A couple of months ago, I saw a rare vinyl picture disc copy of one of my favourite albums of all time (Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm) on eBay. I didn’t own a record player, but as there were only 500 copies of this particular item, I felt obliged to put a bid in for it. Fast-forward a week and all of a sudden I was effectively the proud owner of quite an expensive and oversized coaster. I’d been contemplating getting involved in the vinyl music scene for a while, and this was the impetus I needed to really start exploring a different format for my music collection. Chloe amazingly got me a sweet record player as a late birthday present (this one by Crosley), along with a few more of my favourite albums to boost my fledgling collection, and overnight I’ve become one of those guys…
So what does one do
when they have a newfound love of collecting records? One forces their
girlfriend to get up at 3am and get in the queue at Rise Bristol a whopping
five hours before they open their doors for Record Store Day 2016, that’s what!
If you’ve never heard
of it before, Record Store Day is an international event that aims to promote
the sale of vinyl, but more importantly it triumphs the independent music shops
that are suffering so much from the rise of things like iTunes, Spotify and Amazon.
Every year, bands and artists make some limited run records, either of music
that they’ve already released or brand new songs/albums that are exclusively
available in the independent shops on Record Store Day. In addition to selling
limited edition records, many of the participating vendors arrange performances
from live acts throughout the day and turn it into a real event.
I didn’t really
realise how big of a thing Record Store Day was until the day before, when I
went in to Rise to find out what the deal was (having never previously
participated in it). When I thought that I’d be able to stroll in as they
opened and grab the three records I wanted, I was given a rude awakening when I
was told that they had only six copies of one of the three I was after, and
that there were 180 people in the queue by the time they opened last year. Some
frantic googling later (with help from Chloe) and I’d come to realise that if I
wanted a good chance at owning one of the 500 copies of Slaves’ Extended Album
in existence, I would need to be in the queue by about 4am!
(Image Credit: We Art You)
(Image Credit: Independent)
(Image Credit: Norman Records)
These are the three records I was after
The two of us dragged
ourselves out of bed and into the car at an unspeakable hour, and were stood outside the record shop at 04:10 –
just in time to watch the last people going home from their nights out. Loads
of them seemed to think we were queuing for Subway, and there were a couple of
entertaining incidents including someone falling over in front of us and the
horrendously awkward end to a one night stand! At 6am, we were all let inside
the café beneath the record shop, which was extremely welcome for us after two
hours stood in the cold, but one absolute nutter had been stood outside since
10pm!!!
So keen for Subway
The cool posters the coffee shop had to promote the day
There were loads of people there even by 6:30!
When the time finally
came to let us in to buy music, we were seriously nervous. Being numbers 28 and
29 in the queue there was a distinct possibility that all three records I was
after would be sold out, as the highest number of stock that the shop had for
any of them was only 18 copies! Luckily however, all three were available and
Chloe even opted to get them for herself as well – hopefully this inspires her
to start her own Vinyl collection! I don’t really know what I’d have
done if I’d queued that early and gone home empty handed, so I’m very glad that
the morning wasn’t a waste for us!
(Image Credit: @FriskaFood)
Just to show how many people were crammed in before it even opened!
Tired but chuffed with the morning's work!
Did you get involved
in Record Store Day this year? What do you think about Vinyl in general?
