Record Store Day was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner as a way to celebrate and recognize Independent Record Stores not only all over the US but those Internationally as well. Record Store Day is a day when all the Indy Record Stores come together to offer their devoted clientele rare releases such as limited print 7″ singles, colored vinyl sets and special releases of albums made just for Record Store Day. I was even lucky enough to be present when Italian Metal band Lacuna Coil did a rare acoustic in-store performance here at Atlanta’s Criminal Records. The performance was captured and released as a limited edition 7″ single on Record Store Day!
Now many of my faithful readers already know how I feel about Indy Record stores. Honestly, I haven’t had the best experiences in them over the years. When I was a kid, Warehouse Records and Smith’s Records were the coolest places to be! They were small, local record stores in New Orleans that had the best selection of Metal you could get so going to these places as a kid was like going to a candy store and being let loose at the door. I could literally feel my money burning a hole in my pocket as I checked out the endless bins of records, the wall of t-shirts and the huge rotating button displays that contained the very things that would cover my denim jackets for years! Over the years though, big name places like Best Buy, Circuit City and others started selling CDs and as a broke kid, it was so much cheaper to go to the big guys and get your shit. As I got older, I learned that these little Indy stores were dying. The very places that I got so much thrill as a kid. So I figured, ya know, I’m older and wiser. Its time to help these folks out! But there was a problem. They didn’t seem to want me at all.
I can remember walking into Wax & Facts in Atlanta for the first time and thinking that this place was cool. They had used records (new and old) and old bootlegs and what not. But something was wrong. I didn’t feel welcomed or happy to be there. The people behind the counter glared at me with cold stares and seemed not so happy to see me. This isn’t how I remembered it. I remember high fives and smiles and “Hey man, thanks for coming back to us!” These folks were just cold and looked like they’d rather be cooked in a vat of hot oil then help me find the Iron Maiden album I was looking for. I remember walking around the corner and visiting Criminal Records for the first time and it was full of life and colorful and the folks behind the counter were funny and talked to me. I frequented that place many times before I moved to North Carolina in 1999 and they were always so fun to go to. I sure hoped to find a place like this in North Carolina. I did find a place in North Carolina but it would put a sour taste in my mouth about Indy Record Stores for nearly 10 years.
Chapel Hill, NC is a college town and like most college towns are full of pretentious, snotty college kids matched only by the pretentious and snotty locals 
who make up 90% of the local music scene. These are also the people who work in the local Indy record stores. The big Indy store in Chapel Hill was School Kids Records. I went in there all of 3 times and each time I had a crappier experience than the time before. Just upon entering you could tell that the trendy scenester employees wanted nothing to do with anyone who wasn’t of their kind. One day I go in to buy Black Crowes tickets one day and the guy behind the counter just scoffs at me and goes, “Sheesh, these guys are still around?” The last time I would go there would be when the straw would break the camel’s back. I go in looking for a copy of the latest album by The Donnas. I find it and take it to the counter. I put it on the counter and the girl behind the counter goes, “Geez, try listening to some real music!” I just pushed the CD towards her and said, “Thanks! I’m going to Best Buy!” Not long afterward I hear that School Kids Records is closing their doors because of bad business. I read the article in the paper about it and they were just whining and crying about how they couldn’t compete with the big giants and that the people just weren’t there for them. Well, ya know what? Try actually engaging your customers and making them feel welcomed as opposed to turning your noses up to them because of their musical tastes. Maybe then you will survive and even have people that like going into your store to give you repeat business.
Recored Store Day 2010 was this past Saturday but the day before, I joined a buddy of mine on an adventure to Greenville, SC. We were going down to an in-store performance by alt-rock band Sick Puppies at the Indy record store Earshot Records. I was a bit reluctant to go because of my experience with Indy Record Stores in the past but decided to put all my differences aside to try and give these guys a chance. Upon getting there, I was first impressed with the range of their clientele. Everyone in the store was anywhere from 16 to 40 years old and shopping for everything from nu-metal to jazz. The staff was so friendly and the people in the store even seemed to be regulars in the way they interacted with the staff. My buddy introduced me to Earshot’s buyer Christopher Ashley and right away we hit it off discussing his King Diamond t-shirt, Dio-era Sabbath remasters and everything in between. After a performance and meet & greet with Sick Puppies, I was just psyched to shop in this awesome store. They had such a great selection of stuff and there was ZERO pretentiousness to this place. They catered to metal, hippies and all in between. I haven’t been to many stores where you could pick up a Phish shirt AND a Slayer shirt off the same rack. Christopher is a really cool and knowledgeable guy on many genres of music. He also really values the customers they get at Earshot and does all he can to keep them coming back.
