called ‘A Brief History of Gateposts’. HA: (laughing) Good new reading source. D: Oh, the other thing I noticed is that your LP drops on a Wednesday rather than Friday… specifically April 20th… that is significant too right? HA: Yeah, it’s “420”. As well as the exotic theme, we like the idea of a pisstake stoners album when it really isn’t that. We thought it was funny above all else. I think 4:20 was the time that they’d stave off until they could smoke weed… something like that, but 420 is in relation to cannabis culture. D: I wondered if 420 was a police code or something. HA: You’d think it was something a bit more tech, but no. The release fell sort of close to that date so we made the jump and also to maybe stand away a little from Record Store Day.
D: If there was something that you really wanted to buy from the Record Store Day list, where would you be queuing on that morning? HA: I would be at Probe in Liverpool. It’s a shop I’ve always been going to since I was a kid, it’s moved around a bit since then, but it’s still a really great shop. Good set of staff that have been working there for years. I didn’t used to even say “alright” to them, I was probably a bit scared to be honest (laughing) but I say hello these days. D: Probe interests me a lot. They don’t have a really crisp logo or visual identity and I’m not sure they’re even on social websites… but they seem to have a lot of honesty to what they do. Is that, more broadly speaking, indicative of Liverpool and its music scene in general? HA: I think so. I am sure that is true because Probe couldn’t really get away with being anything other than honest, I think people would latch onto that
straight away. It’s more of a basic thing, there is nothing particularly flash, there is no hard sell. I know it’s been taken on in quite a few independent shops but Probe always have stickers on the front of releases with small write-ups or recommendations. It seems to me that even though it is a relatively small thing it makes a big difference. It makes you want to listen to it. I think you can quickly see if people are doing it for the love of it. D: I’m certainly not rich… HA: (laughing) I know… I think you realise that quite early on don’t you? D: Where else is Liverpool is good for shopping? AH: Grand Central is an old performance hall and that has individual stalls. There is a stall in there called Cult Vinyl and that is old stuff, always good for a general look around. Plenty of oddball shops. I am sure in this boom time for vinyl that plenty of
D: What are your own experiences of Record Store Day? HA: I’ve been involved with a couple of things that have been released on the day over the years. I think as a punter… well, I think it has probably done more good than bad, but I am a bit sceptical and it feels like it might have been hijacked a little bit by the majors and turned into a circus. It should be about helping the smaller shops. D: I feel like it is at a turning point. HA: It almost feels inevitable. Whether it is a festival or anything that is expected to grow year after year it will reach a point where it becomes more and more about the commercialisation than the music I suppose. D: Circus is a very interesting word to use, I think in terms of both positive and negative connotations. Next year’s tenth anniversary is a good opportunity to really address everyone’s thoughts I think. HA: It’s a good opportunity on the tenth anniversary, it’s a good reason as you say to go into the studio and record something special.
“I remember Probe had it on the wall with one of their stickers on the front saying “You should listen to this release…” I think that felt as satisfying as anything else we did really.”