Deluxe Issue One

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IT’S ABOUT RECORD SHOPS

Loud&Quiet. Jan-11 2012_Layout 1 13/02/2012 17:48 Page 1

BON IVER

Bon Iver

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t Un E - y A r D s

WHOKILL

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2011 & 2012

S T. V I N C E N T

Strange Mercy

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THE BIG PINK

Future Thi s

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MARK LANEGAN BAND

Bl ues Funera l

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GRIMES

Vi s i o n s

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W E L C O M E TO A D E L UX E P R E SS I N G My first record shop experience was at the Torquay branch of the Our Price chain. I still have the bag from that first occasion with an advert for Tanita Tikaram’s “Sweet Keeper” on the reverse. I’ve still never heard the album but the sleeve has always stayed with me. That day I bought, with some parental guidance perhaps, Joy Division ‘Substance’ on CD and also bizarrely chose “100% Dance Volume Two” as a forthcoming birthday present. I queued up, paid, took my Tanita Tikaram bag and left the shop a record collector… all be it one with erratic taste.

Issue One ~ March 2012

Obsessed with record shops ever since, I plan all major holidays, shopping excursions and free weekends around standing in them not to mention owning my own that I lovingly admire and think about constantly. Deluxe is about record shops and all the brilliant, obsessive and mad people who love them.

b1. ‘Transatlantic recommended retailers’ by Anika Mottershaw

Rupert Morrison Editor

b2. ‘Meat Whiplash or Bobby Gillespie’

by Jeff Barrett

As a teen from the rural back woods I adored the menace of the new wave groups posing in black leather on Top of the Pops. They represented the opposite of my ordinary life and switching on the telly on a Thursday night felt like communing with aliens from a far away galaxy. Then I discovered Buzz Music, a gilded palace of vinyl and rock instruments run by long-hairs and punks tucked away behind the cattle market. My thirteen year old head exploded. Here was a world filled with the twilight people I’d seen on TOTP. They called themselves exotic names like Biscuit and Slug and endlessly played albums of the dark music that would go on to sound track the rest of my teenage years. I made the pilgrimage to Buzz Music most weeks rooting through every inch of their LP racks and singles boxes, thumbing through every zine and hanging around like a bad smell in the hope that some of their cool would rub off on me. It was an amazing place and inspires me still. Cheers Biscuit, you and your strange friends saved my life.

a1. ‘If you’re only going to steal one record this year…’ by Roy Wilkinson a2. A record bag photo story

c1. Strider Records of New York c2. ‘Track Minds’ by Lee O’Connor d1. ‘Illustrated Points’

by Hannah Megee and Luke Drodz d2. Waterloo Records of Austin, Texas.

Crispin Parry Associate Editor Designers at Large: Will Perrens and Jenny Cobden Atwork Contributors: Roy Wilkinson, Anika Mottershaw, Jeff Barrett Illustrations: Lee O’Connor, Hannah Megee, Luke Drodz Distributed: Forte Moral Compas: Katie Weatherall Library: Danny Ford Thanks To: Bob Noguera, John T Kunz, Edmund LeStrange, Stephen Rodgers and everyone at PIAS, Chris Munton and Forte, Ben Edwards, and all the amazing shops and labels that have reached out.

Issue Two out Summer 2012 Advertising and marketing opportunities: rupert@britishunderground.net www.deluxe.so www.britishunderground.net www.atworkportfolio.co.uk Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information or any consequence arising from it. Published by Drift in association with British Underground.

Forte UK Independent Music Distribution info@fortedistribution.co.uk www.fortedistribution.co.uk

I f yo u ’r e o n ly g o i n g to s t e a l o n e r e c o r d t h i s y e a r ...

by ROY WILKINSON

From the late 1990s to 2005 I managed the invigorating boy-alpinist rock group British Sea Power – on Rough Trade Records; from Cumbria via East Sussex; self-proclaimed suppliers of ‘high-church amplified rock music’.

