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So today is National Record Store Day and what did you do to celebrate?  I awoke at 6am groggy after one too many rum and ginger ales on a sofa in North London. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I made my way to Rough Trade Records to spend two and a half hours queuing for the Blur record, ‘Fool’s Day’; limited to 1000 copies, in the whole world! On arrival I was 25th in the queue, someone mentioned that the store had 50 – 70 copies; I should be fine.

The queue was a great laugh – let’s face it, people who are mad enough to get to a record store at 7am to buy a 7” are going to be sound – it all adds to the event. It reminded me of when I queued for 6 hours on a freezing January morning as a teenager with my Dad to get tickets to see Blur play at Southend, or the time queuing to get in to the closing night at the End nightclub in London – all little adventures that I will never forget, moments of excitement shared with strangers queuing. We were all concerned though, maybe we’d all have to frantically search around the shop to find the record, and by which time……maybe they had fewer copies, perhaps only 24….

In the end they gave out paper tokens and I got one, pretty easily. I was concerned that perhaps they’d made an error, perhaps giving out too many. By the time the store opened at gone 9am the queue was down the road and around the corner, easy over 200 people. Amazing.

Inside the store it was carnage, for those unaware – there weren’t just Blur records up for grabs. A Flaming Lips record was ridiculously popular, as was a Stones’ record. People were grabbing records left, right and centre. Records fell on the floor, people were getting squashed – madness.  In the end I left with Beatles’, Hendrix, Stones’, Babyshambles’, Gorillaz’s records limited to 1000 copies in the UK, a Factory Records’ release limited to 750 and the golden prize, ‘Fool’s Day’ by Blur. I am one of only 999 other people in the whole world who own it, but not only that (and more importantly) it’s a new Blur track, a band which I have always loved and cherished. People said I was crazy, even sad – but then I’ll never forget this morning and every time I ever play this record I will tell the story. Well worth having a great time in a queue for 2 hours in front of a record store.

Happy National Record Store Day!

Electronic Steve x

stephen@differentclassradio.co.uk

Last Friday was Good, Good Friday and a good gig, we welcomed Drum Eyes, Angrydan, Kurtz and Victoria & Jacob.

With the day off to prepare it helped with our preparation but not with an early influx of people, Gem and I sat there at 9:15 like school kids in an empty classroom waiting for a telling off, but with a sudden rush  nerves were settled and Victoria & Jacob took the stage, Victoria has a great voice which becomes even more apparent live; bright, powerful and guided superbly by Jacob’s electronic backdrop, a bright future awaits.

Recent years, to me, has seen slim pickings for aggressive guitar bands, with the likes of Paramore and Lost Prophets often being described as punk or hardcore bands it’s always going to be a battle to find decent new ones, welcome Kurtz, they took the stage and from the first moment stated intent, playing through a flurry of drums and baritone guitar these lads from Wakefield play with hurt. No vocals just powerful string play and individualist drumming, the crowd wanted more.

There is a reason you ask people back for more live shows, maybe a few, one being the music, obviously, but what also helps is people that are good to work with, reliable, positive etc. Angrydan personifies this and happens to be pretty decent live, he’s ditched the laptop in place of a sampler and visual edge and it’s added to a great show, a true modern one man band with a big glitchy sound that while staying interesting never strays from a poppable melody.

Drum Eyes were put onto me by Digby as a band that had to be seen, so we put them on, they filled the stage with boxes, gear and people, two drummers driving the sound with a bass so deep I doubt I’ll get that range back in my ears, most people loved them and a few wanted their money back, just the way I like it!

Me and Gem made a big decision this week, we decided to go bi-monthly with the shows, it was always meant to be a part of DCR but it’s taken over, I never wanted to be a music promoter and I still don’t, I just want to see and be involved with good bands, so when I couldn’t find time to do my show something had to give. The next IF show will be mega.

Next show June 11th – Bardens Boudoir – Line up to follow !