Author Archives: TVD HQ

Glasgow, UK | Celebrating Glasgow independent record shops: Monorail Music. “Part of why we started Monorail was to reflect community.” Beneath the old railway track at Kings Court sits Monorail Music, an independent record shop opened in 2002 by Dep Downie and Stephen McRobbie (formerly of the Pastels). Dep previously worked at Missing Records (city centre and Byres Road) and Stephen at John Smiths (Byres Road), but as their employers’ business models evolved they grew detached from the product. “…Part of why we started Monorail was to reflect community,” said Dep. “In the 80s and 90s, there was a culture in record shops where they were quite male, quite DJ-orientated. Exclusive to a certain point. “We didn’t want that, we wanted to be very open and friendly. We wanted to be attractive to both males and females, we wanted kids to come in, we wanted families. We wanted to represent what we do.”

Austin, TX | Antone’s Record Shop remains hallmark of Austin’s live music scene with rich history, lively community: In 1975, after relishing in the beginnings of what promised to be a booming blues scene, Clifford Antone decided to open one of the first nightclubs on Sixth Street. Driven by his passion for blues, the now revered Austin icon uplifted musicians he loved, whether old blues legends or young artists new to the scene. Soon, the nightclub gained popularity and spurred the creation of the Antone’s Records label and eventually Antone’s Record Shop in 1987. Just a 10-minute walk from campus, Antone’s Records remains a staple in Austin’s music scene, withstanding the trials of a constantly evolving music industry, maintaining its rich history and staying true to its strong city ties. “There are people like Muddy Waters who have only been heard on record before and all these great blues legends who will come through town,” said Mike Buck, co-owner of Antone’s Record Shop. “We’ve had a lot of great people come here and perform. There’s been a lot of good music come through here.”

Watch the 1996 Deftones’ record store gig that got shut down for getting “way out of hand.” On October 10, 1996, Deftones played a free show at a HMV store in Philadelphia. They wouldn’t get to play for very long. “Guys, you’re getting way out of hand. The show’s over.” On October 10, 1996, the day after they supported Kiss at the 21,000-capacity CoreStates Center arena in Philadelphia, Deftones played a free in-store show at the city’s HMV record shop to promote their debut album Adrenaline. Unfortunately, such was the excitement among the lucky members of Pennsylvania’s metal community in attendance, that the Californian quartet wouldn’t get to perform for as long as they had hoped. Four songs in, following a thrilling Nosebleed, a store employee takes the microphone from frontman Chino Moreno, and announces that the gig is being shut down. A predictable chorus of booing and shouts of “Fuck you!” follows. “Hey, we’re very sorry man, it’s not our fault, you know what I’m saying,” Moreno tells the crowd.

Nairobi, KE | Grandpa tech: Down memory lane with vinyl records: When George Ouma decided to organise a vinyl music records exhibition at the Goethe Institut, he did not anticipate the curiosity his show would generate from millennials. “Young university students would come in and just stare at the record covers,” he says. “Some have never seen a vinyl record in their lives and are calling them big CDs. Even their parents might have had little interaction with the records and the players.” Ouma is in his early 60s and belongs to a generation that was weaned on the vinyl record player which met all entertainment needs of that era. This is a generation that saw cassette tapes come and go. Compact Discs came and are now on their way out, while MP3 players could hardly hold their own against the phones. That was the era when playing and listening to music was a ceremony. And the ceremony could not be hurried.

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Hinckley, UK | ‘He was one of the good guys, and he was my friend.’ Hinckley says goodbye to Nervous Records’ Gordon Hayes: Dozens of people came down to say goodbye to the legendary record store owner. The people of Hinckley gathered today to say goodbye to one of the town’s most beloved figures – record shop owner Gordon Hayes. Gordon, who owed Nervous Records, passed away at the age of 70 in mid-January, leaving behind a legacy in the heart of Hinckley which spanned generations. He opened his record store in 1978 after the shop underneath his flat on The Lawns was put up for sale just as he received backpay from the dole office. He already had the idea of opening his own record shop, and being able to buy the premises below his flat was a match made in heaven. What started with a hefty record collection and a passion for music turned into 45 years of trade which spanned the rise of cassettes, CDs, downloads, streaming and the return of vinyl.