We had a slogan for every occasion, including directing people to the shops: ‘If you’re only going to buy one record this year... then don’t buy two.’ Truth to tell, feverishly dedicated to boosting BSP up the charts, I was never much concerned about where people bought their records. But now this question seems to loom larger.

It is, of course, cheap and easy to buy records from Amazon of Washington state. From their HQ in Seattle’s South Lake Union district – also home to Boeing’s first aircraft factory – Amazon seem to be increasingly in charge of everything. They have warehousing facilities from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Crymlyn Burrows on the outskirts of Swansea. Their business links include Zappos on-line shoes, Marks & Spencers and DC Comics. But, as the DC title Watchmen had it, “Who watches the Watchmen?” In Amazon’s case you also have to keep an eye on the watch men. Amazon run a retail website for Timex, while Amazon’s own website will happily dispatch you a Sekonda Seksy Amour, complete with Swarovksi crystals and two-year warranty.

As well as selling books at amazingly competitive rates, Amazon now has several publishing imprints. They recently provided a $500,000 advance for a book from the medical-spiritualist Deepak Chopra. Will Amazon soon start their own record label? Will Amazon eventually become an omni-corp even as powerful as the one in that fiercely satirical work from Ben Elton, the musical We Will Rock You? In We Will Rock You the audience is transported 300 years into the future. The Earth has been renamed Planet Mall – or, cleverly, since last year, iPlanet. On iPlanet the Globalsoft Corporation controls everything, including pop music.

Guitars are banned and it’s all made on computers. Hendrix, Clapton, wild Johnny from Razorlight? Forget it.

It’s easy to damn Queen for their willingness to team up with goofy Ben – and allow their music to be used in adverts for Pepsi Cola, Domino’s Pizza and the motorway tolls system of Queensland, Australia. But if Queen can be portrayed as purblind commercial titans, their history also features rock at its most romantically DIY. In the 1960s, Brian May’s father spent two years building the homemade ‘Red Special’ guitar that Brian still plays today. The fretboard was carved from a 19th-century mahogany fireplace.

The tremolo arm came from the saddle on Brian’s bike, capped with the end of one his mum’s knitting needles. The tremolo unit itself incorporated valve springs from the engine of a Norton motorcycle. It’s difficult to imagine rock romanticism of more archetypal scope – the guitar behind Queen’s hits being constructed from that founding symbol of rock ‘n’ roll freedom, the motorbike.

But what does the future hold? The Queen of We Will Rock You and Pepsi, or the Queen that was hand-crafted from knitting needles. Will pop music be made and sold in back-rooms and on backstreets? Or only via Amazon?

As it happens, the first record British Sea Power drummer Woody bought was a Queen album – the Innuendo album, Freddie’s last gasp in 1991.

Woody bought the album in the Kendal branch of Our Price, the record chain

Martin Noble’s first record was also acquired by robbery – Salt ’N’ Pepa’s Hot, Cool & Vicious album, on cassette, stolen from Leeds HMV.

‘Do It For Your Mum’ - Roy Wilkinson and his Dad

that ceased trading in 2004. The first record bought by BSP’s bassist – my brother Neil Hamilton Wilkinson – was much more indie-authentic, PJ Harvey’s debut album Dry, on the Too Pure label. ‘It came with a free extra record, demo stuff,’ Neil recalls today. ‘Around the same time I bought an album by the Dead Kennedys, Plastic Surgery Disasters. It was on purple vinyl. I’d had to order it from Smyths, the record shop in Kendal.’

Smyths was a great place – two branches, one in Kendal, the other in Bowness, beside the waters of Windermere.

With the nostalgic reverie of someone recalling the creation of goalposts from just tubes of Spangles and the Proustian pong emitted by a freshly opened Wagon Wheel, I recall ordering records from the Kendal branch of Smyths. I would loiter outside to collect them when the shop opened on the day of release. Orange Juice’s Simply Thrilled single on Postcard Records. The second album by Echo & The Bunnymen. The Armed And Ready seven-inch by The Michael Schenker Group, on clear vinyl and with free sew-on patch. The latter, despite being headed by a heavy-metal maniac from Lower Saxony, seemed the most Cumbrian and the most Smyths.

