Record Store Day Performance - Record Theatre - Buffalo, NY - Saturday April 16, 2011

Thanks to our buddy Seamus Gallivan of The Good Neighborhood for this plug.  We will performing as apart of Record Store Day - Saturday April 16th, 2011 at Record Theatre (University Plaza Location - 3500 Main Street, Buffalo, NY).  We go on at 11:00am SHARP!  


Come support your local Record Store!!

Keepin’ it Local – Fourth Annual Record Store Day Set for Saturday

By Seamus Gallivan              

Rooted firmly in the notion of Keepin’ it Local, Record Store Day (RSD) marks its fourth anniversary this Saturday of celebrating the unique culture of the over 700 independently-owned record stores across the country, and now including many beyond. Beyond countless exclusive releases and offers at local havens Record Theatre and Sprial Scratch Records – check their sites for specific offers and RSD’s site overall expansive rundown – many local bands will perform in-store, listed at the bottom of this article.

Before I chatted with local music magnet Susan Tanner about the entire effort, Buffalo First’s Angela Stefano waxed poetic about local record stores:

“When I was in high school, I’d occasionally spend some time after school in New World Record, which was down the street from my school. I bought albums by my favorite (now, sadly, broken up) local bands there. I went there the day after prom – basically sleepless, hair in that morning-after hairsprayed mess – for a signing with The Goo Goo Dolls.

“Now, when I need to relieve stress or think, I’ll spend time in Record Theatre. I recently bought Son of the Sun’s album there – one of the few non-online spots I could find it.

Son of the Sun plays an 11:00 a.m. in-store Saturday, part of Record Store Day at Record Theatre's University Plaza location

“The latter record store is still open; the former, sadly, is not.

“Record stores foster a sense of community. They hold in-stores and signings with up-and-coming (and sometimes more famous) artists. Their staff will happily recommend you great new music or order you rarities and special requests. They carry local albums that national chains and websites wouldn’t even know existed. Plus, it’s just plain fun to spend an hour or three aimlessly browsing through the bins.”

Beyond the last two stores standing, having fought through fire and big-box brimstone, Buffalo’s contribution to RSD is bolstered by music magnet Susan Tanner, an independent marketing/promotions consultant and promoter rep for ESI Events who used to serve as sales/marketing manager for Righteous Babe Records and recently created and moderated a panel at the South By Southwest Music Festivalon Record Store Day.

If you have a free hour sometime this week, as Tanner’s husband Marty Boratin, part of the still-pulsating soul of New World Record, what releases he has his eyes on for this weekend. Tanner took time to talk about the history and meaning of Record Store Day.

What inspired the creation of Record Store Day?

It started as a copycat holiday from Free Comic Day. Comic sellers wanted draw attention and people to their stores, so they’d have a day where they gave stuff away. Indie record stores saw that – a lot of shops are down the street from each other, or some carry comics, too, and were aware, and wanted to use the idea to help them stand out from their bigger competition – places like Best Buy, Target, and at the time Barnes and Noble and Border’s.

Chris Brown at Bull Moose in Portland, Maine [which now has 10 locations] made this his brainchild. Then Criminal Records in Atlanta picked up on it. The first one was real loosey-goosey – labels were contacted and told, “Hey, were gonna do this event – clean out your closets and send us t-shirts, samplers, anything we can give away.”

There’s so much more to it now – how has it evolved?

It’s funny and interesting – at first, the message to the public was, “C’mon in and get free stuff.” As it’s grown over four years now, the freebies are fewer and farther between – it’s almost all exclusively-made products for Record Store Day. What started as getting customers in for free stuff now serves to offer them things they want to buy.

A lot of bands and labels now plan special, limited-quantity releases for their fans on Record Store Day – a lot of them are regional, smaller labels, and even the smaller label will get that visibility and help them be placed on level footing with the big guys.

Even a local, independent artist like Brian Wheat – he’s putting out a record on his own label, but performing at Record Store Day, so it’s great visibility for local bands – people who might not go out to see live local music will see bands at in-store performances.

Brian Wheat kicks off the University Plaza in-store lineup at 10:00a.m.