Sussex, UK | New record shop in Bognor Regis is Top of the Pops: Vinyl’s back in vogue in Bognor Regis, following the opening of an all new record shop on Linden Road. Straikes Vinyl Records threw open its doors on February 28 and, since then, trade has defied expectations, with customers young and old flicking through pre-loved music and rediscovering old favourites. “It’s been amazing. Really really good,” said owner Stephen Napier-Raikes. “It’s beat all my expectations. It’s really good because, if you’re a good record shop, people will find you. But this is a really good location, with a lot of passing trade. That’s why I spent such a long time looking for the right spot.” A former painter and decorator, Mr Napier-Raikes owned a previous record shop some twelve years ago, and has spent a great deal of his life buying, selling, trading and cultivating a passion for vinyl records. “Vinyl has always been this background part of my life. I’ve worked as a builder and a decorator most of my career, but I’m 60 now and I’ve had enough of that life – or my body has anyway – and this is the only other thing that I can draw on.”

Savannah, GA | Savannah’s Bad Obsession Records spinning much more than music: New business giving back to Savannah community: A record store in Savannah is making a big impact in the community. Bad Obsession Records is about much more than music. “I wanted a sanctuary of music, art and coffee.” Chris Benvie has found that sanctuary on Savannah’s southside. Benvie is owner of Bad Obsession Record and his shop on Abercorn Street is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. “This is the formation of my dream I’ve had since I was 12 years old with a love of music,” explains Benvie. But beyond the racks of records, CD’s and cassettes, this New England transplant, using his store to help his new home. Each month, Benvie spotlights a different artist, their works placed in the shop for customers to admire and even purchase. “You never know who’s going to walk through the door here and will see one of the paintings you have up,” says Benvie. “You might have a customer for life but without that opportunity to showcase your work, you would never know.”

Ventura, CA | Teens and their new love for vinyl: Vinyl sales are up and it’s not because older generations are trying to relive their teenage years. From discographies of Harry Styles to Metallica, vinyl sales are up 22% in 2022, thanks to the revival of physical forms of music listening and their trends. The evolution of music has currently found its way to a digital form of listening known as streaming. But like any decades-old trend, vinyl has found itself back on the shelves. For the first time in many years, vinyl records (vinyl) have outsold compact discs (CDs). Vinyls now make up over 50% of all physical album sales, while other forms such as CDs, cassette tapes and 8-track tapes make up the other half. This begs the question: who is the new demographic of these vinyls? It turns out that today’s teens have started the resurgence of vinyl in pop culture. Avid music enthusiast Aiden Connelly ‘23 described, “Usually we go into record stores and we’d be the only ones in the shop, we could be in there for hours. Now we go in there and there’s like 15 people.”

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The vinyl boom: What does the sales surge mean for artists and indies? As vinyl sales outstrip CD for the first time since the 1980s, Adam England speaks to music creators and industry figures to find out about the impact on the market. It’s been hard to avoid discussion of the so-called vinyl revival for over a decade now. Even back in 2011, the Official Charts Company reported that sales of the format were up 40% year-on-year, thanks to releases from the likes of Radiohead, Adele, Beady Eye, and Arctic Monkeys. More recently, albums from Wet Leg, Fontaines D.C., Sam Fender and Taylor Swift have been among vinyl’s biggest sellers, alongside classic albums like Fleetwod Mac’s Rumours and Nirvana’s Nevermind. But while it’s often been written off as a fad, it shows no signs of letting up. In fact, in January this year the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) released data showing that vinyl had overtaken CD in terms of sales for the first time since 1987.

New York, NY | Still spinning: NYC music-lovers keep coming back to vinyl records, both old and new: “I put something on the vinyl and it’s a totally different relationship to it,” says Kamaal Ibn John Fareed. Fareed, famously known as Q-Tip, is one of the most influential hip-hop figures of all time. From co-founding one of rap’s most progressive groups, A Tribe Called Quest, to sustaining a prosperous solo career, Q-Tip’s success in music has transcended multiple eras. The 52-year-old rap legend, who grew up listening to vinyl, entered A1 Record Shop in the East Village neighborhood of New York City with a kind of jubilant energy that electrified an otherwise rainy Thursday evening. From the looks of it, he seemed at home in a space he knows all too well, among a niche and growing community of record collectors — or “cratediggers” as they’re often referred to. Cratediggers come in a variety of forms including, but not limited to: lifelong collectors, millennials merely looking to use records as decor, sample-based producers looking for sounds to rip, and junkies in love with music in its purest medium.