Another of my brothers is in BSP, singer/guitarist Scott, aka Yan. Scott can’t recall buying a first record, but he can recall stealing one – Beck’s Loser, liberated from Woolworths, where Scott

worked in his teens. BSP guitarist Martin Noble’s first record was also acquired by robbery – Salt ’N’ Pepa’s Hot, Cool & Vicious album, on cassette, stolen from Leeds HMV. The Smyths shops are long

with an oddly rich history of record retailing. Heavenly Recordings founder Jeff Barrett cut his record-retailing teeth in Devon, running records shops with such brilliantly implausible names as

Lawes once featured a window display that consisted only of releases on Crass Records, home of the likes of the Rudimentary Peni and the album Bullshit Detector Vol 2. gone – as, of course, is Woolworths.

How much longer will HMV be with us? Is this just the way it is, with even the CD destined to become just a shinier version of the wax cylinder?

I now live in south Devon. It’s an area

Meat Whiplash and Bobby Gillespie (see Jeff ’s own account elsewhere in this magazine). The leading TV gag-writer David Quantick (Brass Eye, Harry Hill’s TV Burp) grew up in sleepy Exmouth on the Devon coast. Quantick recalls a shop

called Lawes Radio which sold records alongside the electrical goods. Looking for retail separation from the likes of WH Smith, Lawes seemingly based its stocking policy on whatever records were being hoorah-ed by John Peel and the music press. Apparently, Lawes once featured a window display that consisted only of releases on Crass Records, home of the likes of the Rudimentary Peni and the album Bullshit Detector Vol 2.

I live in Totnes, a small Devon market town with a population of around 7,500. Admittedly Totnes has a certain countercultural tradition. But even so it seems amazing and encouraging that Totnes can support a shop like Drift Records. Across the road from Woods tea shop and The Devon Harp Centre, Drift prominently displays records by Chairlift and Pulled Apart

By Horses. Maybe they are planning a Crass Records special. And, rather than sinking into decline, Drift seems to be flourishing. There is hope yet for the record shop. Smyths of Kendal and Bowness has gone, disappeared into the memory hole. I can’t recall if Smyths took a possessive apostrophe.

But possession of how we get our music, our records, may yet be undecided.

Roy Wilkinson is author of the family/ rock/forestry memoir Do It For Your Mum, published by Rough Trade Books in 2011.

FOR THE RECORD, IT’S A BAG “Do you want a bag with that?” Alongside a reliable stereo, ‘the record shop bag’ is one of the most important components of any outlet. Primarily for patrons to carry their new acquisitions, but also acting as a unique moving advert space to spread the record shop gospel. One of the bags in this issue’s collection had such specific directions on its reverse to locate the shop, it’s a small wonder they managed to print it legibly at all on a 12” by 12” bag. “upstairs in the new units above the carpark that backs onto Woolworths and the market. Second door”.

This collection of bags are kindly borrowed from one of my regular customers Jez Wayle; music collector, enthusiast, Jazz DJ and, until this outs him, secret obsessive record shop bag collector. These are a selection of the 136 bags that we photographed and they illustrate a small chapter of Jez’s musical history, not to mention listing shops that are long gone, but far from forgotten.

Photos: Lee O’Connor & Rupert Morrison

M EAT W H I P LASH OR B O B BY G I LLES P I E

by JEFF BARRETT

This is a bag from a record shop that I helped set up in Plymouth in 1984. I worked there until, I think, August 1985. Meat Whiplash was named and conceptualized by a chap from Plymouth called James Williamson.

You’ll understand how Rock ‘n’ Roll obsessed he was when I tell you that this wasn’t his real name.

James (aka Ferdy – also not his real name) was a bit of a face in Plymouth, having been on the punk scene in 77/78. I didn’t know him then, having only moved to Plymouth (from Nottingham) in 1979. I think he relocated to London in the early ‘80s, but you’d see him around from time to time, he was a distinctive looking guy.

