Record Store Day

Record Store Day 2015

This year marks my second year traversing into Dublin city in the early hours of the morning for Record Store Day. The build up to it is excruciating, dissecting impossibly long lists of releases to figure out:
1) What records I want
2) What records I desperately want
3) What records I will actually be able to afford

Starting off with a wishlist of thirty records I felt I needed in my life, I eventually managed to narrow it down to three - Temples/Fever The Ghost split 7", The Wytches/Hooton Tennis Club split 7" and whatever it was Peace were releasing. I really knew nothing about what Peace had decided to put forward for RSD, but Peace are Peace so I knew it was a necessary purchase.

I had my alarm set for 6am, yet managed to wake up a whole half hour earlier than that. I downed a cup of coffee before running to the bus stop, with only my iPod and a biography of Leon Trotsky to keep me company for the hour or so I knew I was going to be queuing.

I had decided that Freebird Records was to be my record store of choice this year, having made the mistake of queuing outside Tower Records last year, only to find by the time I got in that everything I wanted was already sold out. Upon arriving outside Freebird, I found myself to be the seventh person in the queue, and a good ten years younger than everyone there, not to mention the only female. With only a denim jacket to shield me from the cold, I set in for the long wait.

It was whilst I was reading of Trotsky being sent off to Siberia when a certain frenzy grew in those queuing alongside me, as doors were finally opened at 8am. Upon entering the shop, I had to fight my way through a group of middle aged men squabbling over the only two copies of U2's Songs of Innocence in stock to get to the 7"s. After hurriedly flicking through just about every 7" on display, I finally located the Temples/Fever The Ghost single, as well as The Wytches/Hooton Tennis Club one. Empowered by my success in locating two out of three of my desired purchases, I  wrangled my way back through the pandemonium over to the 12"s, determined to locate whatever it was Peace had released.

It was with a sense of pride and glee I lay my hands upon the last copy of Peace's picture disk, with two live recordings - World Pleasure on the A side, and their superb cover of Led Zeppelin's Since I've Been Loving You residing on the B Side. Overjoyed at finding the final copy inside Freebird, I ducked through the masses to the counter, ecstatic to have somehow succeeded in securing all three of the records I desired.

Record Store Day has proved to be an interesting, if slightly stressful experience both times I've engaged in it. Whilst the records are definitely on the overpriced side of things,  I still find the novelty of the whole thing to be thoroughly worth while, and the ridiculously early morning worth it.