Baton Rouge, LA | LOVE, 225: Record store holds nearly half a century of music and BR memories: From 90’s R&B singers Montell Jordan and Jon B to R&B group Shai and to comedian Mike Epps, tons of performers have made stops in Baton Rouge, specifically to visit a local landmark that has been open for more than 40 years. The man who started it all has left quite a mark on the city. Buddy’s Rock Shop, the mom-and-pop record store on North Acadian Thruway, has a storied history that starts and revolves around Buddy Stewart. “He had his band, and Buddy was making plenty money at one point because he only played, at that time it was segregation, white clubs,” said his nephew and driver, Ronald Smith. “When integration set in, he stopped making the kind of money he used to make.” Stewart first earned his reputation as a musician, performing in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Natchez, and more in the 1950s and 1960s. “He and I put placards or whatever advisement,” Smith said. “We’d go all over to different clubs and when his band was out there I used to drive for him.”

UK | The Lathums to play intimate record store shows in Blackpool, Preston and Blackburn: The group, who hail from Wigan, are set to play shows at Blitz in Preston, Bootleg Social in Blackpool and King Georges Hall in Blackburn. Indie rock band The Lathums have announced three intimate gigs in Lancashire as part of their upcoming record store tour. The group, who hail from Wigan, are set to play shows at Blitz in Preston, Bootleg Social in Blackpool and King Georges Hall in Blackburn. Announcing the news on March 1, the band will be playing some of their biggest hits, such as Fight On and The Great Escape, as well as songs from their up coming album, From Nothing to a Little Bit More. In recent years, The Lathums have continued to grow. In 2022, the band were a support act for The Killers and this year, the outfit performed on national TV for the first time on Sunday Brunch. The Band expressed their excitement at the shows, saying: “Wow. Even more shows this May!!! The Lathums never stop, the show will never stop.”

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San Francisco, CA | Record stores are flourishing in the East Bay. Here are our favorites. A crop of new shops have become community spaces for music lovers, columnist Liam O’Donoghue writes. Amid seemingly endless headlines about layoffs and store closures, there’s an unexpected bright spot in the Bay Area’s retail sector: Record stores are thriving. There are about 20 in Alameda County alone, and new ones are popping up constantly, like mushrooms after a winter downpour. …I’ve been “digging” — the term aficionados use for searching record bins for a gem — since the 1990s, so I understand the joys of hunting for the perfect LP. And yet, I was surprised to learn that just half of current record buyers actually own a record player. …To understand the trend, I armed myself with a notebook, a tote bag and an internal promise not to spend more on records than I’m getting paid for this article. Then I headed to the shops at the forefront of the boom.

Milford, DE | Shock Vinyl opens in Penny Square: Businesses in the newly renovated Penny Square expanded recently with the opening of Shock Vinyl, a record store specializing in vinyl records, vintage instruments and the rock-themed photography of the store owner, Marc Clery. The new store also offers mint-in-box vintage toys and die-cast cars. “Ever since I was younger, 12 years old or so, I’d go to record stores similar to this and buy records. As an adult, I continued to do that and I accumulated a nice collection and then when I decided to retire from being a photojournalist, I wanted to open my record store,” Clery said. “And also, over the years, I’ve collected musical instruments, guitars and bases, and amplifiers, so I wanted to include that and so that’s how it all came about. I retired in July of last year from the Delaware State News.” One entire wall of the new store displays Clery’s collection of vintage guitars and amplifiers. Behind the counter are toys in boxes and the center shelving holds multiple metal cars, still in the boxes as well. Along the walls, there are bins of records as well as books on musicians and turntables designed to play albums.

Brooklyn, NY | Academy Records moves (around the corner) after 10 years on Oak Street: Vinyl wonderland Academy Records will soon move into a new storefront. Luckily for patrons, the move will only be another block or so away, from 85 Oak Street into a new location on 242 Banker Street. While the new store is not yet ready for shoppers, it should be done within the next couple of weeks, according to their Instagram. Academy Records first moved to Greenpoint in 2013, from Williamsburg’s North 6th Street and Wythe Avenue. “Academy’s current building in Williamsburg is being razed in favor of high-end retail and condos,” we wrote at the time (considering luxury brands Chanel and Hermès are moving to North 6th within the next year or so, it’s a trend that’s only picked up steam within the past decade). The store, which also has an original location in Manhattan, is known for its extensive collection of rare and used vinyl.