Anyway, Meat Whiplash, one of the greatest record shops I have ever been in, that was his idea.

In the summer and autumn of 1984 I could be found selling records on Plymouth open-air market. Myself and my partner, Nick Clark*, had a transit van / market stall combo and every Friday and Saturday you would find us pitched up beside the carpet remnants lorry trying to sell Crass records. Not an easy job but one that suited me better than working for the local HMV. I’d already done that and during that time I’d built enough of a reputation for knowing my stuff that we felt pretty confident about the stall.

Also, I’d taken a year out from the HMV to be manager of the Revolver record shop in Bristol. In 1983/ 84, my year of service, you could rank Revolver alongside the Rough Trade shop in London (I use the singular because at this point in time there was only the one) as being a true Mecca for independently minded music fans. Not only was it a cool shop but also a distribution business that supplied all the independent label releases to South Wales and the South West of England. White labels on tap. Heaven.

Working at Revolver was a joy and an education.

Think about how great the music was at that time: the brand new sounds of electro coming in – Whodini, Hashim; Studio 1 on a serious roll with reissues: in early ’84, The Smiths and Aztec Camera debuts, The Cocteau Twins taking off, plus, one that had a great effect on me, four singles released on a new London label called Creation, but more of that later.

So I came back to Plymouth, set up the stall and over the course of the summer tried my best to sell great music to the good people of Devon and Cornwall.

All I can say is ‘thank fuck for Frankie Goes To Hollywood’. If it hadn’t been for an easily corruptible record company rep and his endless supply of ‘Frankie Says’ tee shirts we would have been in serious trouble.

Something else good happened to me that summer.

I started a club night in a place called Ziggy’s, just off of Union Street, Plymouth’s legendary hell hole for sex starved sailors and obliging others.

After making a few quid on a Sisters of Mercy show at the Top Rank, a mate and I took a weekly night at the club and started booking bands. The first three nights, were, I think, Pink Industry, The Stockholm Monsters and Section 25. Not many people came but in truth we didn’t really expect them too. It was however really good fun and when my mate bailed I just had to continue.

This is where we rewind to an earlier paragraph and talk about Creation Records. Before I left my job at Revolver, knowing that I was going back to Plymouth, I rang up Creation. I found the number on a white label in the warehouse out back. I’d never rung a record company before, and although I knew that Creation was tiny I wasn’t sure what the protocol was. Even so, I dialed the number and was soon asking the guy at the other end if I could speak with someone from the label. He asked me who I was and why I was calling and I told him that I wanted to book his bands for a club in Plymouth.

He asked me if I was taking the piss. This was Alan McGee and this is when he and I became friends.

This relationship came to fruition at Ziggy’s. Alan and I had stayed in touch and he soon realised that I wasn’t a piss-taker. A bit mad perhaps but honest enough to recommend the night to his bands. Before long our stall was not only selling records by The Loft, The Pastels, Biff Bang Pow! and The Jasmine

We opened the shop towards the end of ’84. A pink punk rock explosion in a black and white town. The Marychain released Upside Down – our Anarchy In The UK – like all great record shops should be, ours was a statement, a declaration of intent. The walls were covered with great record sleeves – The Velvets, Love, The Stooges, Chocolate Watchband, Suicide – along with all the best new releases we had ‘em all - on vinyl. It was a blast.

I have many great memories but one that always comes to mind is a Saturday morning, me, James and our collaborator Simes, hungover to fuck, sprawled across the counter. This young couple come in, the guy with a shock of strawberry blonde hair starts pulling out record sleeves. Australian imports of The Triffids and The Boys Next Door, he looks around the shop, eyes wide open expressing something like disbelief, he turns to me and says, “What the fuck are you doing here?”. Not me personally you understand, but the shop. He was home. **

James loved Bobby and shortly after I left he rechristened the shop, Bobby Gillespie, in honour of the great man.

