Record Store Day: All you need to know

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15 Apr, 2015 08:00 PM3 mins to read

Ben Howe and Matthew Davis outside the soon to be opened Flying Out record store on Pitt Street.

Auckland's record stores are going all out this weekend, writes Lydia Jenkin.

This Saturday is Record Store Day - the annual celebration of the fact record stores still exist and that the great vinyl revival continues.

The international event sees artists releasing special editions on vinyl, and doing in-store live performances, plus many other incentives to reel music fans into shops to top up their music collections.

In Auckland, the day comes with the opening of a new store - Flying Nun Records and Arch Hill Recordings are setting up Flying Out.

"We are all music fans and community is an incredibly important part of what we do, says Flying Out co-director Matthew Davis. "Having a physical space to complement our online community will help build this further. Plus it will be fun. Who doesn't like hanging at a record store?"

The shop will be part of a three-level Flying Out headquarters. The store will offer Flying Nun and Arch Hill titles plus a variety of other artists from other labels they like. They're celebrating Record Store Day with a re-issue of Shayne Carter and Peter Jefferies' 1986 collaborative 7" Randolph's Going Home, which was Carter's first recording after the tragic death of his Doublehappy bandmate, Wayne Elsey.

Meanwhile, Southbound Records, which recently moved to larger premises at 132 Symonds St, is celebrating with multiple special releases (over 250), and performances.

The live entertainment on Saturday will start at 3pm with a special performance by SJD, celebrating his new album Saint John Divine on CD and LP. At 4.30pm Don McGlashan will perform an acoustic set, marking the release of his new album Lucky Stars, and Delaney Davidson will also be instore to sign copies of his limited edition LP Diamond Dozen which collates lost tunes, soundtrack gems, and stolen treasures from his last 10 years of recording. There will also be free coffee and baking if you get in early enough.

Over at Marbecks (34 Queen St in Queens Arcade) there'll be performances from Lawrence Arabia and Tiny Ruins from 1pm, and Princess Chelsea and Jonathan Bree rounding out the musical interludes with DJ sets.

And Real Groovy (438 Queen St) will have guest DJs and live acts all day long from 9am to 7pm, including Tina Turntables, Kody Nielson, Selecta Sam, Pennie Black, Larry's Rebels, and The Cleves (aka Bitch).

It will be the first performance from Larry's Rebels in 47 years, and they'll be playing hits like I Feel Good and Painter Man, while a reunited Cleves will be performing tracks from their acclaimed 1971 self-titled debut plus songs from their previously unreleased 1973 UK album.

Both the long-lost 1960s Kiwi pop groups are also releasing special editions of recordings which have long been languishing in the vaults, and have been brought to light specially for Record Store Day, to be presented to the world on glossy new vinyl for the first time.

Record store events are happening elsewhere in the country, at Slow Boat and Rough Peel Music in Wellington, and Penny Lane Records in Christchurch.