Later that day, we headed over to visit Horizon Records. This place REALLY blew me away. It’s connected to a restaurant and just by walking in you feel 
welcomed. The place has a warm feel to it with good lighting, lots of wood and lots of vinyl. I mean, LOTS of vinyl. I had a great time talking to Shelly over some great vinyl that I was purchasing from them. She was really sweet and she went out of her way to help me find the stuff I was looking for! I was looking all over the store for a copy of Captain Beyond’s debut with the 3-D cover and couldn’t find one. The owner Gene went out of his way to tell me that he would be more than happy to let me know as soon as he gets a copy of it and hold it for me. The experiences I had at these two awesome stores really changed the way I think about Indy record stores as whole. I would drive two hours to Greenville to give these two stores my business any day! What a great experience and all this the day BEFORE Record Store Day. I really wish I could have been at these stores for Record Store Day. I would’ve been more than happy to give them my money and matter of fact, they’ll get it any time I’m in town. I loved these people so much!
My FAVORITE Record Store in Atlanta is hands down Fantasyland Records. It’s a great record store that is a record store in the truest sense of the word. It’s more Indy than any Indy record store you can find. There’s no bells and whistles. Just a huge room where the vinyl to CD ratio is like 70/30 with the 70 being vinyl and CD’s being the 30. They are really nice guys who offer used (and some new) vinyl at some of the best prices I’ve ever seen but they’re not very engaging. While the experience isn’t all that exciting with the owners, what is exciting is the fact that every time I’ve been in there I walked out with something I really wanted and got it for a great price! I’ve been going there since I moved here in July and I am a customer for life. They are very fair with what they give you for trades and even offer up more in store credit than they do in cash. The albums are fairly priced and getting to walk out of there with a copy of Gregg Allman’s “Laid Back” and the debut Dickey Betts & Great Southern album for 12 bucks is damn sweet if you ask me! Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of the releases I was looking for so Criminal Records in Atlanta would be seeing my business this day!
Criminal Records had it down to science. By the time doors were opening at 10am, the line was well down the street for a block and a half of fellow music dorks with their lists in hand of releases they were looking for. By the time I made my way in, the place was just packed with people picking up their goodies. All the new releases for Record Store Day 2010 were against one wall and behind the counter. It was overwhelming but once I got my bearings, I found that they had most of what I was looking for sans The Ramones Mania colored vinyl 2 LP set and the Drive-By Truckers “Your Woman Is A Livin’ Thing” 7″. I found the staff to be pretty stand offish. I know they were busy and all but I couldn’t help but just feel like I was being shuffled through, having my money taken and then shuffled out the door. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy I got what I wanted but the experience itself wasn’t all that pleasant. It even made me re-think about going back next year for Record Store Day 2010. Maybe I’ll be hitting another store or even going to Greenville for the experience of feeling welcomed.
What Criminal Records didn’t have, I ended up finding at Wuxtry Records in Decatur. If you EVER want to REALLY feel unwelcome or feel completely 
under stimulated by record shopping, go here. I walked in and asked if they had the Ramones 2LP set. The guy behind the counter just pointed over my shoulder and said “Up There” and there they were. I grabbed a couple of copies and then asked for the Drive-By Truckers single. He just walked over, looked into a bin and pulled it out. I told him thanks for having these and he just halfheartedly smiled and rang ’em up. Again, I’m glad they had what I was looking for but talk about a stale experience. I doubt I will ever go back to that store unless it’s an occasion like this where they have something nobody else does that I’m looking for.
At the end of the day, Record Store Day 2010 awarded me with some great new additions to my record collection but the experience of it all was pretty damn underwhelming. The real fun was the day before hanging at Earshot and Horizon Records in Greenville. I still have a smile on my face from my experiences at those two stores. I already can’t wait to go back to Greenville just to visit my new friends there and to have another great experience with them. I also hope that Fantasyland Records will kick things up a notch and really make Record Store Day 2010 a bigger event for themselves. I’d like to thank Earshot and Horizon for both showing me that you can’t judge all Indy record stores by the bad experiences you’ve had at other stores. I just wish I had a store like those guys here in Atlanta where the experience as a whole was as good as it was in those two stores. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like it will be happening any time soon.
My 2010 Record Store Day Goodies!
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