Day brings spin to classic music format
National event supports local record stores, artists
April 15, 2015
When recalling last year’s Record Store Day, Electric Fetus Record Store employee Janna Klein laughs at the memory of people camping outside of the store, in the freezing snow, waiting 13 hours for the event to begin.
“In the morning we opened the door and the floods of people rushed in, full of excitement,” Klein said.
Record Store Day is a national event, drawing music fans from across the country to their local record stores, according to Carrie Colliton, director of marketing at the Department of Record Stores and co-founder of Record Store Day.
Multiple record stores across Minneapolis are hosting events to celebrate Record Store Day April 18. Treehouse Records, Cheapo Records, Dusty Pixels, Roadrunner Records, Fifth Element, Know Name Records, Extreme Noise Records, Electric Fetus and Hymie’s Vintage Records are all on the list of participating stores, according to Colliton.
Junior Maggie Coleman said she enjoys collecting records and visiting record stores, especially when she finds old music. She said she thinks Record Store Day provides a good opportunity to meet like-minded people and share musical experiences.
“It gets people interested in records more than on a normal day,” Coleman said. “It’s fun to just sit around with your friends and listen to records.”
Klein said she believes the exclusive releases are what draws record enthusiasts on Record Store Day. “There are special releases, and they are very limited edition runs,” she said. “That’s why they wait outside. There may be five copies of that record in our store and only a couple hundred in the world.”
Laura Hoenack, owner of Hymie’s Vintage Records located at 3820 East Lake Street in Minneapolis, said she is excited to celebrate Record Store Day for the sixth year in a row. Her store is hosting 14 live bands, putting a spotlight on local music. The store is also providing food and a bouncy house. They plan to give away free records, while supplies last, and to feature local craft artists.
“For us, it’s not just Record Store Day. It’s a celebration of local artists and local music in our community,” Hoenack said. “We do some of the releases, but we would prefer to make it about a local music event and the celebration of Hymie’s.”
Hoenack said her store has participated Record Store Day for many years.
“It would be silly not to participate,” she said. “All the other records stores do. It’s by far our busiest day of the year. A lot of people come to record stores for the first time that day.”
Junior Gavin Peterson said he believes Record Store Day brings people together.
“I think music is really the best way to bring people together. It has so much power and emotion and it can really move you and others,” Peterson said.
Klein said she is most looking forward to help ing create an exciting environment in the store. This includes live performances, food and giveaways.
“It’s really like a big party at work. I love when we have live music in the store,” she said. “It’s like a big record store Christmas.”