And it’s now expanded into Canada, England, France, Japan; and this year – though it’s been kept kind of low-key because they don’t want to dilute the effort – some labels have started doing specific, limited-edition releases on Black Friday, as a lot of accounts are saying that they’re doing more business on Record Store Day than Black Friday.

Between that panel and your experience, how is the point driven home of the importance of supporting the local, indie record store, and the purpose they serve?

One thing everyone was saying at the panels is that part of goal of this is getting people to think of these stores not just on Record Store Day, but every other day. The label doesn’t have to plan these things just on this one Saturday in April – if they have a key release coming out in June, they can team up with the indie stores; or a band that’s touring, maybe they could do more in-stores all along the tour.

They do serve a purpose – it’s the place that when I was a kid, I could go find about music. Whether or not I know somebody there, nine times out of ten, the kids there are knowledgeable about music and lead me to some good stuff. I like the community of meeting people who want to talk to me about music, rather than typing things in on a computer – I can walk in to my local record store and say, “You know what I like – tell me what I should get?”

What are your plans for Record Store Day this year?

I hopefully will go up to Record Theatre early – Brian Wheat is playing at 10:00a.m., so I want to be there right away, partaking in music and perusing around, thumbing through racks and buying some stuff. Marty has a whole list of things he wants to get.

Announced in-store performances as of Monday –

Record Theatre, 3500 Main Street (University Plaza):

10:00 – Brian Wheat

11:00 – Son of the Sun

12:00 – Iceberg

1:00 – Wooden Waves

2:00 – The Stay Lows

3:00 – Doppelgangers

4:00 – Here Come the Comets

5:00 – Johnny Nobody

6:00 – Bearhunter

7:00 – White Bison

8:00 – Cassi Meyerhoffer

Bearhunter brings the thunder to Record Theatre with a 6:00p.m. in-store

Record Theatre, 1800 Main Street (at Lafayette):

10:30 – Tifani

12:00 – Alumni

1:00 – DJ Drapes, Django and Press

2:30 – Wes Walters

3:30 – Love Scenes

4:30 – DJ Scarlett

5:30 – J Bangin Brew

6:30 – Off The Cuff

7:30 – Drea Ndur

Spiral Scratch Records, 291 Bryant St. (off Elmwood)

Tony Flaminio (Failures Union), White Whale, Treetop, Mark Constantino (Fences make Good Neighbors/ex-Exit Strategy), and more…

The Buffalo News: Record Store Day will celebrate the indie spirit

By Jeff Miers / News Pop Music Critic

Updated: April 13, 2010, 8:34 am / 1 comment 
Published: April 13, 2010, 6:00 am

"There's nothing as glamorous to me as a record store."

You might expect such a seemingly hyperbolic declaration from some twentysomething hipster in skinny jeans, nerd glasses, and the tell-all, alt-country beard. Particularly if the guy happens — as so many who fit the above description do — to work in a record store.

But from Paul McCartney in 2009? The largest-looming living rock star, who also happens to be one of the wealthiest men in the world? Seriously, when was the last time McCartney scoured the bins in a good ol' indie record shop?

But McCartney is most likely being honest. For so many who have devoted their lives to music — as fans, as musicians, as the fatal blend of fan and musician that usually conspires to make you a record store employee — the often besieged independent, walk-in, storefront music retail outlet is at once church, library, museum, clubhouse and shrine to all that the music-obsessive holds holy.

On Saturday, the third annual Record Store Day rolls around. The brainchild of one Chris Brown — yes, a record store employee — the annual celebration of indie music stores has grown from humble beginnings into a full-fledged hipster bacchanal. Some 700 stores around the country — and even more, as for the first time, locations in Canada, parts of Europe and Japan will participate — will mark the occasion with in-store concert performances, rare and collectible products and, in a few instances, food and drink.

This year, hundreds of top-name artists are releasing material exclusive to Record Store Day. In Western New York, three storefront properties and one Internet shop number among the stores nationwide taking part in the celebration.

Independent record labels — from Buffalo's own Righteous Babe, to medium-sized ventures in the mold of Jagjaguar and Matador, and giants of the niche like Seattle's Sub Pop — have come out of the woodwork with exclusive Record Store Day product.

