It was back in 2006 when Jason Leach, a British musician, stated ruminating about his own death and mortality, something which most of us cope with using consultations or spending time with the people we love.
For Leach, however, it was different, coming with a specific instruction as to how we want his body to be treated when he finally passes. For people, this usually means choosing a specific place to be buried, or even choosing what jar to use for their ashes after cremation. Leach, however, wanted something more unusual at the time: He wanted his ashes to be pressed into a fully working vinyl record.
Of course, it's a different subject to talk about with friends and family, so Leach turned to the next best thing: the internet. Leach said, "I put a website that explored the whole concept of doing it myself. Various media outlets then picked up the story soon after, giving Leach a lot of press.
Leach then soon found out that he's not the only one who has tinkered with the idea, resulting And Vinyly, a service that presses records with the ashes of deceased family members. It took a few years to get off of the ground, but now, the service, which is co-owned by Leach and his friends, can now press 30 records at a time.
In fact, having access to a production system that is relatively small is key to the service's success, as there are very few like them in the market, or even in the world.
He said, "It was never intended to be a commercial venture. It was an idea I had for something and wanted to do it myself. It suddenly got picked up by the media and sort of became a real thing."
The process
The process is quite simple. Leach just sprinkles a client's ashes onto a plastic puck before it is pressed/squeezed by a record press. While it looks good, adding ash to records has its own downside when it comes to fidelity, which is something that Leach himself spent some time on to prevent and guarantee a record functioned properly.
Furthermore, the company has also been successful in reaching out to musicians to include snippets of their own songs in the records. Presently, the Leach and his friends have produced around 50 different projects for clients based in the US, UK, Mexico, and Norway, among other places.
