National Record Store Day

Woke up this morning and felt I had to get straight to it with an Industrial Hedgerow blog in time for the Songwriters' Live event at Great Harwood on Saturday (two days time from writing this) as part of National Record Store Day. It's a big deal. In these times of fragmented media it's sometimes difficult to know what's happening musically out in the world unless you're personally involved. So here goes an attempt to put that right.

This is the sixth year running that independently record stores in the UK have got together with musicians to celebrate the role they play in providing us with good sounds. The likes of Paul Weller, the Smoke Fairies, Steve Mason (formerly of the Beta Band)  and Glasvegas are taking part in simultaneous live in-store performances nationally to coincide with cd and vinyl promotional events.

Here in Lancashire we're playing our part too, holding a Songwriters' Live event at Townsend Records, Great Harwood, to join the positive and driven attempt to boost music shops and live music in the region. Nine songwriters and acoustic acts originating from Preston, Clitheroe, Manchester and the surrounding area will be playing live at the back of the shop between 8.30am and 5pm on Saturday April 20th. This Saturday! http://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/

 The economic downturn has proved tough over the last few years with even the likes of HMV notably struggling and on the verge of collapse. That's left places like Blackburn without a record store, aside from a used vinyl and used dvd shop. It makes independents like Townsends Records in the small, but individual town of Great Harwood, even more important in providing access to music in Lancashire. It's allows people to meet in person with knowledgeable staff and mingle in the physical space of the record shop with its unique atmosphere. It can prove a friendly, liberating experience.   http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/rsd2013.php 

I know my own local record store in Preston, Action Records,  sits within spitting distance of my flat and has a special place in my heart when it comes to selecting new music. As a musician, guitar teacher and events organiser I find it allows me the opportunity to share ideas, talk about local live performances and hang out for the banter. For me, face-to-face conversation allows a warmth and humour which cannot be achieved with typed letters on a pc. And sometimes I think it really is like the imaginary record store depicted in the film High Fidelity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P4dXJ_Tvns (2000, American comedy-drama set in a record store). The one with John Cusack. Where staff get to giggle, kindly of course,  at customers  who thought that Green Day existed before the Buzzcocks and friends enjoy hanging out in a collectors dreamland swapping music knowledge put-downs and opinionated banter. http://www.actionrecords.co.uk/

I love it.  

Not Action Records in Preston but somehow similar. A scene from High Fidelity.

I also made a recent trip to Manchester from Preston railway station getting off at Oxford Road and tripping along to the Cornerhouse cinema to watch a film about Terri Hooley the "godfather of Belfast punk" - an eccentric and loveable promoter with his own Belfast record shop which he opened at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/article3719741.ece  It put me properly in the mood for this Saturday. A great story if you get the chance to see it.

A scene from the film Good Vibrations

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As no other musician wants to get out of bed and play at 9am, I'm going to be on first playing a new set of solo songs at 9am. Anyone going to be there at that time? 

Apparently according to the shop manager, Gaz, loads of dudes queueing up round the block waiting to get sweating palms on cardboard sleeves at 8.30am. Recent winners of the Reedys Talent Competition duo The Remedy will play a set plus Blackburn's Brett Hamer (of Man Called Horse), songwriter Peter Aldridge, Susie Jones Band members , Tom Metcalfe and Glyn Shipman will also be playing
.http://tommetcalfemusic.com/home.cfm

http://www.reverbnation.com/susiejonesband 


9am Sweeney Astray solo set
9.45am Susie Jones Band acoustic set
10.30am Glyn Shipman
11.15am The Remedy
12pm Sweeney Astray
12.45pm Gren Bartley
1.30pm Brett Hamer
2.15pm Peter Aldridge
3pm Gren Bartley
3.45pm Tom Metcalfe

Obviously we only get cups of tea and nosh but we’re musicians and we're glad of the chance to show off and sell cds. You can download Sweeney Astray songs or listen to them at . http://www.reverbnation.com/sweeneyastray

At this point I should mention that Gren Bartley is going to play two sets. And that if you go to the links you can hear he’s an excellent guitarist, songwriter and experienced professional performer with a mass of gigs, recordings and festivals under his belt.

"enthralling, persuasive and masterly"

fRoots magazine 

He does this fingerstyle thingy jolly fast and furious and if you sit and listen to him live you can bliss out on it. Plus mellow, he does mellow. Kind of olde worldy bluesy country Americana-folk to my ears. A question of sitting in front of him, as a fellow acoustic guitarist, and wondering what  he's doing, where he got it from and how he's doing it. While enjoying it at the same time. Gren has sets at 12.45 and 3pm. Plus he does have vinyl and albums for sale.  As well as having lots of great reviews, most importantly, he's a nice bloke. http://www.grenbartley.com/Videos.html

The event will continue until the shop closes after 5pm. It start at 8.30/9am. Worth pointing out that Gren also has his own band so check them out.

As for the whole debate on "is vinyl better?" For the record (haw haw): For me, the CD is a marvellous, gadgety music thing and I’m grateful for its existence of course. It’s just in my ears vinyl has the edge for soul and feeling. And well the music industry did rip is off for years over pricing an object that proved cheap and easy to make. That's my take on it.

access.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/15/why-did-hmv-fail 

(great article on the whole history)

I was listening to Dylan’s first album a couple of years ago and I thought –wow this is like he’s in the room with me. Playing the guitar sat over there by the kitchen whining beautifully over six strings, young and pouring out his soul. It brought his music back to life. And I realised it was vinyl. Vinyl that really picks up a guitar (with analogue recording and the right microphone) and makes you feel as if someone played it with feeling. I think it's the feelings you can hear. And in spite of the new break throughs in technology people realise that the slowed down experience of getting out a cloth, checking the record for dust, sitting down and listening is a nice vibe. 

Just to add another side of it...with hindsight, CDs are fantastic for the car as a replacement for the cassette.You never see the chewed up entrails of magnetic brown tape hanging down onto the dashboard of your mate’s beat up Ford Estate these days  (while driving around in trackie bottoms and trainers  before being stopped and questioned, it being the 80s). Cassettes I once owned have long broken down into oceanic pollutants to make their way up the food chain.

so there you go