For one day in April each year, music connoisseurs are treated to exclusive deals and limited pressings of vinyl singles and CDs from their favorite small, independent acts to their favorite arena-filling artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Muse.
The name of this internationally celebrated event, now in it’s fifth year, is Record Store Day, which this year fell on April 21.
All of these special releases equal hundreds of limited-time pressings that every independent record store put on their shelves for the day. This is uniform for all of the independent stores, but variety does exist depending on the region, such as the special releases by local bands Minibosses, Knesset and The Episodes at Stinkweeds Record Exchange in Phoenix.
Vinyl singles and albums from bands such as The Black Angels, The White Stripes, T. Rex and The Flaming Lips were among the many exclusives offered during this year’s sales.
Every store celebrates the day differently, but the commonality for all of them lies with the fans it attracts and the unique music findings.
Similar to Black Friday, music collectors are willing to wait in long lines to get what they came for. Revolver Records, located at Roosevelt Street and Second Avenue in Phoenix, already had about 30 people waiting by its doors by 7:30 a.m.
When the shop opened at 8:00 a.m., most of the collectors hunkered around a small rectangular table in the middle of the shop that contained all of the limited releases by the independent and big artists. Those who wanted to walk away with anything had to stand for 45 minutes in the line formed for those waiting to check out.
For those who didn’t come solely for the exclusive deals, there was also the 20% off sale storewide.
The scene at Stinkweeds Record Exchange, located on the northwest corner of Central and Camelback avenues, was a similar one before opening with customers lined up against the walls of neighboring businesses waiting to get in.
“Mostly it was a good excuse to come and get the first Edith Frost album that has Michael Krassner involved in it, but it’s not here, so we found some other things,” Stinkweeds customer Lea Brock said.
Pressings and sales aren’t the only draw for fans. Between small talk with fellow fanatics about musicians and their side projects, there was also food and other entertainment being offered.
“I came here just to see what was cooking, and just pick up a few things that looked good,” another Stinkweeds customer Nathan Thompson said.
Many of the independent stores like Stinkweeds, Revolver, and various Zia Record Exchanges throughout the Valley offered live shows from local bands at their establishments at different points throughout the day.
During the early morning at Revolver, Robbie Cohen played his acoustic guitar.
The day’s highlight occurred when famous local musician Jim Adkins of the band Jimmy Eat World played with another local band, The Love Me Nots.
The two acts performed together at both Stinkweeds and the Zia Record Exchange at Thunderbird Road and 25th Avenue.
Above all else, the strong sense of the music community is powerful in these small stores, where people find likeminded individuals of their same niche to discuss the allure of music.
“It’s all about getting the word out because record stores have never gone away," Revolver Records store manager T.J. Jordan said. "They’ve always been cool, but now that Record Store Day is doing its thing, it’s cool to expose it to a wider audience.”
Reach the reporter at tccoste1@asu.edu
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