Minks but tickets for their gigs at Ziggy’s too. My enthusiasm for Creation records was spreading.

As the summer months came to a close and the box marked ‘Frankie tee shirts’ sat empty I had a visit from James Williamson. He had come into a bit of money, was moving back to Plymouth and he wanted to open a record shop. Did I want to go in with him?

We discussed his vision and I shared it. It was exciting. I felt bad about leaving Nick on his own, especially as I was about to set up in competition but this was what I wanted and to be honest, the thought of spending winter on that fucking market did not appeal at all. So I said yes to James.

We found the perfect site. Next door to a ‘Private Shop’, central enough for business but off the main drag enough to stand out. He had a name, Meat Whiplash, I didn’t see that one coming, but I shared his love of The Fire Engines, a post punk outfit from Edinburgh who had a song of the same name.

(Completely by coincidence, this same song title was soon to be nicked again, this time by a post Marychain band from East Kilbride who were destined to have their records released on Creation. Synergy).

All through this time I was still doing the club. I booked Primal Scream and I booked the Marychain, both groups defined the spirit of our times. James loved Bobby and shortly after I left he rechristened the shop, Bobby Gillespie, in honour of the great man. Me, I got lucky. The night of the Marychain show, McGee decided to come down too. After the sound check he stepped out of the club and joined me on Union Street. An hour before doors and it was mental out there. Way more people than the 150 capacity club could hold were desperate to gain entrance, the suspicious cops were watching over none too pleased. Alan turned around to me at that point and uttered the words, “Barrett, what are you doing in Plymouth? Come and work for me”. So I did.

* Nick Clark still has a record shop. You can find it on line at rhythmonline.co.uk ** I crossed paths with the strawberry blond at a gig in London a few years later. I asked him to join a band I was managing. James Endeacott, for it was he, is a friend for life.

2012 WWW.MATADORRECORDS.COM

CEREMONY - ZOO Hailing from Rohnert Park, California, Ceremony’s first three albums are widely seen as the most compelling, unusual and progressive hardcore of the last five years. Zoo is a document of a band not afraid to push the boundaries of expectation.

OUT NOW

TANLINES - MIXED EMOTIONS Mixed Emotions obscures and blurs the lines between synthetic and organic, real and fake, happy and sad. It is the sound of a stadium pop in small spaces.

OUT MARCH 19TH

LEE RANALDO - BETWEEN THE TIMES AND THE TIDES Joined by an all-star cast (Nels Cline, Jim O’Rourke, Steve Shelley), Between The Times And The Tides is equal parts smart, confident and loose and will impress even the most ardent followers of Ranaldo’s work.

OUT MARCH 19TH

s t r i d i n g d ow n jones street with BOB NOGUERA

Bob Noguera has owned and occupied Strider Records at number 22 Jones Street for 28 years. Jones Street’s place in rock and roll notoriety is probably more attributable to a different Bob, one time neighbour Bob Dylan who’s 1963 “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” featured Jones Street and West 4th as it’s cover; as have we. At the start of the year Bob made the sad decision to close the shop, Deluxe spoke to him about the legacy of Strider Records.

Was running a record shop something that you’d always wanted to do or did you kind of fall into it?

Prior to 1979, I was a full-time college student but was working on weekends and summer vacations at another New York City record store which shall go unnamed.

I always loved music and record collecting, but I had no realization that I would ever go into the business for myself.

Strider Records - is there a story behind the name?

My friend had chosen the name ‘Strider’ after the character of the same name in the film “Lord Of The Rings”. It just happened to be one of his favourite movies at the time.

How often do you see people stood in the middle of Jones street posing?

There were times when it seemed it was a daily occurrence. A conservative estimate would be that I was involved in at least 40 or 50 such photographs each year.

