What were you doing in the early morning of Saturday April 19th 2014? You were either stood in a long line like a loon in the freezing cold or wrapped up in bed enjoying an Easter Saturday lie-in…If you were in the queue, you, like me are a fan of music and were at your local independent record store to support them on Record Store Day. If you were having a lie-in, you can stop reading now as this will mean nothing to you and to be honest, I wouldn’t want to waste my breath on you….
Record Store Day came into being in 2007 when over 700 independent stores in the USA came together to celebrate their unique culture. The UK followed suit and 2014 saw the seventh celebration of the UK's unique independent sector. This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases (predominantly vinyl) and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, meet & greets with artists, DJ's, in store quizzes and many other events.
Rewind to 2011, I received a text message at 02:45 from a friend in London to say that he was queuing at a popular London record store called ‘Rough Trade’, he had been there since 1:30 and was number 56 in the queue…..This made me think, I knew that The Drift Record Shop in Totnes was taking part so I’d best get there early in order to make sure that the 10” white vinyl copy of The Smiths ‘Queen is Dead’ and other exclusives landed safely in my grubby mitts prior to other aficionado’s getting dibs on them. I arrived at 04:30, excited as I was the first in the queue…..it stayed like this until 08:15 when another guy arrived, he asked me how long I had been there and I replied, ”about 10 minutes”….lies !!! Anyway, I got in the shop first and managed to bag my list of goodies as well as some other gems.
Fast forward 3 years, being older (and wiser), I thought I’d have a lie in and arrived at the same record shop (albeit a different location now) at 06:30, horrified to see that there were 7 people in the queue already! I stood in my jeans, T-Shirt and fleece jumper for 2.5 hours, FREEZING cold, watching people sipping warm sweet tea from flasks, I don’t drink tea but I would have gladly paid for a cup just so I could have held a warm cup for 5 minutes! The look on people’s faces as they walked around the corner, seeing there was a queue was amusing, especially the latecomers that had to walk past over 50 people to join the back of the queue, knowing that their chances of getting the exclusive ‘1D’ pic-disc were very slim indeed, scrub that - impossible.
In the extreme cold (-1 degrees), we hardy record buying types huddled close and told tales of RSD past, laughing at the ludicrous times of the night we stood in a line, waiting for a shop to open. I was surprised to see that people had come from far and wide to take part in the festivities, I chatted to people whilst stood in the queue who had all travelled over 25 miles to be there on the day, more on these later.
So, 09:00 came and the doors opened, the 7 people in front of me all made a beeline to the upstairs section of the shop, leaving me able to wander in and bag my copy of the R.E.M. 4 disc set of the 2 ‘Unplugged’ sessions that they took part in for MTV years ago. I also managed to get a copy of the new Pixies album on double vinyl and a copy of a live 12” by Jake Bugg, my last purchase of the day was the live recording from Exeter band The Computers taken from their Christmas Ball that took place on December 19th 2013 at the Exeter Phoenix (I was there and it rocked).
My friend Julian had taken time out of his busy weekend to come and take some photos of the event and these can be seen HERE, he was nice and warm in his fleece AND body warmer, if he was a real friend, he would have let me have the body warmer as it was obvious that I was a lot colder then he was. In fairness, it was my own stupid fault as I should have known that at 06:30 in April, it wasn’t going to be warm! To make up for his reluctance in sharing his outer garments, he did shout me a hot chocolate when we left the store at 09:45 (thanks mate, that really hit the spot).
So, lets go back to when I was standing in the queue, teeth chattering, not really being able to speak properly……I chatted to 5 people and asked them some questions, here’s what I found out….
Name – John Doe (clearly not his real name)
Where have you come from today? – Totnes
What’s on your wishlist?
1. Pink Panther Soundtrack LP
2. Terminator Soundtrack 7”
3. Ghostbusters 10” green vinyl
4. Many many more….
Here’s a picture of ‘John’ with some of his spoils.
Name – Matt Anderson
Where have you come from today? – Plymouth but lives in Barnstaple
What’s on your wishlist?
1. Kodaline LP
2. Illum Sphere remix LP
3. ‘If Music’ compilation
4. Bonobo 10”
5. London Grammar 10”
6. Many more….
Here’s Matt, looking more than happy (somewhat a sinister smile if you ask me but there you go) with his booty (treasure, not an African American female derrier…)
Name – Adam G (who knows what the ‘G’ stands for….)
Where have you come from today? – Cambridge but visiting his nan in Totnes
What’s on your wishlist?
1. Anamanaguchi Soundtrack LP
2. Space Collection
3. Chvrches 7/10/12” exclusive (I forgot which format he said....)
Here’s Adam with his goods
Name – Chris Hodkin
Where have you come from today? – Brixham
What’s on your wishlist?
1. Rammstein 12”
2. Inspiral Carpets ‘Dung For’
3. Computers Live Double LP
4. Jon Hopkins 7” with the girl from Bat for Lashes
Here’s Chris with some of his spoils (his wife had the rest)…
Name – Carl Cashman
Where have you come from today? – Totnes
What’s on your wishlist? (we didn’t actually ask him this as we chatted to his AFTER he had made his purchases!
He had purchased a David Bowie 7” of ‘Rock n’ Roll Suicide’ and ‘Hollow Ponds’ by Damon Albarn.
Here’s Carl with his 2 exclusives….
Here's a picture of me with my beloved R.E.M. Unplugged 4LP set, note the smugness on my face....
Julian and I parted company, I went home to dig the garden, I think he had his in-laws down for the weekend. I returned to the store at 16:30 as I heard that The Computers were due to play an exclusive in-store show at 17:30
To open up the proceedings, we were entertained by the dulcet tones of Andy Watts who used to be the drummer with The Seahorses and after a quick chat after his performance, I discovered that he was at York University with an old school friend of mine (aka The Faz).
Andy Watts live at 'Drift Record Shop' April 19th 2014 - Record Store Day
The whirlwind of bryl-creem and quiffs which are The Computers took to the stage and belted out a 6 song set, comprising of some great tracks from their recent LP ‘Love Triangles, Hate Squares’ available HERE.
The Computers live at 'Drift Record Shop' April 19th 2014 - Record Store Day
3 of the 5 members had arrived and they sounded great with just keyboard, drums, acoustic guitar and vocals, they really got the crowd going which was just what we needed after being up since the early hours!
I understand there was an ‘after show’ party at the South Devon Arts Centre in Totnes which went on way past my bedtime, I’m sure the kids managed to have a great time!
Stand out moments for me during 2014 RSD included a super keen collector arriving at 03:00 to make sure he bagged a copy of the One Direction 7” Pic Disc and the Kylie 7” and chatting to a young lady who was desperate for the 1D Pic Disc having already spent over £5k on their merchandise….takes all sorts I guess!
Casting the net wider, I heard that Jack White recorded an exclusive 7” record at his studios in America, it was cut and sent to a pressing plant and returned back to the studios in a couple of hours where copies were sold to all that attended the show, talk about a rare limited exclusive!
You can watch a video of this below.
So, where does this leave me for RSD 2015, am I likely to get my ass out of bed at 02:30 to stand in a line to bag a few records? I can’t say I will, but then, you never know. It’s not so much the standing and waiting (and cold) that you remember, it’s the conversations that you have with other people who are as passionate about music as you are. I have made some great friends doing just this over the past couple of years so long may RSD continue…
Musicmuso would like to thank Rupert and his many helpers from The Drift Record Shop in Totnes for allowing us in to take photos on the day and for their dedication and love of great music that ensures that prospective buyers receive the best information from knowledgeable, friendly members of staff.