Record Store Day 2013:

Source: here

Yesterday (Saturday 20th April) was international Record Store Day, an annual celebration of independent record shops that started in 2007.  Every year, a huge number of well known bands and artists put out special releases (usually on vinyl) especially for Record Store Day, and these can only be bought in person in independent record stores.  This usually involves a lot of queueing, and we certainly did our fair share this year!

This is only the third year I've really been aware of Record Store Day.  During the first year (2011) we accidentally bumped into Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit in the Grassmarket and I got to meet one of my songwriting heroes.  This only happened because Frightened Rabbit were playing a set in Avalanche (Edinburgh) in honour of Record Store Day.  The special gigs and in store appearances are probably my favourite part of the whole thing, you can't beat some good live music from your favourite bands!

We started Record Store Day 2013 early at Vox Box in Stockbridge, where we joined a refreshingly short queue and were let into the shop promptly at 9:30am.  Because there weren't very many of us waiting, Ruaridh and Craig (my RSD partners in crime) managed to pick up the majority of the purchases they were looking for straight away.  It's definitely worth going a little bit out of the away to avoid queuing round the corner!  The staff at Vox Box were very helpful and knowledgeable, and they were also putting on some great live music later on in the day, which unfortunately we couldn't make it to.

Source: here

After a quick stop at Coda and an attempted visit to Underground Solu'shn (see aforementioned enormous queues!) we caught a train to Glasgow for more RSD fun.  Our first port of call was Love Music, where we stood in a motionless queue for ten minutes before deciding we needed a drink!

One of the many plus points about Monorail Music is that it's attached to a bar.  We still had to join an enormous queue to get inside, but once indoors we were rewarded with the opportunity to buy a pint and drink it while we waited to get into the record shop.

We stayed at Mono for an all vegan lunch (which converted even Craig, the most enthusiastic of meat eaters) and enjoyed the atmosphere.  The venue works hard to be family friendly, whilst still catering to its vinyl junkie customers, and there is none of the squashed frenzy that we experienced elsewhere.  Mono is the most serene RSD venue I have visited, once you have waited out the queue, of course.

Once we'd been fed and watered we headed back to Love Music to see Three Blind Wolves perform, and to buy their special Record Store Day EP.  Love was exceptionally cramped, and even getting from the front door to the till was a sweaty battle, but I'm sure the store's owners were pleased by how busy it was!  I couldn't comfortably make it inside to see Three Blind Wolves, but I listened and sang along from the doorway with the sun shining down on me and my sunglasses on!

After Three Blind Wolves, we had an excellent dinner (and cocktails) at the aptly named Cocktail & Burger on Sauchiehall Street before getting the train back to Edinburgh.  Our collective record haul is pictured above, for your viewing pleasure.  Did you do anything special for Record Store Day this year?  If not, join us next year!