Dublin, IE | Dublin’s Bohemians FC has become the world’s first ‘vinyl only’ football stadium: The Irish football club previously partnered with Fontaines DC. Bohemians FC has announced its plan to become a ‘vinyl only’ football stadium. The Dublin football club will team up with the Irish online record store, TheRecordHub.com, for three seasons from 2023 to 2025. The partnership will see Bohemians’ stadium, Dalymount Park, play exclusively vinyl over the stadium PA. They also will work with TheRecordHub.com on vinyl releases to celebrate the history of concerts at Dalymount Park, host genre nights at the ground and have vinyl fan giveaways. “Bohs are one of the most innovative, creative and forward-thinking football clubs in Europe and we are thrilled to become their partner. The history of music in Dalymount Park is special and makes the partnership feel very natural and we are really excited about what the future holds,” says Hugh Scully, Managing Director of TheRecordHub.com. Dalymount Park has a long legacy in Ireland’s music scene and has provided a venue for historical gigs such as Thin Lizzy in 1977 and Bob Marley in 1980.

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Vinyl comeback: The US musicians who sold the most physical singles: One of the most surprising comebacks of the digital age is the rising number of Vinyl LP sales. According to Luminate, 43.5 million LPs were sold in the U.S. last year, up more than 48-fold compared to 2006 when the vinyl comeback began. Vinyl LPs have also become increasingly popular as collectors’ items for fans, who listen to music digitally but still want to own a physical object. As we witness the evolution of physical music sales, experts from Offline Marketing Company, Oppizi reveal the top 10 US artists of all time who have sold the most physical copies of their music. The research analyzes the most recent data from Chart Masters, which takes the top US music artists of all time and calculates the number physical single sales units sold.

Boston, MA | The Vintage Underground curates both the styles and sounds of Boston: For decades, anyone taking a stroll on Boston University’s West Campus had two nearly back-to-back options for scouting out new music: Hitting a show at The Paradise Rock Club, or venturing into the belly of In Your Ear Records’ underground shop. But when In Your Ear shuttered that longstanding Boston location last August, the neighborhood’s vinyl selection miraculously didn’t evaporate — it just got a makeover. On the heels of In Your Ear’s departure from 957 Commonwealth Ave. last autumn, a new store called The Vintage Underground has moved in, bringing a fresh selection of music to the same well-worn basement space. The shop is the hybrid of existing local businesses Vivant Vintage and Cheapo Records, offering a “best of both worlds” stock that ranges from leather jackets and tarot-themed tote bags, to rare LPs, CDs, and rows of fashionable music memorabilia. “Cheapo’s owner, Bob Perry, was a friend and customer of In Your Ear for over 20 years, so he was thrilled to carry on their legacy,” employee Rosie Deaderick tells Vanyaland.

Meadowhall, UK | Sheffield band Lina and the Lions play live at HMV Meadowhall launch in celebration of music on vinyl: A Sheffield ‘retrowave’ band will play live at the launch of HMV’s new store in Meadowhall – just like it was 1990.​​​​​​​ Lina and the Lions have been invited to kick off the record store’s new residency on the Lower Arcade with their 80s new wave sounds. The retailer is moving after 33 years on the High Street and says its new shop will be ‘better fan-focused’ and sell more than 20,000 products – including 4,700 vinyl albums. Lina, who sings lead and plays bass, said there was something special about non-digital music. The band has released six singles, two EPs and an album. She added: “The reopening of the store is a special moment for HMV and music lovers alike, as it’s clear to us all that there’s something special about tangible music—something digital just can’t replace.” Lina and Lee Feltham (guitar) met as young teens in a Sheffield pub and formed the band in 2020. With drummer Bradley Mitchell joining them live, their sound ‘fuses classic 80s new wave with glimmering synthesizers and bass lines’.

Bingley, UK | Radiohead’s Philip Selway visits Bingley record store: Radiohead drummer Philip Selway signed copies of his latest solo album, Strange Dance at Five Rise Records, Park Road, Bingley, yesterday (Sunday, February 26). Five Rise Record posted a number of pictures from Mr Selway’s shop visit on its Facebook page, writing: “Wow what a day…. A huge thanks to Philip Selway for coming to good old Bingers!! “What an absolute gent he was, Mr Selway. you’re welcome back anytime! “And most of all a huge and massive thanks to everybody who came today, we wouldn’t be here without you. “Thanks to Philip for coming… and to everyone who came out!” His Bingley album signing visit in Bingley is one of a number of appearances he is making to record stores across the country to mark the release of his LP. Radiohead are seen as one of the biggest British bands of the last 30 years. They initially found fame with their 1992 single ‘Creep’ and their popular albums include Kid A and OK Computer. Radiohead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.

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