IN THE HOTSEAT: Jason How, Rotosound

Chairman of iconic British string brand Rotosound, all-round good egg, and venturer on the psychedelic sea of cosmic vibration (or something), Jason How is this week’s Hotseat visitor…

Name: Jason How

Job Title: Chairman, Rotosound

What does that involve? Something from every part of the business from machine building to marketing and on the road sales. I enjoy it all so I tend to spend my time where I am most useful to the company

The best thing about running Rotosound? The total variety of the job and the satisfaction of having it all 99% in house and controllable. It seems to me that through tricky times the fact we manufacture always comes back to being the best thing we ever did.

And the worst? Well I think sales is the most frustrating bit in some respects, especially when the market is challenging. I am always (as most company owners do) thinking of ways of getting more customers.

How do you stand out in the string market? We push our manufacturing, heritage and innovation when it comes to all the pioneering strings my father came up with. Keep our sales team pro-active and customer relations strong whether it be here in the UK or overseas, it’s all important! Of course we do our fair share of marketing, social media and advertising too…

I know you’ve produced some pretty good music yourself recently, anything new in the pipeline? Oh, well I have a love hate relationship with my stuff as I am sure many budding musicians do. The first album (The Tall English Sun) and latest album (Speedboat On A Magic Sea) is up on iTunes here 

Other songs/demos I have up on Soundcloud here. I also have a website www.jasonhow.com plug plug plug. Ha ha.

Pick three Desert Island Discs… Argh not that question! Almost impossible as I love loads of different stuff but at this moment I could say – Julian Cope – World Shut Your Mouth; Television – Marquee Moon; The Dentists –  Some People Are On The Pitch They Think Its All Over, It Is Now

If you had a golden rule, what would it be? Stick to a plan and focus your energy

What was the last thing you bought in a music store? Some drum silencers pads or whatever they are called a couple of months back from Abbey Music in Tunbridge Wells (and I never asked for a discount!).

Ever had a job outside the industry? I was an instrument maker (navigational instruments) in a small company called Francis Barker when I left college, basically engineering and that was a great grounding after being at college before I came and worked for Rotosound. Then I spent a year at a company called Epps Specialist Cars where I was doing all kinds of mechanical work on a wide variety of high end sports cars.

Best advice you’ve ever been given? Marry a genius then you can make it look like you are smart.

Worst? Shut down your manufacturing and buy it all in from China….

What would you call your autobiography? God loves a trier

Do you do Twitter? If so how do we follow you? Well, not much but I do have a twitter account and it’s @jasonhowmusic