Why in-store tours could be the saving grace for record shops (Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes at Resident)
Why in-store tours could be the saving grace of record shops
(Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes at Resident)
Despite record shops being one of only three types of high-street markets to see a financial increase over the last year, I would still argue that there are dozens of record shops still in need of recognition.
There are many people who don't see the point in records anymore. With the power and convenience of streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and many more. People no longer need to buy music to listen to it and that furthermore gives people the freedom to only chose a selection of songs that they like or simply delete an album or song if they don't enjoy it. And while this seems like a an ideal scenario for music lovers, it stems into a greater problem.
With people having so much freedom in music, their tolerance towards listening to albums in their entirety especially seems ever-decreasing. There is an unrivalled thrill of recognising the narrative of a whole album and it feels incredibly wholesome to appreciate every single song on there in time. I also feel that this makes things a hell of a lot harder for new bands as it is all too easy just to skim over a song, regard it as pretty good and never listen to it again.
I have been collecting records for just over a year now. And while I would still consider myself to be pretty new to this scene, I have already learned quite a lot. I've lost count of the amount of songs I've discovered on albums I already deemed as classics. I feel like this kind of thrill, the thrill of discovery is something that I don't think any streaming service could replicate.
But for many people, that still isn't enough to justify buying music with actual money. But in the time that I have been record collecting, my absolute favourite thing about doing so is that I am able to go to signings and visit some of my favourite artists. Most of the bigger names in the record shop industry have already caught on to this. In Bristol you have Rough Trade and in London there's quite a few. But in my hometown of Brighton, I would argue that the go-to place for records needs to be Resident.
Located in Kensington Gardens in the North Laines, this record shop was where I got to meet and chat with the guys from Architects following their latest album Holy Hell. But more recently and more relevantly than that, the record shop was visited by Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes to celebrate their new album End of Suffering.
Fans were queueing to the very north end of Kensington Gardens. All of which were excited to head on in to the record shop to not only get their album signed, but to witness a very unique live performance as part of what the band described as an "in-store tour".
The band were already quite worn out by the time they arrived at Resident as they had already visited two other record shops in other parts of the country that day. But needless to say they gave it their all in what was a highly unique set with acoustic renditions of their songs both classic and new (but mostly new).
It quite honestly was a performance unlike any other I've seen. Not only was it incredibly intimate, the regular chats with fans really made for a fantastically friendly environment. I got to learn a lot more about the new songs as Frank Carter gave his story behind each of them. I learned that "Angel Wings" was about Frank Carter's own personal experience of what he described as "the worst day of his life". I learned that he written the title track of their new album for his daughter, and lastly I learned more about the albums hidden track "Lead" that was made that way as a sort of thanks for buying a physical copy of the album.
Frank Carter and the band treated the fans there more like family and there was banter a plenty. The overall atmosphere of it all really made me feel privileged to be at Resident that evening and inspired me enough to write this article.
So if you're somebody who is put off by the idea of buying music physically, It would mean missing out on incredible moments like these. This honestly wasn't anything like your average gig, it was a true service to all superfans of this incredible group.
I sincerely hope that more and more artist do in-store tours like the one I was lucky enough to go to on Monday evening as it truly makes me feel like Record collecting is far from just novelty.
I will end this article with a quote from Frank Carter himself that really ties this whole thing together perfectly;
"I just wanted to play to everyone that brought our album 'cause it really means so much to us. I remember when I was in that line for the bands that I love, and we want to carry that on."
Frank Carter
Thank you for reading,
Booth Boy
There are many people who don't see the point in records anymore. With the power and convenience of streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and many more. People no longer need to buy music to listen to it and that furthermore gives people the freedom to only chose a selection of songs that they like or simply delete an album or song if they don't enjoy it. And while this seems like a an ideal scenario for music lovers, it stems into a greater problem.
With people having so much freedom in music, their tolerance towards listening to albums in their entirety especially seems ever-decreasing. There is an unrivalled thrill of recognising the narrative of a whole album and it feels incredibly wholesome to appreciate every single song on there in time. I also feel that this makes things a hell of a lot harder for new bands as it is all too easy just to skim over a song, regard it as pretty good and never listen to it again.
I have been collecting records for just over a year now. And while I would still consider myself to be pretty new to this scene, I have already learned quite a lot. I've lost count of the amount of songs I've discovered on albums I already deemed as classics. I feel like this kind of thrill, the thrill of discovery is something that I don't think any streaming service could replicate.
But for many people, that still isn't enough to justify buying music with actual money. But in the time that I have been record collecting, my absolute favourite thing about doing so is that I am able to go to signings and visit some of my favourite artists. Most of the bigger names in the record shop industry have already caught on to this. In Bristol you have Rough Trade and in London there's quite a few. But in my hometown of Brighton, I would argue that the go-to place for records needs to be Resident.
Located in Kensington Gardens in the North Laines, this record shop was where I got to meet and chat with the guys from Architects following their latest album Holy Hell. But more recently and more relevantly than that, the record shop was visited by Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes to celebrate their new album End of Suffering.
Fans were queueing to the very north end of Kensington Gardens. All of which were excited to head on in to the record shop to not only get their album signed, but to witness a very unique live performance as part of what the band described as an "in-store tour".
The band were already quite worn out by the time they arrived at Resident as they had already visited two other record shops in other parts of the country that day. But needless to say they gave it their all in what was a highly unique set with acoustic renditions of their songs both classic and new (but mostly new).
It quite honestly was a performance unlike any other I've seen. Not only was it incredibly intimate, the regular chats with fans really made for a fantastically friendly environment. I got to learn a lot more about the new songs as Frank Carter gave his story behind each of them. I learned that "Angel Wings" was about Frank Carter's own personal experience of what he described as "the worst day of his life". I learned that he written the title track of their new album for his daughter, and lastly I learned more about the albums hidden track "Lead" that was made that way as a sort of thanks for buying a physical copy of the album.
Frank Carter and the band treated the fans there more like family and there was banter a plenty. The overall atmosphere of it all really made me feel privileged to be at Resident that evening and inspired me enough to write this article.
So if you're somebody who is put off by the idea of buying music physically, It would mean missing out on incredible moments like these. This honestly wasn't anything like your average gig, it was a true service to all superfans of this incredible group.
I sincerely hope that more and more artist do in-store tours like the one I was lucky enough to go to on Monday evening as it truly makes me feel like Record collecting is far from just novelty.
I will end this article with a quote from Frank Carter himself that really ties this whole thing together perfectly;
"I just wanted to play to everyone that brought our album 'cause it really means so much to us. I remember when I was in that line for the bands that I love, and we want to carry that on."
Frank Carter
Thank you for reading,
Booth Boy
Comments
Post a Comment