 |
Shaxul Records is that increasingly rare thing, the metal record store. “WE SELL METAL,” says a handwritten sign on the door. When I enter, Overkill’s Feel the Fire is playing on the turntable. The store is small, maybe 10′ x 20′. LP’s line the left wall; t-shirts the right. In between are grizzled posters – Iron Maiden, Death Angel, Yngwie Malmsteen. The store opened in 2008, but it feels ancient.
I ask proprietor Stone Clement what he’s been listening to. The first Saxon album, he says. Xasthur. Witchfinder General. The Mentors, since they recently dropped off their reissues at the store. Other reissues at Shaxul include Exodus’ records on Capitol (which I wrote about here) and Morbid Saint’s legendary debut (which I wrote about here). Shaxul’s CD section isn’t much to speak of, though it’s strong in local bands. The action is in the vinyl (Slayer picture discs!) and t-shirts (Onward to Golgotha in small!). Also available is a good selection of patches, books, and magazines, including Snakepit back issues. No ophidiophobia in this temple of doom!
 |
With his handlebar moustache, Clement is the spitting image of Frank Zappa. (He once dressed as Zappa for Halloween.) I ask him what it’s like to be across the street from Amoeba Records, the converted bowling alley that’s arguably the world’s best record store. He says it’s great; he gets more foot traffic as a result. Metalheads often visit both stores in one trip. Amoeba also has a good selection of metal, but it’s impossible for any one store to cover metal comprehensively. Thus, Shaxul and Amoeba complement each other.
I ogle the t-shirts, almost yield to a Darkthrone one with rare gray print, and instead leave with a strange relic: an unopened CD longbox of Skid Row’s Slave to the Grind. When I exit, it takes a few seconds to return to 2009.
Shaxul Records is located at 1816 Haight St., SF, CA.
Related posts:
Stone’s the man. Met him when his band Passive Aggressive played in Seattle a few years back. His shop does indeed sound awesome. Nice writeup, Cosmo.
We’ll have to hit up Dark Realm the next time you’re here.
Sounds like a great place, too bad it’s on the other side of the country.
Can anyone recommend someplace like this in South Florida?
If you’re in Chicago or nearby, I hear Metal Haven is great. I should be making my first trip there in March.
How the fuck is there not a metal rec store in Fla? How?!
There used to be some good stores, not strictly metal though but they had a good selection. Not so much anymore that I know of.
Metal Haven is amazing. It’s a small space but everything is well organized. They got a good shirt selection, a nice cd section and even a wall dedicated to vinyl. Oh yeah, they have a section called “THE BRUTAL SECTION” where you can find the sickest goregrind cd’s you can’t find anywhere else. Metal Mark (Metal Haven owner) is almost always at any good show, so buy him a beer the next time you see him cuz he has huge balls for continuing Metal Haven despite the fact not a lot of people buy cd’s anymore.
I just bought an Opeth vinyl from Shaxul last week. I agree its great having Amoeba and Shaxul across from each more metal to find.
I wish this had been posted 2 weeks ago. I was just in SF @ the Haight Amoeba and had no idea this was nearby. Oh well. Aquarius Records in the Mission has a decent metal section as well.
Know what, I realized I got one of the sections at Metal Haven wrong, the goregrind section is supposed to say “BRUTAL SHIT”, my bad.
I was in SF for a couple weeks over the summer. I went to Amoeba and dropped a ridiculous amount of money on metal and jazz cds, only to discover the shop while walking out of there. I wanted to check it out but my parking meter was about to run out of time (got back with a minute to spare).
I’m definitely going to check it out next time I’m up there.
Sounds like a great, I wished I lived near there.
I live in nowhere land. Twenty years ago we had five good indie record stores fairly close by. Now we have one. About seven years ago they started carrying DVDs and video games as well as CDs and records. Since then the CDs and particualrly the metal and punk sections have shrunk while the prices have gone up. I used to go there almost every week and now I go there maybe 2-3 times a year.