Far more surprising is the onslaught of major corporate labels throwing their hats into the ring. This year, Warner Bros., Columbia, Universal and their offshoots are all in the game.

So what's the big deal? "The big deal is the idea that, in the midst of the popularity of all the Internet outlets — YouTube, MySpace, iTunes, etc. — we can still go out out and celebrate the sense of musical community that record stores are the hub of," says Susan Tanner, of Righteous Babe Records. "All of those computer-based things are great, and they make finding new music — or older things that are rare and so forth — really easy. "But what did we do when we were kids? We went out to record stores, we talked to people, we shared our excitement about music, we made friends, we learned new things. That's a big part of what Record Store Day is all about."

It's not surprising that Ani DiFranco and Righteous Babe will be involved in Record Store Day — DiFranco is one of modern independent music's most prominent icons, and also, one of its most consistent champions.

Last year, DiFranco performed on Record Store Day inside the birthplace of the annual event, Portland, Maine's Bull Moose store. A recording of that gig, featuring a number of songs unavailable elsewhere, will comprise Righteous Babe's Record Store Day exclusive release this year.

"Bull Moose was one of the first stores to carry Ani's music, back when she sold things on consignment, or out of the trunk of her car on tour," says Tanner. "They supported her from the beginning, and this is her way of saying that she's never forgotten that support. It's pretty cool that this year, Anais Mitchell, who is someone Ani loves and who is signed to her label, will be performing there."

DiFranco is in good company. An extremely partial list of exclusive Record Store Day material includes releases from the likes of the Flaming Lips, Elvis Costello, Beastie Boys, Bruce Springsteen, Jakob Dylan, Muse, MGMT, the Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M. and Sonic Youth. Posthumous product from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Joe Strummer, John Lennon and the Doors will also line the bins in participating stores. Locally, the two Record Theatre locations, the newer Spiral Scratch Records, and the Internet storefront Sit & Spin will all participate. "This year is by far the biggest yet," says Kelly Mordaunt , Record Theatre's University Plaza store manager. "The number of exclusive releases is pretty much staggering. There's just so much amazing stuff! Not every store will get all of it — these releases are extremely limited edition, with some artists releasing less than 500 copies of a record, disc or whatever — but we will have plenty of the things that indie store lovers are looking for.

"With so many younger people getting more and more into vinyl, and the sales of vinyl taking off in a big way nationally, this day has become a real celebration of the community, and of the sort of independent spirit that community is based around."

Record Theatre will kick off its celebration at 10 a.m. Saturday, with live music from local bands including Son of the Sun, the Stay Lows, Wooden Waves and Cassi Meyerhoffer beginning at 1 p.m. and going into the evening. The stores will carry "as much of the exclusive stuff as we can; we ordered so many extremely cool things!," according to Mordaunt.

Among the coolest will be DiFranco's Bull Moose recording, which Righteous Babe's Tanner says "will most definitely be there." On Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, Spiral Scratch Records will be offering live music and exclusive product as well. In fact, the relatively young indie store has been given a significant stamp of approval by one of indie-punk's most talked about young bands, Toronto's contentiously christened F***ed Up.

"That band is on one of the hippest indie labels, Matador records," says Buffalo concert promoter and former record store manager Marty Boratin. "For Record Store Day, they did a series of exclusive singles with photo covers honoring what they think are some of the coolest stores in the country. They chose Spiral Scratch for one of them."

For Tanner, the exclusive releases are part of what makes Record Store Day something worth celebrating, but not all of it.

"The coolest thing is when you see independent musicians — and even people who might be signed to major labels — celebrating independent music stores. These are the places where they most likely fell in love with music themselves, and they feel so compelled to give something back. "There is now a whole new generation of listeners starting to realize that the record store is something to both protect and celebrate. That's really what this is all about."

jmiers@buffnews.com

For more information on Record Store Day, as well as events taking place in local participating stores, visit www.recordstoreday.com,, www.recordtheatre.com,spiralscratchrecords.blogspot.com and www.myspace.com/sitandspinwillrockyou