Back quite a few years ago, I had a customer who was also a record supplier for me. He understood that I was always interested in anything rare or unusual, and he always searched every thrift shop in the area every weekend to see if anyone donated any records during the week. I received a call from him one Saturday, telling me he had just purchased an original copy of the ‘Freewheelin’’ album in one such shop for 25 cents! I said to him that he did very well, but then he told me he thought there was something unusual about it: the songs listed on the record labels didn’t match the song titles listed on the jacket! I told him to bring it to my shop so I could inspect it.

It turned out to be what was, at the time, the only known STEREO copy of the album that included the 4 rare tracks that were later deleted. He auctioned it through my store, and the winning bid was over $12,000. Not a bad profit for a record he paid 25 cents for!!

Quite a few times I witnessed couples standing in the middle of the street with cameras and I assumed that they wanted to capture the Dylan “experience”. Most times, my assumption was correct. The problem was that a lot of these couples were not so familiar with the original photo. Some were walking in the wrong direction, some weren’t standing on the correct side of one another, and others had no idea where on the block their photo needed to be taken. I was always happy to provide some assistance for these folks when I could.

He auctioned it through my store, and the winning bid was over $12,000.

Not a bad profit for a record he paid 25 cents for!!

Any records you’ve had into the shop that you regret not taking home for your own collection?

Most of them were really obscure 45’s of the doo-wop vocal group variety, but there was one 45 in particular that I will always regret not keeping. It was an original stock copy of the record “My Bonnie” by Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers on the American Decca label. This, in effect, was the first record by the Beatles ever issued in the United States. Almost all known copies are promos.

Very few stock copies are known to exist, and among those that have been accounted for, virtually none are in the practically new condition mine was in.

I got some decent money for it based on the value of it back in the days when I owned it. However, if I had it now, current value of this record suggests up to $10, 000. I can tell you that I got far less than that amount when I sold mine.

You’re trading online now and still have an avid and strong customer base, do you miss opening up the store?

The internet has opened up a global marketplace for me. While I’ve maintained contact with many of my loyal customers, I’m receiving wants lists from a lot of new, first-time customers - especially from Europe and that tells me that there is no shortage of demand for our beloved old vinyl!

Do I nonetheless miss opening up the store every day? The answer is a resounding YES!!! I always looked forward to a new day because I never knew who I was going to meet. I count John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Tom Petty, Susan Sarandon, Shel Silverstein, Johnny Cash and Patti Smith as past customers, just to name a few. I also miss seeing a lot of old friends from the neighborhood, not to mention the neighborhood and the Jones Street-Bob Dylan connection itself.

Visit Bob Online at www.striderrecords.com Cover Photo: www.ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com Photo: www.nyportraits.blogspot.com

SBTRKT SBTRKT

THE XX XX

CHAIRLIFT SOMETHING

GIL SCOTT-HERON & JAMIE XX WE’RE NEW HERE

ALL OUT NOW

British Music Abroad Party at SXSW 2012

D/R/U/G/S Dutch Uncles Spectrals Friday 16th March 2012 - 12pm - 2pm @ The British Music Embassy Latitude 30, 512 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, TX 78701-3624 Come down for drinks, eats and excellent sounds from UK bands supported by British Music Abroad www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Funding/British-Music-Abroad

I l l u s t r at e d Points

s u r r e n d e r at wat e r l o o with JOHN T KUNZ

Each March the musical world descends upon Texas’ weirdest city for the SxSW convention, so what better way to end the first issue of Deluxe than with a visit to Austin Texas’ Waterloo Records. An independent of thirty years this April and stronger than ever. Last time I visited Waterloo my wife bought two pairs of earrings, I drank a couple of beers on the house while they played me no end of psych records and we caught Dum Dum Girls and La Sera playing in their parking lot.

Deluxe spoke to owner John T Kunz about getting it right all these years.

When did you open your doors?

April 1st, 1982 (April Fool’s Day!) Why did you open a record shop?

My original partner Louis Karp actually opened the shop and he and I partnered in the store about 3 month’s later. We both wanted to open a record store that was worthy of the music scene and the music lovers of Austin.

What was the musical landscape in 1982’s Austin?

