d like to add; if not tell us what you're listening to: 

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, they reissued my favourite album Horse of the Dog on vinyl a couple years ago (a bonus of getting older, albums that came out before you collected vinyl start to be repressed), I play it whenever I get a chance.