My name is Steve Davis and I have a vinyl problem. I love music but wouldn't say I'm a music lover. I like my own music but then doesn't everybody? Having no real grasp of reality - I play a game of potting balls in a hole with a stick - I started collecting for the pursuit of collecting. That's it, my life is a shell.
When did you first discover music?
When I was at school. I wasn't keen on the 'in' groups of the time like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Cockney Rebel, Yes, or Genesis; I was a bit more off the wall. Along with my mate Neil Rogers, I went for the next level of progressive music - bands like Soft Machine, Caravan and Gentle Giant. We used to go to concerts together wearing our Afghan coats. It was around this time in the early 70's I discovered Magma, my true obsession.
When was the first time you heard them?
It was at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse in London where I'd gone to watch the support act, Isotope. I was 17. I had planned to go home before Magma came on but I hung around and had the most musically life-changing experience of my life. I came out in shock; they blew me away. If I had a time machine and could go back to re-live one day of my life, it would be that one.
How would you describe their sound?
They are the musical equivalent of Marmite - you either like them or you don't. They were a Seventies phenomenon but a bit too far out there for most people, even if you liked progressive music. I didn't dare put them on the communal record player at sixth-form because they would have been booed off. Maybe it's because they were French.
Are you offended if people say they are rubbish?
No, I've learnt to keep my mouth shut. While I think they are the best thing I've ever heard - challenging, stimulating, powerful - my wife thinks they've got a pact with the devil. People generally just go: [puffs out his cheeks and shakes his head] sorry!
Didn't you promote a concert for them?
In the late Eighties, I thought it would be nice if they came over to London to do a gig, so I set up Interesting Promotions to promote it. Well, I paid the bill is what I really mean. I never realised that there were 14 of them in the band, which raised the overheads slightly. They did three nights at the Bloomsbury theatre; the last night was a sell-out. I'd done my nuts [spent too much money], too, so it was great. Then I went back to [whispers] playing snooker.
Would you ever do it again?
Interesting Promotions sits there on the loss sheet, so probably not. What would be good, though, is if you could get all of the Canterbury jazz rock bands together and create a festival. They do a similar thing in America called Prog Fest.
So you must know Magma quite well now?
Yes, but I don't pester the life out of them. I admire them from afar. A couple of them came down to the snooker club with me when they were over and smashed a few balls around. The main guy, a jazz drummer called Christian Vander, is my hero. They had their 30-year anniversary in France a couple of years ago and it was brilliant. They are still making music and it's even better than before, I think.
What else do you listen to?
I've switched from the jazz funk era of the Eighties back to my roots and am listening to Seventies soul again. It was a great time for music and anybody who hasn't delved into that era is missing out. Everyone has a special relationship with their record collection - it's just that mine is bigger than most. I've never listened to all my records and I never will. I couldn't tell you how many I have because they fill an entire room and are all over my house.
When did you start seriously collecting?
During the mid-Eighties when I used to listen to Robbie Vincent's show on a Saturday night. I blame him for what's happened to me since. He played records I couldn't get in my local shop and which I found out were only available on seven-inch singles. I was more into vocal stuff at the time and began collecting original 45s made for jukeboxes. All of the artists were unknown to me but I went mad collecting them.
Are you still discovering new stuff?
All the time. There are new artists out there making quite progressive stuff that is both fascinating and challenging to listen to. Soul music has been hijacked these days. R'n'B can mean anything now; it's been completely bastardised. I listen to proper R'n'B. Also, I've just bought an iPod so I'm listening to more music than ever.
Do you dance to music?
I don't do dancing if I can help it. I listen to my iPod all the time, though; at tournaments, out running, even with I'm playing on-line poker, which is another obsession of mine. I've upset people at functions because I refuse to dance. Karaoke? Nah, that is cold sweat material.
Steve Davis appears in the Ladbrokes poker.com Poker Million tournament on Sky Sports 1 from 26 March.