Vinyl Revolution was the place to be for Record Store Day!

Vinyl Revolution

Vinyl Revolution bring it to Brighton for Record Store Day 2018!

A one stop shop for all things vinyl & music related! They have new & vintage records, record players, t-shirts, art & cool things for the home. What’s not to love? Not forgetting iconic posters, unique art prints, mugs and beer glasses. And lots of other stuff too…

Record Store Day

It started early as queues started to build around 3am. A great atmosphere as folk sat on their own chairs, blankets and benches. The last time we saw anything like this was the publication of Harry Potter novels in bookstores. The vinyl lovers and collectors were out in force, and let me tell you this includes Scene Sussex!

Thanks to Southern Fail and lack of buses we got there a bit late. This impacted some of the local musicians and those traveling from London and Edinburgh felt the impact. Never mind we all got there!

Radio Sussex: Danny Pike broadcast live from Vinyl Revolution

Something special was about to happen in Duke Street, anticipation was thick in the air and the staff and team prepared. Danny Pike bought his breakfast show and team to the store. He put on a great 3 hour show playing records, only vinyl, from his own personal collection. He said some of them hadn’t been played for ages. He interviewed people after buying their vinyl and it was great to see how all ages are getting into vinyl and hear how much they enjoyed it and what they enjoyed about the media.

BBC Sussex – Danny Pike broadcasting in store

The crowds gathered all day, queueing for their vinyl or just to get into a very busy shop. And later Duke Street was turned into a mini festival in the sun as bands from across the UK descended on Brighton to play.

Packed in tight – at times it was a case of one in – one out.

Chatting to some of the buyers on their way out they all said how much the enjoyed the shop, making a mad dash for their vinyl before the new limited issue pressings were gone! Some spoke on the radio, some had their photos taken, but all looking at their purchase when they got out side.  Checking out the artwork, inner sleeves and some catching a glimpse of their fresh slice of vinyl goodness! Many said how helpful and friendly the team were in the store helping them to find what they were looking for. This was really shaping up to be a special day, and the weather helped!

The store was busy from opening until close. Queues formed on the stairs and everyone was safely directed by the friendliest security guys you could want to meet. They really did a great job. And it was amazing to notice that the Duke Street neighbours were supporting the store on Record Store Day.  21 SHOPS IN TOTAL!!! The street and its shops and restaurants were decorated in balloons, and shop staff dressed up as vinyl music icons and there were lots of great RSD offers.

Taking part

Many record shops will have had long queues with people queuing overnight to be the first in the door.  The team were not sure how long the queue was going to be, but as a young shop taking part in their first RSD, it didnt matter the guys had thought of everything!  Whatever the length of the queue customers were looked after!  At 7am the first 30 customers in the queue were given a free breakfast as a thank you! (bacon, sausage or veggie bagel and hot drink provided by Bagelman).

The Records, that’s what its all about!

Record Store Day was founded in the US as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated on the third Saturday every April. The UK followed suit and launched Record Store Day in 2008 and has been growing steadily ever since.

A special selection of records are pressed in very limited quantities exclusively for Record Store Day. Only independent record stores can access these records. This year 503 titles have been released and we have ordered just under half of these titles based upon our customers buying habits and ‘wish lists’. We have ordered as many of the titles on our order list as we can, but as quantities of each record are very limited (presses running from 300 to 5000 units with most records limited to either 500 or 1000 units) we will only be sent a small quantity of each. It is for this reason that Record Store Day sees people queueing up early to get in the door first!

Hunting out that vinyl – The Kids Are Alright!

The Music

The store were really excited to have received permission to present live music in the street directly outside the shop.  They were thrilled to have 5 incredible bands performing.  Each band played acoustically for about 20 minutes.  The band line-up included:

•  Dirt Royal (our Local Band Competition Winner)
•  White Room
• The Filthy Tongues
• Mudlow
• Desperate Journalist

A view from Vinyl Revolution as the bands performed to the large crowds that gathered.

The bands had vinyl with them and were happy to sign copies of their music. They all gave a terrific performance and no doubt gained some new fans. There were new albums from them and a new 7″ single all made available to customers.

Duke Street

Well done to all the stores that took part in the day, turning Duke St into a busy metropolis, that then turned into a RSD 2018 mini music festival! Thanks and congrats to those who took part and hope you guys enjoyed the day as much as the visitors to your street and community. I had not seen it that busy, and so many happy faces enjoying the buzz that everyone had created! You helped make it a special place to be. Spending the day with the team it was clear that many people, after buying their records, stayed! Going through the pictures and video it was clear that the live music had pulled in the crowds and they stayed. Young and old hunkered down in the heat and afternoon sunshine to watch the performances that ran during the afternoon.

Here is a list of the shops that took part:

Bagelman (opened early to serve breakfast to queue & RSD offer), The Croque Shop (opened early to serve breakfast & RSD offer), Sugar Sin D(dressing up as Sweetwood Mac and RSD offers), Rendezvous Cafe (special RSD cake), No 32 (RSD food and drink offer), Montezuma (dressing up and RSD offers), Bens Cookies (Record Store Day cookie), Be Chocolat (Free ice cream), No 32 (RSD food and drink offer), Nandos (RSD offer), Hotel Chocolat (RSD offer), Offspring (10% discount), Timberland (10% discount), Vapour Evolution (10% discount), DC (10% discount), Woodies, Design Lab, Julien Plumart, Mottoo, Colin Page Antiquarian Rare and Second Hand books, Kayes News, Pascere.

The Shop. The Crowds. It was an afternoon delight.

Huge congratulations to Vinyl Revolution for putting together a great day, a family friendly day. You got people making friends, talking about their purchases and soaking up the atmosphere you created. It was a pleasure to spend some time with you all, and as usual everything was precisely organised and the day ticked over smoothly. You only had to check out the happy faces in the crowd to see how well this day had been arranged.

Where you there? Did you get what you were after? Scene Sussex managed to grab The Boys vinyl issue of their first album and some Bowie!

Can we do it all again next year?

SOLD OUT! The vinyl was quickly snapped up!

Vinyl Revolution is open to everyone and can be found at 33 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AG.
Vinyl Revolution are on Facebook

Please note all original images / video are copyright, please do not copy. If any of the featured artists/promoters/venues want copies of the images – or more if available – please just get in touch.

All original pictures / video – copyright to IANB/MEDIA WORKS/ SCENE SUSSEX – Ian “The Lens” Bourn 2018.

Got an event coming up? Need some gig photography, promo shots, previews or reviews? – please get in touch! See you down the front – come and say “hi!”