Like today, there was a very strong and active club scene supporting both local and touring acts. The big record shops in Austin then were the stores that Louis and I had both run and managed: I had been the regional manager of 15 Disc Records & Zebra Records stores throughout Texas (3 stores in Austin) and Louis had opened the first Austin Sound Warehouse store here. Like now, there were also quite a few great indie records stores in Austin. I’d say we were both influenced by all these: the chain stores we had managed, the indie stores here that we admired and of course the store (Waterloo) in our dreams.

What other stores are there in Austin today? Do you have a good relationship?

There’s about a dozen. We all have what I would describe as a great relationship.

I think we see each other more often at shows, but everyone ducks into the others’ shops from time to time. I’m closest to the folks at End of an Ear, MusicMania, Antone’s, Cheapo and Encore, though sadly Encore is in the midst of a going out of business sale now.

What’s the story behind the name ‘Waterloo Records’? Are you Anglophiles?

The city of Austin TX was originally the village of Waterloo TX, so our name’s historical in that sense. However, Louis and I both share a long love for the Kinks and ‘Waterloo Sunset’. Anglophiles? Yes! We’ve always prided ourselves on Waterloo’s UK import music selection. That led to us adopting the Waterloo Underground station logo as a store anniversary T-shirt in 1985 and it stuck ever sinse.

What’s the buying process at Waterloo?

I don’t give any buyer a budget, but expect them to have everything in stock our customers are looking for, plus to have what our customers don’t yet know they’ll be looking for.

The in-store shows seem to be a huge success, any particular highlights for you?

Any disasters?

Our marketing director Jessie Johnson coordinates an average of two in-store performances a week, though we feature a whopping 28 the week of SXSW. My highlight in-stores were Texans Willie Nelson, Norah Jones (both twice) and Lyle Lovett (five times), Brits Joss Stone, and Austin transplants Arthur Brown (Crazy

World) and Ian McLagan, Ben Harper, Bettye Lavette, The Shins, Joe Lovano and the Bulgarian Women’s Choir. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll have a different batch of favourites. Believe it or not, 30 years and no real disasters - knock on wood...

The musical landscape has changed so dramatically in your lifetime, what do you do to keep people shopping in the store? (besides all those in-stores and free Shiner Beer) I am most proud of everyone working here, they are friendly, knowledgeable, and so passionate about music. Three customer friendly things we’ve done that have set us apart now for all 30 years: 1. We file all music alphabetically, free of genres.

2. You can listen to anything in the store in it’s entirety, obligation free.

3. We have a 100% satisfaction guaranteed 10 day exchange policy, even if you simply don’t like the music.

From the very beginning, I think our motto says it all “Where Music Still Matters” What makes you still feel like opening the front door each morning?

From the very beginning, I think our motto says it all “Where Music Still Matters”.

It’s always been about that sense of discovery, the first time you hear something new (whether old or new) and being able to share that musical discovery with others. It’s great to have your love of music be your life’s work!

Visit Waterloo online at www.waterloorecords.com Photo: Crispin Parry

Top Selling Domestic Albums of 2011: 1. Bob Schneider - Perfect Day, 2. Sarah Jarosz - Follow Me Down, 3. Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO and Other American Stories, 4. Robert Earl Keen - Ready For Confetti, 5. Black Joe Lewis - Scandalous, 6. Gary Clark Jr. - Bright Lights EP, 7. Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean, 8. Various Artists/Guy Clark Tribute - This One’s For Him, 9. Joe Ely - Satisfied At Last, 10. Bright Light Social Hour - Bright Light Social Hour.

Top Selling International Albums of 2011: 1. Adele - 21, 2. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More, 3. Arcade Fire - Suburbs, 4. Radiohead - King of Limbs, 5. Florence & The Machine - Lungs, 6. Coldplay - MYLO XYLOTO, 7. Cut Copy - Zonoscope, 8. M83 - Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, 9. Feist - Metals, 10. Florence & The Machine Ceremonials.

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