This Saturday (April 12), music lovers across Merseyside will descend upon independent record stores for Record Store Day, an annual event dedicated to celebrating the unique culture of indie stores.
The annual event celebrates independent record stores across the UK and the world with special vinyl releases, artist performances, and exclusives.
Going on 18 years and still spinning, Record Store Day is a chance to support local indies and keep vinyl alive.
Merseyside stores participating on the day include Rough Trade, Probe Records, 81 Renshaw, The Musical Box, Jacaranda Records, Quicksilver Music, Dark Earth, and Kaleidoscope Records.
Dave Strong, owner of 81 Renshaw, said: “The big ones this year are Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish. Sam fender has got an EP out, he’s also the ambassador this year for RSD.
“Then we’ve got the usual Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones.
“We open at 8am, but people queue at like 8pm the night before. We’ve got a lot of staff in, and we’ll have a tonne of stuff.
“But part of the fun of it is queuing up, chatting to people, a lot of people make new friends, it’s a real community.”
(c) Heidi Hardman-Welsh
Beata Wrobel, staff member at Jacaranda Records, said: “People usually queue from very early hours and with big releases this year we just know that people are going to go wild about it.
“It’s a great day for us as a business because it’s a constantly busy day, there’s always someone in, and it’s not only about the RSD releases because people will buy other stock too whilst they’re here.
“It’s a cool day, it’s a cool idea, and it helps us a lot.”
(c) Heidi Hardman-Welsh
Jacaranda Records will have live music from 1pm of up-and-coming artists and bands including Ni Maxine, Woo, Bobby West, and Hannah Mazey.
Tommy Ashton, guitarist for Hannah Mazey, said: “It’ll be the fourth time we’ve played there and it’s becoming a really special place to perform for us.
“We did an acoustic gig there at the end of last year and have since done a full band headliner and a support show at the Jacaranda.
“It’ll be our first time at the Record Store Day event and there’s loads of other talented musicians playing, so we’re really excited.”
One of the busiest days of the year for local record stores, this April 12 will mark another RSD dedicated to the shared love and passion for music.
It is a chance for record stores, staff, customers, artists, and labels to come together and celebrate the role record stores play in their local communities.
