RECORD STORE DAY AUSTRALIA 2015 IN PERTH

RECORD STORE DAY AUSTRALIA 2015 IN PERTH

By Shane Pinnegar

From Morley to Northbridge, Mount Hawthorn to Fremantle and Midland to the CBD, Perth still boasts around a dozen independent record stores, all of whom will be offering some of the 450-plus special Record Store Day 2015 releases scheduled to drop on Saturday 18 April.

You should contact your local store directly to find out what they have planned for the day, or seek out more information on the store’s Facebook pages or the Record Store Day Australia website, www.recordstoreday.com.au.

78 Records manager Dayvid Clark describes the day as “like our Valentines Day for florists – it’s bigger than Christmas for us,” and says it’s a great opportunity to foster repeat visits from customers who make the pilgrimage in on day.

“There’s this sense of belonging,” he explains, “it’s like they realise they’re not the only one who gets excited about the special releases and limited edition stock, so it gives people comfort, I guess, in their consumerism – that it is pretty exciting to be a part of when they realise how many other people out there are doing it too and supporting small retailers as well.”

Maurice Flavel, who has been running Northbridge’s Noise Pollution Records for five years now, says that in recent years “the record buying public have been very supportive of Record Store Day,” whilst Stu Loasby at Fremantle’s Junction Records looks forward to “a communal day of buying wax and sharing the joy amongst all the indie stores – it’s a cool bonding process for music fans and retailers all over town.”

“One of the fun things about Record Store Day over here,” says Clark, “is because we have so few stores in Perth, we get bigger crowds in each store. I’ve seen photos of stores around the world who have 20 or 30 people waiting when they open – at 78s we have crowds of over 250 people lining up before 6am standing in the rain when I get here to open up.”

Flavel says Noise Pollution – like all of our independent retailers – will be stocking some of the 450+ special Record Store Day CDs, vinyl and even cassette releases.

“As always they are very, very limited – usually only 1500 to 3000 copies of each worldwide,” Flavel explains, “but I will be getting in some Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Bee Gees, the Metallica Demo re-creation cassette, and lots and lots of new stock that no other store have.”

78 Records, which at over 44 years old must be the Grandaddy of West Australian record stores, will carry “the biggest selection [of special releases] in WA,” according to Clark. “That’s our main thing – we take advantage of the fact that we can get our hands on so much from being big buyers throughout the year. We’ll only know next week confirmation on the titles we’ll be getting – it’s a last minute dash a couple of days before. We usually get a couple of hundred titles, we’ll give away some gift vouchers during the day. We’re giving away a record player, amp & speakers package as a prize on the day as well as 15% discount off most stock.”

“Junction Records,” says Loasby, “will have buy 1 get 1 free offers on selected titles, 30% off other selected titles, 10% off all new and 2nd hand vinyl (except for RSD titles), a $50 gift voucher up for grabs and even a Freddo Frog lucky dip with every purchase.”

Record Store Day has helped get people back into small stores rather than generic chains, and since it’s foundation in America in 2007, vinyl sales alone in that country have more than quadrupled.

“As convenient as clicking a button and getting a digital download is,” explains Loasby, “nothing compares to the process of buying a proper big ol’ record you had your heart set on and reading the liner notes and staring at the cover on the bus or train ride home. And then sharing those scores with friends over a few cold ones in front of the hi-fi.”

Flavel goes further, insisting that “it’s important that music fans keep the independent shops viable – that’s what Record Store Day is about. If a store like mine closed, you’ll just be left with huge megastores, you’ll lose that experience of finding a nice collectible record or something different – it’s like supermarket shopping where every store has the same stuff on every shelf. You can come into a store like mine and visually check the record you are wanting to buy, where if you buy online you have postal charges, which are often forgotten, and you cant physically check the LP you are about to buy – you can buy without second guessing in-store.”

Spare a thought for the staff at your favourite store, though, who will be run off their feet on their busiest day of the year.

“The most special thing we’ll be doing,” explains Clark, “is celebrating the fact that people can be respectful when there is 200 people in-store from first thing in the morning! So we’ll enjoy everyone that celebrates it with us.”

Not that it has always been incident-free, he says.

“Actually a couple of years ago – I think it was the second RSD we did, there were two notorious customers who were twins who got a little bit aggressive and pushy and a little bit childish and were literally barging people out of the way and using their weight to their advantage… so we had to evict them.”

Rather than get hot under the collar queuing up for a special Record Store Day release – this year rarities from Foo Fighters, The Doors, Mastodon, The Stooges and many more will be on many collectors’ shopping lists – Loasby suggests using the opportunity for social interaction.

“If you’re queuing up while waiting for 9am to hit, put away your device and have a chat to your fellow crate diggers. Make friends, form bands and create new stories.”
RECORD STORE DAY AUSTRALIA is Saturday, 18 April, 2015. Support your local independent music retailer.
Record Store Day Australia website
100% ROCK talk with Record Store Day Australia Ambassador Tim Dalton
This story first appeared in edited form in X-Press Magazine’s 15 April, 2015 issue

Category: Interviews