Record Store Day @ Vacation Vinyl
If record stores are dying out, it didn’t feel that way on Record Store Day.
For “their day”, many record stores offered special enticements for customers. Vacation Vinyl, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, was no exception. The store offered Khanate, Isis, and Harvey Milk coaster sets free with purchases. Metal-themed coasters might sound silly, but they’re useful. I’m all for useful.
For Record Store Day, Vacation Vinyl featured DJ sets by musicians including drummer Larry Herweg of Pelican, bassist Jeff Caxide of Isis, and vocalist Keith Morris of The Circle Jerks. When my friends and I arrived, Caxide was on the virtual steels of wheel (i.e., laptop). He didn’t mix or beatmatch, but simply played one tune after another. His selections were often electronic and industrial-tinged; I caught some dubstep in there.
Customer traffic was steady and mostly male. Store co-proprietor and Hydra Head co-owner Mark Thompson was visibly excited about the occasion. He said he wished every week had Record Store Day. Traffic was high in the morning, and people snapped up Doors and Rolling Stones releases specially made for Record Store Day. My friend bought vinyl reissues of Pantera’s first three albums. I asked Thompson what criteria the store had for buying product. He said there were none, except for being on vinyl.
Indeed, CD’s were scarce in the shop. That’s a smart strategy. Record Store Day began in 2007, perhaps to help stanch the blood loss in record stores, which are becoming increasingly rare. Appropriately, Vacation Vinyl carried the book Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops?
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