Record Store Day 2016

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?