27 Apr 2024
St Albans’ dedicated music fans set up camp outside Empire Records at 3pm on the Friday afternoon before this year’s Record Store Day, pulling an all-nighter to get their hands on exclusive releases. Anna Shreeves found out more…
National Record Store Day originated in the United States in 2007 after a group of independent record shop owners came together to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture of their stores.
This year more than 270 shops in the UK participated in the celebrations, Empire Records in St Albans’ Heritage Close being one of them.
A staggering 500 exclusive records are released on Record Store Day and these are only available from these independent stores.
This year’s ambassador for the day was Kate Bush, who released a limited edition 10-inch which sold out in St Albans within the first hour!
Opening in 2013, Empire Records has an authentic retro vibe and stocks a wide range of records and CDs – covering the whole music spectrum from classical and jazz to death metal, rock and more.
Saturday saw hundreds of local people queuing to get these exclusive records, with the fastest selling being re-releases from John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Sorry McCartney!
Dave Burgess, the manager at Empire Records, has been there since it opened.
He spoke about the significance of the day: “It’s a great thing – there has been a great turnout getting people in to celebrate our independent record store and record culture.”
Dave says he has been into music all his life and working in the shop is his “dream job”.
On record culture he said: “It’s people from all walks of life, and records is the one thing that combines them together.
“You could be a fighter pilot or a binman and you can all meet up in a record stall and find some common ground.”
In a world where streaming is king, when asked what the draw of vinyl records is Dave said: “It’s about appreciating what you are listening to – digital is great for what it is; having every song available in your pocket but to actually come
into a record shop; find something that you are after and take it home to put on the turntable – you can’t beat it.”
Eddie James, assistant manager for the past 11 years, added: “It’s the physical act; being able to hold it in your hand and the routine of putting it on and listening to the record is something which you cannot replicate through streaming.”
For him, the music experience goes way beyond simply the audio, he has a holistic view of it and considers all aspects of the record from the artwork on the cover to the sleeve notes.
Eddie recalls the first record he owned, a Prodigy single, which was given to him in his Christmas stocking aged nine. Since then his collection has grown to excess of 11,000 units.
He spoke about the recent record resurgence, noting the fall and rise in record demand and says that nowadays there is a trend of retro nostalgia: “Everyone from Taylor Swift to the Arctic Monkeys are now releasing their work on vinyl.”
For Eddie music is a thing to be shared and physical records have the power to build communities, as evidenced in St Albans last weekend.
